KOREAN SPRING

This is obviously not based on science or proven through experiments of any sort. It's just that I tend to fall victim to the hiccups much more often than the average person for some bizarre reason. To be honest, I haven't really tried all the popular remedies like drinking water upside down or drinking sugar water or doing the elephant thing and spinning around (is this just a Korean thing?) or getting someone to scare you; because I learned once in middle school that hiccups are actually spasms of the diaphragm, the muscle we use to breathe. So just rest the diaphragm for a while, right? My mom's remedy was to just stop breathing for as long as possible, which seemed like the best option according to my layman theory. But rather than just simply not breathing, I usually held my nose and and blew with my mouth closed until my ears popped, the thing you do on airplanes, because I just thought that would work better - it didn't work all the time but it just became a habi...

Just last week while I was chatting with a Chinese friend for language exchange, I came across the idea that maybe I could continue my undergrad education in China. It was a sudden stroke of inspiration that came about thanks to this friend's casual, almost-jokingly-mentioned suggestion, but the more I think about it the more it seems so right. The tuition is much less expensive, there are plenty of schools with linguistics programs (more than Korea anyway) and English-taught courses, admissions are relatively easier for international students, I could apply for scholarships more easily than NY, it's only about 2 hours away from Seoul by plane, and I could pick up Chinese a lot more quickly. I could finally fulfill my dream of completing my education, or at least continuing with it, something that would make me a lot happier than being stuck in an office all day (not that I actually hate my current job). Anyway, so I'm googling a bunch of schools in China, and looking thr...

It's a peculiar thing, Monday... an innocent day like any other, but how it manages to grip your insides and fill you with dread as the weekend comes to a close is like a riddle that has no answer. I'd already written once about a particularly bad Monday morning, but I feel like today is sort of worthy of another post. So like last time, today my bad Monday started out with another ominous dream. In my dream, I had waken up in the middle of the night and for some reason couldn't fall back asleep. There was a faint light poking through the curtains, from which I wasn't sure whether it was the street lamps or the rising sun, but I figured it was probably morning anyway and decided I would just get ready for work early. On my way to the bathroom, I checked my phone for the time, which read 3:50. In the morning. Half annoyed, half elated at the prospect of three extra hours of sleep, I headed back into the covers. And as soon as my head hit my pillow, my actual alarm we...

小朋友 你是否有很多问号    [xiǎo péng yǒu nǐ shì fǒu yǒu hěn duō wèn hào] 아이야, 넌 의문이 많지? 为什么 别人在那看漫画 [wèi shén me bié ren zài nà kàn màn huà] 왜 다른 친구들은 만화를 보는데 我却在学画画 对着钢琴说话 [wǒ què zài xué huà huà duì zhe gāng qín shuō huà] 나는 그림을 배우고, 피아노와 대화를 해야하는지 别人在玩游戏 [bié ren zài wán yóu xì] 다른 친구들은 게임을 하는데 我却靠在墙壁背我的ABC [wǒ què kào zài qiáng bì bèi wǒ de ABC] 나는 왜 벽에 기대어 ABC를 외워야 하는지 我说我要一台大大的飞机 [wǒ shuō wǒ yào yì tái dà dà de fēi jī] 난 큰 비행기를 갖고 싶다고 했는데 但却得到一台旧旧录音机 [dàn què dé dào yì tái jiù jiù lù yīn jī] 왜 내가 갖게된 것은 낡은 녹음기인지 为什么要听妈妈的话 [wèi shén me yào tīng mā ma de huà] 왜 엄마말을 들어야 하는지 长大后你就会开始懂了这段话 [zhǎng dà hòu nǐ jiù huì kāi shǐ dǒng le zhè duàn huà] 자라고 나면 이 말을 이해하게 될거야     长大后我开始明白 [zhǎng dà hòu wǒ kāi shǐ míng bai] 자라고 나서 나는 알게 되었어 为什么我 跑得比别人快 [wèi shén me wǒ pǎo de bǐ bié rén kuài] 왜 내가 다른 사람들보다 빨리 뛰고 飞得比别人高 [fēi de bǐ bié rén gāo] 다른 사람들보다 높이 나는지를 将来大家看的都是我画的漫...