Return to the Motherland

The Korean Won is 1335 to the dollar, which means I can get ddukbokki on the street for about $2, a delicious bowl of naengmyun in Myungdong for about $4 and my hair colored, straightened and cut for about $150 from the world's leading experts on vanity. Which I will be doing in two weeks because sometimes, when life seems to be handing you lemons, it's actually handing you cake. With icing. A la mode. And really, all you can do is accept it, thank the Lord baby Jesus, and savor every bite.

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There are three things on my must-do list for Seoul: 1) drink Korean milk, 2) get my hair done, 3) eat soondae bokkum. Which pretty much sums up the main draws of Seoul: the food and the beauty salons. Oh Daehanmingook. I didn't think I'd be back so soon, but I'm actually looking forward to it.

My dad, uncle, aunt, grandmother and grandfather are congregating in Seoul for my grandfather's 80th birthday and as fate/luck would have it, I happen to be able to join them. So three generations of my family will be traveling to various provinces in Korea for a week, the sole purpose of which is really just to spend time together since we live spread out in Korea, Japan, LA and SF, and full family gatherings are extremely rare. I'm not that sentimental a person when it comes to family, etc., but I think there will be something poignant about visiting the motherland with the fam.