mongolia liked my shoes

oh mongolia.... your clean, wonderful air.

I like to watch your sky and purple, pink sunset clouds. I like to breath your strong air that smells like flowers and meat. Watching the streets busy with traffic that stops for nothing, watching the mongolian teens with their dior and high heels, watching the boys on the trampolines, what a thing i have re-discovered here... watching, recording, drawing, writing....waiting waiting waiting for what comes next. Mongolia, i love your dirty streets, russian architecture, street signs, grocery stores, strange cigarette boxes, dumplings and turkish coffee, but mongolia... why did you steal my shoes?

It is cold here and we crowd into one room to talk and make toast and drink tea and juice. I wear scarves on my head to keep my ears warm. I buy sweet rolls without knowing what they are. Allison and Stephanie and I lie on our beds in our quaint little hostel and let the pure light filter through and flood our room. I spend hours walking, looking, taking photos. and now, i buy new shoes.

They were there inside out hostel door and now they are out in the streets of Ulaan bator! Snatched, stolen, whisked away. I wonder what they are up to. luckily they have my superfeet to keep them company.

All is well in mongolia, and tomorrow... i take more pictures, i buy new shoes (yippee, a reason to shoes shop!), i drink tea and juice, i write, i draw, i pick up trash to glue in my sketchbook, i discover the city, i talk with new people, i hope i don't blow up my electronics, i read and i walk.

and after that... i start school.

epiphany

olivia: the dirt here is exquisite!

victoria: when my shoes got stolen i thought... maybe this is why tory is not so fond of visiting asia.

kim: i want to buy you everything i see. everything!

thank you arrested development

After a flight full of wonderful foreign films, red wine and trashy magazines, the bright haze of the inchion airport greeted my sleep deprived eyes.

annyong!

it was all i could think to say.

annyong!

hello! hello! hello Korea with your beautifully designed airport and bustling baggage claim. Korea with your bright lights and funny signs. Korea which is lacking in drip coffee but makes a mean americano. hello Korea with your red mud beaches and reflective skyscrapers, corn syrup free grape candies, city bus karaoke, hordes of uniformed high school students, amazing electronica, and your big crisp, refreshing "beer bar" beers.

We took a five am bus to Seoul for a 7 am check in at the USO. This prepared us for a 8 am departure and a 9 am arrival at the DMZ. Somewhere in here, while looking past my sleeping bus mate i realize that i am in a place where all the signs are unreadable... all the speech is unrecognizable... all of the people on the streets, in the malls, in their cars, on the bus, on their bikes, holding their parents hands, kissing their boyfriends face, speaking and laughing and teasing their friends... are foreign to me. I am in a completely foreign land.
yet... as i cut my beef with scissors, order coffee, count out my won (i spent thousands today!), attempt to talk to police officers, help Korean elders travel through the DMZ tunnels deep into the earth.... i have figured out that all i really need is a smile and an "annyong!"

thank you arrested development... you have taught me well. The one Korean phrase i need was right on the tip of my tongue.

epiphany

ps

mama: i didn't cook my beef long enough.... but don't worry the waitress came over and laughed at me. she took my beef and put it back on my grill. she stood their until it was black. she was right... it was better that way.

papa: i didn't take my camera to the DMZ which was a huge mistake. On the way there the sun was rising, it was just a big ball right above the mountains. The water was red and the mountains such a array of greys. i thought to myself "if i could take this picture it would be the one i frame for papa."

rachel: annyong! this is how my conversation went... "do you have drip coffee?" they smiled at me. "do you have brewed coffee?" they just smiled at me. "do you have americanos?" yay! finally they understand me! annyong! thank god. I get a bit of coffee.

preston: all the buildings here... you would love them. The men in their shiny dress pants, the beautiful Seoul Marriot, the abundance of rice milk, the wonderful world of Korean electronica (check out Towa Tei), and fine cigarettes... you would love them.

Most of the goodbyes have been said. My bag is a solid 36 pounds. I have been given some of the best gifts of my life.

With a belly full of lambic, a heart full of excitement and a pack (aka my new apartment) full of everything from bike tools to my fabulous sleeping bag liner... i am headed off to my bed.

thanks for the book, the bracelet, the journal and the songs. here's to life abroad!

epiphany