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.