a i m l e s s

I’ve been catsitting for the last few months. I’ve grown to really love and adore Jen’s male cat named Pookah. He’s uber affectionate and snuggles better than any other boy I’ve met. He licks my face when I’m sweaty or sad and meows so sweet and high-pitched he sounds like a baby crying.

He only eats when I’m home. He loves dried sardines. I tried to teach him to poop in the toilet. It worked, but then he got confused and thought the toilet is for poo and my bed is for pee. The litter box was immediately reinstanted. My apartment now has a funk that will not go away. I love him, regardless.

This is what he looks like:

Hello from Korealand. Home of the fusion of many different Eastern traditions and celebrations, including Chinese Lunar New Year! In Korea, your age is different. Yes, that’s right kids. If you are born in, say November 1982… by the Lunar New Year in February 1983… you are officially 2 YEARS OLD in this crazy world. So when you meet someone here and they say how old they are, you can almost always assume it’s at least a year or two less. Interesting tid-bit.

But, the best part of the LUNAR NEW YEAR (aside from it being more accurate and sensical than whatever calendar we westerners follow) is that I GET FIVE CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF WORK OFF! And you know what that means… ADVENTURE TIME!
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The weather has gotten bitter. So bitter, in fact, that my kindergarteners cheered when I asked them, "Did the temperature get warmer or cooler?" after our morning calendar/weather bit. They're awaiting a HUGE snowfall. They wished, and ... [Continue reading this entry]

The night begins with the sound of a SMASH and HOWL as KeeSang and I enter my apartment. "What was that?" "I don't know, I think the motion light is broken!" "Oh, a cat is stuck inside! ... [Continue reading this entry]

Being my first Christmas away from the fam, I was a little sad and hesitant to get excited this holiday season. Gangneung's charm warmed me back into spirit. This city's lack of commercial Christmas technicolor lights, plastic billowing ... [Continue reading this entry]

I wish I could take credit for it, but it was a total integrative effort... Marnie was artistic director with help painting from: Jen, Jenna, Dana, Amy, Laura, Angela, some others, and I. How beautiful. They're wallsize. The mandala is finished, but I think ... [Continue reading this entry]

Meet KeeSang, he's awesome. It's not perfect, but this song is worth the listen.

How shall I describe watching the sun set and rise atop the highest peak of continental South Korea? It's silly to try, but I will.

The hike was about 15k to 5,603 feet. It ... [Continue reading this entry]

This has been by far my coolest Halloween. What better than to dress up and scare the hell out of Koreans?

I thought I was going to miss Halloween YET AGAIN, but as it turned out there were ... [Continue reading this entry]

Every year salmon swim upstream in October, before they lay their eggs. (Had I known they didn't lay the eggs yet, I would have thought twice about partaking.) Every year YangYang has a big salmon festival to commemorate ... [Continue reading this entry]