laura all over!

I’m finally updating my music library, thanks to having a...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:17:00 +0900

I’m finally updating my music library, thanks to having a ton of free time at work this week and coworkers who like good music.

“Walking on a Dream” - Empire of the Sun

i miss southeast asia

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:13:41 +0900

A lot. Even Myanmar… but not Vietnam.

My apartment, which is nothing more than a big room with a...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:20:11 +0900

Check out my $50 sheet and $60 blanket

Peruvian blanket = prized possession

My apartment, which is nothing more than a big room with a bathroom and laundry porch attached. The lighting is bad, like in every Korean apartment, but it looks a lot worse in the pics.

Everything is pretty much just how I want it, I only have to fill these two pillow cases I bought in Laos and Thailand and buy pillows for my bed. One of my coworkers lives in my building, and she has found a ton of nice furniture in the garbage in our neighborhood. So I’m going to steal her shoe rack and shelves for clothes when she leaves at the end of April. Piling things under my bed and TV work for now.

Plenty of room for my summer visitors! :D

How does it feel to be back teaching in Korea? What did you miss the most while you were gone?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:16:39 +0900

It’s great! I’m happy with my job and everything else. I missed my friends, having my own place, making money, and planning my next trip. I have to figure out my school’s vacation schedule so I can get on that last one. :)

Snow outside my apartment. In March. WHYYY???

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:01:04 +0900

Snow outside my apartment. In March. WHYYY???

agassinabe: datavis: North Korea | The Craziest Country In The...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:47:00 +0900

agassinabe:

datavis:

North Korea | The Craziest Country In The World

(Click for bigger.)

fuckyesmaps: World map of happiness (click to see bigger) I...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:21:47 +0900

fuckyesmaps:

World map of happiness

(click to see bigger)

I feel like there is no way this is accurate. SE Asian/Buddhist countries seem far more happier than Western ones. MUCH more. I want to know what this is based on; it seems so silly to try to measure happiness.

Couple Let Baby Starve To Death While Raising Virtual Baby Online

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:10:51 +0900

tumblrisforlulz:

gnate1:

A Korean couple allowed their child to starve to death because of their addiction to raising a ‘virtual’ child in a Second-Life-style game online known as Prius, reports say.

Kim Yoo-chul, 41, and Choi Mi-sun, 25, would feed their three-month-old baby only when not at 12-hour-online sessions in a local internet café. The pair were obsessed with raising their internet child, called Anima, resulting in the neglect of their unnamed real daughter.

Read More

I DIED AT THE TITLE

Ughhh. My sister showed me this. :[ Not good media attention for Korea.

samsung-dong

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:15:05 +0900

Like I’ve said 100 times, I love my new ‘hood.

I went into my new little grocery shop for the first time with my coworkers after work, and the owner was so surprised to see me with them.

Him: “New face!”

Coworker: “Yeah, new teacher!”

Him: “Ahh! New teacher!”

Then yesterday, he was very excited to introduce me to his daughter. ”New teacher!” Only in Korea. Lee Hyori also allegedly lives down the street so I’ll have to keep my eyes open for some celebrity-stalking opportunities.

Agatha was in Seoul for a week before finally heading back to...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:47:47 +0900

Late-night galbi last Monday

Joseph, Ags, me

I have lots of pictures with strangers

Agatha was in Seoul for a week before finally heading back to Chicago. She finished teaching the same time I did, and did a massive four-month trip around SE Asia. It was cool to be able to talk to someone about a lot of the places I’ve been too! It will be weird not having her in Seoul for my second year.

I finally bought a sheet for my bed. A sheet—nothing more—because this one piece of...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:34:28 +0900

I finally bought a sheet for my bed. A sheet—nothing more—because this one piece of fabric cost $50. I don’t understand why bedding is so expensive here. I would suggest to anyone coming to Korea to find out if their bed will be sheeted and blanketed, and if not, to find out the size and bring sheets of your own. Not only is everything expensive, most of it is really ugly, too. Luckily I found a decent looking sheet, and will have to go back to get a matching overpriced blanket. So dumb.

Easiest first day of a job ever

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:39:05 +0900

10:40am: Woke up, did nothing

1pm: Walked 5 minutes to work

2:30pm: Ate lunch that the school paid for (we get a 5,000 won meal allowance each day)

3pm: Taught first class of six

6:15pm: Coworker’s birthday, sang and ate cake. Bell rang, no one moved. ”Didn’t the bell ring?” ”Yeah.” Everyone sat and ate more cake for five minutes.

7:45pm: Finished last class, went home

MWFs are a bit longer, but will also be easy. Thursdays are even shorter. Awesome. It’s so much more laid back then my old job, it’s unbelievable.

hi! we're going to seoul on april 4 - 14.. can you suggest a hostel that is cheap and convenient. we're looking for double rooms. Thank you so much! : )

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:18:51 +0900

Hi! I actually don’t know of ANY hostels in Seoul, since I’ve never had to stay in one. Your best best would just to be to find one on hostelworld or something. For staying in Seoul, it would be ideal to be near a subway stop because the city is so big. Also, you should def try to stay a little north of the river if possible since that is where most of the stuff you would probably want to see is. Sorry I don’t know much :[

First day at my new school~ I made sure to pick out my best pair...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:00:00 +0900

First day at my new school~

I made sure to pick out my best pair of stretchy shorts.

I have a big bone to pick with whomever decided the Seoul public transportation hours. Subway...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0900

I have a big bone to pick with whomever decided the Seoul public transportation hours. Subway closing down at 12am on weekends and holidays? In a city where there are 24-hour coffee shops and clothing stores, and where it’s not uncommon for business-people to work super late hours? Really? I DID find out that the buses run later than the subway, though, which is helpful.. but still. I’ve spent $50 in the past three nights getting home from Hongdae or Sinchon. Ugh. White Whine, I know.

Side notes: there are an obscene amount of people from Illinois here now—which is awesome, and the number will only increase when Patrick and Jen come in the fall :). And the Lovely Bones is a really terrible movie.

I was wondering what my 1000th post would be. Turns out...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:36:00 +0900

I was wondering what my 1000th post would be. Turns out it’s also time to renew my website for its third year, which means that will make a pretty good topic.

Today I got an email from my host company letting me know that I will owe them $90something to renew my website. Wait, what? When I signed up for it, I was only paying 4.44/month, which ended up at around $50. I signed into the help chat to see what was up. Guess that only applies for the first year, and I must have missed that last year when it automatically renewed at the higher price. I really did not want to pay twice as much for my site, though. It was originally intended to be an online portfolio for my (now not-happening) advertising career, which would have a lot more worth than my blog. I love my blog and having my own domain, of course, but am not down to pay $100/year for it.

I also did not want to have to go through the hassle of switching companies because changing anything website-related is such a huge headache for me. Plus, the one I’m with (Globat) is nothing special, but I’ve never had any issues and the customer service is always good. So she first offered me $10 off. Nope, sorry. Then she put me on hold several times before finally saying they would offer me the same price I originally paid for one more year. Yeah! I’m glad that was easily taken care of, and my site will continue to exist.

Anyway, thank you to anyone who has checked out my blog! I’m sure I’ll easily do 1000 more posts…

Today Ben and Tae were super nice and brought more of my stuff...

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:46:53 +0900

Today Ben and Tae were super nice and brought more of my stuff over from Tae’s. Now I only have two not-very-big boxes left that I’ll probably get tomorrow. I also have caved and decided that hanging clothes from the ceiling isn’t sooo bad. Plus I have to wait until I get my flight reimbursement money (hopefully this week) before I spend a bunch of money on shelves and stuff, and I’m sick of having piles of clothes on the floor. My apartment is slowly coming together! I love it! I also got to explore my neighborhood a bit, and found countless coffee shops, a lot of good-looking restaurants, and a ton of other things that make it way better than my old area.

MY APARTMENT! Finally! It’s the standard Korean studio...

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:37:40 +0900

MY APARTMENT! Finally!

It’s the standard Korean studio size, which is perfectly fine for me. The pluses are that I inherited a couch, a painting, and a sailor hat. Minuses: no sheets, no pillow, and no closet. (It was a boy living here and he had just hung hangers on a string across the ceiling. Boys…) Since it’s a fancy neighborhood, there aren’t any E-Marts or Home Pluses nearby, so I’ll probably make a trip to the Jamsil Home Plus tomorrow to get bed stuff and figure out what to do with my clothes.

I’m so happy I can settle in. I went to my friend Tae’s to pick up half of the stuff I had left there, and it’s nice to be able to unpack everything I haven’t seen in months and finally be able to decorate with the things I bought in SE Asia. :D

whoisjing: For those who missed her performance or wants to...

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:54:00 +0900

whoisjing:

For those who missed her performance or wants to watch it again.

Oop this isn’t it. It’s REALLY hard to find online for some reason. I could only find it on SBS’s website, and NBC’s, which are only available for viewers in Korea and the States, respectively. ~~My SBS link seems to have died already, though.~~ (Nevermind, you just have to download a hundred things because Korean websites are designed as if it were still 2001. Something I will never understand.)

Nevertheless, this video is still amazing. I love her.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! Taco Bell in Itaewon! Right next to...

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:36:00 +0900

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! Taco Bell in Itaewon!

Right next to Bedlam, hahaha.