a goodbye and a reunion

Carla & Young Jin

the singles: jason and I

Narcisz and Paul

the girls

the guys

the end.

the korean

coworkers quotes of the week:

"If Korea were a library, they would not use the Dewey Decimal system..They would put all the books randomly on a shelf. This would require everyone to search for hours in order to find a book. This extra time at the library would be seen as a good thing. 'I was at the library for 10 hours..Good Job'". RS

"Gossip is bad, it is a sin, but the craziness stacks up and blocks out the sun." RS

"I bet these people put their cannabis in a pot with anchovies and peppers and let it sit for six months" JB

"Next time someone remarks about appearence I am going to say "you look like all your grandmothers were whores to foreigners and your DNA in more of a jig saw puzzle then a line"...haha" RS

"Dude, I'm thinking I should stick with it because teaching all these business executives I'm at a level of professionalism that can help me move up the chain in bigger places like Seoul." B

some questions

a few questions a fellow blogger put to me...

1. What is your first name? Jennifer (never liked it until I came to Korea, and no one would pronounce it right. notice I said would and not could)
   
2. What is your favorite food? italian food, anything with pasta falls under amazing in my book
   
3. What high school did you go to? Hunter Huss High, some ghetto-ass people I'm telling you.
   
4. What is your favorite color? blue
   
5. Who is your celebrity crush? male: maybe adrien greiner from Entourage. female: angelina jolie
   
6. Favorite drink? coffee, duh
   
7. Dream vacation? on a beach, basically deserted, with only a bicycle or my feet as a means to get to and from restaurtants, hotels, etc. oh and an assload of books with me to read, or a good man.
   
8. Favorite dessert? NY cheesecake
   
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? inspirational
   
10. What do you love most in life? when I read a book, or see something so amazing, that it touches me in a way that produces a physical reaction (instant smile, goosebumps, etc)
    
11. One Word to describe you. sponge
    
12. What is your favorite book? ok, I can't answer with one so poetry/verse: Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass or Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. novel: Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead or Alaine de Botton: The Art of Travel.
    

gettn' my fruit on

so, I've realized, that I'm not always fair when blogging about Koreans and their culture/society/way of life. many of my blogs on Korea are focused on ranting and raving about how one thing or another has pissed me off. I'm not always pissed off, and if truth be told, most days I'm pretty damn happy. of course, part of that is my personality, not a result of my location, wherever it may be. I digress. anyhow, tonight I realized just how awesome Koreans can be. not only can they be awesome, but many of them are surprisingly, almost overwhelmingly generous. perhaps this generosity is exactly the facade for strangers that a coworker once informed me of, but everyone is generous to strangers. hell my mom would always cook an awesome meal when guests or even my close friends visited, but then sometimes tell us dinner was in the freezer. i.e. Hungry Man t.v. dinners. we all put out that best china for our guests, literally and figuratively. I've experienced such generosity more than once during the course of my stay in Korea. so much that it is really impossible to list every occasion, so I'll choose a few that stick out. during my first few months as an expatriate in Korea, I received more invitations to dinner, than underwear that I own. a Korean friend who is really an acquaintance by most standards, allows me to stay in her house and sleep in her bed (or her brother's now that he is in the military) without thinking twice. hell she even let me stay with her when sara visited me and accompanied me to Seoul during her trip here. students are constantly bringing me snacks, fruit, coffee, travel information, cultural and food tips that they think I'm interested. Most recently though a student brought me what seemed like a whole tree of fruit (see photos). On Monday, my student Vono (pronounced Bono) gave me a bag of apricots from his father's farm. Well today he gave me another bag of about 25 apricots AND a bag of about 15 melons. Oh, and did I mention, that without me mentioning or asking he texts me every night at 945 to let me know he is waiting in the parking lot to give me a ride home, so I don't have to walk those horrendous steps? He is recently, happily married so there are surely no ulterior motives (and the fact that he invited me to his wedding and housewarming party). there are many other displays of generosity that I, with regret, often overlook. this has also made me realize just how generous people have been to me in general. so the next time I start bitching here is proof that I really should shut the hell up.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of you dads, granddads, and even those of you who are soon-to-be-dads.

I couldn't be home for Father's Day this year, as I haven't been home for most of the important holidays celebrated by my family. However, dysfunctional the family may seem and the craziness that has come our way, we have always been one for honoring holidays and family traditions even if that means calling from a gazillion miles away.

I was thinking about some of the memories I have of my father, and maybe three of the fondest are: when I was very young, like say 10 or 11, my father and I would wake up early on Saturday mornings, and after he had fixed his cup of Maxwell House, we would sit side-by-side (I was very small, so there was more than enough room) in his navy, La Z Boy recliner and watch Bonanza. The house would be completely quiet, and it would seem as if we were the only two people in the world. The second memory, is one that would replay itself every Christmas, when my brothers and I got toys from "Santa" or family members that needed to be put together. My father would really get annoyed at the stickers that had to be put on my Barbie camper or the parts to my brother's action figures that are not made for a man's hands. But, even though my father would fuss at times, he never said no, and always took the time to play with us after the fact. The third has to do with my father's fish bait. My father never told anyone what the "secret" ingredients were in his fish bait, that is except me and sometimes my mother (because she would help him sometimes). I would sometimes even taste the fish bait, so I could get an understanding of why such mixtures would be appealing.

However, as a teenager and during my college days, my dad and I were not close. We still aren't as close as I would like us to be (i.e. dinner usually end up with me defending myself over a decision I've made that he doesn't agree with, and never will), but there is a love that is unconditional and a trust that one will always be there. Which in the end, maybe that is all that matters.

tgif...already

I'm eating rainer cherries, listening to live reggae radio, and reflecting on the fact this week passed so quickly. I'm not sure how, but on monday's I wake up thinking "shit it's monday" then go to sleep monday night, wake up and my students are like "tgif, jenipah" However, I'm not complaining. Lately, I've really begun looking forward to being stateside, despite the fact that everyday either the news or someone from home informs me with things that are happening, beginning their sentences with "you won't believe this shit jennifer." Of course I can counter with "well you won't believe this shit" and then regale them with tales or current events in Korea.

how was your friday?

warm & fuzzy feeling

I love the idea of a "grammar police" traipsing around the United States, fixing mistakes. I myself have the need to carry a super size Sharpie around correcting things like you're/your, too/to... Well now there is such a group, TEAL (Typo Eradication Advancement League). wonder if they need an additional team member?

the things my dreams my of...

beaches & books