1/2 a year so far...

So, in three days, I will have been in Korea for 1/2 a year. Wow! I don't know how to think about that. I guess in some ways, I think I've been here much longer than that. I feel like I've been here for 10 years, and that I have friends here that I've known for 10 years. In other ways, I feel like time is going too quickly, and I don't have enough time to do what I want to do here, or be with the people that I want to be with. I don't know. It's all very confusing for me right now. But I need to just trust God. He's gotten me through the first half of this first year, he can get me through the second half (and maybe more years to come in Korea:)).

Recently I've had the urge to draw. I'm not sure why, but what I do now is a pause a movie, and just draw whatever the screen is. It's really relaxing and fulfilling, but maybe I could spend my time doing something more productive, like learning more Korean ^__^

Oh well, that's all for now, just a short little message before I go to bed.

I'll leave you with two videos: The first is another Driscoll clip, this one on American idolatry, pretty interesting, but perhaps not new to those who understand culture and how it penetrates out lives:



The second video is the trailer for this really independent film called "Quiet City." It's one of the front runners for a new style in American cinema called Mumblecore. But in reality, this "mumblecore" ...genre has been around internationally for decades now, and most of the Asian directors that I admire so much (Wong Kar Wai, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Pen ek Ratanaruang, Takeshi Kitano) are all pioneers of this style, it's just that American won't recognize it until we start doing it ourselves. Also, I'd like to think that this is the style that I most likely fall into as a film maker. Or at least would want to make films like. I'd like to see this film if I got a chance, because it looks a lot like things I have made, and projects I'd like to make in the future:

서비스 (Service)

In Korea, it's called 서비스, which is pronounced (seo-bee-su), which is Konglish for the word "service" in English. When you are either buying food, or eating out somewhere, and the person says 서비스, it means they are giving you FREE FOOD! And it happens more regularly here than you might think.

Just tonight, I was with my friend in 구로 시장 (the Guro Markets), and she was buying 삼겹살(think of it as really really thick huge peices of bacon) for her family, and one of the butcher shop guys started talking to us. And because I was a foreigner, he gave us free meet. And just the other night, I was at a food court, and a guy who works at the Chinese restaurant gave me free shrimp. I've gotten service a fair amount since I've been here, and I joked to my friend that now I know what it feels like to be a really hot girl in the United States.

It's kind of a weird sensation being treated differently as a foreigner and minority. Sometimes I really enjoy it, other times I just wish I blended in. Never in my entire life combined, have I been called handsome so many times, or been told that I have a really small face. Also never before have children so blatently pointed at me and whispered to their mom that they see a 외국인 (foreigner).

It's funny, because it doesn't even really phase me anymore. I used to be very self-conscious of all of the eyes, but now I don't even notice them. I used to think that everyone either loved me or hated me for being different, now it just doesn't seem like most people care. Overall, it's definitely an experience like no other, and I can't complain with free food!

And recently I've been watching a lot of John Haskell's youtube videos. He's a friend that I used to go to high school with. He's got a sense of humor like no other. Just recently he's put up this episode series, and it's really awkward and funny. He puts clips from his real standup routines in the series, and at first I didn't know they were real routines. It's a really funny series. Here's the first episode, you can see more on his site:

Tired...

I'm really really exhausted. Exhausted from work, people, stress, worrying, and everything else. I just want one carefree week where I just chill...I need to start exercising again, I think that's my biggest problem. I'll get started on that soon.

In another totally unrelated matter, did you know that over 350 million people in China smoke? That's more than the entire U.S. population. That's a lot!

Ok well, as you can probably guess, things aren't perfect, but all in all, I'm doing pretty well. I can't really complain, God is still good all the time!

Random video clip for you that all 2 of you who read this may find edifying:

전주 (Jeon Ju)

This weekend was pretty fun. On Friday I went with some friends to a jazz club in Hongdae. It was really hip and sweet. I really love jazz, and in a hollow way, for some reason I felt important being there, like I was part of the elite. Not that that really matters, but still, it was nice to be in such a classy place.

Then on Saturday, a friend from church took me outside of Seoul to where he goes to college in a place called Jeon Ju. He showed his college campus. It was a really modernized campus, and actually, the church I go to (onnurri) is foundational church of the University. Here's a couple of pictures to of the campus.

Then we went up to the library, and I got some great pictures of the city and surrounding area:

After that we went downtown to grab a bite to eat, then we met up with one of his friends. The downtown area reminded me a lot of Myungdung or parts of Anyung. Here's a couple pics to show what it's like:

That's my friend giving a funny but nice pose right before we caught the bus to go back.

Then on Sunday, after church, I met with a friend and went to a really really classy, nice tea place. This was like the fanciest cafe type place I've ever been to in my life. We had two things of tea, and one slice of cheesecake for $20 basically, so that tells you how nice the place was. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at the time or you can be sure you'd be seeing pictures of it.

So overall, it was a great weekend. Coming up, the Lunar New Year! Yay for three days off from work!!