Holding it Down [for K-town]

So Dae Ha Minkuk may be out of the world cup, but they sure did us proud and fought the good fight. (Unlike other teams I could name, who put up a less than stellar performance against Ghana. *cough* *cough*)

Anyway, here's a bit of evidence that we came out strong for the national team.

Also, I would like to officially nominate Korea Republic team for the best hair award. Someone talk to the people at FIFA about that please... ^^.

On Error

"To do any kind of creative work well, you have to run at stuff
knowing that it's usually going to fail. You have to take that into
account and you have to make peace with it. We spend a lot of money and time on stuff that goes nowhere. It's not unusual for us to go through 25 or 30 ideas and then go into production on eight or 10 and then kill everything but three or four. In my experience, most stuff that you start is mediocre for a really long time before it actually gets good. And you can't tell if it's going to be good until you're really late in the process. So the only thing you can do is have faith that if you do enough stuff, something will turn out great and really surprise you."

-Ira Glass, on Being Wrong.


(see the full interview here)

Jeju-Do and other adventures

Yesterday was the anniversary of my school's founding. In Korea, it is customary for both students and teachers to have the School's Birthday as a day off, which is an excellent practice if I do say so myself. So, I took the long weekend as a chance to finally visit Jeju-Do, a picturesqe island just south of the Korean peninsula popular with honeymooing couples and school field trips.

 Jeju. Both beautiful, and delightfully weird.

Traditional Lava Rock Statue Guy

Kimbab. The Ultimate Travel Snack.

(I was really excited that the warning on the chopsticks wasn't a random Konglish typo. There actually was a toothpick included.)

Getting ready to climb Sunrise Peak

On my return, since cultural assimilation is now my favorite hobby, I did the polite thing and brought some chocolates (made from special jeju-do oranges) to my prinicpal. He said he was sorry I was leaving them after this year, and then made crying gestures with his hands to emphasise his point. After the stream of finger-tears had ebbed, we both bowed alot and I made my way out of his office because I'd pretty much run out of things to stay. Just another reason why my job is awesome. Even on days when I wish I wasn't at work.

너를 사랑해

So, I am now completely in love with this song, Neorul Saranghe (I love you) by Han Dong Jun.



Mostly becuase of this scene from Coffee Shop Prince, which may or may not be the best K-drama of all time.



Seriously, this is probably the sweetest thing I have ever seen on TV. Ever.  What really makes it for me is Han Kyul's expression as he sings. adorbs.

To conclude: Coffee Prince, good. Random outbursts of song, good. Singing by handsome lead of Coffee Prince at a key moment in the narrative, insanely amazing. ^^

Seoul at night

Warmer weather is here and the nights are just right for walking around with no particular destination in mind. This was taken on the highway near the Han, the major river running through Seoul.

Doesn't my city just look great at night?