The machines all sing me a chorus and a real life European shoulder bag

-  My insides have finally adjusted to the spicy/unusual food, jerky taxi driver driving, the subway and buses.  Now it's time for me to leave next week.  I am finally able to enjoy myself without wanting to shut myself in a dark room.

- Nobody, nooobody ever has their cell phone on vibrate.  It is generally on the loudest setting with the flashiest song.  I was at my cousin's daughter's kindergarten recital (which was...the cutest) and at least 4 phones singing songs of techno beats, Tchaikovsky, K-Pop and the like went off.



The equivalent to our youth dressed in tri -cornered hats and bonnets. Only this is cuter.


-  Speaking of which...everything mechanical in Korea sings rather than beeps.  Why beep when you can...SING?  The rice cookers, notifications on the subway that tell you when a stop is arriving, doors even (a lot of apartment complexes have electronic doors)..they all sing a melodic jingle as they are operated.  We even went across some rumble strips on the highway and no joke the different frequencies formed a melody...Mary Had a Little Lamb.  My mom is constantly asking where that noise is coming from.  Something is usually being turned on or off.

-  5 out of the 5 computers I've used only have IE installed. One had IE6.  I expected more out of an incredibly technically advanced society.  I mean, there are automatic door handle sanitizers on some doors...yet the browser of choice is one that doesn't work.

-  Noodles and soup are to be slurped.  At first this was alarming.  However, now that I've been a slurper I understand why.  It actually does taste better this way, and if every one is doing, hey, no big whoop...I will do it too.  I think it has to do with the way the food moves across the tongue.  Have you ever been to a wine tasting class and they tell you to slurp you wine across your tongue so you can properly taste the wine in all its glory?  Well, this is what that's like.  And it cools things down quite nicely.



Lots of floor eating.  This is in a restaurant..you take your shoes off at the door and step up to the floor where the tables are.  My butt and legs constantly fall asleep.

-  I couldn't resist...though this is more of a satchel, I thought the British nationalism would be a nice touch.

-  Korean food really does taste better in Korea.  The cabbage is sweeter, which I think makes for a more balanced kimchi.  I went back to the little hole in the wall near my aunt's studio and had another piping hot (they boil the soup right at the table) pot of the seafood bouillabaisse.  Then had a cup of slightly burned rice bits (the kind that stick to the bottom of the rice cooker) and hot water, served from a small stone stove attached to a stove pipe in the middle of the dining area.  I felt like it would be an insult to take pictures...this one will just have to live in my memory.

- To clear the record...Koreans are not poor drivers, they are just really aggressive.  And they can seriously park their car into the tiniest of tiniest.  I seen it!

- My aunt is a talented sculptor.  She ever let me play with some clay...here is my masterpiece.  A naked chubby girl with a crazy perm (I copied from a picture in a book I saw of Eve).

-  I found this dog on Namsan Mountain.  I wanted to take him home.



I followed him around screaming "here doggy", there was no owner in site. My mom told me not to touch him and that he probably doesn't understand English.

- My mother just asked "what is that noise? Is some one's phone ringing?"  No...it was the washing machine.  The load is done.