jet-lagged, riced-out, and gassy

first impressions are quite important, right?  well my first impression of this country is...less than pleasant.  i have never missed "white-people" or the sound of english more than now.  i've been in korea for 5 1/2 hours and man, do i feel homesick!  i'm so homesick that as i look at the departure times for flights heading to new york city, i'm feeling tempted to just hop on one of them and give up on this "choose your own adventure" experiment of mine.

thus far, i've been getting by with hand gestures and over pronounced speech ("h-o-w-m-u-c-h-f-o-r-a-p-h-o-n-e-c-a-r-d?" *insert universal gesture for a telephone).  after getting in around 3:30am, all i wanted was a shower, so i embarked on an adventure to find one.  i ended up in a spa/sauna (yes, they have SPAS in their airport!) to refresh myself and take yet another nap.  what i got instead was an awful glare from the locker room attendant for brushing my teeth at the sink (apparently you should brush your teeth in the shower) and nasty scowls from the other women in the locker room because i'm not korean or look predominately asian...man, what a faux-pas!  the irony of it all was these women were bare-naked giving me the stare down when it is i who should be bothered by their bare-bottoms.  but on the bright side, the spa was beyond luxurious for the price you pay.  oh did i mention its near immaculate condition?  it's so clean that you can eat off the floor!

but what i truly miss right now beside the "white-people" who don't show their bare-bottoms while giving nasty looks, is my favorite breakfast of organic yogurt, fresh fruit, and organic granola.  all that is offered for breakfast, snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner is f'n kimchi.  i truly enjoy the dish back home, but man, i'm already sick of it.  it's as though the koreans set out to make every possible dish out of fermented cabbage, and they succeeded at the task.  kudos to them, but too much cabbage for me. i hate being this closed-minded/american...i'll get over it.

ok, i don't know whose cute idea it was to serve kimchi on a 14 1/2 hour plane ride, but it is not settling well in my stomach.  i think i just have to get used to it or maybe i should just avoid kimchi all together because i'm walking around super bloated and gassy, yet another faux-pas.

PS: my next post will have actual pictures that i've taken.  right now, my camera is buried under 50 lbs of clothes...until next time

i'm free at last, i'm free at last, thank god all mighty i'm free at last!

sunday was my last day at starbucks (or as glen lovingly calls it star'fucks').  i've been emancipated from the pungent odors of coffee.  no longer will i permeate the smell of coffee or wake up at god-awful hours to serve it.  don't get me wrong, i've had fun along the way, but now onto korea ;)

"the help"

'reunited and it feels so good...'

charlottesville, VA

this little utopia in the middle of rural virginia was a great place to meet up with my bff jean-paul.  we spent most of our time eating like gluttons, whining about the sparseness of the rutgers campus compared to UVA campus, playing scrabble, and settling back into our normal childish banter.

i couldn't help but notice the stark difference in people's attitudes down in the "south".  virginians, and i'm assuming almost anyone south of new jersey, are super sweet and are always sincere when they say (with a southern draw) "and y'all have a nice day!" as opposed to the dirty jerzey way "yeah have a great day (you piece of shit)".  

having this in mind, i was greatly amused by this one incident that occurred at starbucks last week.  i was busy stocking when a gentleman attempted to make a joke about me.  his wife quickly chided him saying, "honey, stop bothering the help!"...the HELP?!?  since when was i demoted from a barista to an amoeba?  i wanted to say something in response and out of sheer disgust to this ridiculous comment, but i just walked away.

alas, as they were walking out, all i could say was "y'all have a nice day!"...i guess i didn't have the jerzey in me to say "have a great day (you silly bitch)".