Chuseok and other things

Every Chuseok (Chinese/Taiwanese people will know it as "Moon Festival") the Korean students of UM have an annual Chuseok dinner, where they provide Korean food, though it costs money. Because of my inherent fear of large social gatherings and the exorbitant $15 fee, I didn't go.

This year, it was $10 for non-members. And this year, I was feeling a little braver about facing people, although I still felt $10 was bit of a rip-off.

I call my friends to come and share some Korean food. Robert, Andrew, and Feiqi come along.

After paying, we sat at the table... waiting. The event was supposed to be at 7 PM, but once again, people seemed to not pay much attention to the time. I have once heard that there used to be such a thing called "Korea time" where people come an hour late. I have also heard that such practices have since disappeared after the 1988 Seoul Olympics, feel free to correct me if I am mistaken.

This is 2010. GET ON WITH THE TIMES. (Pun not intended. But I like the bad pun.)

The performance by Sinabro was pretty good. However, there really wasn't much afterwards. A Korean man came and asked for Korean tutoring help, but said that only students who graduated from Korean high schools were eligible (but, kind sir, surely there is a more fool-proof way, like a test? Having gone to a Korean high school does not automatically ensure quality Korean, surely you know this?) Finally, there was food.

...Only one helping. Only one rice cake. Only a little bit of food for each. And then people left.

I was okay with the portions, but the three guys seemed a bit crushed at the exchange rate of $10 and the meager food. I admit, it seemed kind of like a ripoff. But having rice cake was oh so glorious. I have mixed feelings about this.

Oh well

WELL GUYS, WE'LL GO TO THE MOON FESTIVAL THING ON NORTH CAMPUS ON FRIDAY AND GET A MOON CAKE, ALRIGHT?

In addition, I am more at peace with my socializing issues. I have chatted up with others, they respond to me pretty politely. I still have a long ways to go, but I don't think I'll cry over the issue anymore... at least, for now. I have come to a realization that again, I will not be automatically shunned by groups of people before they even know me. I now have the courage to go talk to them, and I see that there is a potential, an open invitation, for me to hang out with others. Not everybody is an asshole, I can accept and see that there are nice people in this world.

I guess the summer job in Korea did help me get over some issues. Good to know.

Of Trials and Tribulations of Junior year, or at least, the first week of it.

The first week of junior year in college presents an ambiguous future, which is not as reassuring as it being off to a good start, or even a horrible, horrible, start.

Danling and I have more or less settled into our apartments; we have the minimum food for survival, finally got wireless today, and the house is pretty cozy once the furnitures are settled in. It takes time to cook sometimes, yes, but we seem to be semi-adept at it and actually cook decent food that we can stomach with some satisfaction.

However, there are some parts of the house that needs fixing, we need more food, and although we appreciate the quiet and privacy of a two-person apartment, we will not quite get over the apartment envy over Carriage House, Charter House, and that huge historical house built by freemasons where Robert, Feiqi, Annie, Sam, and Chris are living. Seriously, their houses are simply better-looking and better furnished than ours. Oh well.

My class schedules are bordering between "dude, WTF" and "that is sweet"; due to once-a-week lectures for my psych classes and odd time schedules, My Mondays through Thursdays are pretty class-free, and the classes so far have seemed okay. This will open up for studying time and chilling time.

Friday, however, may be difficult with the four discussion sections in a row. Perhaps it's time I invested on drinking coffee. Moreover, an English and Psychology double major equals lots and lots of reading and writing, which I enjoy, but there is such a thing called a limit. Also, one of my professors seem to have a bit of a habit to not make himself clear, and I'd like to really know if I'm supposed to read thirty stories, or two hundred, please, sir? Because knowing the right answer can really save my sanity here.

I seem to be doing okay with my friends so far, we're all jolly and happy.

However, a certain drama llama has been galloping around quite a while which I won't discuss, but I hope... things eventually work out. Yeah.

Outwardly, I am seemingly more sociable and approachable to others.

While inside, I still haven't grown up emotionally and the oblgation to act mature kind of drains me out. And let's not even get started on the subject of my identity issues.

Meanwhile, the rest of the college body seems to be partying it up on weekends and police cars/ambulance cars are whooping all around.

A chipmunk was found dead on our sidewalk.

I need to visit North Quad someday.

I'm sleepy and I really should sleep now.

Kendo practice.

Today (or technically, yesterday) was the first day of kendo practice after classes started.

I wake up early again, trudge along to the CCRB, change into my uniform, put on bogu (after Joe arrived, actually), and beat people up with a bamboo sword.

And I was excited. Really excited.

Perhaps it's not in my nature to become overly excited with things around the world that are not dogs and cats, but as much as I enjoyed doing kendo, I never seemed to have that sparkle in the eyes or the obvious excitement in the voice like the other kendo club friends seemed to possess whenever we do or speak of kendo.

It was, previously, also difficult to see how other people were doing their thing during practice, and it didn't even get in my head to correct them if they were doing something wrong. I was busy being corrected myself.

But at the first practice, I see myself having become a little more integrated with the club atmosphere, being excited to beat people up with sticks, correcting my stances based on others', and correcting a student whose kote stance may have broken people's arms off without intervention. Most importantly, I wasn't scared shitless of people coming at me with bamboo sticks anymore, at least not as scared as last year. I've even managed to chat and have fun with some of the new people who came for kendo lunch.

Perhaps it's the feeling of membership. Perhaps I feel more comfortable being in the club. Perhaps I've learned to chill and interact more like normal people. Hopefully this wasn't a "back-to-class" luck and will continue throughout.

My toe hurts, however. That peeled-off skin shouldn't be causing this much pain.
Also, colliding with a charging Joe-sensei and falling hurts too. It is important to dodge.