California Dreamin' & the Last 24 Hours

"I'm California dreaming, on such a winter's day"

So I know it's spring, but come on, it's a pretty great line from a great song. Aside from the original The Mommas and the Poppas version, I enjoy Queen Latifah's jazzy reinterpretation of it.


So I have an anecdote that I totally left out of the last blog that I thought I'd share. On Easter Sunday, I was in Long Beach.

No joke. I left my apartment headed towards an Easter gathering and I was on the corner of my block when I saw a Hummer (H3) go by. A Hummer in Korea? Not a likely sight at all. I might get struck by lightning now. Then what came after the Hummer driving right behind it? A Ford Mustang! A Mustang in Korea? Now I'm really going to get struck by lightning. Then what followed the Mustang? A too familiar sound did. Skateboards. Not once since I've been here have I seen skateboards. And of course the sound didn't originate from Koreans, but it was two blonde Caucasian guys skating in typical surfer-Cali clothing. The "piece de resistance?" Me overhearing a bit of their conversation while they skate past my block while saying "Whoa dude!" in a totally Malibu-esque way. So for a weird paralleled-universe of a second I honestly thought I was in Long Beach. Pinching self commencing.

"Stopped into a church, I passed along the way"

So because it's midterm exam week, I've been working half-days this week, which give me a flood of free time to run errands. So I've been meaning to go to this one landmark I always go by whenever I'm at the Seojeong-ri Station in Songtan, and that's the Catholic church a block away. It's a huge cathedral, and in typical Western style, houses a Catholic school. What has caught my attention since I've been here is its beauty. You have to give architectural kudos to Catholics, you can't deny that. So I went in thinking what an appropriate time seeing how lent and Easter just went past us. I was taken back. The church was very beautiful inside and out. I did some soul searching because I honestly believe there is a lot to be said for prayer (BUT, I'm from the school of prayer combined with "God doesn't help those who don't help themselves"). So I did my thing. And as my mind and body had both gained satisfaction today (I had my vanilla latte fix from Starbucks right before, hence the mention of body), I was very content.

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As a matter of fact, I've been extremely content with the last 24 hours. Aside from the excitement that's builds up day by day knowing I'll be home soon, a lot happened that made me very happy. It made me look forward to what's coming up. I'm pretty stoked about it.


p.s. I think I've avoided getting struck by lightning for a while