seagull

we have this laundry man who comes by our apt and shouts,
"seh-tak (세탁)" which means, "laundry" in korean.
but he tightens his nasal and distorts the sound of it
somehow, and john thinks it sounds like, "seagull" ???
he comes by every morning around 9:30, i think,
i'm usually asleep, and being the heavy sleeper that
i am, i often continue on in my sleep, but
i think john wakes up to him most days. so sometimes
when i way oversleep, jn'll come in and wake me up,
chanting, "seagull, seagull."
i really need to make use of this door to door service. i
have some pants i need shortened and dry-cleaned.
this is a very dumb entry. i don't know why i'm writing this. i
confess, i'm in class right now, and i
only have one student today in this last block, due to the
sickness that's been hitting students and teachers these days.
and so i had him write an essay, and listen to the audio of
the chapters we're studying in "james and the
giant peach." and we're on the part where seagulls are used to
lift the peach out of the sea of sharks, so i thought
about my mornings and john saying, 'sea-gull'...
and i just need something very mind-numbing right now,
ie. this blog. i feel like my head's
been spinning non-stop with all the preparation of prepping for classes,
last week's artmingle and this week's orphanage
christmas party. i look forward to some peace and
rest in 6 days!

yong jun's birthday

this past weekend, for yong jun's 24th birthday we took him to an
african (really it was mostly, if not all, nigerian food) restaurant
in itaewon. a couple weekends ago, john and i were going through
this waegukin (foreigner) city to find an ethnic place to eat,
maybe arabic, thai, or indian, we had thought,
until john saw a huge sign for an african restaurant.
and sure enough the menu included pounded
yam, egusi, okro, jollof rice and beans,
fried plantains, maltinas, fried chicken, all the best of nigeria. i
was ecstatic, we walked up to the second floor and it
felt like i had just stepped into nigeria, the entire floor was filled with
africans (i swear most of them were nigerian), and small stores that
sold vaseline, chin-chin, and baby powder, crackers, all goods
from the motherland. everything felt like home,
except, as yong jun pointed out later on, it was cold and everyone
was wearing winters coats and hats. you never see that where we
grew up. it felt so familiar and nostalgic, but the weird,
yet probably not so surprising thing
was that in some ways i felt quite awkward and out of place
there, with my caucasian husband, and my yellow chinese skin,
i guess it was like i had always felt in nigeria anyway.
anyway, we thought yj would like a piece of nostalgia for his birthday so we
came again, to find that the waiter was from jos, the city where we went to
boarding school,
and we enjoyed a yummy meal, though the egusi
didn't taste as delicious as i remembered, the jollof rice and
beans were salivatingly tasty. rick smith and his wife came, and steve
hammack, all friends of yj from kent academy.
we were hoping to catch a few minutes of a nigerian soap opera, but
distastefully, we were stuck watching an interview of joel olsteen,
i told my story about how my college roommates and i had literally
ripped every single page of his book and thrown it across our living
room, this was back when we had no room for phony 'christians'. oh he
still makes me rave though. but that's beside the point here.
i miss nigeria. john and i are planning and saving for a winter 09 trip to
my home. that would mean a lot to me for him to see my
origins. well, that was a bit of a tangent of a blog. all that to say,
we celebrated my brother's birthday. i'd say yj is one of best men i know.
it's so great to have him nearby.

(J)igur (T)os: the best Sigur Ros cover ever.

11 more days...

last night, while watching "strange brew,"
john taught me the origin of the phrase,
"you hoser!" (see picture)
we didn't finish the movie last night, i was so
tired and so was he. but it was entertaining, what
we saw. i think this is the 23rd time john's
watched it, eh. i look forward to lots of
beer and donuts, eh. mmm.
just 11 more days now and we'll be
on our way to his home. the other night i woke up
a bit stressed from active dreams and such,
and john asked me if i was nervous about going "home".
hadn't really put much thought to it, so much has been
happening over here. still so much left to do in just a week.
but come to think of it, it is quite a trip, first time seeing some of
his family, his home, his friends, i'm the new
wife. impressions. but to be honest, i feel quite calm
about it. i'm looking forward to seeing his life connections
over there. we're so ready for a vacation!
and then the reunion in oregon, with
katie, nicole, melissa, and caroline!
i can't wait to be on the plane again,
saying hi's and bye's.

best hat.

the other night we were out getting
christmas gifts and john found the
best hat ever. especially with that beard!

strange brew

we're going to watch 'strange brew'
for me to get ready for my trip to
canadia for christmas.

there's something going on every weekend....

what a weekend. nonstop.

um...

how many entries have i posted today? just dippin...

16 Truths.

John's 16 truths...
1. I love a Man. His name is Jesus.
2. I love a woman. Her name is Soyon.

3. I belong on a mountain.
4. I belong in Nepal.

5. A skateboard mini-pipe restores my youthfulness.
6. A skateboard mini-pipe will soon be built in my home.

7. I am terrified of shredded coconut.
8. I am terrified of materialism.

9. I spend too much time on Facebook and Fantasy Sports.
10. I don't spend enough time reading or writing.

11. I want to take Ju-jit-su.
12. I want to name our first child Moses Malone Thompson (but I don't think Soyon agrees).

13. My brothers-in-law Yong Jun and Drew are the two nicest guys I've met.
14. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are cute. They remind me of cartoon characters.

15. The music of Thrice draws me closer to God.
16. The music of Gwen Stefani murders my soul.

Soyon's 16 truths...
1. Nepal was maybe my most favorite country because it reminded me of Nigeria.
2. One day, I want to grow a huge garden or farm inside and outside my home, so I can live in dirt, eat all things organic, and paint wierd greenery.
3. The only time I ever vomited was 3 years ago, when I was drunk.
4. My dream: to have all day to do all things art.
5. I hated and loved boarding school.
6. I hate and love globalization.
7. I had planned to live in a commune with my four best friends from college (and our husbands) but I don't think it'll happen because of #6. :(
8. I think my brother, Yong Jun, is one of the sweetest guys in the world.
9. My husband, John, is the most stable and sizzling figure in my life, I love him more than I love mixing colors. I love his beard.
10. I love picking up random furniture-like things from the trash. I don't plan on ever buying any new piece of furniture, even if it means sleeping and eating on the floor for some time.
11. Last year, I finally said, "Yes," to Jesus and it's been so colorful since.
12. I used to want to be a famous psychologist that would revolutionize society, now I just want to love my immediate neighbors.
13. I used to obsess about the future.
14. I want to write songs.
15. I want to write a book about Loss someday.
16. I once said I'd run a marathon before I turned 35. umm....

i made cards.

"christmas movie marathon." a total of four guests out of 60+ invitees,
maybe a little disappointing. it sort of felt like 3 years ago,
back in college when my housemates and i
would host theme parties and 1-5 guests showed.
there was always something quite humorous
and entertaining about those flop parties.
anyway, it was fun, regardless. watching christmas lampoon (title?)
and charlie brown's christmas. tons of snacky food
and relaxed company.the best part of it was,
sara laue brought supplies for making cards,
so the girls made christmas cards. i liked making them so much,
that i might make a few more and bring them to the
artmingle. i haven't had time to work on anything else
for the 13th so i'll just make use of these.

drive to church

we woke up this morning, groggy like turkey legs,
until john peeked out our window and SNOW,
he did a jump jiggy of sorts. he said it was an
impersonation of me. ???
we cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, speckless like snow,
hung up more christmas lights,
and then drove to church, bubbling sufjan steven's christmas album.
these were some pictures i took from the passenger's seat,
while john sought every opportunity for an e-brake donut.
SNOW
was just one of the things that made us glee today.

happy birthday, 아빠!

i love my dad. and i love baking.

artmingle.2

an AGENDA:

4:00 Come and display/set up your work(s)
5:00 Mingle and Munch, "Let's talk about the YEAR!": Interactive Art (live portrait sketching, and other surprises, ongoing throughout the evening)
6:00 Live Sketching and Interview: Eric Stoddard, Hyundai Car Designer
7:30 Feature Performance: THE BREATHING. www.thebreathingkorea.com
8:30 THE BREATHING, second set.
9:00 Open Mic: lalala, shake it, and read. Your space to shine!
10:00 Wrap up the inspiration 'n take it home*

***Remember, the theme is BROAD! The word, YEAR, contains a million. So for this round, think big and let's come up with a diverse display of 'YEAR'. PAINTING, DRAWING, CERAMICS, 3-D, PHOTOGRAPHY, DIGITAL ART, DESIGN, POETRY, SHORT STORY, ESSAY, MUSIC, DANCE, DRAMA, COOKING, ANYTHING YOU'VE CREATED. Please let me know as soon as you can, how you'd like to participate! The more the merrier! Let's be merry this season...