Sunday, November 11, 2007

dogs, indian food, marathons. what could go wrong?

it's been another eventful weekend. mary and matt went to china this weekend, and i was nominated dog-sitter for their 4 month old apricot poodle, wicket. (who i have been calling wicked for the past 3 months...whoops.) we had a really bonding 3 days together. we laughed, we cried, we (he) broke my favorite little statue that i took from home, we (i) gave him the death glare of my life and yelled uncontrollably for about 3 seconds before just leaving the apartment for a few minutes, we (he) is not as potty trained as mary told me he was, we (i) never want to look at another doggy pee pad again in my life, but after all of the ups and downs, we spent a really nice afternoon today laying in our courtyard cuddling to keep warm, making friends with other korean dogs and their korean owners, and despite the frustrations, it makes me want a dog to call my own. someday.

saturday hannah, raquel, and i went to insadong, which is a big artsy market, and then met bruce and lydia (some friends from the other side of seoul) for indian. yum. bruce and lydia came up to ilsan to spend the night, and then this morning, we all did the ilsan lake marathon together!!! well, that is what they called it. it was actually a 10k and a 5k, but the shirts say marathon, so if, at some point, i'm wearing the shirt and someone says something like, "wow, a marathon. that's so awesome. i've always admired people who can do stuff like that. you are my hero...", i may not correct them. hannah, lydia, and i did the 10k. and raquel and elly (elly is our korean friend that works at tango pango) did the 5k. here's some photos from the weekend:

at the insadong market, some koreans making some korean food. it's sort of a nut/seaweed/honey/rice krispie barish sort of thing. we think it's sketchy. well, actually, i didn't think it was sketchy until after a korean dude sampled one to me and as i put it in my mouth i heard gasps of horror and moans of disgust. i didn't know i was supposed to be weary of things like that, but apparently i am.


on the street by the market.








raquel, hannah, and i.











mmmmmm...... earl grey tea......mmmmmm....







doing some pre-"marathon" stretching.







check out our awesome race shirts. (they were all too smal. go figure. stupid tiny little asians.) from wunjuk (left) to oranjuk (right): elly, rocko, me, hannah, lydia. (lydia is dutch too! as if the height and blonde hair doesn't give it away...)





my first place medal! just kidding, everyone gets a medal. but again, if i'm every wearing it around, just, you know, as an accessory, and someone says to me "wow, a first place marathon medal! i can't believe you got first place in a marathon! beat everyone! wowzers! if only i could be more like you...", i may not correct them.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does it feel to no longer be the only blonde person in the entire country?

I was thinking of you this morning as I went to my very overdue dentist appointment. It had been 8 years. Don't judge. I have a phobia. Seriously, before I walked in I had a small panic attack and couldn't breath. Then while lying on the chair, for no good reason, I started crying uncontrollably and shaking and couldn't stop. But that's not the point. During my teeth cleaning, I seriously contemplated jumping out of the chair and tearing the tiny little Asian women who was inflicting incredible amounts of pain on me into about 132 pieces and shoving them through that suction hose. At one point she made me put on sunglases to stop the splattering - I'm fairly confident it was the splattering of blood she was referring to. I couldn't stop thinking "You crazy bitch - I'm going to kill you." And I thought of you doing yoga with your instructor and I realized that it is a lot harder to keep your temper in check when you know without a doubt that you out weigh the object of your hatred by about 100 pounds and could destroy them with your bare hands if you wanted to. Not that I really wanted to. It was a fleeting thought that only lasted for the entire 34 minutes I was in the teeth cleaning chair.

Anonymous said...

Good job on the race by the way. I'll never tell anyone that it wasn't in fact a marathon and that you didn't come in first.

Carolyn said...

jen, you gotta start a blog. you have the most hillarious ways of telling stories.

i can't believe you haven't been to the dentist in 8 years!!!! (okay, i had to say it, now i'll let it go. but seriously.) did they think you were a total whacko for crying the whole time? i feel so bad for you. but i still find myself laughing. i think if i didn't go the dentist for 8 years, i would officially have a cavity on every tooth in my mouth. my first visit when i was little, i had 6. how embarassing.