my new hobby~ knitting. very therapeutic, i definitely like keeping my hands busy. i started last week, not bad huh? everyone's getting scarves for christmas this year~ 


need to get sunshades for my car. but when the temperature is 105 degrees outside, isn't sunshades just wishful thinking, that it's going to keep my car cooler? temperature going down to the 90s this week, so weird how many people are really excited about that. :P

worked at lab tonight (kinda scary b/c no one was there), worked out with s's id card while i was blocking my slides, and then watched the end of harry potter 2 with s while she was asking me every two minutes, "so who's the heir? what happens at the end?" muhahaha

wicked on friday!!! i can't wait~

i can't believe that my twin sister met jason mraz... i am so jealous!!! i guess i can always pretend that my sister in the picture is really me. :) the one guy i wanted to meet. so strange she met him after i just blogged about him, below. I know she gave him my blog URL, so jason, if you're reading this, can you save me a dance sometime?? your music really rocks my world. 

Jason Mraz's new CD is out! It's awesome - currently my favorite tracks are "Geek in the Pink" and "Bella Luna". "Mr. Curiosity" is lovely, too~

Hey Mr. Curiosity
Is it true what they've been saying about you
Well, are you killing me
You took care of the cat already

I'm looking for love this time
Sounding hopeful but it's making me cry
(Trying not to ask why)
This love is a mystery
Mr. Curiosity

just for you, jen. i know you think he's the dorkiest dork ever. but he's just so adorable. :)

 

wow, what a busy two weeks... but it's been really good. For the first half a week or so, it was a rude awakening working again, but now I've gotten kind of used to it. I found out that I enjoy being busier than being bored (I totally fall asleep when I'm bored). So like tomorrow, I'll have three experiments running at once, on top of taking a two hour break in the afternoon for lab meeting.

And after work, *every* single day, I've been out of the house... catching up on meeting with people and catching up on my movie watching. sigh. My house is such a mess, I just need to take a day off and clean all day.

Sandy says that my demeanor is so much more relaxed, being in PhD than MD. ;) It's definitely a different type of stress, a stress that is less defined b/c the goal isn't to pass, but to do *well*, whatever that means. oh well, i'll worry about that later.

an image from my life, sitting on my table. a little bit of sunshine 

i was boring myself with my own blog, so i decided to update it. ;)

i'm a PhD student! i can't believe two years have passed already. PhD is going well - slowly been getting some data, altho it hasn't been exactly smooth sailing. hopefully it'll come with time. after all, it's been barely over a week. slowly getting used to easing myself out of vacation mode... occurring slowly but surely.

excited and scared to see what the next two years hold for me...

Light in the Piazza

My current favorite musical, in the spirit of the older traditional musicals. The writer is somehow related to Rodgers or Hammerstein, and it made sense because it's written in the same style. As a review put it, lush romance has appeared back in Broadway with this musical - a familiar tale of an American girl in Italy who falls in love with a dreamy Italian boy (truly Matt Morrison is every girl's dream Italian lover), but told in a refreshing, innocent, and a passionate way. Everything about it was beautiful - the sets, the singing, even the Italian that I didn't understand.

"Say it somehow, anyway you can...
I know the sound of touch me,
I think I hear the sound of wrap your arms around me"

"Without risk, there is no drama,
Without drama, there is no aiutami [help me]
Without asking for help,
No love, no love!
So
Give me suspicion! Give me tears!
So give me shouting, that's right,
Passion!"

Two reviews that are different, but I agree with both of them:

Broadwayworld.com
NY Times

 


With Matt Morrison and Kelli O'Hara

last week, i got diagnosed with acid reflux disease. so byebye, coffee... like the cappucino like this one. ack. it sucks, but at least i know what it is - no one gave me a diagnosis for a long time b/c i presented abnormally. i really liked my doctor tho - he described everything, and made me feel comfortable about asking him questions. finally, a good doctor; up til now, i've mostly had doctors that have always demonstrated what i should NOT do as a doctor, as i've learned in doctoring class. here's to good doctors - and becoming one. 

check out jen's blog for recent updates~ including a blog i blogged on her site as a secret guest blogger. definitely packing in my last few days of summer vacation. possibly my last one, ever.

Happy fourth of July! We celebrated it as a family on the army base in Seoul, Korea - with the addition of Jiwon. It was a nice time as a family esp in my last few days here in Korea. I hope my classmates are enjoying their fourth of July as I know that they start their third years the day after - good luck! my thoughts are with you~ 

Fireworks on the fourth of July - fireworks on the army base, probably the closest I've ever been to fireworks, the noise was deafening but really beautiful. at one point, it literally burst over our heads and everyone started running. ;) 

trip to thailand

Outside of Five Island Restaurant
Originally uploaded by jochang621.

wow, what a trip!! i traveled to the small private island of ko samui in thailand, and spent a three very packed and amazing days there. met up with some med students there and traipsed around the island. second day, we took a speedboat out to Angthong National Park (a group of small pristine islands) which is about an hour away. Got horribly seasick, but still managed to snorkel a little bit, and then kayak (andy was doing most of the kayaking :D) and hike up to emerald lake, a saltwater lake. third day, we rented a motorbike and took a tour all around the island. our navigation consisted of "keep the ocean on your left". :D it was such an adventure b/c our motorbike broke down, we (or rather, andy) ended up pushing our motorbike up a hill... despite all that, we saw the most amazing viewpoints on top of a mountaintop where you can see three sides of the island, beautiful ocean views, and ate lots of thai food (thai curries for $1.50 ;). lots of good memories.

only a few more days in korea. how sad. trying to pack my days. got my bangs trimmed today at my usual place - he gave it to me for free. ;)

Me and my friends~ in our open-air hotel lobby 

my beach naptime view~ 

Angthong National Park 

our broken motorbike - what an adventure!! trying to communicate 

taking a dip in the ocean 

Snorkeling area in Angthong National Park 

Emerald Lake in Angthong National Park 

i'm in bangkok! i'm at the airport, here on a two hour layover, good thing I found free internet. :P I got lost briefly in this vast airport where they believe that you should walk almost a mile in beteen terminals. but i'm glad i'm here thus far in one piece. It was raining about five minutes ago but then cleared up pretty quickly -it's definitely monsoon season, can feel it in the air. Hopefully the weather will hold up, and my shoes (they already gave me two blisters).

Going to meet the med school gang in Ko Samui - hopefully we'll all get there in one piece, esp one friend whose boards got cancelled on him the day of (and he had a nonrefundable flight to thailand the following day). i hope we all get there in one piece. I can't wait to get there! let my vacation begin~

hopefully you guys who are still studying for the boards or who just finished, BEST OF LUCK - trust your instincts, a lot of stuff you know already, and a lot of stuff came to me as I remembered some of the things they actually taught in class and hadn't studied recently. have faith in the human brain - it works a lot better than you think. ;) and those of you who just finished, live it up! enjoy your time before we all get back to work in a few weeks.

ack, real life in two weeks... i can't believe it. i feel like a native Korean now. :D almost. ooh we had a nice surprise this morning at the airport when I found out you need a visa after 30 days in Korea, and I was considered an "illegal alien". they even have a small room for us, the illegal alien. Thankfully, no one tried to make us offer any bribes and things were cleared up really quickly. I didn't get upgraded this time, j. :( was very disappointed. maybe on the way back. :D

have a great weekend, everyone! i'll check my email when i can - i'm going to a fairly remote area. pray for no tsunamis. :D

the boards were... horrible. seven hours of staring at an old computer screen with a really bad flicker was not fun. BUT IT'S OVER... i've been going out all day, every day since then - met up with g and j, showed them around seoul and even got to drink yogurt soju with them in shin chon for the first time (I've never been there at night, it was CRAZY), went shopping in dongdaemun and found true religion jeans, drank too much yogurt soju, and almost went clubbing. (long story)

met up with more med students today... had a really fun time. decided to stay home tonight to pack - thailand tomorrow!

how do you live in the moment if you have to prepare for tomorrow? or next wednesday, for that matter.

buckling... under... pressure... i think i need a lush bath.

an interesting article in which I generally agree with: talking about how the Republican party ends up alienating the "moderate Christians" and our role in politics.

"But for us [the moderate Christians], the only absolute standard of behavior is the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves....

When we see an opportunity to save our neighbors' lives through stem cell research, we believe that it is our duty to pursue that research, and to oppose legislation that would impede us from doing so.

...Following a Lord who reached out in compassion to all human beings, we oppose amending the Constitution in a way that would humiliate homosexuals.

For us, living the Love Commandment may be at odds with efforts to encapsulate Christianity in a political agenda. We strongly support the separation of church and state, both because that principle is essential to holding together a diverse country, and because the policies of the state always fall short of the demands of faith. Aware that even our most passionate ventures into politics are efforts to carry the treasure of religion in the earthen vessel of government, we proceed in a spirit of humility lacking in our conservative colleagues."

article here.

summer berry cream cake, anyone? 

my dad is telling everyone how the boards are a test to mainly weed out foreign med students - and he thinks I shouldn't study so hard. (He told me yesterday I should study four hours a day, MAX) Now all my cousins and relatives think that this test is really easy, thanks to my dad - yes, an easy eight hour exam. it's a medical licensing exam! So now I have not only my dad telling me not to study, but all my cousins who are telling me not to study as well, and for me to go play with them at Lotte World or water parks or go shopping. so evil!!!

test time is coming up! it seems so far away, which isn't healthy, I still think there's a lot of time. I can't wait until this is over. my original desired test date was on june 17, but the only time slot available was on the 22nd, so I just grabbed it. Man, if I had taken my test on the 17th (which is today) i would have died.

i wonder if i can nap during my breaks during my actual exam...

it's all about the WORDPLAY

jason mraz's new music video! hilarious~ surprising too.

i'm all path-ed out. gonna watch my daily episode of sex and the city starting in about 10 min.

dreaming, if i had a lot of money.

cancelled ice skating for the first time - my teacher said he'll give me a lesson after my test is over. he's so nice, last time he paid for my entrance fee and i didn't realize it til later. he gives off such a gruff persona, but a softie at heart.

i'm scared i'm going to regress in ice skating - i made so much progress. but like my mom said, it's better to forget a step in ice skating than to fail the boards. :P

we went and checked out the testing site today. very sterile, which i guess is a good thing. it's horrible but ppl treat you better if u speak english - i guess i'll have to fake it next week and pretend to only speak english. i looked at the testers scheduled for that day - 99% are taking the TOEFL, and about three or four ppl are taking some off test (PIC? or something like that). No USMLE step 1 test takers. :P hopefully it wasn't a stupid move to take it here in korea.

played tennis with my dad today. my mom's out of town for the next few days, so it's just the two of us. it was fun - I kicked his butt... by making him run around the court my horrible shots. ;) I haven't picked up a tennis racket in two years, and so I totally wore him out b/c he was running after the balls I hit (including one that went over the fence). haha he was exhausted after 30 minutes (so was I). I was improving tho. and then he bought me a banana split afterwards - that was the best part. ;) The last one I ate was probably bought my him, too, years ago.

studying = not productive = probably not surprising

Funny statements on commercial products:

Bag of Fritos:
"You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside"
(The shoplifter special)

Swanson frozen dinners:
"Serving suggestion: Defrost"
(just a suggestion)

Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom of box):
"Do not turn upside down."
(Too late)

Children's Cough Medicine:
"Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this
medication"
(Good idea for most kids)

Sears hairdryer:
"Do not use while sleeping"
(Okay)

Christmas lights:
"For indoor or outdoor use only."
(What's left?)

Japanese food processor:
"Not to be used for the other use."
(I gotta admit, I'm curious)

Sainsbury's peanuts:
"Warning: contains nuts."

American Airlines packet of nuts:
"Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts."
(Step 3: Fly Delta)

Child's Superman costume:
"Wearing of the garment does not enable you to fly."
(Lawyers wrote that one)

Outside the Forbidden City

Outside the Forbidden City
Originally uploaded by jochang621.

in the morning glow.

doing everything to procrastinate studying. looked briefly thru my beijing pics - i had such a blast.

much better than doing physio. my studying schedule has shifted back another day. ok back to studying. for reals.

feeling better

after i ice skate. i'm always a little iffy before i go - i'm tired, there's so much to do... but it's always refreshing to take a break and sweat a little bit. my jumps are getting better... not much else is. :P

stuyding my microcards on the subway have been really productive. :P not sure why. maybe it helps to have someone read over my shoulder intrusively.

bought my ticket to thailand!! i'm so excited, gonna hang with a few of my classmates.

Memory

I remember when I was younger, someone told me that if you read something once, you'll retain about 40% of it. Then the second time you read something, you'll retain 90% of it. I think I'm living proof that's not true.

Too much to memorize. My brain is going to implode, while the previously learned stuff is trickling into disappearance. We'll all pull out ok, right?

Korean tv

Pros:

• No commercials! During the show, at least... they save all the commercials and play them all at the end of the show, so there's like 20-30 minutes of commercials after each show. It's so weird tho, when Oprah's like, "we'll do this... after the break" and then it comes on right away. It's great. ;)
  
• All the older American TV shows are on - Apprentice season 1, all the American Idols... but more than that, Jamie Oliver is on the Food Channel like 3-4 times a day. He's only playing in the early early morning hours in the US (he's been on for a long time, I suppose) but I love it~ his food looks soooo yummy, with fresh basil and fruits and vegetables.
  

BIG con:

• Very distracting from my studying!!
  

Going to study with my cousin in the university area of Seoul today. Hoping that a change of scene will help me study. It's also the area where Ehwa University is, the top girls' school in Korea, who are known for their fashionable and pretty girls. Feeling a little bit of pressure to blend in. ;) It should be fun.

my studying schedule for the next few weeks:

1 day immuno
1 day micro
1 day behavior
1 day biostats
4 days physio
6 days pathology

then review for the remaining days. an idealistic schedule, let's hope it works. test is coming up!

went to a fairly distant cousin's baby's first birthday party yesterday (my distant cousin is the baby's dad). i never knew i had so many relatives - i basically was an object of curiosity, the "tall american medical school girl" that they'd only heard about (since I live so far away). it was a little odd. i think people aren't sure what to do with me b/c they're not sure about how well I can speak korean. it wasn't too bad, a few of my cousins that i knew well came so that made it fun. the baby was really adorable, he was nice enough to let me hold him without crying. ;)

talking to the baby's mom, and then falling asleep with his nose squished. 

sean's drooling on my shoulder 

my cutie pie cousin. she's gotten so big. she was fooling around so much during dinner and exasperating her mom. I wasn't helping by cracking up.  


Buried deep in my histology syllabus: (yes, I can't believe I'm digging thru my histo syllabus, looking for information on the vestibulocochlar system)

"The cochlea responds to vibrations created by sound waves striking the ear drum. The device responds to vibrations ranging from deep bass to very high pitched sounds..... At least until age 40, or the completion of 4 Led Zepplin concerts, whichever comes first. Thereafter the response range narrows from a low of 3,100 to a high of 3,104. Coincidentally, this is precisely the range in which your spouse does NOT speak, but exactly the range at which most microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, vacuums, teenagers, and furnace fans operate. Note this. It will explain a great deal as you age."

i felt like all the signs today were telling me not to go ice skating today. I hadn't slept much (started stressing out after I saw that my current studying schedule wouldn't allow me to finish studying before taking the boards), it was raining and thundering and the wind was blowing really really hard, and my mom was tempting me to stay at home. To top it off, I missed the shuttle bus so had to hail a taxi. Man, missing the shuttle bus was almost too much, but my teacher was waiting and I had already spent so much time getting there, so I went. All in all, I was really glad I went - I had a really good time today. I felt like I was working off my stress by repeating and working on my jumps, over and over. It felt really good, my endorphins were running high. I really needed that.

Exercise increases BDNF in your brain (a neurotrophic brain factor). So while studying for the boards, I think it's a good idea to exercise - it makes me smarter. ;) That's my excuse for going twice a week.

The Altar Boyz CD in the mail came today, with five autographs written out to me - I love it!

Ice skating. It's really been taking up some time - a subway ride with two transfers, and a shuttle bus ride away, just to get there one way. But it's worth it. My dad came along with me on Monday since it was a day off for him, and the last time he took pics was my first day of skating. It's nice to know that there's a difference :D altho it doesn't feel like it sometimes. Check out the pic on the bottom right, of me jumping. 


 

This pic completely cracks me up. :D It looks so much worse than it really seemed. My teacher was watching me fall. ouch.

My new purse - after I saw it on the Apprentice - Kendra and Tana were carrying similar ones, and I thought it looked cute, and so of course, I went looking for it. I found it yesterday in Dong dae mun market, this really cute purse store.  


Went to the electronics market with my dad in Yongsan. It's so big there, we got lost. It was fun tho, I've hardly spent time with my dad. There are so many mp3 players in Korea that are about half the size of an ipod shuffle.

I found a store selling the sixth season of Sex and the City for $5. :D

pics of my honey bunny in vienna, austria. lovely setting.  

Did I mention that his new single's out? :) Check it out here. I can't wait til his new CD is out on July 26th.

feeling like i've been staring at the same thing studying all day. not progressing very well, but finally i sat down and set a schedule to finish pharm studying, in four days. woohoo.

saw tom cruise and katie holmes on oprah today. it was a weird show. tom cruise is acting a little too weird, seems suspicious, like he's hiding something (like, oh i dunno, his sexuality??). who knows.

i think i need to relax, the boards are really getting to me. maybe i'll make a trip to a mokyoktang soon, sit in baths of green tea, mud, or hot mineral water.

listen to jason mraz's new song! i love it~

an interesting BBC article:

"South Korean women have a reputation as the most striking in Asia... The Korean look, with high cheekbones and sculptured features is all the rage from Shanghai to Singapore.
...
The streets of Seoul are thick with impeccably groomed young women in miniskirts, seemingly immune to the sub zero temperatures of the Korean winter.

Women of marriageable age are under intense pressure to look their best at all times and one of the consequences has been an explosion in plastic surgery.

A woman's magazine recently advised its readers to spend 30% of their incomes on looking good.

The reason, you will end up with a better and richer husband and that has to be a sensible investment.

...
South Korea has just 1,200 certified plastic surgeons. Many thousands of others are operating without proper qualifications... One qualified surgeon told me he knew of psychiatrists doing liposuction and radiologists performing double eyelid operations.
...
And in the frenzy to look their best South Korean women, as well as increasing numbers of men, are still prepared to take the risk."

interesting article, here.

how funny! ambush makeover in korea. the host looked familiar. :)

went ice skating today. the punk speed skaters that barely come up to my hips are getting more and more annoying. they cut me off, they ruin my figure eights, they stare at me blankly with their mouths open (probably thinking 'someone that old can't skate?'), and worst of all, they skate MUCH better than me. grrr. it's embarrassing skating in front of them. at least they're in their funny streamlined outfits with their names written in ENGLISH on their backs, in case i ever want to track them down.

i figured that the one thing i can do better than them is that I can skate backwards.

an interesting link from mmonk's blog:

"While most of those marriages used to involve men marrying women with less education, studies have found, lately that pattern has flipped, so that by 2000, the majority involved women...marrying men with less schooling - the combination most likely to end in divorce."

eek. what does that mean for me? marrying some guy with an MD, PhD, AND another degree? my chances of finding an SO are decreasing by the day.

My new glasses

new glasses
Originally uploaded by jochang621.

what a fun weekend. too much fun. really starting to buckle down and study now. hopefully this will continue. ;) of course, aside from ice skating twice a week. i'm going again tomorrow. :)

met up with a college friend, whom i haven't seen since graduation. she's one of my five close girlfriends in college, where we were all middle children of exactly three-daughter families. we all get along well for some odd reason.

is star wars any good? might watch it on the army base tomorrow, it's free for ppl with army base passes.

rain rain go away... at least it's keeping the heat away.

Street scene in Seoul

Street scene in Seoul
Originally uploaded by jochang621.

An interesting scene I saw today, while waiting for my mom outside the subway station. Do you see the guy on the telephone wire that extends over the street? There's a guy sitting on it, fixing something. Crazy. Some things you'll never see in America, like this and guys wearing unflattering hot pink t-shirts.

altho fashion in Korea has come a long way. These days, some guys are wearing jean jackets and cargo pants, which look refreshingly casual. In girls fashion, a lot of girls are also wearing jean jackets and spring green is also trendy. The thing with trends is that, you don't see just a few ppl wearing jean jackets, like u do in America. you see about 80-90% of them wearing very similar things. There's this huge pressure to fit in. :D i wish i brought my jean jacket from home.

I've also found myself taking lots of pics of the view outside of our lovely apartment. My dad has made a final decision to move out of Korea, at least for a few years. I'm glad, but sad at the same time - I really loved coming to Korea. It somehow agrees with me - my skin has even cleared up. Or maybe that's just all the sleeping and eating I'm doing. :D

ahh need to study, can't seem to get past biochem. Tons to memorize. Talking about not studying, I started ice skating yesterday. SO much fun, i missed it a lot. my teacher said i improved a lot, and though I could start learning a salchow soon. i foresee a lot of bruised knees in my near future.

the humidifier's singing at me. what should i do? feel a little lost in this house, not sure where anything is. but it IS nice to be home.

i'm so sleepy. am i jet lagged, or just lazy?

Han River

Han River
Originally uploaded by jochang621.

The view from my room at 3 am, thanks to jet lag. It's very smoky this morning b/c of the rainy weather. Got my hair done today - love it! I guess I never feel like I'm in Korea unless I 1) get my hair done, 2) ride the subway, and 3) go to Myung dong.

You know how you're on the plane looking outside at the view, and you're always tempted to take a picture of the view, but are always disappointed at the resulting pictures? I hope Korea isn't like that for me. It seemed like a good idea to come here and "study", but hopefully the results won't be bad. D-day for me: June 22, from 9 am til 5 pm.

thinking of going to Angkor Wat with my parents after the boards.

i love upgrades to business class. :)

my seat was like a massage chair - there were massaging knobs massaging my back, the entire 12 hour flight. :P I couldn't believe my luck. i slept after two glasses of champagne.

two years of med school over... unbelievable. the last set of finals were pretty brutal, and everyone was feeling really burnt out. i feel like i barely made it, but SO glad it's over. wrapping up the loose ends of one part of my life, getting ready to start another... Monday's the last time our class will be completely together for our practice boards exam.

how do you study for a test that's six weeks away? it's going to be tough, feels like a vacation already. my dad told me to take a break. i will oblige him willingly. :)

i know i've talked about the altar boyz a lot, but one more thing: they challenged the backstreet boys to a sing-off! (or whatever it's called). hilarious.

In an open challenge to the backstreet boyz, the Altar Boyz sent them this message:

"Please contact us at your earliest convenience to discuss the details of the Battle. We have a number of questions: What song will you be performing? Would you like Ms. [Jessica] Simpson to judge the Battle? Will you be lip-syncing?

Should you not appear as requested, we will assume that you have forfeited"

eek that's going to be an awesome show. Altar Boyz will blow them out of the water with their singing, but the backstreet boys might have more stage presence (ego's? :P)... Altar Boyz probably aren't used to performing for huge crowds like the backstreet boys are. It should be really fun to watch.

rest of the letter here.

secret link to one of the ABz's songs. listen towards the end of the song, the tongue-in-cheek undertones of the closeted gay member. ;) (one critic said Mark may be in the closet, but the closet door's wide open). my previous obsessions on the ABz.

ah broadway's much more fun that studying gastric cancer.

talking about the most recent voting of American Idol, where Constantine was voted off, when a lot of people thought that Scott should have been voted off (Scott has a history of arrest for domestic violence, which the following quote refers to):

"“I am surprised that Scott is still on the show with his smug personality. I do not understand why they condone domestic violence, but kick off a woman for posing nude. I truly do not understand how the violence is not worse.” --Jenny"

good point.