Doe the Hobo

Angèle Dubeau - Les Beautés Du Diable

2011-09-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with this song these days... Just pardon the weird goth theme in the video. Really, don't watch the video, just listen. This artist also does a slammin' "Princess Mononoke".

Late Night Thoughts

2011-09-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

New Job Fears - The last couple weeks have been busy. A job I was surprisingly interested in was offered to me. It was a long process... long story short, I feel really humbled and blessed. I expected to be unemployed by now, hoping to just take some time off to enjoy the rest of my youth. However, in those weeks of interviews, I had a lot to think about life, finances, and goals. This job is still in line with my future goals, offers legit pay, and I'm pleased to say it also offers some international travel. I've always wanted to work abroad. I am blessed. But my biggest worry lingers - what if I don't like it? My insecurities will always haunt me.

I tell you this though. I didn't get that job, until after practically begging for a 3rd round of interviews. After weeks of thoughts and realizations. God works because He didn't give me the job in the beginning when I was ungrateful and demanding. Things seriously magically fell in together at the last second possible, and I know it all wasn't by chance or my own aptitude.
9/11 - I was really disappointed to hear that kids of the new generation no nothing about 9/11. The disappointment isn't because of the realization that I'm freaking old and historic (maybe a little). But it's the fact that, they can't emotionally fathom the depth of such a traumatic event in US history. I was listening to "60 Minutes" the other day, and was so moved by interviews of the first responders to the 9/11 plane crashes. I remember a man said he blatantly lied to a woman that they were going to get out just fine while trying to comfort her. In reality, he said that all he could think of was that they were going to die now, and that if she weren't there, he was going to crawl into a fetal position and cry. And then he started sobbing as he relived this moment. I started crying too, at the raw honesty and vulnerability of his humanity. There was a lot of mourning in those discussions, still lingering 10 years after first plane crashed into the twin towers. But dare I say, I also felt a glimmer of hope in mankind in those stories... the acts of 9/11 responders were awe-inspiring and heroic - reminding me not to lose faith in community and society. Those that died sacrificing their lives to save others... Those that are still suffering due to illnesses from digging in the rubble... I still can't believe their first reaction was to save others and not themselves. I just hope and pray I would react the same given a similar situation. Sometimes I think, if all people would go through and see such traumatic events... If we could all truly see how flimsy our lives are and worthless it is to save up our bodies and treasures for ourselves... Or how grand our lives become when used for each other... We'd see the world as big as it is. We'd stop bickering about stupid, petty things and learn to love, appreciate, and nurture those around us.
2:16am - Oh my crap, it is freaking 2am.

3 Years

2011-08-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to Nobuo Uematsu's Final Fantasy songs at work right now, and I can't helped but be swept away by the romance of the melodies. That sounded so cheesy.

If you don't know about Final Fantasy, it's your typical romance story. Adventures, traveling to distant lands, fighting bad guys, making friends along the way, falling in love, and conquering evil.

The music reminded me of when I was in college. UCR college - when things were more simple, and I didn't care about fashion or status. I'd study, and in my free time I would read, play piano, watch Naruto, and play Final Fantasy III. I remember going to a Final Fantasy concert because a friend had extra tickets and being blown away by what an orchestra and a choir can do from midi files. I'd later spend hours practicing those songs on the piano.

And then it dawned on me how much time has passed. Since college, 3 years at KPMG, moving from client to client, working with different teams, managers. It's been a blur of workpapers and auditing.

In college, I knew I wanted to teach. I was never the smartest kid, and things don't come to me quickly. I was always ashamed when my parents got my report cards because they would barely be average and full of negative comments from my teacher. But once I started focusing on learning, rather than the grades, I started doing well in school. I went from a 2.9 GPA to 3.7 GPA in high school. It made a world of a difference in my confidence, and my world-view. So I knew, I wanted to teach and inspire - I wanted to give others the opportunities they can achieve. I didn't want others to lose confidence like I did because the curriculum is confusing, or the textbook seems too convoluted.

And all those years of pent up passion and waiting - waiting for KPMG to end so that I would have enough experience to one day pursue a career in teaching. I didn't realize worklife would be so difficult, and that getting older meant more issues (i.e. health, parents' health, future family/kids). I didn't realize that to pursue a career in education in this time and economy would mean sacrificing at least 5 years of good income. And even afterwards, I'm not guaranteed a job, especially with the way this capitalistic country is becoming. The volatility of the future feels too much to bear.

So it's been 3 years since I graduated USC; 6 years since I attended UCR. I'm finally leaving KPMG, and am at an awkward and stressful crossroad. What do I do with my life? Life used to be so full of inspiration and passion, like Nobuo Uematsu's music. In my heart, I know this world is more than just pushing papers, money, and a pursuit of good health and life. I pray that God revives the passion and courage for me to aspire more than just that.

Ecclesiastes 1:2
"'Meaningless! Meaningless!'
says the Teacher.
'Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.'"

Days

2011-07-27T23:35:00.001-07:00

These days I feel very antsy about my future. I guess it's slightly better than feeling depressed.

"My Utmost for His Highest" seemed to speak to me today.

He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side . . . —Mark 6:45

We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.
What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see “Him walking on the sea” with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see “Him walking on the sea” (Mark 6:49). It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.
God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.
God’s purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious.

Light

2011-06-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

"There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them." The Place of Help, 1032 L

Back Back to Cali Cali

2011-06-08T02:54:00.000-07:00

Hahhaa, that title is so overused.

I'm in the Heathrow Airport right now with only 2 min left of my internet time. I did a poor job of updating this blog!! Darn my P in INFP.

Fortunately, I do have a random mix of pictures because I have wonderful friends who have let me borrow their camera or take pictures for me for the remainder of the trip. I'll be sure to post later for my own memory of Europe Excursion V2.

1 minute left!!! See you all in the states.

Unrest

2011-06-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

I couldn´t sleep right now, so I came out to clean my luggage and shower. I ended up talking to another girl staying at the hostel too. We talked about having travel buddies, about Spain, about my theft incident, about other hustlers we saw, about this shady district Kristen and I passed through. I told her how Spain currently has 20% unemployment and so people are more inclined to steal. She said how it explains the HUGE protest that took place today against capitalism.

As I went to go shower, I felt a sudden feeling of impending doom. What if a terrorist bombs the train I´m in? What if a protestor decides to mess with the airlines? What if I go back to France soon and something happens to me? And I´ll be traveling alone... and to so many damned locations. What the hell was I thinking? Oh my gosh. What if, what if, what if? Reading the news: european cucumbers killing people through e. coli, more evidence on the air france plane crash, terrorist bombers convicted in europe... Oh my gosh, all this fear - I am becoming my conservative dad.

I thought of my phone incident, and how I felt devestated that all my personal aspirations (to do lists) and conveniences were taken from me. I think, I´ve been imagining a better future once I get back to the States. ¨When I get back, I´m going to live like this... I´m going to take an art class... I´m going to read more news... I´ll be happier... ¨

I told myself my phone was taken for me with purpose. Now I am starting to realize the truth in this statement. It made me realize how I´m always building my joys around a supposed future. When I was working I thought, only when I go on my vacation, I will be happier. One day when I leave my job, I´ll be happier. Tomorrow, when I buy the La Mer cream, my face will look better and I will be happier. God took that away from me symbolically by taking away the phone that held this SUPER long ´to improve´and ´to do when I get home´list, and with all the pictures I had saved to bring me joy in the future. He yanked it out to show me my error in holding on so tightly to my life and my future.

Even now, as I worry about my life and survival in my remaining days of Europe (I know it sounds crazy), I pray for my future and hold steadfastly to my life. But I am reminded of the verse (Job 1:21),

¨Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.¨

A friend once told me that if I kept worrying about this or that, terrorists, car accients, plane accidents, I would never live. I am realizing that I will be able to live sufficiently in the here and now being hand in hand with God, praising Him, rejoicing in His mercy and love. The future will be awesome no matter what with faith, trust, and hope in God. Praise Lord for giving and taking away.

Robbed

2011-06-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I won´t be able to post pictures for a while as my phone was stolen in Barcelona yesterday. All the work of figuring out how to take pictures on my phone and upload them for nothing! It´s funny / sad because I only posted one part of my trip! I still had Paris, Geneva, and Barcelona!

Here is the story:

Kristen and I were eating an afternoon lunch outside at a pretty nice restaurant. I saw two guys in the distance that looked kind of shady. One of them started walking over with a sign in which at first I didn´t think they had specifically targeted us (stupid me, I know... as we were the ONLY Asians sitting there). But I made sure our purses were safe and out of reach nontheless. To my surprise, he shows up right at our table with a sign in Spanish and he begs for money. We say ¨no¨, and he keeps asking us to read the sign, while both of us hold on to our purses for dear life.

Little did I realize, but my phone had been under his sign, on the table. 30 minutes later, I realized I couldn´t find my phone and immediately knew he stole it. I normally don´t keep my phone out, but had been trying to wait for a website to load on the slow wifi.

I was so sad I almost cried! I mean, man, I´ve never been literally robbed in my face before. But more than anything... I just needed the phone! It was my internet / alarm clock / camera / internation skype phone / navigation / notebook. He could have had it after I was finished using it or something.

I was pretty cool and calm about it at first, but then upon thinking of all the personal information on there I panicked. What about my contacts? What if they try to reach my friends or my family, as they now have numbers and addresses and try to trick them? What if they access my email and see sensitive information? Or my Facebook? I don`t know how high-tech these thieves are, and if they would look into personal finances. I´m not particularly wealthy, but I suddenly felt vulnerable and naked. I immediately changed all my passwords so that the phone wont be able to sync anymore, and called Verizon to let them know. But I still felt uneasy wondering what other stuff I may have missed. My imagination also started to run wild, and suddenly I felt so unsafe traveling, suspicious of who´s out there to get me because I´m obviously a ¨Japanese¨tourist. Crazy past news stories of travel woes started populating my thoughts.

Anyway, one of the worst parts was the fact that I lost all my pictures. :( I´m kind of a weird person with my own particular perspectives, so I feel like a lot of the pictures I took were only for me and my thoughts. Although Kristen took pictures too and of me, I feel like it´s just not the same. They were MY pictures, and I was going to frame them in my room, and they were certain detailed parts of sights that I wanted to remember. Additionally, I had pictures of friends doing wacky things, and although I´m not in it, the point was for my memory and not just presentation to show where I was. That made me really sad to think I lost all of that. Stupid me, I should have uploaded every moment I had the chance.

Also, I had a BUNCH of notes on there. Notes of music to try, restaurants to try, things to improve on, things I´d like to accomplish... There was a wealth of personal ¨stuff¨ that only I would value. They stole my phone in vain - they cant even use it as it´s Verizon. And now that I reported it to Verizon, no one can re-activate it. They could either use it for wi-fi or just sell the parts. But all my life was on there, including my primary means of contacting people at home, or Googling for helpful information wherever there is free wi-fi.

So that´s my story. It´s crazy how dependent I´ve grown on that Droid. I was pooing today, and instinctually, I tried to reach over to my purse to play with my phone, only to find it wasn´t there. :( And yes, I do play with my phone while pooing... don´t act like you don´t do it too!

I´ll write down some of my adventures next time... Kristen will probably provide me her pictures when she gets back, and I will have to revise all my entries so that they´re clean and neat.

On another note, maybe it´s good I lost my cell phone:

http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/31/cell-phone-carcinogenic-possible/

London!

2011-05-22T23:02:00.001-07:00

I can't seem to type in between pictures at the moment so please bear with me as I explain all the captions for the pictures!

Kristen, my travel buddy, and I started off yesterday meeting up with Shawn (good friend working abroad) and thank goodness for him because he showed us around all of London while we were groggy from flying in.

I found a huge cool tree that I think hobbits live in. I made Kristen take a picture under it.

Hyde Park was amazingly beautiful with lots if large lush trees, random gardens, etc. I loved how London was packed with random Parks here and there. The only thing was that it must be pollen season because there was pollen flying everywhere and you can hear people all around sneezing.

Then Shawn took us to another square and I took a picture of Aragorn's tomb.

We then saw Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. I've been looking for Shephard's Pie so we stopped by a pub... they didn't have Shepard's Pie :( but instead I had sausage and mash, and Shawn had the Sunday Roast which is supposed to be some traditional Sunday meal.

We ended the day with a tea party!

That was our first day in London!! Ill try to fix the pictures if I get access to a computer.

So far, I haven't been SUPER impressed with the city of London. I guess its kind of like when people visit Hollywood and there really aren't a significant number of monuments to see. But then this city is so famous in movies and pop cultures so you'd expect it to be as glamorous.

What I did love was Bath Spa today! That's an entry for tomorrow. I'm too tired right now to know what I'm saying.

First Day in London

2011-05-22T22:33:00.001-07:00

I'm on my phone in a hostel right now... unfortunately I don't have access to a (free) computer so I won't be able to post many pictures. I promise I'll do it later!

I will post my favorite picture of the day. It is this awesome giant "ship in a bottle" at one of London's many squares/plazas. One thing I realize about Europeans is that they love squares/plazas. I think we went to like 5.

Lift off!!

2011-05-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

Yay!! I'm on the plane getting ready to take off!!

Things on my mind:

- I hope there aren't any issues with KPMG while I'm gone...
- I hope this plane arrives safely...
- I'm going to play for 2.5 weeks!!! Finally!!!!!!!!!! Praise God.
- I'm stuck between 2 big burly men for 10+ hours. :(
- I can't wait to eat airplane food!!! :)

Stressed.

2011-05-18T21:38:00.001-07:00

This is almost over, this is almost over, this is almost over, this is almost over.

Today's reading of "My Utmost for His Highest."

Look at the birds of the air . . . . Consider the lilies of the field . . . —Matthew 6:26, 28

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”
The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.
If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.

Voyage

2011-04-28T00:03:00.000-07:00

In my youth there were:

K-Town kids

Honors students

the Korean-American Christians

the potsmoking drop-outs

popular kids

the visionaries

the artists

In my adulthood there are:

various professionals

many teachers

party animals

people that just want to make money in life

those that never outgrew high school life

people that just want to settle down and start a family

a bunch of J's (MBTI) that belong in accounting

At 25, why do I still struggle with who am I, and where I belong? When I look at Facebook, all I envy are those that fit in these categories, that know what they want, who they are, and where they are going. I so desperately wish that all I wanted in life were a stable accounting job, a house, and to start a family.

I yearn for my college days where all I dreamed about was serving God. I had great dreams - going on missions to save my people in China, becoming an education administrator to revamp the US's jacked up education system, becoming a professor so that I could inspire students as my professors had inspired me, serving the lost community of Downtown LA.

My goal was to go to church with my parents and see them love the same God I did. My biggest fear was that my parents would die without tasting the sweet Gospel. Those were times when life made so much God damned sense. Who gave a shit about financial sustenance? When did my dreams build around the false ideal that happiness means finding a decent husband? Or finding a well-paid, stable job? When did fear sink in so deep at the pit of my heart, that I have become so immovable, helpless, and insecure?

Voyage

O LORD OF THE OCEANS,
My little bark sales on a restless sea,
Grant that Jesus may sit at the helm and steer me safely;
Suffer no adverse currents to divert my heavenward course;
Let not my faith by wrecked amid storms and shoals;
Bring me to harbour with flying pennants,
hull unbreached, cargo unspoiled.

I ask great things,

expect great things,
shall receive great things.
I venture on thee wholly, fully,
my wind, sunshine, anchor, defence.
The voyage is long, the waves high, the storms pitiless,
but my helm is held steady,
thy Word secures safe passage,
thy grace wafts me onward,
my haven is guaranteed.
This day will bring me nearer home,
Grant me holy consistency in every transaction,
my peace flowing as a running tide,
my righteousness as every chasing wave.
Help me to live circumspectly,
with skill to convert every care into prayer,
Halo my path with gentleness and love,
smooth every asperity of temper;
let me not forget how easy it is to occasion grief;
may I strive to bind up every wound,
and pour oil on all trouble waters.
May the world this day be happier and better because I live.
Let my mast before me be the saviour's cross,
and every oncoming wave the fountain in his side.
Help me, protect me in the moving sea
Until I reach the shore of unceasing praise.

I should be working...

2011-04-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

But instead, I'm blogging! Wooo!

I'm working from home tonight. Which means, tonight will be a long night. Sigh.

I will cry about my job woes another day.

I have to confess - I paid $5 for a camera app the other day. Five dollah!! And to my dismay, it did nothing!! Nothing!! Not only that, it would crash consistently, and not take the pictures when I pushed the button. Sigh.

My co-worker ended up taking a picture of me with his iPhone while I was fumbling with my Droid camera. He sent it to me labeled as "You and Your Sorry Camera." He tells me one day, I may own a real phone like him. For purposes of my pride, I will not post that picture here.

In other news, I had delicious Lawry's Prime Rib the other day.

Look how bland that looks! ...Stupid Droid!!

And then I downloaded this new (FREE) app called "BeFunky," that lets you tweak your photos.

That's one of their automated settings called "vibrant."

And this is the manual settings I used to adjust the hue, sharpness, contrast, and brightness. Look at the difference!

In conclusion, never shell out real money for apps. And never blog when you're supposed to work, because now it is 10:45pm.

Testing 2

2011-04-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

I'm testing another blog app! Last night I went to Barney's Beanery and saw this crazy thing on the menu! A $10k hamburger! I'd rather buy a Chanel purse.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Blogging on the Go

2011-04-19T22:14:00.001-07:00

I'm currently using my phone as a blogger! I totally forgot this blog until I commented on someone's blog, realizing I had a profile and discovering all my old posts of my travels. Of course I never finished posting after 2 weeks into my travels being the Dosanna that I am.

So now this is another attempt at recording my travels and misadventures to keep my family and friends updated as I plan to take another trip back to Europe. This way, they'll know I'm alive and kicking.

I'll be using my Droid which will have to function as my phone, navigation, internet, and camera because I am too disorganized to carry multiple electronics.

In the meanwhile, I'll be playing around with my Droid and getting used to the crappy camera as well as trying to figure out the most efficient way to post.

As such, today at work, I took a picture of my fat overlapping my waistline.

That belly was Dallas' gift to me (I was there 3 weeks ago for work).

Zico, Eucerin, and pink Klean Kanteen. I wish I could take a picture of the audit room/my desk, but I think there's too much sensitive information lying around.

My tortoise cell phone holder named "Argentini" - named after the late "Argent." :( Look at his green tuft of hair!!! Argent would always have leftover lettice on his mouth. Argentini has it on his head.

The end!

By the way, the droid app was a FAIL. All the pictures turned out too small, and it wouldn't let me write in between the pictures. So I had to edit this post via the laptop. FAIL!!

Gabber

2008-04-24T03:16:00.000-07:00

Man I miss watching Japanese shows with my home stay family in Kyoto!

Anyway, so yesterday I was invited to dinner at my friend's place and they all started talking about some dance styles/subcultures that have been popular in Europe called Gabber and Jumpstyle. Has anyone else heard of this??

Here's a video on Jumpstyle.. Europeans are weird, huh!!! (Just kidding Europeans, please don't hurt me)

I couldn't find Gabber, but I found this weird Elijah Wood dancing video.

Anyway, I have a lot of pictures from traveling the past month and I'll put them up later!

100 Person Flash Mob Randomly Chasing After People

2008-04-17T01:46:00.001-07:00

For a translation of what they're shouting (thanks Digg):- For the 1st and 2nd guys, they shout: "Here come the tsunami!!" (tsunami da!)- For the 3rd guy they shout: "it's that guy!!" (aitsu da!)- Nothing for the 4th guy- Last scene: "Heads up! (danger)" (abunai!)

They Don't Speak French in Hungary...

2008-03-17T02:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks for showing this to me Adrien!

(East) Berlin & Lessons on WWII/the Cold War

2008-03-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went to Budapest's "House of Terror" which is basically a former secret police building transformed into a museum about all the crimes/atrocities committed during the fascist/Stalinist regime. I think the museums was really well-done in that people were really able to feel and experience the exhibitions. They reconstructed offices, what the voting booths were like, the prisons and torture chambers. I remember standing in the prison and starting to freak out - my heart was pumping really fast and I could feel myself start freaking out.

Hungarians seem to have this rep of being pessimistic, and a lot of people argue it's because of their past - being occupied by one nation after another. This one international student was saying how it looks like they always have a sour look on their faces. But man, if freaking first Nazi Germany took over my country, and then when they finally left, communist Russia took over, I'd probably have a sour look on my face too.

Okay, so for Berlin.. It was incredibly cold and gloomy... How appropriate for a history lesson on WWII! I think I learned more about WWII's history on the walking tour in Berlin than I ever did in school.

The "Palace of Tears" where families would be broken up because those in West Berlin can visit those in East Berlin only once every couple years. I think they're renovating it so that it's a night club.

Berlin's Parliament.

Holocaust Memorial. They're like 2,700 blocks of concrete that vary in height and get bigger as you go further inside. There wasn't really a description, but the artist just said that it's supposed to be what you make of it. I think there was a lot of controversy about this memorial and the vibe I get about the public view is that it's more negative than positive.

Notice the "Lego homes" in the background because the blocks that make up the home were originally manufactured like Lego pieces. I think it's somewhere around there that Hitler died.

Inside the memorial, the ground is wavy.

The Berlin Wall.

Open your eyes!

Checkpoint Charlie - crossing point between East and West Germany. You can't see in the picture, but there was a stand and there were guys dressed up in army clothes where tourists can go take pictures with them. Although I learned a lot, I feel like my trip in Berlin was kind of disappointing.. in that, moments like these I really felt like Berlin is just profiting off its bleak history through tourist attractions like these and others. It all just seemed like a mockery out of something so serious.

Mmm.. complimentary chocolates on the train back to Munich.

Korean Friends, Help!

2008-03-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

Can someone tell me where I can buy/download music from Casker? Particularly the song, "Mocha"?

Photo Extravaganza

2008-03-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

I'm tired of being behind in my pictures. Today is the perfect day to update since I'm sick in my apartment, and I can't go out because there are 30 mph winds.

On a side note... Check this out (after you view my pictures!): http://members.asianbeautyblog.com/entry/Incandescent/64123/How_be_Ulzzg__makeup_magic

I learned what "circle lenses" are, which are contacts that make your pupils look bigger and so you have that "cute" look. I'm assuming it's all the rage in Asia... Weird!

Okay, here we go.

Munich

If you've been to the Grove in LA, you've probably seen the clock where they have little figurines going in circles or doing some sort of repetitive action. This is similar, but 100 times cooler. When it strikes 12pm, this thing goes in circles and tells a story of war, disease, love, etc. It's really cool because there's this part where 2 guys are jousting and one hits the other off his horse.

It's the city map!

This church is freaking tall. I couldn't get it in one shot.

The stamp of the devil. Basically the story goes that the guy who built the church had like 4 years or something to build it. Since that's crazy short, he made a deal with satan to help him. The catch, though, was that there would be no windows so that God wouldn't enter the church and people wouldn't go. The guy though, built it so that there would be columns inside the church blocking the view of the windows. So people went to church, and satan was like "what the freak," and so he stood close to the entrance and when he realized he was tricked, he stamped his foot and stormed out.

See the columns.

A maypole. I think each town is supposed to have one, and at a certain season if you steal it, the town is supposed to invite you to their festival and allow you all the drinks you want. There's a story that a maypole got stolen from a town and so the people called the police. The police started snickering because they were the ones who stole it.

They had the freshest market ever! Full of exotic fruits too.

My mom had a pickle.

I thought it was funny that it was T-Punkt.

This place is supposed to be famous, but I never heard of it before.

My mom and I had some of their famous beer, sausage, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut. The beer was incredibly smooth and delicious. Cheers!

Beer stein lockers! Traditionally, people kept their beer steins with them every where they go, and so this is a locker for them while they eat.

I learned that Bavarians love their beer.

I'll post Berlin later!

Useless to you, but great for me.

2008-02-20T14:05:00.001-08:00

I found a really good blog about restaurants!! I'm looking forward to finding really good burger places and Mexican restaurants.. *drool* Doesn't look like I'll be losing weight in Europe after all!

http://www.chew.hu/

Pictures from Vienna

2008-02-15T16:43:00.001-08:00

Hello! It's been a while. In this past couple of weeks I've been going to class, going shopping, partying, cooking, spending time with my roommate, chatting online with Alex, and I also spent a weekend in Szeged which is a city in southern Hungary. Anyway, before I post pictures of my daily life in Budapest, let me finish updating everyone on my previous travels. Today's pictures are of when my mom and I went to Vienna, Austria.

The streets of Vienna. Vienna was one of my more favorite cities we visited to. It was beautiful, but in the wealthy and clean kind of way, especially with all the palaces, extravegant buildings, museums, gardens, and etc. It seemed like a touristy kind of city for rich and "refined" people, but it's a beautiful city nontheless.

They have really mini Zenia-sized cars in Vienna.

Where do they fit their groceries?

Unfortunately, we're in Europe during the time where snow just ended and spring is still a while away. Ths means that all the gardens look scary and bare. I think this is Volksgarten, which is a huge park/garden and I imagine it to be incredibly beautiful during the summer. I don't know what those things are that they wrapped up, but I think it's to protect them from the rain? A lot of things seemed to be wrapped up like that in Vienna.

I don't know what this is, but it's a building in the garden.

Mr. Mozart himself.

I made my mom take this picture because I thought it was funny.

We ended up going to the music museum and weaponry museum and it was AWESOME. The picture is not the music/weaponry museum.. but the natural history museum I think. Anyway, it was really cool to see the original instruments that great composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden, and etc. played. They also had the weirdest instruments from the 15th century. Can you believe it, they had portable pianos back then. And then the weaponry one had freaking old gun sets, weird armor such as ones shaped like women's dresses, and lots of scary odd-shaped knives. I couldn't take a pictures though because it seems they have guards in every corner. I tried to sneak one of this armor with knives on it and it came out blurry.

We got to visit and tour the Habsburg family's summer home, Schonbrunn Palace. It has 1441 rooms for Maria Theresa and her 16 kids and all their sets of servants. So as you can imagine, the rooms looked spectacular (no photography allowed). Very, very extravegant. It was cool to see some rooms that were very "east meets west" since Maria Theresa was a big fan of Asian art she would incorporate a bunch of Chinese porcelain and art into the whole decor of some rooms.

This is one of the sides of the square.. That's where all the servants would stay.

This is part of their garden... Again, it's bare and gloomy because it's not spring/summer yet. There's also a garden maze off on the side where you can run around in your oversized dress and flirt with cute princes of other nations.

And we finished the night with some dessert at Cafe Sacher, which is supposed to be home to the world's most famous Sacher Torte (it's in the middle). It tasted like a rich chocolate cake with some fruitiness and spices to it.

More Pictures

2008-02-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures from when we were traveling in Budapest.

After we went to the Basilica, we kept walking northwards towards the Parliament. This is me trying to pose like the guy on the bridge..

This is my mom in front of the Parliament.

It has really nice architecture. I don't quite know the style (baroque?), but if you see more of my Hungary pictures you'll realize that there are so many different types of styles and eras of architecture throughout the city. It's really, really cool. Basically, I was told it's because there would always be buildings destroyed through wars and they'd build new ones in that particular era.

In front of something else, I don't really know.

We went on a tour the next day and they took us to one of the highest points in Budapest where we could get a panoramic view. Hahahaha, I accidentally included that guy stretching in the picture.

The tour also took us to a Castle in Buda (Budapest = Buda on one side of the Danube and Pest on the other... The other pictures were in Pest). Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Buda's Castle, but this is the view from it. What's cool about Buda's Castle, is that there's a bunch of caves underneath it. I hear there are a lot of caves to visit in Budapest. Hopefully I'll get to visit next time.

This is the night view.

To those that don't know (i.e. Terrance), I'm studying business abroad in Budapest as an exchange student. The orientation was yesterday. At night we got to meet other international students and they had an old Hungarian folk dance performance for us. It was REALLY COOL! Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want to risk getting it mugged on the walk back home. Basically, there was a lot of slapping the knees and stopping. But it was cool.

I'm in Budapest!

2008-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

I mean.. I've been in Budapest! Anyway, so I couldn't update very much for the last 2 weeks. Turns out internet wasn't as accessible as I expected (it's a long story). And when I did access it for 5 minutes at a time at a coin-operated internet machine, I was emailing Hungarians to find an apartment and emailing my dad to let him know I'm OK.

Long story short, more time than expected was used on searching for an apartment, so my mom and I ended up staying in Budapest for a while, and then traveled through Austria and Germany, but didn't make it to Czech Republic. I'll update those pictures later.

Here are some from the first days my mom and I arrived:

This is Vaci utca, a pedestrian shopping street. It's also where I found my beloved H&M and Zara a couple blocks down to keep me supplied for the next 4 months.

This is somewhere near Vaci Utca.

I had the stupid idea of wandering around Budapest aimlessly. But we ended up landing at St. Stephen's Basilica. St. Stephen was the founder and first king of Hungary.

The inside.

To my surprise, they had St. Stephen's mummified hand!

This is me with a red umbrella that my mom haggled for... Is haggling allowed in Hungary? Anyway, she was really proud of it until one of the sides broke.

That's enough for now!

Also, I did end up finding an apartment and will post up pictures soon. It's really close to the Danube River and my Hungarian roommate is really nice. She's been to Korea so I feel really comfortable knowing that someone can share my love for the Korean culture. She also made a Hungarian dinner for me tonight (pasta + sour cream + cream cheese + sugar + jam)! My first time having such a sweet-tasting dinner. Then we had tea from her tea collection and watched a Korean movie, "The King and the Clown."

So in conclusion, don't worry! I am still alive.

Hi!

2008-01-16T00:59:00.000-08:00

Packing is such a pain... Don't want to over-pack, don't want to under-pack. Did I pack enough contact lens? Should I pack my heels? If so, which ones? Do I have different colored shirts so that I don't get bored? Do I need pots and pans?

For the first couple days, my mom and I will be touring Hungary, Austria, Germany, and Czech Republic. I might not be able to update as much as I can because I'll be on the road a bit more and don't know if I will be able to upload pictures...

Here are some fun facts about Hungary!

The Rubik's cube was born in Hungary

..Okay, sorry that's all I've got. I'm too tired to search for anything else.