english camp

my english camp is over! it was a pretty good time, although as usual suffered from a lack of planning and confidence on my part. which i'm kicking myself for. but it's over, and i have a whole new semester to get better. it also made me realize that i really can't relate to most korean high school boys (you know, the immature and snotty ones, especially.)

would i have been better off at a girls' high school? if by better off, i mean happier and probably extremely overindulged, then yes.

the most frustrating moments at the camp were those when i completely got pissed off by the things and people that i knew would piss me off. i mean, i really anticipated a lot of it, and just got taken down anyway. and that includes my own problems clearly. if you have talked to me in the past couple of days you probably know what i'm talking about.

yesterday and today i made a few purchases on iTunes and eBay. now i know how to purchase music, and better yet i can access it when i go home too! and in like 2 weeks i should have my new/old digital camera. today i bought some cute little index cards, cute little hair ties, and cute little pens with my host sister as we strolled around samcheon-dong and enjoyed some street snacks. it's good to sleep in the same place for 2 nights in a row because i haven't done that for about a month, i don't think.

hangovers

hangovers seem way more debilitating than regular old illness; at least for me they do. there's so much more of a direct indictment of my own irresponsibility. plus i hate headaches more than practically any other kind of physical symptom of sickness, and for me, hangovers are just one evil throbbing nauseous headache-y day.

recently, i have been making an effort to change my attitude towards some things, and it's working. maybe a little too well. isn't that cryptic? needlessly so, because i know that like, 2 people read this these days. but i'm always pretty paranoid about the power of google, as someone who has grimly and wholeheartedly exploited it for her own uses a few times.

the beginning of the end

i'm back in korea and happy about a few things, sad about a few things. let's start with sad, because that's the kind of person i am - obsessing over unfortunate events because it's good to keep my brain busy.

• losing my new digital camera on the LAST day of my trip. where could it possibly be?
  
• confronting the huge pile of stuff that i need to unpack and repack to go to jeonju tomorrow...
  
• going to jeonju tomorrow and unpacking all that stuff and planning for english camp
  
• the loss of my digital camera meaning that it totally makes up for all the stuff i HAVEN'T LOST for a long time
  
• austin getting kicked off of project runway but that is not really unique to me, though still really disappointing and like, quells a little bit of the optimism that i had in thailand during the spare moments i could stop to think about project runway

happy things? travelling was incredible; i am a little bit tanner, maybe a little thinner, more worldly wise and i read three books:

White Teeth (Zadie Smith)
The Autograph Man (Zadie Smith)
Herzog (Saul Bellow)

guys, remember when i used to read books? seven years ago? starting to read books while on vacation made me feel so much more open about reading more and more books. and for some reason maybe even writing books. i mean, a week before i left, i had actually bought a copy of Little Women to peruse before getting my wisdom tooth extracted, because i was so anti-readingorexperiencingunexpectednewthings. and now not as much. we will see what happens. this english camp will be unexpected and new, that's for sure.

a new brand for the bank of ny

god, i love the bank of ny. actually, i don't. they charge me an insane amount of money to use my card overseas. but they just rebranded, so i'm really impressed and feel a strong sense of belonging and pride in the bank of ny. anyway, i'm in thailand and the reason i'm even looking at the bank of ny website (founded in 1784, it is the U.S.' largest bank!) is because i am a little bit short on money. having bought cowboy boots the day before i came, i didn't want to take out a lot of money to bring here. does that make sense?

no.

but anyway. i just checked my account balance and looks like my bonus check is in there! thanks mom. so now i will buy a ticket to siem reap, in cambodia and not worry about having to use my parents' credit card. hopefully.

as a consumer...

so obviously i posted a bunch of photos to my blog - i was trying out flickr, after having used hello/picasa at my school. i didn't download the quick upload software you're "supposed" to, just b/c it's not my computer...but anyway i feel like they don't give you nearly enough storage or bandwith capacity or whatever it is that lets me put up pics. clearly i should actually be packing for thailand right now, but i'm not. instead i'm revelling in the fact that like, there even exist these things called blogs and digital cameras and whatever.

i think i liked picasa; i seem to be a real google whore these days. it all started with that opim 101 project ... i wonder if they had any inside interest in giving google a boost? maybe they were just geekily fans of their amazing algorithms. anyway maybe i'll go back to picasa, maybe i'll start using ofoto or whatever...

mike, kevin, and lisa in front of the chinese mexican place at vassar

mike, kevin, and lisa in front of the chinese mexican place at vassar
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

so deep.

so deep.
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

wotchin' ali g show YEAH!

wotchin' ali g show YEAH!
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

manoj brought lots of alcohol

manoj brought lots of alcohol
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

would you like some whiskey w/ your dc?

would you like some whiskey w/ your dc?
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

tony eating spicy tuna at whole foods

tony eating spicy tuna at whole foods
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

i've got a golden ticckkettt

i've got a golden ticckkettt
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

happy birthday lisa!

happy birthday lisa!
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

do and sara

do and sara
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

it's 2005!!! i'm soo drunk!!!

it's 2005!!! i'm soo drunk!!!
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

i feel like "ignition" was on.

i feel like "ignition" was on.
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

word up

word up
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

not really watching fireworks

not really watching fireworks
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

yay H!

yay H!
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

this is the way we go to school

this is the way we go to school
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

um, i only get 1 free sample?

um, i only get 1 free sample?
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

duncan and rachel outside krispy kreme

duncan and rachel outside krispy kreme
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

my grandparents at a YUMMY galbi jip

my grandparents at a YUMMY galbi jip
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

my cousin jeongjun at o'sulloc

my cousin jeongjun at o'sulloc
Originally uploaded by deneuver.

waiting and waiting and

leaving for thailand and cambodia tomorrow; i realized a couple of days ago that this is like my only ... pleasure vacation i've ever taken! besides spring breaks to pretty close places for pretty short periods of time. the only other places i've ever gone have been fairly structured study abroad type places. so i'm a little bit worried and nervous about even going! also i'm flying out by myself, maybe that has something to do with it. and i'm really fat. how did i gain so much weight in such a short amount of time? and like, while i was not eating a lot of bad stuff, too.

okay. i decided to stop dumbing myself down, also, and maybe that will become apparent over the next few months. but like, we'll see, because i'm pretty dumb. so dumb that i have these really specific things that i want out of my trip. and they are strappy leather sandals with no heel and breezy linen caftans. i really don't think the thai wear caftans, but we'll see how it all works out. next stop morocco, i guess. so eileen and i will be going on an intrepid tour to thailand and then depending on things turn out, i will go do some beach-y stuff and then some wat-ty stuff. it is really hard to figure out what to even expect, but i guess by roughly this time tomorrow i'll be well on my way!

now i'm waiting on duncan to call; he has my malaria meds and my plane ticket. that whole story isn't even worth telling. i should also start packing; this trip will also be notable for being my first "backpack"-y trip ever! because i've never had a Backpack before. and finally, i bought these amazing shoes. okay, two pairs of amazing shoes. i should really take a picture, but i'm feeling lazy. what else is new. sometimes i disgust myself so much it becomes completely normal.