(no subject)
Sometimes I can hardly believe that I used to post in my livejournal every day, sometimes three times a day. But back then, I was awfully unhappy and so was everything I wrote, with a few splashes of "maybe everything isn't so bad" thrown in.
Yesterday, David and I were watching "Changeling" which has some brutal, very realistic-feeling scenes of a psych ward in the late 1920's, which rehashed all kinds of things I would rather forget, now that I am, in general, happy and well-adjusted and responsible. That time in my life was so weird, like I could feel something taking over who I am supposed to be.
You know how sometimes in life, you feel totally stuck, and you can't stand yourself or anything/anyone else? Whenever I feel like that I have to change one of three things: my house, my hair, or my significant other. I have neither the desire nor the intention to change my significant other for the rest of my life, and I tried moving my furniture, but found out there are black stains on the wall behind my wardrobe, so I have to leave everything where it is. I cleaned for five hours but didn't feel much better about my living space.
Oh and I got another nosebleed. I feel like it is not really a big deal, but...they are annoying and David worries so so much when I get them.
So today I got may hair colored blonde again. It's a little on the canary-yellow side, but this is Korea after all, and the decision to dye your hair blonde isn't usually supposed to look natural. I will get used to it. Or I will dye it back. But man, it was a lot more expensive than I expected, so I hope I get used to it.
Also! I am on vacation at the moment, which is lovely. On Saturday, David and I went to the beach in Gangwondo, where LITERALLY two million people went. It took six hours for our bus to arrive, and when we got there, no space was left to put down our towels and see the ocean at the same time.
Ay yi yi.
But we squished in between some other folks, and swam for about thirty minutes with hundreds of other people and their inflatable toys and their antics and the same lack of perception as to other human beings' presence as they do when walking down the street. (I do not know why, but Koreans never look where they are going when they walk and do not care in the slightest when they smack into your shoulders. This continues to piss me off, no matter how long I live here.)
I enjoyed the swimming, and making a sand castle with David, and eating patbingsu outside.
But seriously, too many people.
Saturday, on the other hand? Awesome. David and I went to church together, and afterward headed down to the Han River for our first wakeboarding lesson!! We were kind of concerned at the beginning, because they didn't seem all that organized and we couldn't find the person in charge. But finally, we did, and joined a class led entirely in Korean. David was my personal translator. The instructor made me practice a million times on the ground, how to prepare in the water and then stand up on the board. Like snowboarding, he said the hardest part of wakeboarding is standing up. So we all practiced on the ground and listened to instructions for the first hour, then went out in a six-seater motorboat (there were five people in the class, plus the instructor). One by one we practiced in the water. Nobody stood up on the first try, but we got about seven tries each, with the instructor circling back every time we dropped the handle. But during the first round, two of us managed to stay up for more than ten seconds, the guy who went second, and me. I was very proud. During the second round, most of us stayed up for a couple seconds. The guy before me stayed up about thirty seconds, and I rode for about two, maybe three minutes before my shoulders finally got tired and I dropped the handle.
Seriously, I don't think I have been that proud of myself since I learned to read. When are you really proud of yourself?
The whole thing was just such a positive experience, the instructor was really clear and straight-forward, David translated perfectly, and the group I learned with was really supportive of each other.
Today was more low-key, I went to the bank and got my hair colored and did all sorts of fun errands. I tried to go to the dentist, but they were inexplicably closed.
Oh, AND I went to see Inception, which was oh my gosh brilliant.
Yesterday, David and I were watching "Changeling" which has some brutal, very realistic-feeling scenes of a psych ward in the late 1920's, which rehashed all kinds of things I would rather forget, now that I am, in general, happy and well-adjusted and responsible. That time in my life was so weird, like I could feel something taking over who I am supposed to be.
You know how sometimes in life, you feel totally stuck, and you can't stand yourself or anything/anyone else? Whenever I feel like that I have to change one of three things: my house, my hair, or my significant other. I have neither the desire nor the intention to change my significant other for the rest of my life, and I tried moving my furniture, but found out there are black stains on the wall behind my wardrobe, so I have to leave everything where it is. I cleaned for five hours but didn't feel much better about my living space.
Oh and I got another nosebleed. I feel like it is not really a big deal, but...they are annoying and David worries so so much when I get them.
So today I got may hair colored blonde again. It's a little on the canary-yellow side, but this is Korea after all, and the decision to dye your hair blonde isn't usually supposed to look natural. I will get used to it. Or I will dye it back. But man, it was a lot more expensive than I expected, so I hope I get used to it.
Also! I am on vacation at the moment, which is lovely. On Saturday, David and I went to the beach in Gangwondo, where LITERALLY two million people went. It took six hours for our bus to arrive, and when we got there, no space was left to put down our towels and see the ocean at the same time.
Ay yi yi.
But we squished in between some other folks, and swam for about thirty minutes with hundreds of other people and their inflatable toys and their antics and the same lack of perception as to other human beings' presence as they do when walking down the street. (I do not know why, but Koreans never look where they are going when they walk and do not care in the slightest when they smack into your shoulders. This continues to piss me off, no matter how long I live here.)
I enjoyed the swimming, and making a sand castle with David, and eating patbingsu outside.
But seriously, too many people.
Saturday, on the other hand? Awesome. David and I went to church together, and afterward headed down to the Han River for our first wakeboarding lesson!! We were kind of concerned at the beginning, because they didn't seem all that organized and we couldn't find the person in charge. But finally, we did, and joined a class led entirely in Korean. David was my personal translator. The instructor made me practice a million times on the ground, how to prepare in the water and then stand up on the board. Like snowboarding, he said the hardest part of wakeboarding is standing up. So we all practiced on the ground and listened to instructions for the first hour, then went out in a six-seater motorboat (there were five people in the class, plus the instructor). One by one we practiced in the water. Nobody stood up on the first try, but we got about seven tries each, with the instructor circling back every time we dropped the handle. But during the first round, two of us managed to stay up for more than ten seconds, the guy who went second, and me. I was very proud. During the second round, most of us stayed up for a couple seconds. The guy before me stayed up about thirty seconds, and I rode for about two, maybe three minutes before my shoulders finally got tired and I dropped the handle.
Seriously, I don't think I have been that proud of myself since I learned to read. When are you really proud of yourself?
The whole thing was just such a positive experience, the instructor was really clear and straight-forward, David translated perfectly, and the group I learned with was really supportive of each other.
Today was more low-key, I went to the bank and got my hair colored and did all sorts of fun errands. I tried to go to the dentist, but they were inexplicably closed.
Oh, AND I went to see Inception, which was oh my gosh brilliant.