mine this manly hand

I don't have much luck fighting for an empty seat when I join the human traffic, either because my eyes are not fast enough at spotting those treasures or because I am not ballsy enough to challenge the other competitor.

But I always end up making a comfortable trip back home, enjoying my kindle-reading and people-watching on a nicely cushioned 4호선 train. How do I get by this? I read each face carefully upon entrance and make a suave move in front of that person who I know is going to get off within the next few stops. This, actually, is the mastery I've cherished during my month of subway commute.

I wanted to say that this funny phenomenon is all due to intuition.
Just because I took more psychology courses than those non-psyc majors, just because I fantasize the world of Hercule Poirot, I wanted to say that I have this particular feelings about people. In truth, we are all detectives and mind-readers.
The postures..the way they are holding their belongings..the way they look at me..
We carry with us ample clues as to advertise our past (+future) actions as well as who we are overall.

It's not just face reading.
People watching is generally very much enjoyable.
...and subway, I'd say, is the best place to stare at people.
I am everyday fascinated by interesting people.
e.g.,
조용히 빵을 먹다 나와 눈이 마주치고 씽-긋 웃는 아줌마,
헨드폰으로 1박2일을 보면서 박장대소하는 남학생,
모처럼 빈자리가 났는데 혼자만 쏙 앉는 남자친구,
나는 의식 밖인, 졸며 가차없이 헤딩하는 아가씨

:-) I thank gene mutations, genetic drift, natural selection, and all other biological phenomena , as well as parenting, socialization, puberty, and all other developmental landmarks for such an interesting world.

My current Kindle read is: Snoop- What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling.

I am not much of a personality psychologist, but my daily subway ride has just gotten more interesting. My eyes will be busy reading but they will also be yearning for another analysis of another 아줌마 in front of me. Oh my.. 삼각지 to 고잔 is just not far enough!

arigato mr.roboto

Against all skepticism,
against all concerns,
I'm actually adjusting well to this new Korean-career-lady-life.

Remember the EAC from Finding Nemo?
That stands for the East Australian Current, which is the freeway equivalent in the turtle world. Turtles join--or rather "ride"--the current, and once they are in, their limbs are autonomous, succumbing to the flow of everyone.

I feel like I am in the EAC nowadays.

My circadian system is so robotic in that I wake up at 6am, get on the subway by 6:45, walk through the hospital lobby at 7:50, and finally put on my labcoat at 8.
Is that all? Nooo..I am one of those Koreans who:
1. have reached the mastery of taking a nap on the subway (waking up right at the station before mine...is even artful)
2. meet up girlfriends at pretty little "caffes" and order$7 Americano just to use their small little, air-conditioned acre of land for 3 hours.
3. have at least one drama that they are up-to-date with. In my case, it is 인생은 아름다워.
4. search through a Samsung smart phone to search for all kinds of nearby restaurants and movie theaters and decide at last to just go into another "caffe" to start a new topic on an endless talk.
5. get out of office right when the clock hits noon and join yet another stream of EAC to go eat lunch at a cafeteria. We all skillfully take out our "admission card," scan it, and get our own plate. *note: I eat at the hospital cafeteria, which offers only pretty good (but unanimous) Korean food for ~$1.50.
6. drink coffee mix that has coffee to artificial cream ratio of 2:8 and get more sugar high than caffeine high.
7. who sees the Han River (한강) shortly after the sun rises and sees it again when the lights near it are beautifully being lit up.

There are many more...
Still, I am yet to be fully Koreanized.
But the funny thing is that everything just feels so natural,
as if I've never left this country.
Maybe I used the word "robotic" earlier in the realm of my consciousness, because it's almost as if I was programmed to fit right back into this Korean life. Maybe I was Korean (gasp! is that a surprise?)

Whatever. It's too early to come up with a conclusion. All that matters tonight, right at this moment, is that I am doing pretty darn well and I am ready to pass out in bed.

peace-oO0

내일 첫출근

에는 노랑색을 입기로 했다.


방금 너무 귀여운 노래 옛날 노래 가사를 들었는데,

"사랑은 소중한 너를 찾는것"

다른 누구에게 마음을 쓰면서 우리는 참 우리 자신에 대해 많이 배우게 된다.
조그만 말 한마디에도 상처 받고
아무 뜻도 없었을지 모르는 손짓 하나에 마음을 분홍빛으로 물들이던 모습이 얼마나 낯설었나..
그때 우리는 얼마나 또 유치하고 귀여웠었나!
하지만 그게 우리였다.
나도 몰랐던 나는 그런 아이었나보다.

another good way to "find" yourself is.......doing research.(hahaha! so biased..)
A Ph.D. level joke was that research is more like me-search, because with its process being so difficult and burdensome, doing a research actually becomes a significant period of your character development.

My new me-search begins tomorrow.
Here me goes! :)