Many of us know already that America is such a bubble in the world. We live in our nice homes, some fit for dozens of people, eating fine cuisine from all parts of the world, dressing in the latest fashion (or whatever we think is the fashion) and basically just leading our comfortable lives.  Many of us know that much of the rest of the world dislikes our apparently ill-deserved pride and view us with contempt.  When I left the states back in June, I had this conception that others of the world would be more 'worldly', that they would have more interesting views and perceptions of the real human life.  I was wrong.  This is probably the most interesting and valuable insight that I will take back with me to the states.  Korea is much like the states.  Full of people who live in their own bubble, comfortable with their own standard of living, and just as ignorant of the rest of the world as Americans are, the ONLY difference being that in their perception, there is one great country, the United States, that exists where apparently everyone is supposedly rich, wealthy, and lives fat lives in another bubble on the other side of the world.  With the exception of the few Koreans who have actually left the country to stay in other countries, the rest of the population is just as human as Americans, in their ignorance of the rest of the world. 

The interesting difference is the concept of racism.  Some say America is a melting pot of all races.  We know this isnt true. Yah there are a lot of people from different backgrounds, but there's so much racism going on, with people still clinging to others of their own culture... we've made a lot of progress but there's still plenty wrong with the world.  The thing is, it's not that Koreans are more or less racist than Americans, it's that Korea has yet to experience real racism.  In my view, when a country first sees some foreigners trickling into the country, for the most part they welcome them, wishing the newcomers to learn about their proud culture and rich background.  But once there are a lot more foreign people moving into the country, then the racism begins.  Once there are enough foreign people to make their own cultural stand in that country, then the bilateral racism starts, because it can go both ways, instead of just citizens dislike towards foreigners.  Iono.. argue with me if you want, but this is wat i've seen in the past few months.  I cant say it's true with the rest of the world, but I'm sure there'll be a lot of parallels. I'd like to see wat it's like in China, Japan, and Europe.

I leave tomorrow.

School is over. Got an A. Time to come home. Flight back on the 7th, will be in Berkeley for a week starting the 10th. 5108824680.

I've never laughed so hard at a family gathering in my entire life.  Earlier this summer I bought an mp3 player, which has been essential in the keeping-Marcus-sane department, this summer.  Tonight, I had dinner at one of my uncle's places. It was me, uncle, his wife, and my grandmother.  After dinner, my uncle asked to hear a song on my mp3 player because he wanted to hear the quality of sound on the thing.  As I picked up the mp3player and its earfones, my mind worriedly raced thru the inventory of current songs in search of a suitable song for him.  Eminem. Linkin Park. 3 Days Grace - I hate everything about you. 50 Cent. My mind settled on my only last option: a few trance songs I hadnt deleted yet from the song cycle which were still at the end of the playlist. I figured they were the least of all the evils on this player. 

    Of the 3 or 4 trance songs on the player, I picked DJ Tatana - Words.  Anyone who likes trance loves that song, and anyone who hates trance thinks it's bearable, so I figured it was a decent choice.  I was unprepared for the outcome.  I fast forwarded thru the first two minutes of typical trance song buildup and got to the climax of the song and handed the earphones to my uncle. He listens for 3 seconds. Then he clenches his eyes shut, has a huge grin on his face, shakes his head from side to side, and waves his hands around in ridiculous patterns. This 50 year old korean guy is actually dancing to this song. My aunt takes one look at him and busts out laughing at him. Grandmother, sitting on the left, noble and proud as ever, looks at him and starts cracking up as well. It was a good thing I was already sitting on the couch cuz I woulda been on the floor clutching my stomache. Uncle opens his eyes and states in Korean that the song is good. He asks me if it's rap, and I say no, thats trance. He hands it to his hysterically laughing wife and makes her listen to it. She immediately starts immitating my uncle, with a ridiculous look on her face, and my uncle joins in on the laughter too.  Finally my grandma wants to hear the song too!  She puts on the earphones, ponders the song for a few seconds, then starts clapping along like it was an old Korean folksong. Wow, gg.

On a side note, one of my cousins on my mom's side looks exactly like Grace.

Today is the 27th of August. Today I went too far.  I am typing from a pc bang, drunk off my ass, at 2am in the morning in korea, with no way to get home.  The only reason that I am marginally safe at this moment is the fact that pcbangs open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Lets backtrack.

Today, or rather, last night, was thursday night.  I'll mention it now, because guaranteed, I'll forget later: there are a lot of pictures taken on disposable camera and on chungun's digital cam. Gotta get them later. Anyways, the final for the korean class, along with all the other classes at the institute, is a 2 day long final. Today was the second day. So typical of me, I called out all the students of my class to drink together.  Fortunately/unfortunately, Kent's class, the class next to ours, also called a class gathering tonite.  So we drank together at a sooljip called DoShi, a block away from Red Rock.  Apparently even on thursdays, Sinchon is full of college drinkers: it took us a while to find a place that could well occupy 20 people.  Come to think of it, Michael has scandelous fotos of himself and the waitress on his video camera, which I, unmentionably, initiatied. Oops... hehe.  A few of u wanted pictures of fine ass girls from korea... well this is the night where those pictures were taken. Too many cute girls... but thats beside the point.  Skipping a jillion fun anecdotes, We left the sooljip and I remember very little after: even now, I'm trying to nudge my memory for the haltingly forthcoming details.  I remember vaguely splitting from the group: I told Hatanaka to tell the others that I had to find a safe place to throw up... and I left the group and walked for a long time afterwards... I found myself in the next city, sitting on a curb which I fortunately (?) took a picture of; such a poignant moment... and SOMEHOW made my way back to the Gheto pcbang where I spend most of my afterschool time... I have very little idea how I got here. I vaguely remember recognizing the Sinchon subway station, walking thru it with the construction workers inside looking at me oddly, and then reemerging close to this location: the only location I can spend a few hours til the subway station runs once again.  I dont dare find a taxi in this drunken state: they'll lead me all over the place in search of more taxi fare, before they take me to my requested destination.  So I decided to stay at this pcbang from 2am til 5am, when the subway runs again. Anyways, done w/ this xanga. Time to go back to the bathroom...