hopes & dreams

one day...
i will make enough money + have enough time
to take guitar + piano lessons...
so that i can worship + praise God more fully!
and maybe even write some original praise songs...

egg-yo

the other day, i was watching/learning/helping ajumma make neng myun at home.

i learned three things:

1. start cracking the hard boiled egg from the fatter end.

2. no matter how hot or hard, have patience and persevere til the end!

3. seemingly simple tasks have more complicated meaning as we get older... 

as i was watching ajumma sweep around the kitchen, cutting up cucumbers and boiling the noodles, i found myself telling her how watching her suddenly made me miss my mom. it made me realize how long it's been since i've seen her in the kitchen. growing up, my grandmother always made me do the dishes (she'd tell me it was good practice for when i would be a wife). and she'd train me to peel and cut fruit (she'd tell me it was good practice for when i would be a daughter-in-law). whenever i'm home, my mom always calls me to the kitchen to watch her cook stuff. i guess that's why i enjoy it. cooking is not only stress relieving and calming, it gives me such good feelings and memories of the silent connection that linked me+gramma & me+mom. 

so naturally, when i stood there watching, ajumma would not allow me to really do much. however, she did hand me ONE task that day. she brought over 3 hard boiled eggs and told me to peel them. she taught me that you should crack them at the fatter ends first (it really does work better!). one touch and i noticed how hot those freakin' eggs were!!! i mentioned they were hot (hoping she would dunk them in cold water for a bit longer) but she just shrugged and said, yeah, they're hot huh?  so what could i do? i felt like it was not only a test of my determination, but my womanhood itself. (korean women cook and clean with strange resistance to temperatures on their hands). so i had to pretend that everything was dandy. all i remember were the beads of sweat forming from the heat and nervousness, trickling down my forehead while i screamed aloud - only in my mind...  i told meself: the pain will be over soon. the pain will be over soon. just crack them eggs and peel them delicately....you must prove yourself! the hard work paid off with perfectly peeled eggs to put in our cold neng myun. funny thing is, i think i was the only one who noticed... haha! 

wanderlust

we've been talking about our travel fantasies a lot lately (summertime tends to do that to ya) and i thought about why i've always held these special places in my heart...

Greece - cuz i used to really be into greek mythology (my first aim sn was aphrodite6 -_-) also, i read this fictional book about a goddess in junior high and i've lusted after greece ever since...

Italy - cuz i've always loved italian food and people, and i even bought a Learn Italian! book/cd that i never read but can always undust. plus, there was that one episode of everybody loves raymond, shot in italy and that beautiful pan-out screen shot of the houses on the hills... seriously took my breath away.

Ireland - cuz the irish in me will never die... i've always had an affinity towards ireland due to my special day of birth^^

Philippines - cuz i grew up surrounded by Filipinos and their lovingly hospitable culture... oh and i'm sure the islands are gorgeous and their food is like a comfort food for me.

Moorea/Bora Bora - cuz it's so exotic.... the perfect island paradise. also, an upgrade from boring Hawaii (i'm just assuming that cuz i haven't been there yet lol)


sigh... if only i could be like anthony bourdain from no reservations! travel the world and experience exotic food, people, cultures... living a new life in every village and marketplace!

the only kind of traveling i will see in the next few years is from nyc -> la and back... =/