Bitearsweet

So it's day 3 of my Seattle trip. Finally got internet access yesterday (for FREE) due to some technical difficulties we had with the so-called free internet in the lobby area. So quick summary of what's happened here so far:

DAY 1
Arrived Wednesday evening and went straight to our hotel, Hotel Andra, straight from the airport. Doesn't really feel like a hotel... more homey like feel. The room isn't too bad, but the bathroom is AWESOME (yes I have a thing for nicely designed bathrooms lol!)

I finally got my 김치찌개 fix!!! It's been so long since I've had Korean food and if it wasn't because they were closed last time, I would have been able to fulfill my craving long ago! But oh how I LOVE 김치찌개! Reminds me of 딸기골분식 at the bottom of the hill of Yonsei where I ate the crap out of my 김치찌개 haha!! Maybe I should learn to make it myself so I can eat myself silly! Oh how I want to get my 떡 fix now... 누가 떡사랑에 가고 싶다??? Anybody??

Once again I've been hit with the weird random events that I thought only happened to me in Korea. At first I thought it was due to the uniqueness of Korea, but I guess it just follows me and emerges once in a while now saying "Surprise!! I'm here!!" For those who don't know, the first time I went to Korea a few interesting things happened.

1) Someone knocked on our door one night (I was checking email before heading off to bed) and I opened it to see 2 guys standing there in plain clothes who showed me what *looked* like a business card until I read the 2 words POLICE. They started interrogating me and asking me questions about who was living with me, who owned the place and showed me a picture of a guy asking if I'd seen him cos this place was the address they had for him. Even though I had limited Korean and told them so, they continued asking me questions in Korean. I told them I was a student at Yonsei and then it turned out the younger one was a Yonsei graduate, my "sunbae" and then he got excited and *more* questions came that were unrelated like what I was studying, what year I was, etc. Needless to say, after about 10 minutes of one cop trying to speak English and asking me about school while the other cop tried to ask me questions about the guy in the photo and exhausting my Korean skills, they apologized for disturbing me so late at night and then happily went off to the elevator. Me: "What the hell just happened?!"

2) While getting ready to go on a school field trip to the museum (which I had to pay 10,000 won for) I got a phone call on my cell. I bought my phone off my friend's friend Ace who went back to the States so when the caller asked for him, that's exactly what I told him. Then he answers me with, "Oh, Ace back to America? That's ok, you come to TV station 10."
Me: "Pardon?"
Caller: "I drama director. You cast, we start film at 10. You come to station."
Me: "(You kidding me?) Uh, I'm busy I can't come."
Caller: "No?"
Me: "I don't speak Korean. I don't act."
Caller: "That ok, you come 10."
Me: "Um, sorry I can't come."
Caller: "No? Ok, next time."
Me: "What the hell just happened?!"

3) Although Korea isn't huge, there are TONS of people. It's even difficult to run into classmates or friends in other classes that live near campus. I ran into the same person in 3 different occasions at 3 different locations. One day while going to the Free Market, we ran into some friends of a friend of mine. Me: "OMG You're the girl I've ran into 3 times in a month!!"

4) It's not common to find mosquitoes on the Seoul Metropolitan Subway cos it's all underground and there are so many lines ( 8 at the time). I fell asleep on my way to hip hop class one day and when I woke up, I had 2 mosquito bites... one on each eyelid. People thought I had some weird style of makeup on cos my eyes were swollen. My friend: "How the hell did you manage to get 2 mosquito bites on the subway?? And on your eyelids???"

5) And now for the latest! I just got a temp phone cos my cell phone is being unlocked. A few nights ago my cell rang at about 10:30pm and it wasn't a number I recognized. After it rang for the longest time, I picked up and was "greeted" (not really) by a shocked guy on the other end.
Caller: "Uh, are you... are you... who is this?"
Me: "Uh, who are you looking for?"
Caller: "Who is this?"
Me: "Well *who* are you looking for?"
Caller: "........... Uh... are you working tonight?"
Me: "What? No. Who are you looking for??"
Caller: "Who is this? I used to have this number..."
Me: "Well who are you trying to get ahold of?"
Caller: "..........I had this number a long time ago that I used to call... to get *stuff*."
Me: ".........."
Caller: "Are you working tonight? Uh, can I get some *stuff*?"
Me: "......... I think you have the wrong number."
Caller: "But are you working tonight? I just want some *stuff*."
Me: "Sorry buddy, you have the *wrong* number."
Caller: "Oh... uh...k..."
Me: CLICK. WTF?!

I've been meaning to start another creative journal again for a few years now. Last time I had one was in university when I had to keep one cos we were getting graded on it, but reading the things I wrote back then has made me realize how much creativity I've lost in the last few years. Even being in the business for the last 3 years hasn't helped, considering I previously had that 3 year gap doing nothing related to design at all. I've also been told by other designers and fine artists that being in this city decreases your creativity the longer you stay here and I agree 100%. So now I'm trying to commit myself to actually doing this creative journal even if it starts off slow at the beginning. Maybe try to set a goal for one a week? Trying to decide whether to keep an online exploration or a notebook exploration is difficult too cos there are so many pros and cons for both. I just have to stop thinking about it and do it!

*I just found an "I Love Typography" site!!! That's going to keep me interested for a while!!!*

Just wanted to do a quick shout-out to my friend 태연! Congrats on opening your own dance studio in 왕십리!! Wish I could be there in person to congratulate you but now it just gives me more of an incentive to go back to Korea!!! 태연오빠, 행운을 빌어요!! 화이팅 {^_^}!!

Watched an amazing documentary in company class today by Moncell "ill Kozby"called Everything Remains Raw. It talks about the history of hip hop and the present day misconceptions of hip hop. A DEFINITE must-see for everyone who's a "hip hop" dancer and anyone else who's interested in hip hop. Hopefully people will start to steer towards the right path and not take something so great for face value. It's time to give hip hop the true respect it deserves!!

Got into the Advanced Fly Girlz Company Class!!! This totally takes the cake compared to before though cos this isn't just any class at a studio. It's a Company class which, for all you non-dancers, means it's for people with experience. And to be taught by 3rd Place winners of the World Hip Hop Championships is also REALLY awesome. Sho Tyme's coming on the 29th to teach us a workshop class! That's the next thing I'm looking forward to!

Went for a drink at Hudson's with Eddie tonight. I haven't seen him in a few years! It was so good to see him again, considering we used to be so close during our cadet days and now I don't see him for years at a time. It was just like old times... him texting me calling me a "punk" really put a smile on my face =) We did some major catching up today, even though there hasn't really been anything new happening for the both of us. I did learn that he may become a firefighter as opposed to a police officer now! We used to talk about being police officers all the time back in the cadet days and to hear him say that he might be going to a plan B now really surprised me. I was also surprised to know a lot of cadets have become police officers now... some that we didn't even think would even make it in. Looking back, I've known Eddie for 12 years already! We both reminisced about those days and both agreed how much we miss it. If it weren't for cadets I wouldn't have learned all the things I know today, and I wouldn't have experienced all that I've experienced. Rock-climbing, kayaking, white water rafting, canyoning, canoeing, scuba-diving, horseback riding, caving, multitude of hiking, repelling... I don't think I would have done any of it were it not for cadets, and I don't think I would have made such good friends either.

I never thought I'd ever have to go through something like this first-hand... I mean I've faced things like racism before and being stereotyped, but discrimination because of religion??? How ridiculous. Especially from people of my own culture. Seriously, it hurts even more and makes me even more baffled when it's something like that. We've been taught how we're all equal since we're young, regardless of colour, culture, or gender, but I don't think people ever think about religion. I seen some pretty mean and stupid things people have done to target against other religions and I'm sure a lot of people think about the Middle East on this topic as opposed to home. Our neighbour in our old neighbourhood once gave us what was pretty much a hate video against our religion so that we would convert. Yes you guessed it, same culture and ethnicity as me! And I thought that was bad! This weekend I was volunteering for the Lunar New Years Extravaganza and found out that all the people from our temple that was asked to volunteer got dropped except for 3 of us. Why? Because at the last minute some of the organizers thought it would be good to use people from their church and thus dropped our volunteers. Excuse me??? Then when we showed up, whatever jobs we were assigned to do kept getting taken away from us when the time came for us to do it, and in the end everything turned out to be a mess with things like wrong appreciation awards given to the wrong people. What really took the cake was how we were embarrassed when we went to go get food, after we were told to. We were told to put our food back cos we were not VIP and whoever told us to get food was wrong. So embarrassingly, we put our plates down on the table in front of all the VIP of the grand opening ceremony before we walked away. They already didn't have food for us to eat when we were told to go get lunch, and this time meant no food either. It's a good thing that the aunty who asked us to volunteer (and successfully kept the 3 of us as volunteers) had a strong head and fought for us... plus I knew one of the organizers personally. They told us to go back to get the food and after a bit of coaxing from 3 of the organizers and one of them personally handing us our plates at the food line, we uncomfortably got our food.

I actually don't have any ill-feelings against those people, but it really saddens me to think that someone would treat someone else so poorly because of the differences in religion. It's as stupid as, if not more, than being racist! I'm comfortable with my religion and I know you're comfortable with yours, that's why you have your faith, but do not and I repeat do NOT tell me I'm wrong, bad or less superior just because I'm Buddhist. I've been Buddhist my entire life and I've turned out just fine. I have the same morals as you do, I don't cause harm to anyone, so what gives you the right to treat me like a criminal or an outcast? I definitely have to tip my hat to the aunty cos she's such a strong person. I love her philosophy of "you can believe in whatever religion you want, but do not go overboard with it and piss me off" and believe me... you do NOT want to piss her off cos she will come at you like a ton of bricks!

So we checked out at noon today and sat in the lobby for about an hour finishing a client's website (free internet baby!) Walked to the nice little cafe we had breakfast at on our second day (I think it was called Tart to Tart?) and had lunch before we headed to the airport. While walking out the door to grab a taxi, the bellboy asked me if we needed a taxi and to where. I told him and was expecting him to grab us a taxi while we waited in the hotel taxi line as usual but instead he had another bellboy come over who asked if we would like to take the house car to the airport instead for $4 more than what we were going to pay for the taxi. It was the BEST choice ever!!! They led us to this really sleek black car with all it's windows tinted (luxury car... think limo but personal car size). It was SO roomy with leather seats and our driver (in this case, chauffeur) had relaxing jazz music coming from the speakers... it was GOLD. And once the doors were closed, you couldn't even hear a single sound of the traffic outside. It was the most comfortable car ride I'd ever taken.

It was fast going through customs and security at the airport so we ended up going to the duty-free shop and still sitting there for about an hour and a half (we got to the airport 3 hours earlier as they suggested). The sky was gloomy and raining while we were waiting but once the plane got there, there was a break in the clouds and a beautiful ray of sunlight was shining through. It was amazing. We flew to Seattle and transferred planes back to Edmonton. Apparently I was sitting on a card at the terminal that said "Flowers by Karen"... what are the odds! The plane was maybe half full on the way back so we got to sit where ever we wanted. It was fast going through Canadian Customs probably cos it was midnight and there was no one else there. We went straight to Denny's after we dropped off our kind "pick-up" person at her car. Bed time at 3am again... I'm totally going to feel it...

Went to the final day of the conference today. We had lunch with a potential client at a pizza place that served HUGE personal pizzas (more like the size of a medium pizza!) Plans were changed a little today... went to SFMOMA finally!!!!! It was AMAZING!! I got to see some of Picasso's works up close and finally... ANDY WARHOL!! Definitely the highlight of my trip! Last time I missed out on the exhibit in Montreal and even though it was only 5 pieces, I still got to see them finally! There were a few really odd pieces though... there was one where it was basically a video of a girl "dancing" around and singing but her voice was distorted and she was sped up, plus the video was mainly black and white with weird effects and other music on top like Simon and Garfunkel. It was very ring-esque and super creepy, but there were people sitting on a bench in that pitch black room just watching the video like they were hypnotized or something.

We had frozen yogurt afterwards (totally reminded me of Red Mango!) and then it was back to the hotel to work on the website. We finished at about 9pm, just in time before our internet minutes ran out. Went to Japantown / Little Osaka for some absolutely amazing Korean food and then to the 노래방 across the street for about 2 hours. Before calling it a night, we watched Derren Brown's The Heist. He's the original mentalist and it was crazy what the power of suggestion can do! Absolutely amazing!

Checking out tomorrow and then it's back to Edmonton!

Today was fairly easy... we left at about 11am and walked down to a nice little cafe that had excellent breakfast. It was like Fresh Start but cheaper! Audrey and I decided to walk on our own and let Tom go to the conference first cos we had to get some good 'ol Dr. Scholl's from Walgreens. Of course being on our own, we decided to do a little "sightseeing" and ended up going to Papyrus where I found my some excellent thin pens for cheap, and to an art supply store (so hard not to buy anything!) The area around the hotel's quite artsy, being the fact that it's right across the street from an art academy and about a block away from the SFMOMA. SFMOMA is having their anniversary show and the plan is to go check it out Friday. Can't wait!

We went to Chinatown for dinner cos we wanted to check out the world's largest Chinatown outside of China. It definitely felt like we were in Asia, that's for sure! I loved the feeling! Too bad it was a little late when we got there so pretty much only restaurants were open and it wasn't as lively as it probably is normally. We walked up and down and decided to settle with a place called Cathay House. BAD idea. The food was TERRIBLE! I've never had such bad Chinese food! And it smelled a little musty inside! I felt like I was in an old Chinese movie! Plus there were pretty much only white people in there (should have known!) The guy at the front (I'm thinking he's the owner) reminded me of an old triad boss and I was expecting some kind of a deal to go on in there or something. Peking duck... my beloved peking duck. The wraps were thick and the duck wasn't cut very well... either it was pure skin or a thick slab of meat. No harmony! I don't mind the wraps being different cos I can understand that being different everywhere but come on! The duck was not done very professionally. The beef was bland and had a weird aftertaste, the broccoli was bitter and the chicken... I don't even know how to describe it! Even the rice was bad! My mom always says that if there's any food that I won't eat, then you surely shouldn't eat it cos I pretty much eat everything. Last night was one of those situations cos after one serving of rice, I had enough.

We called room service for breakfast today and the stuff was HUGE! It wasn't too bad, but it was BIG. Went to the Moscone Centre for the conference and nothing could have prepared us for how BIG the conference was. It was so overwhelming! Ended up pretty much walking 5 hours non-stop, looking at stuff about photonics and grabbing material. Finally left at about 4pm and went to Cheesecake Factory in the Macy's on Geary Street for a "snack" (turned out to be basically a meal!) The weather was quite nice today! It rained a bit this morning but when we left it was sunny and blue skies. Of course by the time we left Cheesecake Factory at about 6:30pm, the sky had gotten dark. It's nice to not be able to see your breath when you're outside! Also kinda interesting to see a bunch of people wearing their winter jackets (especially the Asian tourists) when we're walking around with just a thin jacket. Actually I walked to Walgreen's just now and it was NICE! I was actually quite hot while walking back. Such nice weather to walk around outside ^_^. Well, 2 more days of walking around the conference. Hope my feet don't hurt as much tomorrow as they did today!!

So here I am sitting in my hotel room after day 1 of my first business trip. Not really day 1 actually, considering the entire day was really spent on travelling to our destination more than anything. We're staying at the Palace Hotel, a little ways from the Ritz-Carlton. Hotel's quite nice, although quite expensive. But I've got my own room and a massive king-sized bed. I'm not used to something so big so we'll see how I sleep on it tonight! This is really the first time that I've ever slept in a room away from home on my own. Although my boss is next door, it's still quite lonely... no one to talk to or gossip with before falling asleep. Room is huge too... 14 foot ceiling and a massive flat screen. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow though... it's not really fun to walk through and it's gonna be tough to look professional when you're soaking wet!