from the land of the morning calm...

so after a lovely sojourn in portland, i arrived in korea yesterday.

let me start off by saying singapore airlines is quite possibly the most amazing airline ever. so you know how united gives you MAYBE one movie at max, and it's indubitably a craptastic one?

on singapore air, you get your own little screen and free access to SIXTY MOVIES. that's right folks, your twelve hour transocean flight just became a movie marathon. booyaka.

so that aside, seoul is just as crowded and polluted as ever i remembered, even more so. the air definitely has a perpetual gray tint, fashionably foggish if you will, and after four years of living in zero humidity, my first day here was a rude ass awakening to the sauna that is seoul.

the last 24 hours have been concentrated family hours. starting with breakfast of rice, pickled garlic, and crushed soy mush. i don't think that is going to be a daily thing for me, alas.

uncle is intimidating as always, my nephew and niece are adorable. i haven't really seen my cousins yet.

the most notable portion of the last day or so was this afternoon. i visited my grandmother. i hadn't seen her in 3 years, and i gotta say i was absolutely shocked when i saw her today.

i didn't think it was possible for someone to age that much in 3 years. while she had been old three years ago, it was nothing compared to today. all the flesh has melted away from her body, she literally is a skeleton and a translucent skin veil. her memory fades in and out within the span of about 30 seconds; that's the time it took for her to mix up my aunt with my grandmother's former maid. but worst of all are the finger and toe nails. the lack of blood circulation has led to what my aunts referred to as "ghost fingernails."

thoughts to be continued. the niece and nephew have arrived.

more later.