Sometimes You Learn By Losing.

So I had my second slew of Saturday students.
And by slew, I mean six.
Two of my classes no-showed entirely, so now I'm not getting paid overtime for those four hours.
That's a decent bit of money, but it's not too much.
And now I've learned exactly where they stand.
The solution? Never work on Saturday ever again.
I don't have to, and if they're going to decide that they don't want to pay me when ridiculous things happen (such as zero of fifty-four students showing up), then, well, that doesn't give me much incentive to do it now, does it?

That's not all that I've learned, though.

Never heard back from Julie even though I sent her a few texts here and there when I was in her neighborhood. It probably has something to do with the awkwardness of our conversation on Sunday. That's fine, it doesn't really bother me. But it's nice to know that, in the future, it's probably best to ask for a number in a context other than 'I'm leaving but I want your number'. On top of that, it's best to be less awkward during the first actual conversation you have with someone. So I've deleted her number. I'm really just happy that I was able to walk up to a complete stranger, ask her for her number, and end up getting it. That's enough for me. Now it's time to learn how to be less fucking weird.

I'm pretty sure my students from last semester were pretty annoyed with me. Let's see... I rushed through units, asked them to come in on Saturdays, and was totally authoritarian with them. I did everything that the worst of my teachers did. I didn't really have much of a choice, but could my students have possibly known that? Nah. I've learned from that too, though- my students have usually had about eight hours of public school before coming to my school, and then they have other schools they go to, etc etc etc. I heard about one student who had five private schools to attend outside of public school and had legitimately attempted suicide by the age of eleven- some of these kids have serious issues at this point in their lives because of the academic stress, it seems, so it really helps to try to level with them. At the same time, though, you have to get through the book- it's a delicate balance, it is. Today was the first day of the Fall semester, and it seems to have gone pretty well. Some students still acted out a bit, but they were awesome for the most part.

Y is Style are cigarettes for women. They're like Korean Capris. Aaaaand there goes 25,000 Won.

X-Tune speakers aren't very good. You can't hear sub-bass through them. There goes 30,000 Won.

The Eye-Fi hotspot feature only works in the States. Furthermore, the card only works with wireless networks. There goes some more money.

I'm covered in mosquito bites because I haven't been looking for the corpses of mosquitoes I thought I'd slain.


The list goes on and on, but I'm learning from it.
That's the important part.

Not much else to report. Putting new pictures up right now, though!

As always, be well.
-토맛

I Win Won. Among Other Things.

So my day at work was pretty much bollocks.
It's because of this fact that I won't even get into it.
The Sex Pistols were right- Nevermind The Bollocks.

Met up with co-worker April after work to go bowling.
Bowled decently. Could've done better.

The tentative plan after bowling was to head up to Seoul with Tom and Joel after work, but those plans fell through. Instead I went up to Bupyeong with Jay, Evan and April. Went to a few bars, and eventually settled at N's. N's is where I went with Tom and Joel a few weeks ago, drank too much, was very quiet, etc etc etc. While I've been getting along with Tom and Joel quite well, I think they're pretty different from the people I'm used to and, thus, I'm not quite as comfortable and talkative with them as I am with this lot.

On our way to N's, April bought a deck of cards so we'd have something to do while drinking and chatting; we ended up playing some five-card draw, but found it less than fulfilling because we didn't have anything to bet. Long story short, we each entered with 1,000 Won- I left with 4,000 Won. I didn't expect it to happen because I'm usually pretty shit at card games, but I guess growing up with card and board games paid off.

Sometime during the poker game, someone caught my eye. I usually support what Mike Doughty has to say about brunettes being tremendous at all, but.. well. Gorgeous blonde hanging out with her friends, having a good time, etc etc etc. I unconsciously decide that I'm going to be a little fixated on her. By Guinness two, I'm convinced that it'll be a good idea to ask for her number. The shameless five-card draw slaughter is feeding my fire. She keeps walking past our table and I keep covertly declaring to my co-workers that this girl is fucking up my Christmas. By the end of Guinness three, everyone's ready to leave. I know it's my last chance. And considering the fact that the only time I've ever asked a girl for her number was when I was drunk as Hell at an afterparty in Denver, the nerves are hitting me. But that's par for the course? Part of my personal goal is to become one who is fearless yet not without emotion, so let's go for broke.

Nobody else seems to understand my motivation, but it's okay- I was talking music with Evan earlier on in the night and he openly declared that Justice is shit, so... different tastes for different people, s'all good. Regardless, my co-workers and friends give me their blessing as I prepare. I'd been there a hundred times before, but I'd also bitched out ninety-nine of those times.

So I find myself standing next to her while she's talking to her friend. I tell her that I didn't want to interrupt, but.. la la la la la. She asks my name, tells me hers, proceeds to... give me her number? Proceeds to make eye contract and not break it?

Joel told me about a week ago that the secret really is confidence; how many times have we seen drop-dead gorgeous women with mediocre (or worse) guys? Too many to count. But it happens, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that the guy is packing some serious courage.

Wise words well used, Joel. Well used indeed.

So I'll text her sometime tomorrow, probably between errands, and we'll see what happens. It's still hard to believe that anything remotely close to this happened; I'll be the first to say that she's completely out of my league and that I should've been laughed at, more than likely.. but. Well.

The fact that I'm about $2 richer is good. But the fact that I have Julie's number is better. And the fact that I'm learning to conquer the aspects of myself that I find unfavorable is best. Although something tells me that I won't use my night in Bupyeong to teach my students comparative and superlative language.

Be well,
-토맛

Adventuring Through The Fires of Hell.

So I didn't realize what I was ordering for lunch today.
It's called jamppongbap, and I know that 'bap' means 'rice' so I thought I'd give it a try.
I was, naturally, expecting some sort of rice dish.

What I was given, however, was a seemingly endless bowl of delicious, delicious death.
Turns out that jamppongbap is a soup with the reddest of broth and tentacles floating in it.
What I'd ordered, it turns out, was maybe the spiciest soup I'll ever eat.
With what I can only guess was red pepper broth, jamppongbap is a painfully spicy rice/vegetable/seafood soup.
So today was the first day that I'd ever eaten oysters. There were all sorts of tentacles in there, along with a whole crab (!!!), some carrots and onions.
By the time I was finished, my eyes were watering and I felt light-headed. But it was so, so good.

Regarding other adventures in food, I went to Outback Steakhouse with Tom and Joel last night. It wasn't until the appetizers came that I realized the humor of going to Outback in Korea with two Australians. This is pretty bloody amusing.

I'm writing while drinking a delicious apple Demisoda (my new favorite soda, it's going to break my heart when I can't have them anymore) and eating some chips. The script on the bag is pronounced 'poh-tah-cheep'. I found that pretty amusing.

Things are honestly starting to settle down a bit here, partially due to the amount of time I've spent at work. My first full week was a little taxing at times with a few students acting out here and there and, of course, the stress of having a deadline, but I managed to get through and finish a good number of units. So I'm pretty pleased.

My plans for the weekend so far include bowling with April tomorrow after work- now that I have my bowling glove, I will not be stopped! Maybe. I don't know. The lanes here are slick as Hell, which makes it hard to throw an effective hook. And then, on Sunday, I'm having a few people over to check out Reason and what it's capable of- I'm working on a remix of The Crystal Method's 'Come Back Clean', a truly epic track that I just found stems for. Things are going alright regarding that so far, but it's pretty difficult to get a good and accurate mix on the speakers I bought so I've been using my headphones. It really makes me miss my speakers from back home- I'd look for a comparable set here, but that'd be pretty expensive. On top of that, the selection of computer speakers around these parts is a little lacking.

I'm starting to make a few friends outside of work here and there, which is nice. And quite exciting. It's really good because I'm meeting people even though I've decided to take it easy this weekend.

Still trying to find a place to get Won for my traveler's checks. It's rough because, for some reason, my bank (called Korean Exchange Bank, which sounds like a bank that would deal with currency exchange) won't cash them out for me. At least that's what one teller at a different branch told me. So who knows, maybe I'll head up to my branch on Monday and see if they'll do it. All I really want is to deposit them, so it shouldn't be as much of an issue as it's been made out to be. Internet banking has been a pain to set up as well... it just isn't going for one reason or another, and I don't have any good way to explain the problem to anybody. My bank has special foreigner branches in Seoul, so I might go over there sometime.

Work will start at 4:00p starting Monday, so I'll have more time to do day things like go to the bank and ship packages! While I don't mind the 12:00p-7:30p hours, it'll be really nice to start work as late as 4:00p. It's something I'm not at all used to, but have always wanted to try.

It's strange, but blogging isn't nearly as fascinating now that I have the internet at home. It's alright, though.

Oh, that reminds me- Underworld has been added to the already amazing line-up for Global Gathering: Seoul, meaning that I'm going and I'm bringing people from work. It's not until mid-September, but I'm stoked.

In short, everything is good. There are a few problems but I'm working on them. Nothing major to report.

Be well, everyone.
-토맛

Gone Fomatose // The Earth Is, In Fact, A Cold Dead Place // Everything Zen

So I may've gone off the deep end maybe just a bit (hence the Vonnegut/Explosions in the Sky/Bush? references), but I think the things going through my head while I was walking home tonight make a creepy, perfect sort of sense.

[gone fomatose.]
I'm pretty sure I've landed myself three Saturdays of work this month. Yeah, I'm not supposed to have to work on Saturdays, blah blah blah... the idea is that the end of the term is coming up and the students I was given aren't even remotely close to being caught up to where they need to be. No surprise, the last foreign teacher in charge of them left two or three months ago. Naturally, they're going to need make-up classes. In fact, some of the classes seem like they won't be caught up by the time they need to be even if I work three Saturdays in a row, so I'm going to have to pull off some sort of bloody miracle because it has to be done. It's totally not my fault, but they still need make-up classes. I'm supposed to schedule said make-up classes myself. Upon hearing all of this, I wasn't in the least bit pleased. Can you blame me? No. It's bollocks and everyone knows it's bollocks; I'm not at all supposed to teach on Saturdays, and I'm certainly not supposed to teach for three Saturdays in a row. On top of that, I'd be teaching for four hours on each Saturday, which goes above and beyond the expectation in place for those who are supposed to work on Saturdays. What I was told about my position before I got here, well, it's all foma. Lies. Either malicious lies (which I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they're not) or lies born by a sudden policy change. There's no way that I should befall the consequences of anyone's inability to have gotten them to an at least reasonable place of progress by now... but note the key word in that last sentence: should.

[the earth is, in fact, a cold dead place]
No, I shouldn't have to. But what does "I shouldn't have to do this" make me sound like? An eight year-old. "But but but Jimmy's parents bought him a Nintendo, so why can't I have one?"

Life. Isn't. Fair. It's not about who's right, who's wrong, who's brilliant, who's slow, who's kind, who's a bastard, etc etc etc... it's about who's strong and who's weak. Who's holding the right cards. I have cards, sure, maybe, but I doubt they're really good ones. Who knows, I can't quite read them. Even if I were to try to strongarm anyone with any sort of anything I was given, would it really do anyone any good?

I'm starting to understand how power between people ebbs and flows- I've been on the losing end of numerous power struggles in my life. And you know what? It's okay. If anything it's made me realize that I'm pretty resilient and, if need be, I can take a punch to the soul. Maybe two. Or, fuck it... go nuts. Don't stop. It's not a jackhammer to the concrete, it's a chisel to the stone.

I want you to hit me as hard as you can.

[everything zen]
So how does a person become strong? In the professional world, it's sometimes by being weak for long enough- the reliable, dependable people get pushed up the ladder. Sometimes you have to strongarm a little to get pushed up the ladder, yeah, but that doesn't seem to be quite as common in my opinion. So perhaps by being weak, one can become strong.

A lot of power struggles, though, come down to whether or not the weaker really cares. Hope and caring, these things are vulnerabilities; but they do indeed keep us going and, to a greater degree, keep us human. But to show these things instead of cold indifference is to expose your weakness to others. So to that I say this: keep your fingers crossed, but only where no-one can see them. It's necessary, especially now, to portray an "image of success at all times."

There are a lot of facets of my personality that I wanted to overhaul while in Korea, and a good number of them will be difficult to overhaul should I find myself at work six days a week... but let's review: I have nothing here but a home, a job, and a handful of people who are basically acquaintances at the moment. I came here because I was offered work; I found the location to be quite nice, a fringe benefit, but I came here because I was offered work. Not only that, but I have a plan for the money; so what's it matter if I'm working a good amount of overtime each month? We're looking at anywhere from 12-18 hours of overtime this month for the three Saturdays, plus the regular 2 hours of overtime I can expect to work each week due to my overflowing-with-classes schedule. So 18-26 hours of overtime this month at the overtime wage would be... well, let's just say it'll be well worth my time.

Furthermore, I can really work on a specific facet of my personality that I really would like to- the talent to (and unfortunate habit of) fighting claw and tooth for what I believe in. My seemingly natural affection for this has gotten me into a fair amount of trouble. Now how exactly is it 'working on myself' if it's really just learning to roll over and play dead? It's 'working on myself' because it's not in my nature, that's how. And fighting against your own nature, well, that's a massive exercise in and of itself.

So let's do it. It's only after I learn to command this massively overclocked processing unit I call my mind on my own that I'll really be ready to venture into adulthood.

Keep your fingers crossed, but only where no-one can see them.

-토맛

My Inventory Is Full Of Many Things

So, yesterday was incredible. Let's do this in chronological order:

1. Work. Work was a bit rough. The students weren't responding to most of what I was doing, the stuff I'd thrown into the lesson despite massive time crunches simply for the purpose of engaging them and getting them into the lesson a little. It's bizarre because they're always so participative with their Korean teachers, and some even with the other foreign teachers. I think they're still getting used to me, but hopefully I'm not coming across as too stern or, even worse, boring. Also, my first two classes were moved, so that was a bit of a headache. A chaotic work day when I wasn't teaching, and a grind when I was teaching. It's a damn shame. I think it'll get easier with time, though. And at least I've learned that I'm a pretty flexible person. Sure, it's frustrating to have to deal with constant change and madness, but I can think of three things off the top of my head that are way, way worse: heartbreak, extreme feelings of alienation and cancer. In that order.

2. ARC. I got my Alien Registration Card yesterday, and now it's mine. Mine to do with what I want. So I can go to Hongdae and go to clubs and go crazy. I can get a cell phone, which I'm planning on doing today. I can hold a bank account, which I'm already doing. Basically, I have official Korean identification.

3. Subway Map. I'd made arrangements with a fellow foreigner, Richard, to purchase a rice cooker from him. Found him on Craigslist, which I find highly amusing. So on my way to Sindorim to meet with him, I went up to the subway map on the train to look at it and figure out what was going on just so I knew. While I was staring at all the multicolored lines, an older man sitting next to the map kept saying 'hello'. When I turned to look at him, he was holding a pocket-sized subway map towards me! How nice, right? The great thing is that all of the station names are in Hangul, so I get to practice it in a practical way with realia (real-life objects) while I'm on the train. It's great to realize that I've come far enough with my ability to read Hangul to know which stop is coming next well before the train gets there.

4. Rice Cooker. I met up with Richard in Sindorim and we chatted for a good bit, exchanging stories and discussing how we ended up in Korea. We also talked about how to find a few certain items; it was then that I realized I'd been asking the staff at Lotte Mart if they had any purses or backpacks I could put in my trash can. :X
It was really nice to meet another foreigner who isn't a co-worker; not that I dislike my co-workers at all, they're all really cool people, but it's nice to branch out a bit, you know? The ride from home to Sindorim was about fourty-five minutes one-way, which isn't bad at all. I really love riding the subway here because of all the sights you can see from inside the cars. Plus, it's interesting to see people from all walks of life in one place at the same time- just being on the subway can give a person some idea of the culture here. Anyway, this rice cooker isn't half bad. I got it for a third, maybe a fourth of the price I could get a new one for. I tried it out and, while the rice came out a bit chewy, I'm sure it's something more to do with me than with the cooker. I would've done more for a meal instead of just cooking some rice, but it'd been a long day and I really didn't feel like doing much else. Next time I'll throw some egg in there, maybe buy some vegetables and some chicken.. throw it all together.. and figure out how the Hell to prepare the sauce packets they sell at grocery stores here.

So I'm really starting to get things together not only here, but with myself. I've spent more time using public transportation here so far than I did in the past five years in Denver. Easily. Sure, I had a car in Denver... and the public transportation in Seoul is far better than that in Denver... but I've also been walking a lot more. Once again, sure, everything is closer here than in Denver, but still- it's nice to get the exercise and to feel a little more worldly. I do still miss driving, but it's probably a good thing to get away from for a while.

I'm also slowly starting to get into the whole cooking thing. Don't ask me why, but I never really figured out how to cook a proper meal. I mean, I tried here and there... but all of my attempts were half-hearted ones. I really want to get better at this so that I'm not spending all of my money eating out when I'm thirty. I want to be able to rely on myself and provide for others.

I'm also getting far better at rolling with the punches when necessary- I remember a time when I'd object to just about anything that bothered me in the slightest, being as stubborn as humanly possible. There are a number of things that have happened so far that would've set me off if I were the same person that I was then, but I'm not. Hell, they might've even set me off if I were the same person that I was when I left, but I don't think I am.

You really start to learn to appreciate things you'd long taken for granted after a bit of time in an environment where: you don't know how to get hot water for your shower, you don't understand your washing machine, attempts to find one particular item can take two or three hours and still be completely fruitless, finding a new place to eat involves arbitrarily walking around for twenty or thirty minutes as opposed to pulling up a website, 95 degree days in Denver sound like a bloody cake walk, you dry clothes by hanging them, you wash dishes with your hands and soap, you don't have a subwoofer, it takes you thirty seconds to read a sign and even then you have no idea what it means, you're not sure if you'll end up at your destination when you tell the cab driver where you're going, you wonder if members of the opposite sex are shyly looking at you because they think they're attractive or simply because you're different, you almost exclusively use utensils you're not at all used to for eating, you have to leave home to use the internet... you get the idea.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm complaining. I'm not complaining at all- I'm simply appreciating the things I had in Denver that I'd previously taken for granted. Like Good Times and loyalty card websites in English. I really do like it here despite the demeanor of my previous posts- I've had a lot of time to search through my brain and start fitting things together, which I think is something I really needed. I had plenty of time to do this in Denver too, but it's easier when you feel as alone as you would if you moved to the other side of the world. Note that there's a difference between feeling alone and feeling lonely.

Also- if you're reading this, it means I have the internet at home.
If you haven't already received a call by this point, my 303 number is 303.719.8562
Just please remember that I live fifteen hours in the future and, thus, it might not be a great idea to call at three in the afternoon. Though you'll probably just get my voicemail.
I'll also probably be on Skype, AIM, MSN and Google Chat over the weekend. My weekend, I mean.
So feel free to hit me up there, too.

In fact, if I'm posting this, it means I'm on the internet at home. XD


Hope everything's going well back home.
Keep me posted if anything crazy happens, okay?

-토맛

Where To Go Once It All Comes Full Circle?

So once everything in your life comes to a head and everything makes a creepy sort of sense, where do you go?

Jjokki Jjokki, where you can get Fish and Chips with a Guinness in Hambakmaeul, Yeonsu-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea.

Tonight I ate Sweet and Sour Pork and Shrimp and drank Strawberry Soju.
And if you do that, it doesn't really matter what else is going on.

Work was lacking today.
A few less than ideal changes came about.
Might have to work every other Saturday- but it's so unlikely, honestly, that I shouldn't stress about it as much as I have. And if push comes to shove, I can always gracefully explain that the contract states that middle school teachers aren't required to. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

What else? I was told that carrying a bag around made me look more like a student than a teacher. I'm not Korean and I'm wearing a shirt and tie- I figured that'd be enough, but okay. I'll carry my books in a cardboard box and rush back to the classroom when it turns out that the room I'm teaching in is actually a whiteboard room and not a chalkboard room. It's cool. Not a big deal, though I've been under a bit of stress over the past few days so I've made it a bigger deal in my head than it really is.

At least I got my bank account set up today. I get my ARC tomorrow after they do some fancy teacher registration stuff, which means I can get a phone. Thing is, I'm taking the subway up to Sindorim after school tomorrow so I can meet up with someone from Craigslist and come home with a fancy-pants rice cooker. All hail fancy-pants rice cooker, do not doubt its power!

I'm also getting the internet on Saturday morning between 11:00a and noon, which is 8:00-9:00p Friday night to the rest of you. Fight friends can expect calls regarding Friday night's bouts, friends with Skype can expect Skype action, all of that fun stuff... so as of then, my 303 number will be live, Skype will be go, and I'll be able to USE THE INTERNET FROM MY OWN COMPUTER AND MY OWN HOME AGAIN. So Saturday will more than likely be spent catching up with the world outside of Hambakmaeul- checking to see if any yellow dust storms are coming, reading more about BILL CLINTON SAVING THE AMERICAN JOURNALISTS, things like that. I'm so excited, I simply cannot, by any means, hide it.

Then on Sunday, I'm headed back to Yongsan, the place responsible for taking a good chunk of my money, to meet with a girl named Meghan for some delicious Red Mango action. At least that's what I believe the plan is. This'll be clarified once I have a cell phone. Which will hopefully be tomorrow or Saturday. I'll figure it out.

So the weekend approaches with recreation in one hand and relaxation in the other- and it does so with great intensity! I just need to get through tomorrow and we'll be good.

By 'get through tomorrow', I mean 'figure out a way to get my students to say a Gods damned word in class'. They've been pretty stubborn. I'll ask them the same question five times before one of them says anything, and even then it's hard to hear because the other students are making so friggin' much noise. Speaking of which, I gave two detentions out yesterday. I don't feel good about it, but it had to be done. They wouldn't stop talking, so they got detention. They know the score, I know the score, and they still persisted. Life is uneasy for detention-bound pancake.

People around me are playing this crazy awesome-looking FPS. I wish I had any idea how it worked, because it looks like a riot. Unfortunately, it's all in Korean so I've no idea where to start. Is k, I'm sure I'll give it a shot sometime.

Well, I'm full of food and soju... the only thing to do now is sleep.

Have a nice Thursday, Denver- mine's already come and gone. :D

-토맛

The Doubts, With the Waxing and the Waning and the...

It's been a sort of rough twenty-four, maybe twenty-eight hours.
I spent a lot of it wondering 'where am I, what the Hell is going on,' etc.
Feeling like I'd left my heart in Denver.

I think it was just a trademark bad day, which I'm known to have here and there.
It happens, and it doesn't matter which time zone, country or continent I'm in.
These phases come and go.
And luckily, this one's come and gone.

Today consisted mostly of working on music and ironing everything that got all wrinkled in my luggage... which means everything, down to my plaid awesomejacket. I was ironing in my laundry room, which proved to be quite a task- I didn't know it was possible to get so hot that your temples start hurting and your eyeballs feel like they're going to come out of your mouth, but it does happen. I bought an ironing board at the lovely Lotte Mart today, though, so I'm ironing in my room with A/C and a large, opened window. Add some Radiohead to the mix and it's perfect.

As for music, well, I started reading up on another issue of Computer Music that I grabbed before I left and, uh, it's really useful. Who'd have thought that not overloading effects devices would make such a difference? And who'd have thought that EQing out a little niche in the bass for the kick drum to rest in was really that important? I might've relocated to Korea, but the music isn't gonna stop. It's just on a very, very temporary hiatus as I'm still getting used to the speakers, the laptop setup and I don't have internet. Soon, though... soon I'll come back stronger than a powered up Pac Man. It don't matter to me.


Tried shipping things yesterday and forgot the addresses at home. Think I'll end up express shipping everything- it's only a 5,000 Won difference per package, and it's already a little pricey as is so I don't really understand the 'value' of sending parcel through regular mail.


Just got back home from 만구 with Joel. Mangu (as you'd romanize the characters there) are dumplings- mine were steamed and filled with meat. And I'm getting better with chopsticks, to the point that I can actually pick up a steamed dumpling and eat it with some degree of success. I can only imagine how many people are going to be like 'o man I showed you how to chopstick la la la' but it's really Meaghan's fault that I can use them at all. Trust me, guys... the 'no, look, it's really easy, you just go BOOM BOOM BOOM I'M USING CHOPSTICKS NOW' approach isn't a good approach to teaching anyone how to do anything. :P

I'm supposed to be to work at 10:00a tomorrow so I can get my ARC and get my bank account going. Supposed to have internet by Friday or Saturday. This means Skype, this means 303 number, this means a lot of stuff. So I'm really excited. I'll also have a Korean cellphone tomorrow, which is huge as well. Now I can call/text co-workers and new friends, which will help me ship my heart to Incheon. Nobody's anybody anywhere until they have the internet and a phone, damn it.


Not much else to report. Oh, I'm probably going to Yongsan for Red Mango on Sunday. Either that or it's coffee/tea time in Seoul (pronounced Suh-ool, by the way). I'll be meeting with a foreigner like myself in an attempt to broaden my social horizons 6,100 miles from home. It's gotta happen if I'm going to survive out here; otherwise I'll spend all my time thinking about Denver, etc. And doing that would defeat a large part of the purpose of this adventure now, wouldn't it?

So yeah, that'll be nice. I'm hoping for Red Mango, honestly. It's like Pinkberry in L.A. or Kuulture in Denver (which is, you know, a Pinkberry rip-off that nobody working there will ever admit to). Just have to figure out how to say 'strawberries' and 'bananas' in Korean before I go there. I guess the whole 'topped frozen yogurt' craze started with Red Mango, and Red Mango started in Seoul... so I hear. So that's pretty awesome.


Anyway, back to the point.
It's good to get a bad day out of the way.
Just to know how I'll react in such a situation.
And to start adapting to life here.
Because life isn't just sightseeing and soju.
I'm almost entirely sure that it was Denver stuff that triggered all of this, and that's okay.
Like I said, I'm working on shipping my heart to Incheon.

And once that happens, I can really start working towards one of my main reasons for being here: learning to master the orange fret button. Only by improving myself and becoming more self-sufficient and reliable can I do so.

So bring it on, life.
There's nothing I can't do.

-토맛