There's a beautiful mess inside

I'm listening to Yael Naim's "Lonely" right now. I think the words are so beautiful and the melody takes over your soul. Yael has a great way of pulling you into her music. Each song is like a personal performance just for you.

"So I'm coloring my face
While I am here with you
Imagining the landscapes of your sorrow
Is it yellow or blue?
Coloring the sky and the trees
and the clouds and the moonlight
I'd color your heart if you didn't hide it."

Just a short passage. You should take a listen.

Anyway, I've been on a writing spree lately. I wrote a story for WakeUp NapTown (WUNT) called The Car Bailout: What it is and What We Should Do and also another for lovely Amber Renee's website Miseducated.net. That piece is fun and flirty. Check it: Holiday Cocktails.

That's a lot of links in one paragraph! :)

Oh, fun news. Last weekend David and I went to Dongdaemun, the biggest shopping center in all of Asia. There are 4 mall-type things in one area (and by mall I mean 13 story buildings filled with anything you could ever imagine buying). In addition to the 4 buildings, there is street after street after street just filled to the brim with shops, stands and people selling things!

It was quite crowded as you can imagine. I was a little overwhelmed by the mass amount of people - walking on the streets in some areas put us shoulder to shoulder with passers-by! I told my co-teacher about our trip there and she said, "These days it is not too crowded there because of low economy." I can't imagine what it's like during a great economy!

The purpose of the trip was to a)find me a winter a coat and b) get presents for people back home. We were successful on both endeavors. Last night David and I wrapped and organized gifts. We have some more wrapping to do tonight. We bought cute bows (David even picked some out!) and wrapping paper and then treated ourselves to some delicious kimbab and mandu kimchi. We've become quite obsessed with this little stand near our apartment that sells the food for super cheap. People crowd around the stand and gobble it up! 10 kimchi mandu's and 2 kimbab rolls is less than 5000 won (about $3.50USd).

(I didn't take this pictures...but I need to take some like it soon!)

kimbab (not sushi - it's Korean kimbab!)

Mandu Kimchi (steamed noodles with spicy kimchi inside).

Anyway, here are some photos from our trip to Dongdaemun.

(click to make bigger)

The food court in the Dootah! building (dootah means listen in Korean, by the way). The way it works is you order at that window and they send the order into the place you order food from. Then you wait for your number to be called.


Our food!


Some clothes -- the mannequins are wearing pots on their heads!


a cute display...with mickey mouse and all


these next few shots are just from walking around the Dongdaemun area










The canal. I could be wrong, but I think this is the Han river.


This is one of my favorite shots of the day. David and I noticed a few men doing this and then realized they were homeless. They just keep their heads down the entire time. Clearly they act much more subserviant than US homeless tend to which was interesting to see. I'm not sure what leads to homelessness here.




This is "sparkling rosebud/forget-me-not tea." It is not only beautiful but also tasty!


A cute store called "Etude House." It was quite crowded!


Etude House nailpolishes :)


Earrings I couldn't resist buying. There were so many cute earrings...I need to go back! :)


My new gloves! So cute!

That's all for now. Check back later for more goodies!