I began working on the current production at the opera. Work has been fun, but I'm away from home for so many hours a day now. I hate the hours wasted on the road to travel to Tel Aviv and back. From Haifa, it takes about two hours each trip door to door. That's four hours a day just for the trip. If we were to live in Israel in the future, we would move to Tel Aviv but we decided to try out Korea. We're moving to Korea at the end of this summer.
I was in three different cities today. After the bat-mitzva party last night, we stayed over at my mother-in-law's in Jerusalem and then I went to Tel Aviv from there, then I came home to Haifa. I'm absolutely exhausted. And upset that I barely spent any time with Liam. At one point during the day, I almost felt like giving it all up and be a stay at home mom.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Simcha
My in-laws are in town for two weeks for a family thing. First they are visiting with us for this week and we're all going down to Jerusalem for my niece's twelveth birthday.
A girl's twelveth birthday (or a boy's thirteenth) is a big deal for Jews. It's a rite of passage called bat-mitzvah. It's sort of like sweet sixteen, let's say, for the lack of better description. After bat-mitzvah, a girl is considered an "adult." There will be two big ocassions for our birthday girl. One will be a classic party in a hall with dinner, dance, and the whole big schbang. Another will be a religeous event. I am scheduled to read a portion of Torah in a synegogue for this. I'm kind of psyched about that.
Torah reading takes some practicing. It requires knowing both the text and the designated tones. When read well and correctly, it sounds beautifully melodious. When I listen to a good Torah reading, I find it calming and touching.
A girl's twelveth birthday (or a boy's thirteenth) is a big deal for Jews. It's a rite of passage called bat-mitzvah. It's sort of like sweet sixteen, let's say, for the lack of better description. After bat-mitzvah, a girl is considered an "adult." There will be two big ocassions for our birthday girl. One will be a classic party in a hall with dinner, dance, and the whole big schbang. Another will be a religeous event. I am scheduled to read a portion of Torah in a synegogue for this. I'm kind of psyched about that.
Torah reading takes some practicing. It requires knowing both the text and the designated tones. When read well and correctly, it sounds beautifully melodious. When I listen to a good Torah reading, I find it calming and touching.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
They Finally Got Me
I am sick. It began when I thought I was having an allergic reaction to my dog Ocean's hair shedding. Schnauzers aren't supposed to shed hair, but my Ocean has been shedding his hair because he's been suffering from food allergy lately. Anyhow, what began as just annoying itchiness in the throat two days ago turned into a full blown viral case of violent coughs, sinus pain, runny AND stuffy nose- it's evil how this is possible- and tear-inducing back pain. Why I am sitting in front of the computer blogging is perplexing. I should really get back into bed and rest. Have a nice day.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
25 Random Things About Me
I was 'tagged' to post 25 random things about me by William over at dollop of solipsism who maintains one of my favorite blogs with his sassy and smart remarks.
1. When I was fourteen, I moved from a very protected Korean society to New York where I experienced a cultural shock.
2. Hong Kong, where I lived for seven years in my twenties, is the place I know best of all the places I lived.
3. I miss riding on Star Ferry in Hong Kong. In the thick summer haze, crossing the South China Sea from the Central dock to Tsim Sha Tsui, I imagined the ferry crossing in Margaret Duras' Lover.
4. Two years ago I converted to Orthodox Judaism (for my husband's family). I can say it was for me only in a sense that I decided to do it in order to fully accept my husband's tradition into my life.
5. I hate that people judge me and make assumptions based on my choice of religion and my life-style.
6. When I eat salty food I like to balance the taste out by eating sweet food afterwards and vice versa. This trait results in my buying multiple desert items when I go to a bakery. For example, I'd pick up something chocolaty, then a few savory pastries, and then fruit tarts, then some bread sticks.
7. I once dated a French dude who used to pop up from no where to light my cigarette whenever I took out one.
8. I had a Schnauzer puppy I named Sky, to match my existing Schnauzer's name Ocean, who died of Distemper soon after I got him.
9. I like to drink gin & tonic when I feel foul. (Does that make me sound like an alcoholic?)
10. I like drinking tea with milk.
11. I think any good movie or novel should explain everything about life even if its subject matter is a narrow topic. I guess what I mean by that is that a good fiction should depict an aspect of fundamental truth about life.
12. When I was in second grade, my teacher told us that we should brush our teeth after every time we eat, so I brushed my teeth like twenty times a day for about a year.
13. I have a Mac but I don't know how to use it fully and I feel very anxious every time I think about that.
14. I like Chinese antique.
15. Last month, I wondered to myself whether my son Liam was the best looking person ever to be born. (Don't laugh.)
16. I am very very competitive about taxi-catching. If you cut in in front of me, you should be prepared to see my ugly side.
17. I hate drinking tap water.
18. The Best of Youth is my favorite movie that makes me feel good every time I watch it. I heard that the movie was at first meant to be a mini-telenovela, which makes sense given its length and epic-nature. I think the movie has similarity to Korean TV dramas. Maybe my sensibility picks up on that.
19. I danced salsa with my husband David on the stage at Lotte World in Seoul and won a prize of 100000 won ($100). It's not that we were any good, you see. We just had the balls.
20. I hesitated breaking up with an Australian boyfriend from Perth because I was afraid of losing the ownership of adoring where he comes from. In the end, the boredom of endless consumption of alcohol followed by hours and hours of detoxing by the pool side without exchanging a word for two straight years did it for me. I simply imagined myself married to this guy and doing the same for the rest of my life. That was a scary thought. Even if we would have done the detoxing on a beach in Perth.
21. Last week after work, on a particularly balmy evening, I was walking down a boulevard alone in Tel Aviv and loved life.
22. I am missing a tooth right now (can't be seen and awaiting an implant.)
23. I let my son suck his thumb, although many people told me that this will cause his teeth to protrude, because I think it's so cute. Besides, how am I supposed to teach an infant that it's wrong to do something when he doesn't register right from wrong?
24. I speak Korean to my baby but English to my dog.
25. I am glad that I'm at # 25. It was hard going to come up with so many things about myself! I hadn't realized I was so mundane...
I tag Mama Nabi and Marz at Nowadayz.
1. When I was fourteen, I moved from a very protected Korean society to New York where I experienced a cultural shock.
2. Hong Kong, where I lived for seven years in my twenties, is the place I know best of all the places I lived.
3. I miss riding on Star Ferry in Hong Kong. In the thick summer haze, crossing the South China Sea from the Central dock to Tsim Sha Tsui, I imagined the ferry crossing in Margaret Duras' Lover.
4. Two years ago I converted to Orthodox Judaism (for my husband's family). I can say it was for me only in a sense that I decided to do it in order to fully accept my husband's tradition into my life.
5. I hate that people judge me and make assumptions based on my choice of religion and my life-style.
6. When I eat salty food I like to balance the taste out by eating sweet food afterwards and vice versa. This trait results in my buying multiple desert items when I go to a bakery. For example, I'd pick up something chocolaty, then a few savory pastries, and then fruit tarts, then some bread sticks.
7. I once dated a French dude who used to pop up from no where to light my cigarette whenever I took out one.
8. I had a Schnauzer puppy I named Sky, to match my existing Schnauzer's name Ocean, who died of Distemper soon after I got him.
9. I like to drink gin & tonic when I feel foul. (Does that make me sound like an alcoholic?)
10. I like drinking tea with milk.
11. I think any good movie or novel should explain everything about life even if its subject matter is a narrow topic. I guess what I mean by that is that a good fiction should depict an aspect of fundamental truth about life.
12. When I was in second grade, my teacher told us that we should brush our teeth after every time we eat, so I brushed my teeth like twenty times a day for about a year.
13. I have a Mac but I don't know how to use it fully and I feel very anxious every time I think about that.
14. I like Chinese antique.
15. Last month, I wondered to myself whether my son Liam was the best looking person ever to be born. (Don't laugh.)
16. I am very very competitive about taxi-catching. If you cut in in front of me, you should be prepared to see my ugly side.
17. I hate drinking tap water.
18. The Best of Youth is my favorite movie that makes me feel good every time I watch it. I heard that the movie was at first meant to be a mini-telenovela, which makes sense given its length and epic-nature. I think the movie has similarity to Korean TV dramas. Maybe my sensibility picks up on that.
19. I danced salsa with my husband David on the stage at Lotte World in Seoul and won a prize of 100000 won ($100). It's not that we were any good, you see. We just had the balls.
20. I hesitated breaking up with an Australian boyfriend from Perth because I was afraid of losing the ownership of adoring where he comes from. In the end, the boredom of endless consumption of alcohol followed by hours and hours of detoxing by the pool side without exchanging a word for two straight years did it for me. I simply imagined myself married to this guy and doing the same for the rest of my life. That was a scary thought. Even if we would have done the detoxing on a beach in Perth.
21. Last week after work, on a particularly balmy evening, I was walking down a boulevard alone in Tel Aviv and loved life.
22. I am missing a tooth right now (can't be seen and awaiting an implant.)
23. I let my son suck his thumb, although many people told me that this will cause his teeth to protrude, because I think it's so cute. Besides, how am I supposed to teach an infant that it's wrong to do something when he doesn't register right from wrong?
24. I speak Korean to my baby but English to my dog.
25. I am glad that I'm at # 25. It was hard going to come up with so many things about myself! I hadn't realized I was so mundane...
I tag Mama Nabi and Marz at Nowadayz.
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