Craving

a Shake Shack Burger. Also wish I could eat any burger right now...combination of swollen right side and pain-killer induced nausea are making things tricky right now.

Focusing on that night when I ate a shroom burger wwith a regular hamburger patty. Odd combination of no appetite and empty stomach. Trying to focus...

Wind whistling

really really hard and my apartment building is also old. I just gave in and turned on the heat. So let's think instead of warmer days, like when I went to Hiroshima last September. Although I should say that it was 80 degrees during the day today and then it thunderstormed and rained, (or at least the weather forecast said it would and it looked wet when I stepped out from the mall, I used the rain as an excuse to take shelter there for two hours). It will be in the forties tomorrow.

Self-Esteem

These are some insoles that are quite easily found throughout popular shopping areas in Seoul. They are meant for guys who want to add a few more inches (since girls can wear heels I suppose) and are referred to as "self-esteem". Apparently a Korean comedian had done a skit on them where he referred to them as such and the name caught on. His catchphrase was something along the lines of, "So how much self-esteem do you have today?"I think.

One of the highlights of that day. Also this amazing snack called Tornado Potato (I might have made up that name), it is a spiral cut potato speared on a skewer and then deep fried and coated in yummy powder. Like potato chips on a skewer but thicker slices so potato chips with a bit more substance.

English v. Japanese in South Korea

In all of the major tourist places I went, Japanese was much more common than English. In many of the shops I went to, they assumed I was Korean first (I guess I don't wear the kind of doll-like makeup that seems to popular with Japanese girls) but when I indicated that I didn't understand, and said that I am from the U.S. they usually looked troubled. But then if I said I spoke Japanese, all of the shopkeepers spoke at least a few simple Japanese words and some were quite fluent. Particularly in Insadong and Myeong-dong (touristy art street and shopping area). One vendor in Insadong selling handmade candy even had a whole routine complete with small jokes and puns in Japanese demonstrating how the candy is made. They also played up to the Japanese omiyage custom...so many Japanese tourists in Korea!

The top image is from Changdeok-gong, of the Japanese tour I went on (it fit better with my schedule). There must have been a hundred people, and the Korean tours before and after had about ten people apiece.

Also, Snow White is pretty curvy in South Korea, her skirt's also shorter. This is an apple juice pouch.

First Apartment

Living alone has given me a new perspective on certain things, in this case, with regard to furniture. I saw this table and the first thing I thought was what a pain in the butt to clean. It looks cool, certainly different from typical coffee tables, and nice that it's made from scrap blocks of wood with little (in those images at least) in the way of screws or nails but imagine dusting that thing.

My new love: Kokuyo Dotliner

テープのり, think white-out tape dispenser (not liquid white-out) crossed with double-sided scotch tape. So simple, but such a great idea! You can now easily use double sided tape without getting the stickiness on your hands, making hands more, and tape less, sticky.

Japanese version of chunky versus creamy debate

I made peanut-butter jelly sandwiches for a bunch of my students a while back, since none of them had had one before. I added that in the U.S. people often have strong preferences for either chunky or creamy peanut butter. It is, as one student said, like tsubu-an and koshi-an, two types of anko (bean paste). Tsubu-an has bean skins so it is more textured while koshi-an doesn't so it's smoother. At bakeries here, it isn't uncommon to find two types of bean buns at a bakery, tsubu-an ones and koshi-an ones.

I also introduced students to root-beer (Village Vanguard) and microwave popcorn (the stove top kind is much more common, I got my microwave kind at a foreign foods specialty store).