First Day of School! and then some...

While ya'll are studying in buildings with nice carpetting, white walls, and a lovely view of flowers outside your window...

I'm studying in a monastery. Bomb. com. LamRim Monastery. It's sweet. Class schedules change but its roughly 4 hours a day (when we have class) of Tibetan Monastery. EB (elisabeth Benard, our fearless leader) is teaching the course. I don't know how to describe this but basically we walk like like 15 minutes to this monastery and learn shit. Pretty sweet.

So Pac Rim is all about being flexible.  Plans change all the time and our first week of class was a testiment to that.  Apparently Nema's the friend with the Panchen Otrul Rimpoche because they went to school together in India and his friend had to leave soon so we changed gears and got a meeting with him. OMG SOOO SWEET. Let me tell you about our journey to have a private meeting with him.  We met at the State Department Store and got divvied up into lil groups.  I was in a group with Selina and Anna and we were put into a taxi.  Note about taxis in the big M: there are no "taxis".  You stick our your hand and wave it a little and a car will pull up- if you are going his way, he will give you a ride. Anyone can be a taxi driver. Sketch as balls dude. I guess we got into a legit taxi but he had a little girl with him. She was so cute. We we drove around for like 40 minutes because he got lost so we were entertained by this girl. I named her Fritz. So effing cute. Taught her how to pound it and explode it. I'll tell you about Mongolian kids later...

Anyways we finally got to the center and had a meeting with the Rimpoche. So basically this man is a reincarnated being who has attained nirvana but takes the Bodhisattva vow to remain in samsara to help others attain nirvana.  Pretty sweet huh? He told us of his life story and then gave us advice for life. Anyways, i guess I can check that off my bucket list now.





Chinggis Khan and Lil Cawn

Mongolia Mongolia Mongolia.

The crew has arrived in Mongoria and let me tell you, it is FA REALZ.I mean its like crazy here.

For one thing, pedestrian rights do not exist. You have to run across the street and maneuver your way around cars to get to the other side of the road. Crosswalks? Those are for the weak with no agency. Your mom wasn't kidding when she told you to look left and right when crossing the street because if you dont do that here, you're done for. And no one will care. ITS SO MUCH FUN CROSSING THE STREET! haha ACTUALLY THOUGH!Yes, granted it takes out like 50% of my mental energy but its a lot of fun. Like imagine Milly Beebee driving and multiply her crazy driving by 100.  There are literally no rules for the road.  On our way to the guest house from the airport, 6 cars tried (and succeeded in) to make left turns in a traffic jam.  My words do not give Mongolian drivers justice.  They do what they want.

Secondly, theres this place called the State Department Store. It's the shit. It has all your needs and desires. Anyone seen Parks and Recreation? This is Food n Stuffs... just 6 stories tall. Rob Swanson would no nutso for this place. Especially because there's nothing organic. Its got your bookstore, laundry service, gym,grocery store, retail department, music, jewelery, cosmetics, ERYTHANG.  I'm OBSESSED. I try to find reasons to go everyday. Oh and for you alcoholics out there, theres an aisle dedicated to just vodka. Only in Mongolia can you get like a fifth of Chinggis Vodka for 4,000 tougloug (thats what the currency is called), which is roughly 4 dollaz. I'm not advertising that I'm drinking my life away. Just saying how Mongolia has some intersting finds.

Lets talk about food. You know I can't speak languages so imagine my trying to speak a slightly Russian langauge. Epic fail. So when it comes to restaurants haha it is a struggleee. Okay so theres a lot of places to eat but Mongolian food is carbs, mutton, oil, and more carbs.  I haven't eaten anything green in a long time and my body is notttt liking me for it.  So there are these dumpling things called Boaz which are real good. Mutton is huge here and theres always like some sort of meat or potato dish.  Food its a lil rough but whats funny is that when you point to something on the menu, often times the person will motion that they don't have it.  RIGHT?! Seriously, what is the point of having something on the menu if you're not gonna serve it. Its a constant guessing game ad i gotta admit, it makes Mongolia quite the wild card.

Mongolia is wild. Like I'm gonna be straight with you, its ghetto and theres dust everywhere.  Yet its so crazy that its growing on me. Like Ulaanbaatar is the biggest city in Mongolia but theres only 1 million peeps. Its tiny and you look one way and see run down buildings, another way and you see range rovers, and the other way you see the majestic hills.  What the fuck is going on? No one knows.

Back to the Motherland

Aiight so heres the deal, I don't really "blog". It seems little silly since you can totally tell people what you did in person or over the phone. But since I am going abroad, I am going let you in on my Asiatic adventures. Why? Because you, my reader, totally want to live vicariously through me and my 30 lbs backpack's (that is currently filled with 2 pairs o pantalones, 1 dress, and 4 shirts) attempts at taking asia by the balls. So here it goes...

I've been looking forward to this trip since i was a freshman and now as an upperclassman (what the eff?) I am finally departing for what has been described as a "life changing experience". We left for South Korea on monday and hung out for like 2 days. And let me tell you, those 2 days were just too much fun. Heres why.

On the first day we had,i took a group o peeps to downtown Seoul to Insadong (artsy/folksy/antique district), Myundong (shopping anyone?), and Seoul Tower (aka the Tower o Love).  So i came to visit Korea a couple of years ago and as ya'll know, my Korean is less than par. So much so that my Asianness cannot even be compared to old sis and younger broseph. However I figured, coming to Korea with a group of non-speakers would make me more useful than a kindle phrase book. And indeed I rocked that shit (kind of...). We walked and walked around downtown Seoul and it was so great. Why? Aside from looking at people and seeing how beautiful the city was, Myungdong offered a glimpse at love for me. Yes, spotted, at Coffee Bean, Korean boyfriend #1. Sexy, tall coffee shop boy. Can't say i felt sparks flying but oh boy he was a cutie. As we walked around the shopping area we also stumbled upon the CAT CAFE. YES THE CAFE CAFE WITH 20 CATS IN THE SHOP. We had to pay 8,000 wom (roughly 8 dollaz) and let me tell you, one of the best ways to spend your money is to pay 8,000 won to pet cats, get a green tea, and take pictures with more cats. Do I have allergies? Absorutery. Was it grand? Hell yeah. We walked like 2 miles and up a whole lotta stairs to get to the Seoul Tower (used to be known as Namsan Tower) and it was just lovely. Beautiful view of Seoul.  Sweet Korean drummers. Locks o Love fo dayz. Lets be real, sounds like we didn't do much but we travelled all day long and even figured out the subway system (which honestly we rode for too many hours).  I even found a soju juicebox at the convenience store. WIN! Honestly, I was laughing for ages and the lady was like "dude long day?". my response in KOREAN: "girl, you dont even know". Done and Done.

So the second day we went to the DMZ. It was a lil unsettling but super cool to see North Korea, smell it,  and be so close to it. Unsettling because it reminded me of my Korean class in highschool when we learned about Korean relations. Both negatives. Super cool because we had a super cute tour guide (Michelle) as well as a sweet US Solider tour guide (Andrew Wilson. oh what a fellow) and lets be real, got to go to the DMZ. Wilson was funny, crackin jokes here and there as he talked about North Korea. But again, it was still a somber topic of conversation at times.  So outside the giftshop (yes the DMZ has its own giftshop) one of the soldiers started to talk to me and we were chattin it up for a bit. Korean boyfriend #2 anyone? His name was Peter and he was a cutie, tall too. So bottom line, Connie found another potential Korean boyfriend... at the DMZ.  What a day. We went to Hong-dae (the university district) for dinner later that night and it was bumpin. Young people for dayz and so much energy. Overall we had a great time in Korea and I especially had a memorable time in da motherland. I mean lets be real, I found two potential Asian boyfriends. haha... I'm kidding foo.

Anyways, adventures in Korea: bomb. I'm supes looking forward to my next destination. GUYS, I'M IN ASIA! I mean, obviously, but remember that time i had the epiphany about being in the Pacific Northwest? It's like that, just it hits me that I'm studying abroad all year in different countries ALL THE TIME. Wild. I'll keep you posted homie g!