Korea is crack…and I’m addicted!

so its getting pretty boring writing about my running.  i’m going to skip one more day. =P


 ramen1

i wish i was back in korea writing about all the fun and exciting stuff that happens over there.  ever since i came back from seoul, i’ve been sitting at home just sulking, thinking about the good times i had there.  i feel so lazy right now, i don’t feel like doing anything except think about korea.  actually, what i really feel like is that i just broke up with a girlfriend.  i just want to sit here and do nothing.  what i really need to do is get off this computer and do some work.  but don’t start worrying about me.  this sort of thing happens to me everytime i come back from korea. 

i’m going through some major withdrawal from korea right now.  it’s like i’m fiending for “koreaness”.  i’ve been bugging everybody on msn to send me their kpop off their computers.  i’ve even been reading the english version of chosun-ilbo I(which is a joke of a newspaper) just to find out what’s going on over there. 

you must understand…where i am right now, there are absolutely no koreans.  the closest i am to a korean is a dry cleaners on one end of town and an massage parlour on the other.  i’m about 45 minutes southeast from the old koreatown of chicago. and it would take me another 45 minutes to get to where all the new koreans moved out to in the northwest burbs.  dang, i need to totally sell this house and get the hoot out of here. 

after coming back from korea, american food seems to taste too salty or too greasy.  i’ve been putting gochu-jang on top of my panda express in order to keep from starving.  but since korean man cannot live on gochu-jang alone, i decided to make a trip into the old ktown to get some kimchi.  i remember driving through that area with my parents every weekend after church as a little kid.  its changed so much.  every store on lawrence avenue used to be korean-owned, but now its shrunk to about a quarter of what it used to be.  its all run down to mostly mexican-run businesses now. 

i finally see a grocery store i remember from back in the day and go in.  i’m not the best cook so i just buy anything and everything microwaveable (or at the very least add water to).  so i fill my cart with boxes of microwaveable rice (probably the korean equivalent of sliced bread when it comes to best inventions ever made), curry, a medley of ramen and banchan, instant dduck gook, canned tuna, chilsung cider….ooooh chilsung cider!!!, home run balls and two bottles of korea’s finest.  i am good to go!  i go up to the cashier to pay for everything and she speaks to me in english.  whoa…this is a first.  i guess they’ve gotten used to speaking english and spanish since all the koreans moved out.  wow, k-town’s been white washed!


on the way home, i was tempted to stop by a korean video store to pick up some dramas.  then i thought of the 45 minute drive i’d have to make again and just kept on driving. its all good, i got good stuff waiting for me at home.  i got korean satellite and it rocks! seriously…except for news, i won’t be watching american tv for a while…that is, until Lost comes back on (Feb 7).  how amazing is technology these days?  i’m surprised this isn’t driving the korean mom and pop video store out of business.  or is it?  actually its not supposed to since all the dramas that come on are already a few months old.

i’ve also registered for an username and password for kbs and other broadcasters internet sites to check out their latest programmings on their homepages as well.  they have streaming video of all the recent shows, but the quality kind of sucks so you just have to deal with it.  i’m actually more into movies than i am into shows or dramas.  with dramas i need to wipe out my schedule for at least like the next 3 days. 

so i’m downloading all these movies off the internet.  it actually takes forever to download put i’ve got a bunch coming through the pipelines.  but yeah, sometimes i do get restless.  its like i feel like one of those crack-addicts when it comes to watching kilobites trickle in through my bit torrents.  i pace back and forth around my house just begging my computer to go faster.  they take at least a few days or so for a just a 2 hour movie (which is probably why you always see me online).  stupid snail-internet service we have here in america.  korea is far more superior when it comes to technology.  i actually got so fed up with waiting, i went so far as to going to the local hollywood and blockbuster videos and rummaged through their foreign films section to find anything korean.  and wow, i actually found a few!

but its ok, don’t worry about me.  like i said…this sort of thing happens to me everytime i come back from korea.  i should be fine for about a week. 

SANY3033

oh i miss those days…

 

16 thoughts on “Korea is crack…and I’m addicted!”

  1. Lawrence Ave really has become the dumps.  I used to live just a walk away.  My old elementary school has doubled in size and so on.  After seeing all that change in Chicago it really made me realize that you really can’t return home, cause your old home is always changing and just makes you more nostalgic than anything.

  2. It must be different for everyone…I feel like a foreigner when I visit Korea. I can’t wait to leave after about 3 wks. So update a blog on best places to eat Korean in chicago area…and the largest and best Korean grocery store since I need to stock up on stuff….

  3. drink a lot of water an hour before your run, but be ready to pee halfway through.  You might want to carry gel packs and electrolyte tabs.  cover your nipples with bandaids or buy the stuff they sell in the store.  I got chaffed pretty good.  not too pleasant.  I’m running 18 miles on Sat.

  4. i feel the same exact way…i wanna go back to korea so bad even tho i was so ready to leave.
    and ur right..english chosun ilbo is a joke but still nonetheless entertaining. :)

  5. i know the withdrawls. this coming from a white girl!!! must be bad. when i first got to China i would go to the korean mart and pay way too much money for shin ramyeon, because it just tasted better. AND i refused to go to the korean mart that had chinese clerks. imposters!

  6. man just move to Korea! funny thing is you can substitute america for korea and thats how i feel. HOME! i miss HOME!

  7. Yeah I got some new shoes but the pain in my foot isn’t getting better.  It’s suppose to be a better fit, but I think the arch in my foot is still sore from over working it.  What shoes did you get?  I got the Asics Kinsei.

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