It's been a blur.  Or maybe the correct word to describe the past week or so would be.... a lethargic blob.  My body, as expected, crashed and I found myself sleeping at the oddest times of day and night.  I believe I've just had my first normal night, although I did nap for a few hours yesterday.  Minor setback.  I'm ready! 

I'm ready to do the things I'm supposed to do.  Divvy up souvenirs, renew my overdue library books, upload pictures from the trip, take care of my stack of mail, and re-order SNY so I can watch the Mets at spring training, to name a few.  I've not even begun thinking about the Rest Of My Life (that includes job searching and resume buffing).  But I have already taken care of some essentials:  Seeing/making dates to see friends, buying bagels and tofu veggie cream cheese from my favorite place in Brooklyn...

My bed, by the way, is just as soft and inviting as I remembered.


About the Cambodia post.  I think I'll let the pictures do the talking.  The experience left me with a mix of very strong impressions and emotions, which I'm afraid will be cheapened by my trying to put words to them.  Instead, I'll just post my pictures on Facebook and you'll see a vague shadow of what I saw. 

So I'll start doing that today.  Along with my dad's legal work.  *sigh*  And I'm watching the absolutely silly Prince & Me movie (starring Julia Stiles and Luke Mably) while I do it, and no one can stop me.

I'm trying to work myself up to writing an entry about Cambodia, but it's seems like such a daunting task that I can't work myself up to it.  Also, I pulled my back muscle... which, if you've ever done yourself, you know is an almost debilitating injury.  Back muscles are the devil. 

I think the first step is to upload all the Cambodia pictures.  Then maybe I'll write two posts about it... over the course of the next week or so.  I won't be doing much else that's new and exciting now that I'm back in Seoul.  I have a week left in Korea.  My flight back is on the 18th, which means I'll be spending Lunar New Year in Korea, an exciting thing in itself.  Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in Korea, and gets a three-day weekend, and huge family gatherings.  So I'll be doing that, and possibly going to a korean folk village, which promises to be cheesy as hell (but I'll probably love it), and a day alone wandering in Seoul.

I've wanted to do the day alone wandering in Seoul ever since we got here, but haven't had the chance.  Very excited to just do what I want, eat what I want, buy what I want, without my aunt or my mom's input or direction. 

Only trouble: It's snowing in Seoul. 

We came from a balmy 80 degrees in Cambodia into a snowstorm in Korea last night.  And it's still snowing this morning.  I heard it snowed in the States, but no -- I haven't missed all the snow.  Korea's got its own fair share of snow, uuuuunfortunately.

A solid month of traveling wears down your body for real.  My back is aching with the effort of sitting up straight, and the pulled muscle fills my every movement with agony.  I'm just really grateful I haven't come down with a cold (knockonwood).  And I slept for twelve hours after getting back from Cambodia. heh.

Here're some pictures of Cambodia to hold you guys over.  Maybe these pictures will speak better than any of my words possibly could.






















And by far, the most lasting image I'll have of Cambodia --

I'm back in my aunt's apartment near Seoul. 

Daegu had its fun moments, but mostly what I remember is spending hours and hours in cars and buses.  It takes 4 hours by bus to get to Daegu from Seoul.  I saw my eldest aunt for the first time this trip, and we spent the night there.  The next day, we went to my cousin's apartment and spent a night there.  The next day, we drove three hours to Haeundae Beach in Busan so we could try this amazing seafood buffet restaurant.  After a short walk along the beach, we drove three hours back.  Then we spent the weekend on a trip to the eastern shore of Korea, so we could spend some time viewing the beautiful coastline (pictures later).  It was another four hour car ride, with multiple rest stops, there and back.  Not only that, but it was a car full of three chattering sisters, all at the frightening "ahjumma" stage of their lives.  The three aunts (including my mom) were unstoppable.  It was pretty amusing to listen to them talk, and I wasn't begrudging them their fun at all.  It was a reunion of sisters, and wow... could they talk.  About ANYthing.  I think they talked about the water content of kimchi in making it freeze for about thirty minutes.  Anything that occurred, all three had to give their opinions, very loudly so they could be heard over the others, and insistently because they knew they were right.

Two days in this company was a biiiiit... tiring.  Thank goodness for my cousin, who speaks fluent english, and shares my joy in traveling and food.  She also drove every hour of those many many hours of driving, so I felt very grateful to her.  And thanks to her, we saw some really great sights, and I swear to holy heaven that I have never had THAT much sashimi and sushi in that short a time span.  I think we ate every type of fish there is in the ocean for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Having spicy fish stew at 10 am was a little difficult for me, but they couldn't understand why I shied away from it.

"But you LOVE this stuff!" my mom insisted as she poured a serving into my bowl.
"Yeah.. for dinner."

I'm starting to get a little desperate for some good ol' eggs and bacon.  Oh my god, and who wouldn't I kill to get my hands on a NY bagel and some tofu cream cheese from La Bagel? 

In fact, I experienced my first really strong wave of homesickness yesterday night. 

After we got back from the trip to the coastline, we moved BACK to my Daegu-aunt's place to spend the night, then we went the next morning further into the countryside so we could visit my mom's hometown again and join her brother and his family for dinner.  We also visited my mom's parents' graves, and did the whole bowing and pouring soju ceremony.

It was at dinner, surrounded by my mom, her brother, his wife, and my mom's three sisters, that I suddenly felt horribly out of place.  They were reminiscing about their youth, and I was amused to hear stories about my mom and how she used to fight with this sister over this thing, and how her brother once made her dinner and how surprised she was that it was good.  And even though the food was good and I was having fun, I was overcome with sadness.  I didn't have much to contribute to the conversation... In fact, I'd spent most of this past week in silent observation of my mom and her family together.  This whole trip to Daegu had been about getting to say hello to her family, but it also meant that I remain silent while they talked over my head, about everything including me, right there in front of me.  To make it worse, I was meeting some of my younger second cousins, and they were very korean -- cute, small, and well-dressed -- and it made me feel like an ogre in comparison.  A scene flashed in my head -- dinner with friends, me talking loudly, enjoying the conversation, drinking and feeling comfortable in my skin -- and I wanted very badly to go home.

The trip to Cambodia is all booked, however, and I'm not getting back to the States until a little past mid-February.  A part of me is looking forward to Cambodia -- the globe-trotting part of me and the part that knows FutureMe will be sad if I don't go -- but the majority of me has seen what I want of Korea and would like to go home tomorrow to my friends and my bed, though not both at the same time.  And let it not be forgotten that a third part of me, the lazy and cowardly part, does not ever want to return to the States, where responsibility, job searching, and packing/unpacking await. 

And by the way, I'm done meeting new cousins.  My cousin (who's nearing 50 and still lives with his mother) actually ventured to make fun of lawyers today, and I was like........ OKBYE.

Hello folks!  Didn't expect to see me, did you? Yeah, I didn't expect to see this blank screen so soon either, since we were to be holed up in the corner of the city of Daegu living with my oldest aunt, who is surprisingly spry for a 70 yr old, but still does not believe in the necessity of the internet.  But thank goodness her daughter rescued us! 

My cousin by this aunt is the same age as my mother, and so they grew up together and became very good friends.  This is the cousin that came to stay with me in New York City.  She's a professor at a very good university in Korea, and she speaks fluent english.  She's a breath of fresh air.  She loves good food, culture, beautiful sights, and luxurious living.  She packed us up and brought us to her super modern and richly furnished apartment, with tapestried wallpaper and rich, red curtains that hang before huge wall-length windows facing out to the mountains.

Having spent the majority of my time here in Korea hanging out with "ahjummas," staying here at my "unnie's" house is really a relief, even though she's the same age as my mom.  By the way, this apartment is amazing.  I want to live here.  This is the apartment of my dreams.  It's wide and spacious, so tastefully decorated with a modern touch and a hint of luxury, and a fancy wine cabinet.  It's nice.

The reason I'm not writing much about Daegu itself?  Because Daegu is pretty... pretty... pretty... boring.

It's interesting to me because it's my mom's home province.  And on the first day, we actually took a train for thirty minutes to my mom's actual home village to visit her brother, who still lives there.  And what a pretty little village it was.  It's nestled into a valley, completely surrounded by imposing mountains.  The train had to speed through many, many mountain tunnels to reach the village.  And I could immediately tell that this was very far removed from the city of Daegu, let alone Seoul.  The provincial accents are thick and incomprehensible.  There are some modern chain stores and buildings, but there are also these unbelieveably tiny buildings that are obviously a vestige of a simpler, shorter time.  I mean... I saw a tractor being driven down the main street, ok? 

As we walked down the street, I tried to get my mom to reminisce about her youth, but she's stubbornly not sentimental.  It left it to me to imagine my young mom rambling about the town she'd lived in for all her youth.  Then we went to my uncle's store, where he sold kitchen supplies.  I learned that my grandfather had sold kitchen supplies out of the family apartment for many years, until my uncle took up this store of his.  And my mom said she'd grown up as the "baby of the dish family," which she hated.  But the business had made her family rich enough that she'd never had to wear black rubber shoes to school, like the poor kids. 

Something like that.

Anyway, sorry I haven't figured out the picture thing yet.  I think I'll just buy the Xanga lifetime thing since I plan on using Xanga forever... lol. Too lazy to move to a trendier, flashier spot.  But I don't have my wallet on me, so it'll be a little bit more.

Today, we're driving down to Busan, a busy seaport, where we'll sightsee a bit.  Then this weekend, we're doing a little trip to the eastern seashore with all my aunts, my cousin, my mother and me.  It should be..... fun. 

I love places where everyone tells you to ride the train.  I remember in Scotland, people told us we HAD to take the train route from here to there because it was the most scenic and beautiful route.  We did, and I loved it.  Well, similarly here, there's a special sightseeing train that goes along the entire eastern seashore... and get this-- the seats actually face the windows.  So you're moving sideways, looking out over the water. 

It sounds beautifuL!  I absolutely guarantee I will ruin it by getting motion sickness. 

By the way, I'm already getting excited to go home.  I miss pizza and burgers.  I ate a pizza here, and it tasted like day old microwaved pizza.  The meat patties on the hamburgers are actually made out of ham or something less than beef. I miss breakfasts of egg and toast.  I miss real coffee!!  I miss my friends.  I miss NY.  I MISS MY BED.

So I have the option of going to Thailand, but at the price of extending my stay in Korea for a few more days.  The trip to Thailand would be for 5 days, 4 nights... or we could go to China.  For some reason, I have no desire to see China, but I'm dying to see Thailand... 

I'm exhausted, and I want to go home.  But I know I'll regret it later if I don't go to Thailand now because I was tired of traveling. 

... so what should I do?  I can't make up my mind, but I know I have to decide soon so we can make plans.... My mom says it's all up to me.  And I had told her no before, but the more I think about how much I'll regret it later, the more I lean toward saying yes....

Three days without internet has completely ruined me.  I have 300 pictures of Jeju Island, and I don't think anyone would thank me to post all of them.  I will definitely put up a more complete photo album of my trip to Korea once I get back home and have some time to do a thing like that.  Honestly, organizing digital pictures is such a pain in the ass!  And it takes at least a good hour of time for each day's worth of pictures.  Three days' worth of pictures----forget it. 

Do you guys prefer a blog composed more of my words or my pictures?  That way, I'll know whether you want me to shut up and post pictures or you'd rather see the pictures later and hear me talk...

Jejudo

Jejudo, or Jeju Island, is known as "Korea's Hawaii," where many people go to honeymoon or just escape for a warmer weekend.  Well, seeing as it was SO COLD in Korea (below zero temperatures), I was reaaaaaally looking forward to the 10-20 degree weather in Jeju.  In anticipation of this "warm" weather, I packed my lighter shirts and brazenly didn't even bring a scarf.

MISTAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!

It was COLDER in Jejudo because of the harsh winds.  It even snowed.  At one point, standing at the summit of a volcanic crater, wearing nothing but my summer jacket and my mom's scarf (and pants), I could feel my legs go numb and then slightly warm.  I thought, "Well, I guess it's true that before you die of hypothermia, you feel a bit warmer."

The Jeju trip was amazing. For the entire 3 day 2 night trip, we had our personal chauffeur/tour guide who picked us up in the morning, drove us to all the sights, described them, paid our way, fed us delicious food and drove us back home to the hotel at night.  It felt utterly luxurious, and I couldn't believe that everything--hotel, flight, personal chauffeur/tour guide--cost $300/person.

Not only that, but the scheduled tour had some silly things on it like a Teddy Bear Museum.  When I protested that I'd rather see Jeju's natural beauty than some stupid teddy bear museum, the tour guide obligingly personalized the rest of the trip for our tastes, taking us to the volcanic crater on which I nearly froze to death, a magnificent 1.7km lava tube cave, and a stunningly gorgeous nature trail along Jeju's rocky shoreline, complete with cliffs and lava rock formations.  We climbed up a dangerously uneven lava rock jetty out into the sea to marvel at the blue turquoise waters and the oddly shaped islands peppering the nearby waters.

I can very easily say it was the most breathtaking scenery I've ever seen with my own two eyes.  I could feel my soul's battery recharging as I breathed in the sea air, listening to the waves breaking against the cliffs, and staring at the serene, ever-so-blue water.

We did a lot.  I was so exhausted by the end of the trip, but it was well worth it.  In addition to enjoying the nature, we went horse-back riding (with a guide), went to a Korea-in-the-60s/70s-museum that my mom really enjoyed, a ginormous, overly clever and annoying maze that reminded me of Book 4 of Harry Potter, visited a green tea plantation.

There are these amazingly tough old ladies in Korea that dive in icy waters to catch abalone, octopus, sea cucumber, and other strange things so they can sell them at fresh fish markets.  They're called "Hae Nyuh" grandmothers, and it's really incredible.  They've spent their entire lives diving in these frigid waters, going after these things one at a time.  When we visited a coastal area, we came across one of these Hae Nyuh grandmothers' "restaurants."  I call it a restaurant, but that's really an overstatement.  It was more like a tiny little room in a not-very-sturdy plywood building where you could sit and eat the amazingly fresh and delicious sashimi they caught that morning.  So I ate my first bit of sea cucumber (yum) and LIVE octopus (yikes!) and abalone (okay), along with sashimi I'd had before like conch and "Mung Gae" (don't know the english word for it).

During such a long trip, it was inevitable that my mom and I have a fight.  It happened as we waited for our plane back to Seoul.  We exchanged some terse words and tense moments before I forced myself to bring about a reconciliation.  This is an odd place to say this, but sometimes I worry that I might be turning into my mom and dad, who are both so proud that they hate to apologize. So I find myself having more and more difficulty in apologizing.  It feels awkward and forced and even if I feel sorry and want to say it, it's really hard.  Is that just me?  I stood there for a full five minutes, feeling this burning knot in my stomach, and I could feel the words sitting heavy at the back of my throat, knowing I had to apologize but literally unable to push the words beyond my tongue.  So far, whenever I feel that intense reluctance even though I KNOW I'm in the wrong, my rational side is able to force the words out, but I think it's getting harder and harder as time passes.  I guess I just have to hope my rationality always wins out.

Anyway, I think we survived the first real fight of our trip pretty well..  So.... Jejuuuuuuu.  Yes.  It was everything I dreamed it could be.  And it was colder than I ever dreamed it could be.  Nature is awesome.  And I'm using awesome in the old english sense of the word, not the newfangled american slang sense.  I think it was in the lava tube cave that I really took a mental step back and thought, "This occurs in nature on a regular basis."  The natural scenery I saw was ten thousand times more awe-inspiring than anything man-made, even the more spectacular man-made spectacles.  I mean, there's almost nothing human ingenuity and perspiration can't accomplish... but appreciation of nature is always exponentially increased by the background knowledge of the sheer force of nature or time that acted on something as implacable as a huge volcanic mountain...

Well, I was impressed.

After we got our fill of the rocks and wind of Jeju Island, we came back to Seoul and collapsed.  Today, I met my much older cousin whom I haven't seen in about 15 years, his wife and child.  The boy is only 13, and as expected, obsessed with games and electronics.  We all had lunch together at a fancy Japanese restaurant and he was so bored to death as the adults talked.  Taking pity on him, I showed him my iPhone, which still operates despite lack of service, and let him play with the apps.  He was quiet for the rest of the night.  lol.

By the way, the "jung shik" meal I told you guys about last time I had sushi?  The thing that's LIKE a prix fixe meal, but not quite?  It was even more impressive this time around.  They bring you an amuse bouche, then a little taste of porridge to whet your appetite.  Then they bring you round after round of tiny bits of sashimi and sushi, beautifully presented, and so delicious.  There were about six courses this time around, and then fruit and coffee or cold plum tea.  I'm desperate to find something like this in NY... I wonder I wonder I wonder...

Ok, I'm tired. Enough blogging!!

In a day or two, we head down to DaeGu for a few days, where my other aunt lives.... again, without internet.  So.. much.. traveling


So I went to upload pix and it turns out I've exceeded my upload limit on Xanga.  Siighh... It's not a big deal, I can either pay out $100 for an upgrade to Lifetime Premium (blurgh) or I can spend some time searching out a free uploading service, of which I already know several.  I'm just too tired to do that right now, so you guys'll have to wait to see the beautiful Jejudo pictures I took.  

TIL LATER!