Bloghappy--I hope you're enjoying my many many blogs as of late. It's what happens when you have so much time off and all you are doing is reading, running and writing. All three inevitably lead to one thing: THINKING. too much thought. So much! and it has to come out somewhere. on top of the three I also have the benefit this month of being cut off from nearly everyone, as people are working and/or so far away that the chance of talking to them is well, not plausible. The last time I talked to someone in person was two weeks ago. I give thanks the goodness of Skype and Brooke's new night-shift nurse job, and my sister who keeps odd hours for keeping me sane. Foremost I have read a great deal of fantastic novels, and been driven to the point of writing out all my energies in various forms of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, letters, and journaling. oh! and BLOGGING! i am interested to see if it continues once the weather warms up and I start working 8-hour days again. But I'll worry about that when I come to it. For now, I will enjoy my sublimely immaculate apartment diggs (another result of too much time and too much coldness for my taste), and hope that you will enjoy reading my writing. Please! feel free to leave comments or send messages, I'll be sure to respond.

ALSO: I love mail!! you should have my address and if you do not, please write me. I will definitely write back. I love love love getting mail and I want more mail coming thru to my desk, please!

here is a quote from 8-year Korean-American expat, Anna Desmarais. I think her words are a lovely description of what it feels like to be an individual existing as a foreigner in the country where they live:


“It still surprises me to hear foreigners who have been here for many years complain about being treated badly. Get over it, I say!” And then came a very apt summation of expat life in Korea as it is today.

“You get to live somewhere where you will never be a part of their culture, no matter how hard you try and how much Korean blood you have, which means you eventually stop trying to fit in and forge your own path. You live your own life in the way you want to live it, which I think is the way to go.

“Of course, you must respect where you live and the culture you live in, but luckily you can choose which rules you have to follow and which rules you don’t. There’s a certain sense of freedom in that.”


Desmarais is currently the co-owner of the very cool Berlin lounge, which sits on the hill overlooking the entrance to Itaewon.