Friday, February 24, 2012

Federleicht

Listening to:
"Barfuss" - Clueso



« Manchmal macht mir der Nase nach
Einfach das unbeholfne Spaß
Beweg mich gerne mal im Kreis »

Es scheint, dass der Lauf der Zeit noch ein paar unerwartete Vorteile hat...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

KSL Moment

KSL mental block in Korean class this afternoon:

During our discussion about Korean politics, Professor Choi used the abbreviation 반미 (反美), which means anti-American, as in anti-U.S. policies or sentiment.

It's not a rare or difficult word—반미 is a common term in the news, and even the hanja are quite basic—but, perhaps due to my hunger, the first possible definition that popped into my head was bánh mì, the delicious French-Vietnamese sandwich with which I have been known to be obsessed.

Clearing my head of images of pâté and pickled carrots, I began thinking about possible hanja matches and correctly concluded that the 미 was equivalent to 美. Unfortunately, I also thought that 반 might refer to 半, meaning half. Logically then, 반미 would be half-beauty or half-America (the "beautiful country"). What an interesting word for 'butterface'!

The next iteration finally reached the correct hanja (反美), but it occurred to me that this might mean anti-beauty. "How unfortunate," I thought. Haters gonna hate, right?

Finally, I remembered the correct definition of 반미, and suddenly the world seemed a less amusing place. Granted, this entire process of hanja mixing and matching probably lasted for less than five seconds, but it was five seconds of absurd hilarity that had me laughing out loud by myself in the middle of Professor Choi's rather serious explanation of Korean party politics.

Oh, the strange and solitarily humorous things that happen inside my brain...

Monday, February 13, 2012

Public Transportation

On the Metro-North train:
Belligerently drunk homeless-looking man trying to start an argument with me and a bunch of random kids from Choate about Tom Brady.
#PerilsOfPublicTransportation

Thursday, February 9, 2012

H-Town Weekend

Houston weekend: La Traviata, deb ball, antiquing, and library alphabetizing. Here we go!



Really looking forward to hearing Shagimuratova in person.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Deep Winter

Admittedly pretty cliché and somewhat emo (welcome to New England winters), but hey, at least I've learned enough of this language to do both of those things!

한겨울

겨울이 되면서 낮이 짧아지고 날씨가 추워진다. 그러다 어느 밤 한중에 아무 소리 없이 눈이 내리기 시작하고 다음 날 아침에 창 밖으로 보면 가루 설탕으로 뿌린 것처럼 눈이 쌓여있다. 나뭇가지들에 달린 고드름은 시간이 멈춘 것처럼 얼어있으며 햇빛에 반짝거린다.

그러나 사계절 중에서 내가 겨울을 가장 좋아하는 이유는 겨울 풍경이 아름다워서가 아니다. 이면에 한겨울은 춥고 심심하고 외롭기 때문에 특별하다고 생각한다. 새들의 노래도 안 들리고 눈이 쌓여서 발걸음의 소리도 침묵을 깨지 않으며, 자기 인생에 대해서 깊이 반성을 할 수 있는 시간이다. 물을 한참 못 마시다가 시원한 것을 마시면 더욱 즐기듯이 맑은 겨울 공기를 들여마시면서 내 삶에 대해서 생각할 수 있는 좋은 기회다.

게다가 날씨가 추워지고 낮이 짧아지면서 실내에서 보내는 시간이 많아지고 외출도 약속도 줄게 된다. 그래서 체력상 어려운 데에다가 가장 외롭고 심리적으로도 힘든 계절이다. 그러나 바로 이 이유 때문에 우리의 삶을 버티어 주는 기둥이 무엇인지 깨닫고 인간 관계가 얼마나 중요하고 소중한 것인지를 배우게 된다. 물론 이 사실들은 어느 계절에서나 중요하지만 한겨울의 꽁꽁 언 경치 속에서 특히 느끼게 된다고 믿는다.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Of Masala and Men

N.B. Don't wear jeans to the Yale Club of New York; they won't let you in the building.

Unfortunately, I did not know this when visiting Kevo on Friday, interfering with his plan to spend the evening there.

Silver lining: Psychedelic Indian restaurant, the oldest Irish pub in New York, lemon shells, and a speakeasy or two.

Milon
McSorley's Old Ale House
In honor of French monks