Anyung

I am now in Seoul. I arrived here last night, and got to fly business class because I am a United Premier member and economy was overbooked. business class is awesome. good food, lots to drink, bedseats. When I came out of customes, I didn't even recognize Hyunjoo when she came to pick me up because she's lost some weight and got her hair done - she looks really great. When she came up to meet me, at first I thought, "Who is this girl smiling at me and who has she mistaken me for?" It is truly awesome, and kind of crazy, to be able to spend time with her here in Seoul.

Hyunjoo's family lives in the south side of Seoul and have a nice little apartment. Her mom fixed us dinner last night - excellent Korean food - and she proceeded to ask us how serious our relationship is ("us" should really be in quotes because I had no idea what was being said). HJ's sister Takyoung is 14 and really funny and cute, especially when I demand that she speak to me in English. They also have a small dog named Enero whose favorite past-times seem to be licking everything in sight, barking sharply, trying to bite my hands, and shitting on the floor. He has an eerily expressive face. For example, Hyunjoo said to me "Look, he seems like he's watching tv" and so I looked at him, and he turned away from the TV to look at me and his face seemed to say "What? You got a problem with a dog watching tv?"

Today, Hyunjoo took me all around the north side of the Seoul - to one historic district and one shopping district. We ate quite literally the hottest Kimchi I've ever had in my life with my dinner. Seoul is one huge-ass crowded city, which sounds like it would be exactly like Tokyo, but it really is quite different in feel and design. For example, it is much cheaper, Christian-er, smoggier, and there is more litter. And there are a lot of underground shopping malls. And it's really interesting being in a country where you don't speak the language.

As usual, Japan has developed an embarrassing obsession, and this time it is a Korean actor, Bae Youngjoon, who is in this Korean drama "Fuyu no Sonata", that is really popular right now in Japan. Every vendor on the street is selling the same damn pictures of his ass because Japanese tourists will apparently shell out the cash. And he's not even that good looking or popular in Korea! All day long his pictures were staring at me on every street saying "Irasshaimase~! Please buy me and take me back with you to Japan!" Tonight on a Korean Entertainment News show, they had a segment that was basically making fun of how extreme the Japanese obsession with him is. Oh Japan, why do you do the things you do?