I've just put up my address and my breaks from school for those who have been curious. Breaks from school are the best time to come visit, since I don't have the four hours of class in the morning (and I could probably be persuaded to take off from work too!). I'd like to travel during my vacation periods, but would be happy to host folks too.

Yesterday was a cloudy day, but today on the train I could see the ice that covered most of the Han River (that I could see). Brr! It's been mild since I got here but today it's probably about 35 degrees Fahrenheit (not including wind chill factor).

I've been very good so far and studying diligently when I get home, but Korea feels a bit different to me this time around. I feel restless, anxious. So today after class, as I walked to the subway, I was very happy to experience that sudden fierce rush of happiness that comes sometimes on a clear, sunny day. I felt happy about class, about work, about my life here, and optimistic that I'd figure things out with grad school and with boyfriend. That it would all work out.

Well, that moment passed. And now I feel restless, uneasy. This damn decision I need to make about law school is getting me down. ("The Man is bringing me down; I say, we got to bring the Man down!") I have to let the school know by Feb. 1 (which means I better mail a letter from here by early next week), and I swing so wildly from extreme to extreme that my head feels like it's one of those big pirate ship rides at Magic Mountain where the ride operator tells you to secure your glasses and change because the ship makes a huge arc and swings you practically upside down.

I never liked that ride.

Yes, no, defer? That is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of the first year in law school,
Or to take arms against a sea of relatives asking why you haven't made a career choice yet,
And by opposing end their hopes? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That a first-year associate at a corporate law firm is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be avoid'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have drunk our 20th cup of joe and fallen asleep on our desk anyway, drooling,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of senior partners,
The oppressor's wrongs (which you defend), the law professor's contumely,
The pangs of love missed (because you didn't have time for a relationship), the law's delay,
The insolence of law firm politics and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy associate takes,
When she herself might her quietus make
By not going to law school at all? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary associate's life,
But that the dread of not being something or someone before death,
Puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus fear of striking out on one's own does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action
And become lawyers.

Many, many apologies to Will, and to my many friends who are lawyers; this isn't about you being a lawyer, it's about me being one.

And now some more plagiarism, courtesy of Professor Jason, who gets a big bowl of kimchee stew (redeemable only in Seoul) for his elucidating response to an entry from December about budae jjigae (military unit stew, created through hardships during the Korean War) and the two American soldiers who accidentally killed two Korean high school girls.

Note: I had originally guessed that the caning took place in Thailand.

"1. That kid who got caned was in Singapore. If I'm not mistaken, his parents worked for the State Dept, and that was a big part of the to-do.
"2. Food from hard times--first, that was a really cool post. In the Rust Belt portion of the mid-Atlantic/midwest, there are a number of dishes that often get described as "depression food." Salisbury steak comes to mind quickly, but the stuffed bell
pepper (filled with a rice/hamburger meatloaf, if you've never seen it) also occurs to me as a foodstuff from this category."

The stuffed bell pepper sounds pretty good, actually. Though ever since I saw a re-make of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" I've not been able to see meatloaf without thinking, "Arf! Arf!"