A Really Annoying Kind of Awesome

I'm sitting in the lounge of my grad school, trying to finish this week's readings before the weekend, and there are two people speaking in Korean behind me, and my ears keep perking up because of the stuff they're saying in their conversation.

Now be it understood that one thing I've historically loved about living in Korea, is being able to sit in a coffee shop where, because everybody around me's speaking a language I can't follow, it's easy to totally tune out the voices around me.  The conversation around me is like ocean sounds: it's noise, meaningless, and it creates a backdrop where I can usually be pretty productive.

But today, I'm catching enough of the conversation, and understanding enough of the words, that I can't tune it out.

And that's awesome news in terms of my efforts to learn Korean...

but in terms of trying to get that damn reading done, it sucks butt.

But mostly, it's awesome.

Back to my reading now, and have a good weekend, readers.

Here's a song to make you happy:

Big Dipper, by Built to Spill

been having an excellent taxi driver week

Sometimes it's the little things in life that keep you afloat... especially when one's glorious wedding/family visit/honeymoon to the maldives/summer vacation suddenly morphs into a "worst working schedule I've ever had and the staff room air conditioner stopped working" return to work.

but i'm happy to report that I've had a startlingly good run of taxi drivers lately.

And as tribute to Taxi Drivers, who can be the best, or the worst thing about life in Korea, depending on the one, and the day, and the weather, here's some taxi driver music, also known as "Trot" or 트로트.


Wifeoseyo and I were in a taxi heading to the Seoul Station Lotte Mart, and as we passed Seoul Station, Wifeoseyo twisted around and gasped, "We've gone past Seoul Station! What are you doing?" to the taxi driver. As we came a little farther around the corner, it was revealed that the Lotte Mart was around the side of the main station. Instead of the gruff, bulldog snarl that a lot of taxi-drivers would offer when their passenger said, in effect, "What the hell are you doing?" -- this taxi driver looked ahead, and sang cheerfully, "Lotte Marteu" exactly the way the radio jingle goes. It cracked us both up, and turned the situation from possible mean to brilliantly fun. Lovely.

then, yesterday, I got off work, and wanted to test out another route home before the car wifeoseyo and I ordered arrives, and I start seriously considering driving to work. So I caught a cab, and asked him to take me home by way of a certain road that's less travelled by than the usual thoroughfares taxi drivers head for, when one asks to go to my new neighborhood.

As soon as I started talking in Korean, the Taxi driver started laughing with glee -- it took me a few seconds to suss out that he wasn't mocking me, but was simply impressed and tickled that I spoke Korean as well as I did (not THAT well... but I'll take it)

Then, he started telling stories in 85% Korean (but mostly simple enough I could catch the gist), about other non-Korean passengers he'd taken, which included a hilarious re-enactment of a conversation with some Arab passengers-

"You tomorrow airport come! Big cash!"
"No I taxi small! Five people my taxi small."
"Please you come tomorrow please cash money!"
"I sorry taxi small no five people sorry!"

he was laughing all through his own story, and the way he told it reminded me of the seven-year-old I used to teach who was so excited about his story that he stopped using words, and just acted the ends of his stories out with broad, comical charades, while his classmates looked on, bemused, with faces reading, "I have no idea what's going on, but it sure is entertaining!"

Then he went on to explain how Japanese passengers can't speak Korean OR English, and complained that English is hard. He took his little screen (which had been playing trot/techno, which he stopped at the beginning of the trip, and which I asked him to turn back on, because it was hella fun), and turned on an English tv drama, which we watched, all as he told me in asides, "I have no idea what they're saying," and then took a phrase from the show "How do you like that?" and repeated it as he heard it: "Hawyuulaee'det?" over and over, until it cracked me up again.

So yeah, sometimes things get busy, and air conditioners break down, and wallets get pick-pocketed... but there's always a funny taxi driver, a cute old lady, or a friendly stranger, to keep things from going too far down the dark road.

Feeling Blue? Cheer Up.

Who WOULDN'T love this video?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

He's better than Alanis Morisette.

Joe's Wedding

Zenkimchi Joe got married a couple of weekends ago now... which totally means I bet you he and his wife did it by now!

A lot of other people have posted better pictures than I took of the wedding, so I won't bore you with those, and joe's covered the whole thing extensively on his blog, but here's the video I made: this cute old lady wouldn't stop fussing with Eunjeong's outfit, so I started snapping pictures. It was adorable.



a gajillion congratulations, Joe.

Something Really Good Happened Today

While I'm not quite ready to go into the nitty-gritty on blogoseyo, you'll be happy to know that something really good happened in my personal life today. Really really good. So you can offer me congratulations if you like, and maybe later you can hear more details; if you know me personally, you can send me a message, but suffice it to say, I'm really, really happy.

Also: I took these pictures.

Me likey this song.

Not a bliss-out, but I'm happy with Bill Callahan right now. His song "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" (he dreams the answer to his questions about life, and they are "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" haw haw haw). The rest of his album is soothing and spare, with just enough wit and pop to keep me happy. Imagine Nick Drake with a sense of humor and a baritone voice.

Go listen here.

I'm also happy because one of my favorite students from my last job just contacted me and wants to hang out, and I made another restaurant map for a pal, of places she should visit while in Korea, and she liked it, too. Also, I've been working out lately, and am starting to see the results, and I've recently developed the power of flight.* Yay me!

(* one of the sources of my current happiness may or may not be fallacious)

Roboseyo's nose never fails

Soundtrack time: hit play and start reading.
Mercy, by Duffy.


First: the random basket truck in Insadong. Like.


Next: two years ago, my favorite sandwich place in Korea, called Jenny's Cafe, rocked my world, and guaranteed my third date with Girlfriendoseyo, because we enjoyed it together so much. A few months after that, I brought some friends to Hongdae to eat at Jenny's with them, and my jaw hit the sidewalk when I saw that it was gone. I thought it was gone forever, I was seriously bummed. The bread they had there was so good, and the mushroom salad was just ridiculous, and I thought I'd never have it again. I was bummed enough that I've actually thought about writing a eulogy for it here at Blogoseyo.

But then on Saturday night, wandering around Hongdae with my buddy Evan, we saw a few things.

We saw these posters...for a band, I think.


Here's my handsome buddy Evan. Pay special attention to the shape of his chin.
Evan was mad that nobody ever puts his picture up on their walls or their blogs. So now I have.

How do you like that, Evan?

We'd planned to eat Okonomiyaki, but my favorite place, Noside, was closed for renovation.

So Evan showed my where Flying Chicken was, which looks really good...but then we decided to try the other Okonomiyaki place, where there was a lineup out the door and down the stairs. Screw that! So instead, I said, "Well, let's walk around and see if a place calls out to us." Evan was cool with that, and I know that generally these days, if I follow my nose, it leads me somewhere cool. Well bum-chin wanted to go a block up and turn left, but I said, "Let's head down this side street here." We did, and what did my wondering eyes see, but...



Holy crap! It's Jenny's Cafe, Redux!

So we went in there, and ate. I would have fought Evan if he hadn't agreed to go in with me. Lucky guy.

and there it was. Back in style.

with more seating than before.
the bread was...some of the best bread I've had in Korea. Different kinds, each one a home run.I was especially fond of the ciabatta and the white rye.

The mushroom salad came out, and it was good enough that I'll remember it two years from now, just like last time.

I had the jenny's spaghettini, which was gentle and well-balancedEvan never stopped raving about his Feta/olive penne.

Neither of us were that hungry, but we totalled those dishes, in about seven minutes, in dead silence, because brothers and sisters, it was that good. Silly. Ridiculous.Here's how to find it. Go to the Hongik university main gate, and turn right, and follow the road. When you come to that little corner with the Ska club, where Route 66 used to be, where Rocky Mountain Tavern is now, turn left down that little alley where Halmoni club, Joker Red, and club FF are. Keep going until you come to that big street with cars parked in the middle of it. Across that intersection is a Joe's Sandwich

And an "On the Grill" -- go down the small street between those two shops. You're on the right track.
About 40 meters past, maybe less, theres a corner like this, where you turn left.
You'll pass a few places that look really cool. As hard as it may be, pass them, and Jenny's will be on your right.
That place is "Jenny's Cafe" where they serve entrees. It's great. If you remember, and miss, Jenny's amazing sandwiches, then you have to go to their OTHER location, Jenny's Bread.

For this one, stand facing Hongik University's main gate, and go left, instead. Walk down the right side of the road, around the bend (where their old location used to be). When you pass ssamzie market, take the nest left, and look for a sidestreet on your right.

Jenny's Bread is down here, and they serve sandwiches. If they're even 80% as good as they used to be, it's worth the trip.
Here's how it looks at 10pm.It's nice.

Here's how to find them:So go there. Eat good bread. You'll realize how much you missed it, and be sad, but realize that you can eat some now, and be happy.

Roboseyo's nose never fails. It's led me to a number of the best places I've eaten over the last three years. Fortunately, friends have led me to the others.

Dang, my life is good.

Oh yeah. I also took these pictures this weekend.

It was hard to understand the meaning of this sign. This was my guess.
Pukaksan, behind the Blue House and Gwanghwamun was great. I got lots of pictures, but some of them might be giving away locations of defense structures on the ultra-secure area, so some aren't going up here. There is an awesome wall behind the Blue House which surrounds downtown Seoul, which honestly deserves to be top three in Seoul's tourist promotional walks and things to do in Seoul, but is de-emphasized. Great views, an amazing look at Korea's history (it's a 600 year old wall), as well as Korea's modern history (ultra-secure, especially given the 1968 attack on the blue-house where the North Korean commandoes ran up this mountain to hide during their assault).

On the way to the entrance to Bukak Mountain



On the way down to Daehangno.


Air quality on Pukaksan was poor.
Then, later, cherry blossoms at night.