Rock me Lama with a Dharma wheel

So remember when I told you that we were at a Tibetan Monastery? Well we were there during Losar, the Tibetan New Year, and consequently living in Dharmsala at a really exciting time.  The first full moon of the Tibetan year (which happened to be March 8) is a really auspicious day so that day we went to a teaching by the DALAI LAMA at the temple. YEAH. I saw him. heard him. sat down for 3 hours (brutal). did an avaolkiteshvara initiation. It was awesome. Hes so kind and funny too. I just couldnt believe that I saw his holiness.  Even though he is coming to LA in April, it was really incredible hearing his teaching in his (new) home town.
I really didn't know anything about Tibet before this year and its been really great learning about the history, Buddhism, and the Tibetan lifestyle.  I sometimes feel like a poser... but I guess thats what happens when you're a tourist. Its just funny thinking about why all the foreigners are here. are they studying? are they studying buddhism? do they want to learn tibetan? Everyone has their owns stories and man, its quite an experience.
Another really interesting day that I was fortunate enough to experience was March 10, Uprising day. This is the day that Tibetans protest all day and walk all the way down to lower Dharmsala.  People had face paint, held up flags, and crowded the temple.  I was walking down to check it out until I saw Lisa( our business coordinator) and Nima (the man) and found out that we were going to have a PRIVATE AUDIENCE with his holiness. SO I ran back showered, dressed up in my ammala's chupa (women's traditional dress) and went to the temple with the group. On March 10, I met the Dalai Lama, shook his hand (wouldn't let go) and took a picture with him. I was so flustered! It's difficult not to feel compassion and an overwhelming feeling of joy in his presence. Wow. Incredible. I still can't believe that I ended up seeing him and meeting his holiness. Highlight of life

I've been so fortunate and being on this trip is seriously unreal.  I am really loving Dharmsala and maybe its because of the change in environment or reading religious texts but I'm really learning to let things go and go with the flow. Even if you feel horrible for one minute, you might have a chance to turn that around.  Reflective. I know. 

Dharmsala

Hey guys! So I'm currently in Dharmsala, India and it's been the bees knees. I know I shouldl write about the North India tour that I went on after Rato Monastery but ask me in person and I'll tell you later. I will also tell you this in person too because I freaking love Dharmsala. Dharmsala is located in north India at the Himalayas.  It is a huge Tibetan community (atleast upper Dharmsala is) and it is the dwelling of his holiness the Dalai Lama. Yeah thaz right, the Dalai Lama. DL! Living in Dharmsala has been really different because I'm living with a host family and it is a different demographic( lots of Tibetans and tourists). So my family owns a small 3 table momo and thentuk (noodles) restaurant but its really cozy and lots of people eat there. My mothers (ammala) works at a bead shop. They have 2 daughters but only the younger 6 year old lives with us. Her name is Tenzin Tchela but I renamed her Pew, which means monkey in Tibetan.  Its really nice to live with a hose family because it totally gives you a different experience.  Their house consists of 3 room and a bathroom. Its really small and I (and another pacrimmer) live in the shrine room which serves multiple purposes including the living room, dining room, and the bed room.  My family doesn't speak much English so theres a lot of smiling involved but its alll goood!

Soooo Dharmsala has a lot of tourists which means that theres tons of shopping and eating to do. Lots of cute cafes. Lots of jewellery stores. On a clear day, the view is to die for and so beautiful.  You can see the white peaks of the Himalayas, the  forests, and a view of lower Dharmsala.  Its chilly thought! Cold cold air. I swear, i'm turning old because I get cold so easily...

My legs hurt too... which is weird cuz I dont exercise anymore. Okay tangent!

Hmmm.... theres sooo much to say about this place. Heres some random things
Tibetans are super cute
The breakfast consists of bread and more bread. Lots of bread and carbs in Tibetan diet
I go to sleep between 9:30 and 10 every night
Theres a lot of stray dogs. They're much bigger than other locations in India
I almost get run over by cars. There are crazy ass drivers here
All the cars are white oddly enough.

Dharmsala is really small (basically 2 streets) but i'm sad that i'm only here for 2 weeks! then spring break! unrealll

It's getting hot in hurr

It's so hot that my butt sweats. like every day

also its also so hot that my glasses steam up. mainly because they sit on my cheeks and not my nose.

I'd disrobe you...

So. I am now leaving the Rato Tibetan Monastery in the state of Karnataka, South India. We are heading off to our next destination in t- whenever hours. This is sad.

I've loved my stay at this monastery. It's been hot as balls and I've been eaten up alive from the huge ass mosquitos. BUTTT. i wouldn't trade my experience here anything else. So far, this has been one of my favorite locations. Its been really peaceful and we've done a lot of homework. But its just isolated and a change in the pace of India, espesh since India is so loud and crazy.

Its located in a refugee camp and there are 2 monastery camps and 7 lay persons camps.  The population is a mix of Indian, Tibetan, Ladaki, and other persons. It's really neat.

The monks here are so awesome, nice, always smile, and are really effing cute. Ha, hence the title. Seriously though, if they ever disrobe, I hope they call me! just kidding. But its really cool. They're all really downt o play cards and ALWAYS smile. There are lots of baby monks (monkies) who are learning Tibetan. They're super cute. I sound like a creep. But its just a really cool community where you have all ages of i guess men... Not intimidating men like in Mysore and other places. Maybe I'm not as intimidated by Eastern and Central Asian looking men... i hope I dont sound racist, hosnetly i'm not trying to be. But yeah, the monks are cute. so off limits.

they also taught me some things in Tibetan. And I have learned that I suck at learning languages. Some things I learned were

1. My name is Connie

2. Yu are a pretty lady

3. You make me blush

4. Kiss me please

5. Lets eat food together

6. bread

These will be of use soon enough.

The food was also really great. In Mysore, we had Indian food which is kinda soupy and not really solid and here its been the opposite. Which also means that my poop schedule is different and not as often but still. Best food ever. Which also means that my butt is getting bigger. Honestly I am literally a fat ass. Total bummer dude.

Speaking of sad sad things. Its that time of year when I and many other Pac Rimmers are getting home sick. Its an amazing adventure but we've been gone for a long time and it would be realllllly nice to have an In n Out chocolate milk shake. And a great trail to run on. EVERY DAY

But then again its CRAY CRAY how we only have 2.5 months left. OH SHIT. that also means that i have to finish my independent project. wish me luck

Holey Moley!

I have had nightmares about macaques attacking me. ever since malaysia, i've been scared shitless about macaque monkeys. i've been scarred by malaysia. So once in my dream (about a week ago) i was on  a  boat and we were too close to the shore so then we got stuck at the shoreline. anyways i was eating a peach lollipop and a macaque saw and started to charge at me. I didn't dispose of my lollipop fast enough and it just jumped me. then i got attacked by another one. It was freaking scary.

My dreams have all had Pac Rimmers too. Pac Reezy dreams galore. like last night. I had a dream that pac rim was over and i was really emotional but at the same time there was all this other stuff going on. it was really odd.

Anyways, back to nightmares- I'm just WAITING for my nightmare about mustaches to come up.  Sometimes i imagine mustaches just floating around and doing their thang. it scares me. never did i think that i would be intimiadated by mustaches or so many men in my life. Its weird.

So there you have it. Your fearless/ crazy friend is now afraid of monkeys and mustaches. mmhmm.

Flying mustaches

our travel day to india was probably the worst travel day of my life. it was practically 20 hours of traveling. shit. but the things that kept me going (kinda) were the fabrics and textiles in india.  Women wewar beautifully vibrant punjabi suits, tunics, and saris. So MUCH COLOR! i'm actually gonna buy one today, fuck yeah!

However i have a list of things im afraid of. i never thought id be afraid of this but i am actually intimidated by mustaches.  Men here love the staches. and theres a shit ton of dudes which means theres a shit ton of staches. sometimes i just imagine them flying around on their own. about to attack me. it really scares me. dah;gahdglandglafg.

i guess im afraid of the water. but i mean we've all accepted that its gonna happen so hha like the other day some of us drank water from a restaurant and cheered to not getting sick. and when we found out that we werent supposed to drink the water, we cheered that we didnt even drink the water with our new lime sodas.  I think we talk about poop way too much. But its a seriously applicable topic of conversation that never loses any interest.  i mean, we're in india. we eat curry. the water is no bueno. pooping is great. but not when you have the runs.

Whenever I visit ancient ruins...

You know its wierd when you can say "whenever i visit ancient ruins" and say it with a straight face.  even an academic face. its weird because we're seeing all these incredible sights and have processed this feeling of awe so many times that its become normal.  The incredible has become mundane.  Of course im in awe when i see the Gobi desert or Angkor Wat but its so normal now.  Its a weird feeling to know that sometimes you are given these opportunities and you accept them without a blink.

I don't know but i just felt like writing that.  i think its because i wrote some postcards and i didnt know what to write. (so if you get a shitty postcard, dont be offended). I just suck at writing about these experiences. It's all kind internalized.

Well 4 more months to go! We'll see. And if you've asked me if i have any cool stories, i'll work to remember them, considering that everything blends together.

WELCOME TO CAMBODIA!

So after a lovely winter break in 15 F degree weather in the motherland, i arrived in Cambodia.  We stayed in the bodes for 10 days and had an art history course during the time.  Hmm although we only stayed there for 10 days, theres soo much to say about Cambodia. 

Lets start with the Angkor Thom visits.  Angkor Thom is the whole complex that has Angkor Wat ,Bayon, and other temples.  These templs are architectural masterpieces that have beautiful engravings on practically every surface.  They're in ruins but it almost makes it even more magical. Post cards dont even do it justice

Cambodia is really international and we were in Siem Reap.  In Siem Reap i got pizza and fish massages and mexican food and so many pineapples.  Cambodia has the best pineapples! yumm.. But yeah theres a lot of great food and you can get anythangg. literally- name it and you can probs find it. they have a really good curry type food called amok and its different at every restaurant but still really delicious. if you ever go to cambodia you gotta have it.

Massages. Heaven. Massages were like a dollar (the msot iever spent was 5 dollars) and i got one practgically every other day. hello heaven! There were also sweet fish massages where you put your feet in a tank of fishes that will eat the dead skin off your dirty gross ass feet. oh man when we did it we flipped shit and like screamed. they're sooo ticklish! and we got mondo fishes so they were literally chompin on our feet. i was like banging my head on my friend's shoulder and trying to stop from laughing so hard. haha theres a video.

anyways Cambodia was really excellent and now i'm off to my next country! yeah pacreezy

although i havent finished blogging about China,

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!

im currently in hong kong right now and its grand. hong kong is beautiful, developed, clean, very densly populated, and poppin.  Theres so much food everywhere and just a lot of consumerism.  The buildings on hong kong island light up every night at 8 pm and man, hong kong is just full of life. It's a little odd spending my christmas in hong kong rather than at home. I miss my bed (my back hurts all the time. i'm old!), the trails, warmth, and not looking like a freaking hobo. however, im with clara and its nice just walking the streets, exploring a new city, and spending some time with family. 

We arrived in hong kong on december 23 and had the pac rim christmas eve party the next night at the YMCA. it was the nicest YMCA i've ever been to... anyways we had great food and exchanged gifts.  It was actually like a dance. People were taking pictures, everyone looked nice (finally) and it was just really grand. i cant believe that the semester has gone by so quickly. We watched a video that the media group made and it showed clips from every country and it was just an adventure. so nostalgic. its insane how much we've done over such a short period of time. its also wierd how we have a break for 2 weeks. i've been really excited but as today is christmas day and i have just separated from the people i've been living my life with, i'm feeling a little lost. i bet that'll pass though.

BECAUSEE i'm going back to the motherland for winter break and its gonna be great. Despite the fact that its like 10 degrees farenheit right now and i have no clothing for that, i'm so pumped to eat food that doesnt make my stomach hurt, be with people who wont assume im chinese, be with great friends and family, and i'm going to get a freaking massage. i'mma TREAT MYSELF. winter break 2011-2012= TREAT YOSELF TO __________.  i've been itching to spend the dough and interestingly my prioties have changed drastically. now if i have to spend more than 5 dollars for a meal, thats too pricey. yet im so down to buy clothing that is overpriced. and get massages. but hey you only live once, make it count.

anyways I just wanted to say merry christmas and happy holidays.  i hope you guys have a restful and righteous break! Live it up.

Its the end of a really intense and unforgettable year and the beginning of a hopefully even more memorable year. It just keeps on getting better!

Love

C

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

So Grace Heerman (great girl) and i decided to get dinner one time down at student street. we just kept walking and saw this hot pot restuarant we were guessing was the one that our friends had previously been to and raved on and on about. so we took a chance on it. well both of us not knowing how to speak chinese proved to make this an interesting adventure. the restaurant man was like motioning us inside to pick things out but our curiosity overcame us and we looked at every person's hot pot and what they had ordered. imagine 2 foreigners blatantly staring at your food... awkward. what make it even more absurd was that i looked like a tardo. let me illustrate. it was cold so i had my Hwanan Women's college sweater on with y red puffy jacket over it. I wore leggings and my flowy printed malaysia pants over them. and i wore my wool rei socks with chacos. HAHA I KNOW. connie the effing hobo. yep. well so we decided what we wanted but didnt know how to communicate it to the man. so me using my boisterous voice announced to the whole restaurant "CAN ANYONE SPEAK ENGLISH?!" and of course the only response was blank stares. it was probs becasue grace is 5'11... hah just kidding. but still. hilarious. sounds like we're failing but let me assure you, we won. so we ended up pointing to different people's tables at the side dishes that they had and having those people fill out our order for us. then we found some students whos poke english and they helped us out. done and done. to make it even better, the broth was chicken. so we actually won and had a chicken dinner (kinda).

who needs to be able to speak chinese when you can just look ridic, point to food, and be friendly. i mean, it never hurts to ask strangers if you're lost in translation.

I Know I'm Asian.

Just because there are 1.6 billion (or whatever the number is) Chinese men and women in the world.  And despite that fact that Korean people are probs descendents of Chinese (and mongolians. can't forget the blue butt mark!). Just because you are Asian, it does not mean that you are Chinese. I'm not trying to be offensive here, but come on, just because I am Asian, it does not mean that I am Chinese.  I'm Korean. I even asked my mom to see how she would react. Heres a snippet of the convo (paraphrased of course)

Connie: "umma, am i chinese? everyone here thinks im chinese and thinks i look chinese"
Nancy: "haha. no. you just look Chinese because your grandfather is from north korea and they're from china. also asian people all look similar"
Connie: "oh. so im not adopted?"
Nancy: "-no response-" ( total rejection. she probably didnt hear that part...)

Of course i know im not adopted. I look exactly like her when i smile. atleast the bottom of my face does. i just wanted to see how she'd react. i think she thinks im funny. and a little absurd. Anyways so everyone thinks im chinese here and it kinda gets me down. and makes me more proud to be korean. and now, if someone guesses that im korean, i flip out. so far, only 4 people have thought i am Korean. And let me tell you, i've talked to more than 4 people. Also, why would you ask someone if they speak the language if they dont talk to you or look freaking confused?

my point: i have a tally going for when people guess my ethnicity. i never knew that how Chinese i looked until now...

Never Have I Ever...

devoted myself to No Shave November.  But lo and behold, in Pac Rim, theres always a time to do something you've never done.  These are some things that I done for the first time on this trip:
1. Been attacked my a monkey (Malaysia)
2. Not pooped for 4+ days (Mongolia)
3. Gotten a stomache everyday and eaten less. also actually save a snack for LATER rather than now. incredible (China)
4. Had to mime different animals when trying to communicate if the pho had fish or chicken in it(Vietnam)
There are many more, but if anyone says those things for never have i ever, i'm totally gonna lose a finger.

anyways. not shaving for a month has now officially been done. been there, done that. My legs will be so soft tomorrow when i rid them of those nasty hairs.  And since its been 2 MONTHS, it will be a glorious day. you betcha.

ping ping ping ping

Ping Pong. I havent played since i was a lil girl and have rediscovered it. okay okay i know the peitzmans have a ping pong table but i never play.  So after all this time, i cant say that im a prodigy but i can keep up. ish. i'm actually kind of obsessed with ping pong. did you know that theres an actual ping when you hit the ball. i know that sounds really stupid but it just dawned on me how "ping"ish the ping sounded. thus i can never stop laughing when i play ping pong. sorry, i meant "table tennis"

happy thanksgiving peng you!

Happy Thanksgiving lovely people! Today was a joyous day filled with too much food, friendship, and enough silliness to make me laugh hard enough to help move down the turkey in my estomago!  I ATE SO MUCH FOOD I CANNOT BREATHE AS I WRITE THIS. AND I FINISHED DINNER 4 HOURS AGO! We made thanksgiving dinner for about 80 people starting from last night and i was on the baking crew. we made 21 pies! apple pies, pumpkin pies, and sweet potato pies. the pumpkin turned out the best... so we cooked all night and today it was great. we woke up and wrote what we were thankful for on hand turkeys and a camera crew taped us. We ended up on the China news later that night! my 3 seconds of fame! I played banana grams, WORKED OUT, napped, and just fooled around.... ha. anyways the menu for thanksgiving dinner was cranberry sauce, spicy cranberry sauce, turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, bomb stuffing, green bean casserole, purple sweet potatoes, gravy. the pies. i had 5 slices of pie. omg. it was awesome. i mean, people say they eat a lot but really they don't compared to me. And also its obnoxious when girls get all self conscious when they wanna get seconds. Thats bull shit. WHO GIVES A SHIT?! 1. its thanksgiving.- you're supposed to eat too much 2. its clearly the spotlight effect. and 3. it doesn't matter if someone thinks you're eating too much. the only person who should matter is yourself. and maybe your mom.... but she'll still love you. Back to thanksgiving- we also have chinese buddies so we all ate together and it was great. i get delirious when im tired and when i eat too much so i was just speaking weird chinese. i dont even know chinese. i learned all the essentials though. such as "you are crazy, you are awesome, you are not handsome, hello, friend, awesome, and i'm sorry" YEAH!

Its been a great day but having Thanksgiving out of state was odd. out of the country is even weirder. I really do miss you guys.  However, it was really lovely spending it with people I love and with others who have now become my pac rim fambam. we're all a lil homesick but its nice how we have each other. i'm thankful for my family, friends, and the opportunity to travel the world. I'm thankful for having people in my life who make me smile. I'm also thankful for my stretchy pants. We all had food babies and my face is a little rounder. but whatever. more to love. Love all around! seriously!

its 10:50 p.m.and we decided to get another slice of pie.... out diet starts tomorrow... after we eat all the pie and leftovers for breakfast!

good bye vietnam

we had our end of country meal after our final on thursday and aside from being delicious, it was actually really sad. our whole table group teared up minus greg.  the whole time in nam, we had a group that was assigned to work on the marketing strategies of a specific industry. so of course we chose bia hoi, essentially the beer industry.  you can get a cup of bia (beer) for 25 cents at bia hois. its keg beer but the point of bia hoi is to socialize with your friends. usually a man thing. anyways so we had a program assistant (hip, you already read about her) and she gave us all gifts with little notes and man just reading the first line made me tear up. she told me that "she loves my smiling eyes". thats so sweet. and basically everyone started tearing up/ crying. vietnam was really great because we got to know students who showed us a whole different side of nam that we wouldn't have seen without them.  we made friends and explored hanoi with the kindest, cutest, and most genuine people ever. It was hard to leave vietnam not only because of the people but the food and well, it was great. Nam is dirty, needs to work on its traffic, and is super loud. But its got great food, people, and a really exciting lifestyle. It's also beautiful

We went to Hai Long Bay, one of the 7 wonders of the world (or something cool like that. i bet its on Planet Earth), for the weekend and basically kicked it on a boat and went ashore to a resort for 2 days. it was a vacation. no school. just pampering. there were even pools at the resorts. don't worry i didn't steal anything... actually i took the shower gel... yeah i admit it, nice things are hard to come by and when we get anything nice, we all go crazy. Maybe thats why we dont get nice things on pac reezy.  Anyways, it was a really lovely weekend full of sun, beach, and good food. yes i got tan. and no i did not shave. thats another thing. I HAVENT SHAVED IN LIKE 2 MONTHS. its really sick. i thnk i'll shave after thanksgiving. no shave november. check.

back to nam.  Vietnam: a really great country that i recommend you to go to. especially if you're on a budget. its dear to my heart. also lets be real, after 2/3 months, vietnam was bound to be memorable. lets just say that there were lots of memories made there.... so yeah we peaced out of nam on monday morning and traveled to another country.  I'm excited for this month since everything is going down and its actually cold here (nam was warrrmmmm). holiday weather. we'll make do with what we got. the next time i write will be after christmas/ probably in 2012. so until then, happy holidays and keep it real!

////////

for some reason on this trip i am consistently becoming more influenced by food.  its a little bit ridiculous how much of an effect food has on me.  on the saturday, we went to the night market and had dinner with some of the pa's. i wasn't too hungry, pretty ambivalent, but you know, it was dinner time so it was bound to happen. so after dodging some motor bikes and yelling at honking taxis, we made our way to an outdoor pho place that sold the best pho/salad dish in hanoi.  a little secretive so we got the inside scoop. it wasn't the regular brothy pho that you would imagine. it was cold and had a slightly salty sauce to it with chicken on top. a salad with a sweeter sauce was also served. it was probably one of the best meals i have had in vietnam and let me tell yah, i've had a lot of good food. so literally after that meal, i went from ambivalent to ecstatic. it was insane. kind of like when i jumped off the 50 ft rock this summer and it was so cool that i was constantly thinking about it and remembering how great it was. yeah. it was THAT GOOD.

so you'd expect that to be normal? no that isn't. because it was literally night changing. i felt so happy like i had millions of endorphines pumping through my body. just from a good meal.

the night should have been great since i felt so good, but you know what they say, what comes up must come down. so we're walking around the market and it gets fucking crowded as shit all of a sudden and i was like omg! the crowd passed and as we walked, i looked down at my bad and REALIZED THAT IT WAS SLASHED. SLASHED. AND HALF OPEN. thank god i had my nalgene to block the slash but STILL. my REAL LESPORTSAC got SLASHED. /////////////////ed! i was so angry. almost as angry as that time that everyone cut me off in the trader joe's parking lot 2 summers ago and i got so angry that i pumped the music, cursed everyone so loudly, and drove too fast on the freeway entrance then had to stop because of the damn traffic light for entering the freeway. joyce and i almost died.... anyways YEAH PO-ED CONNIE! NOT SAFE! so after that happened i walked around like a paranoid tourist and held my bag like my new born child.  and jumped at anything tha tmoved around me.  i swear, i blame that on the macaques in malaysia... i'll tell you about that later. so imagine connie suh, all fidgety and paranoid, clutching her bag to her body,with crazy eyes... yeah. BUT WAIT THERES MORE

I SAW AN ALBINO ASIAN TOO! IT WAS INSANE.

so as you can tell, that was quite the night. and just the beginning of an interesting night. well last weekend in hanoi, go big or go home

OH SHIT!

now i have your attention.  Did you know that coffee is a laxative? Well if you didn't, now you know.  Well Vietnam is famous for its coffee, as seen in the hundreds of cafes and the selling of civit cat poop coffee, and for the last 3 days, i have been indulging in this coffee shablooey.  Mainly to get internet access... Well so i've been getting coffee not really because ineed or want it but because i dont wanna be rude.  the coffee here is really concentrated and given in real small amounts. its good/really strong/ often times makes me feel  like ive been drinking alcohol. it also makes me poop. yeah we havent talked about this in a long time but for the last three days, about 1 hour after i drink the coffee, i have to use to WC (toilet). and its not one of those poops that you know is coming. like out of nowhere my bowels panic and then i really have to go. just creeps up on yah! well i just wanted to tell you that. mainly because i just went and thought it was wild how this happened again. the whole pooping after coffee....

North Korean Restaurant

While i've been in asia with a whole crew of white folk, i have realized how much i do love being Korean.  yes you can quote me on that.  This is especially lovely when you understand the korean writing around you and perhaps when you go to restaurants. Restaurants such as the North Korean Pyong yang restaurant in Hanoi.  IT is owned by the North Korean embassy. Totally weird.  Like my friend said: "it was like really eating in North Korea. The food didn't come for a long time and there was propoganda everywhere".  Super shitty service and propoganda on the tv with nationalistic music as background tunes as you nommed (or waited to nom).  The propoganda was in the form of karaoke images on the television with happy children and happy women in hanboks and kimchi and more happiness.  I talked to one of the waitresses and she was half Viet/Korean so im not sure if they were all from North Korea.  These ladies though were quite the talented individuals.  Aside from speaking vietnamese, korean, japanese, and chinese, they also performed for us.  ye yep. after getting our food, they whipped out the key board and mikes and sang songs.  Arirang, that Celine Dione song thats from the titanic, the song that they sing in Sound of Music as they escape (you should know who im referring to when i say "they". if you don't then thats just wrong), and 4-5 songs in korean. weird.  All in all, last night i supported North Korea by eating at their restaurant.

Eating my way through Hanoi

Yeah thats right. Our program assistant (her nickname is Hip) is the cutest Asian girl ever and she wanted to hang with us and take us out to eat.  She also appreciates gastronomy.  What a wonderful thing. So after class we went to the Old Quarter and ate for like 5 hours. She wanted to take us to 10 places but we ended up going ot like 6.  We had bun (noodles) in the Old Quarter and made our way to another part of the area to eat this sweet mango jelly on bottom with yogurt on top pudding dish. OMG SO GOOD. So we walked and walked then got some Che Hanoi.  Che is a sweet dessert that actually looks really nasty because it looks all slimy and stuff with shaved ice on top but its actually really delicious.  Then we made our way to get some Omai, dried fruit. Yummmmmo.  We got tea after that.  Then got papaya salad rolls with an interesting soup that was slightly sweet with cilantro, peanuts, muscles, meat, and liver.... interesting. But man i can just keep eating. You know i dont think i should even blog about Nam. I'm just gonna post pictures of what I've been eating...


Speaking of eating, on monday after the midterm, the girls had a ladies night and went to the Metropol hotel to eat a chocolate buffet.  The Metropol is probably the nicest hotel in Hanoi and this chocolate buffet was insane.  We walked in and was in awe of how nice everything was. lets be real, theres a reason we don't get nice things on this trip and it clearly showed when we walked in in stupor... i even stole a towel from the bathroom... i know, only poor people do that.. or desperate people. anyways this chocolate buffet. picture this. chocolate bon bons, crepes, mouse, icecream, hot chocolate, macaroons, puddings, and everything in chocolate.  fruits, fruit smoothies, tea sandwiches, scones... i got a fucking latte. i havent had a real latte since school. oh my gosh. yeah compared to the man date that the dudes went on (whiskey, billiards, dinner, driving rangge) our date was pretty womanly. almost grossly stereotypical but i guess theres some truth to a woman's love for chocolate.  if you're reading this and don't like chocolate, you should get your priorities straightened out... wow. later on we did our nails, drank wine, and watched a movie. i mean, lets be real, i would hav eloved goin to a driving range, better yet, a shooting range, but it was pretty great treating myself to a womanly activity.

Yesterday (the day after the chocolate buffet) we also had an italian dinner hosted by Jimbo, our prof.  omg. so good. i'm not gonna keep going but heres the bottom line: theres other food than pho in Vietam.

I've explored the old quarter and am now gonna shop my way through too. Nancy, you should expect to see my debit card balance decrease...

I'm writing this in a cafe and about 20 minutes ago they turned off the lights and started up the disco ball. so i wam writing in a an empty cafe with disco ball luminescense with J.Biebs/ girly pop songs playing int he background(currently, Britney Spears pre Skank years). There is also a tv in front of me and there was an add for a massaging band that you can put on your body to "shake off" the fat. Yeah i bet that'll work.  Well i realized that im quite particular about belly buttons. some of them are just unappealing to the eye. YOU KNOW? icky.

Quote of the Night

I met a Nigerian man last night at a bar full of swanky hipsters.  it was quite odd being with old people. i didn't actually care to be there but one of the girls was meeting a dude who she met last night who was coincidentally playing at this venue.  so we arrive and his extremely drunk brother starts to talk to us.  i was with a friend and we were clearly uninterested. anyways after a shpeel on why we're not lesbians and why she is single and why i am definitly in a relationship, he's like "life's bisexual. because she fucks guys and girls". interesting right? i found two things interesting from his drunken observations.
1. that i was in a relationship. haha thats like the farthest thing that i am even in our pac rim. he was like "you didn't make an effort". interesting right? sorry i keep saying interesting- its because during our time in Malaysia, we had to write field journals of observations that we found "interesting". so.over.rated. well his observation is soo right! lately i've been getting tired or hangry when we go out. its really weird. i just crave in n out. or salads! you know, i've never been hangry so many times before in my life.  i dont really remember a time when i was starving but there are so many times when im just a POed person because i havent had food. its incredibly frustrating. Also i've been looking either super butch or super cute in Nam.  its really odd. maybe i have an alterego- connor the bro.
2. the life shpeel. makes you look at life in a different perspective.... or not. its just a funny thing to say.

well thats all folks!