seoul update

bike @ bakery

파티세리. 비 patisserie, Bi is a small french bakery store across my building. I biked to Cinecube this afternoon to buy movie tickets then strolled a bit. It was a bit hot but, there were enough breeze to cool my sweat. This cute pastisserie has good sandwiches. I had an egg sandwich & capuccino. It was a lovely sunday afternoon.

Indian restaurant, Dal in Chungdamdong, Seoul, Korea.

I’ve been having Indian food craving so Jia took me to this newly opened Indian restaurant near Dosan Park area. There are several decent restaurants in this area. The prices are steep but, you never get disappointed.

Dal was also great. great food, great presentation. We sat at the balcony and talked some more about new book idea together. It was a lovely evening…until she drove me to my neigbhourhood.

Every road on the way to my neighourhood were all closed with the military policemen’s buses – again. I asked her to drop me off at the closest place where I could walk home. After walking along a wall of mp officers and buses, I found an open spot where they let me pass. It was so empty and quiet when I across the police line. I could walk through empty 16 lane wide roads which is usually filled with running cars. wow, it was so surreal – like NYC with black out in 2003. I felt like being in the eye of hurricane. In that surreal setting, I walked home leisurely. Oh, I eat beef anyway.

“I’m Not There” – Cinecube Theater

Are you a Bob Dylan fan? Then you should definitely go see this movie. This 135 min Mocumentary style movie was pretty experimental. It’s not the best film but, it was interesting enough to see how the director, Todd Haynes created 6 characters who are not Bob Dylan but has characters of Bob Dylan in different times and names. Still, not as interesting as Bob Dylan’s music itself but, it’s definitely worth watching it. I guess I liked this movie better than I would have… which means I had a good company to watch with. Someone who is like my long lost twin.

It wasn’t so bad tonight. I mean the rally. They usually block more streets than tonight. I passed by Sejong theater center and saw a policeman kindly taking some photos for tourists in the middle of military policemen and their buses. We couldn’t help not laughing. The breeze was really nice tonight. I wish I could have taken a long walk but, it was too late for that.

 

The Mask of Emotion is being picked up by the western bloggers

Thanks to Jonah Brucker-Cohen & Make, one of the Digital Media Design students’ projects that I wrote about in last entry got some attention & interest.

Here is the Makezine blog: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/06/emoticon_mask_will_make_y.html

& Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5014085/emotion-mask-brings-kekekekeke-to-life

& Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/06/mask-of-emotion-displays-your-feelings-via-led-emoticons-we-cry/

Hmmm… How interesting that it didn’t even take more than a day to spread words around!

Let me add my translation of their abstract from their blog site in English:

The idea of this project started with a question,
“What is the first media to communicate my emotion to the others?”

Perhaps it’s facial expression that is being expressed before one communicates his gesture or words.
It’s not that easy to hide feelings on facial expression. However, people don’t show their feelings to the strangers today. I often wonder about other people’s emotion when I am in crowded subway or in downtown street of Jongro, Seoul but, they all just stare at outside of the subway window or stare down at their shoes with emotionless face. Some just scan newspapers. They only look ahead while walking in the crowds. Modern urban people are limiting their emotional communication with others trapped in their own world. The mask is a tool to hide one’s feelings or oneself into. At the same time it is to bring out a communication with others by bringing out emotion loud with emoticons.

The Mask of Emotion is to reinterpret the look of mask in a modern term and to evoke communication with strangers by heighten the facial expression by LED emoticons. It is designed to research if emotion is positively received to the strangers when the wearer walks in the crowded street and interacts with urban citizen.

Some students might have felt like what’s the use for whenever I made them to document their design process as a part of the requirements but, I’m sure they will appreciate it later. Kudos to The Mask of Emotion team from Interaction Design Studio 1, 2007 class!!

 

some updates on cultural exploration in Seoul

Samsung Leeum Museum of Art

I’ve been thinking about visiting this Samsung Leeum Museum for months. It is conveniently located in downtown Seoul, considerably near my place. Anyway, Anna and I decided to go this friday… of course, I forgot about it until she brought it up on Thursday… I’m so forgetful these days that I can’t remember anything I said after 20 min. This is what happens when you fly 14 hrs of round trip flights three times in two months. (that’s not including 3-6 hrs of domestic flights)I’ve heard that this museum is all about architecture so I guessed that it would be worth just for that. Most of my friends weren’t impressed with their collections so I didn’t expect much.

However, I actually liked their contemporary arts selection… the quality and quantity are no near LA Museum of Contemporary Arts but, I was surprised to find Damian Hurst’s, Mattew Barney and other renouned artists. I really liked the entrance piece by an Indian artist but, I don’t recall his name. They had Damian’s piece with pills which I really liked. That reminds me of the medical cabinet piece in LAMCA – also ‘Crown of Glory’ from a series of stainglass art-like piece that are made of dead butterflies. They were also showing curated exhibition that is titled “void” They meant to emphasize on “negative space” in artworks – which is a very eastern characteristic but, using a word, “void” seems to be misleading. Anyway, below is the photo of installation by contemporary artist. The was wet and oily… I made Anna touch it & she was discussed by its oily feel. That was a great birthday gift, thanks anna. If you want to learn a bit more about Leeum museum, read her insightful blog.

Itaewon & Food

Since Leeum Museum was near Itaewon, I got to go to this really cute pancake house, “Flying Pancake” Itaewon is a neighborhood where many foreigners live, shop and hang around. They have international school so you will see more foreigners than Koreans in that neighborhood. I’ve heard about the foreign cusines there but, I needed to research before I look for good Indian, Turkish and French restaurant in that neighborhood. I was surprised to see shishikabab stand in the street there…Back to Flying Pancake, this restaurant has not only cozy atmosphere but, the pancakes were amazingly delicious! One of the best pancakes… I’ve had pancakes in numerous brunch restaurants in NYC and LA so you just have to take my words for it. I drank a glass of wine and my friend drank a cup of macchiato. I found their Latte Art was elaborate but, coffee cup on the cafe? We were laughing as it reminded me of “TV Buddha” by Namjun Paek in Leeum- one of my favorite artwork by Mr. Paek.

more food in Hongdae area

It was raining Saturday night. What a yucky night! After watching “The Other Boylan Girl” (I have nothing to say about that movie, btw) we decided to move to Hongdae (Hongik University) area so I suggested this cute Japanese restaurant once my NYU sunbae took me. It’s near Saamzie Art Space but, you have to cross the street and walk to the alley it seems like nothing would be open there as right side is a large construction fence and left are all residential houses. But I was proud to find that place in that rainy night, although I couldn’t recall what it was called.It’s called “Gwang” It’s the same character for “star” you see in whatoo (Korean Gostop cards ) The weather was yucky so there were several seats available. (it’s really tiny so it’s possible that you have to leave if there isn’t any seats.) I drank two full glasses of warm sake, “Wallgaegwan” and some oden from oden bar, salmon sashimi with capers… It was a cozy night & I think I drank the most since I arrived in Seoul. Deliciousness.

* after note: Surprisingly, I lost like 1 Kg in one week despite of indulging yummy foods like these.

 

Return of an acquaintance who I associated with a funny hangover experience

You might be wondering about this strange title. (This blog is more for my friends.)

I have told a funny story about this acquaintance of mine to many of my friends last summer and most of my NY friends teased / accused me of having a lesbian experience. Oh, those New Yorkers with dirty minds — Anyhow, I never wrote about it in my blog… well, due to little bit of embarrassment I suppose.

I usually start this story with, “oh, I woke up at the girl’s dormitory room after drinking a lot in Seoul …” then most of my friends’ usual reactions are “what?!”

Nothing happened, really.

The real story goes like this. My first 4 months in Seoul (that was when I had stronger stomach,) I used to go to this one particular bar and drank and hung out with the regulars as well as my accompanying friends. The regulars are mostly filmmakers including professors and grad students, photographers, writers, designers, artists, musician… yeah, artsy but very down to earth. As I saw the same faces several times, I often was asked to join this group of filmmakers. Usually, there was one other girl in this group whenever I joined them after drinking with my friends. She is a film grad student from China who is studying in Seoul. Her Korean was limited but, pretty good so we used to talk a bit.

One evening, it was my friend’s birthday. I ended up that bar as third round. When we were about to be done for the night, this group came in and seemed to be happy to find me there & asked me to join them as usual. So, I’ve joined after two of my friends left. The professor guy wanted to call our mutual friend and he actually showed up within 30 min. (Wow, amazing mobility for a drink call! ) so we continued to drink… I should have stopped there but, when you are drunk, I guess you lose track of how much you drink… I think I drank few more glasses of wine. The problem is that from that point, I remember but, although I hate to admit it but, with some blind spot.

We stepped out of the bar to eat around 3 am or so. I remember talking about things with them and eating late night food but, the strangest thing is that I don’t remember what I ate! I remember who I ate with but, didn’t remember what I ate! I saw my friend left drunk trying to grab a taxi & I was kind of thinking how the hell am I going to take a taxi alone this drunk and won’t it be dangerous… Like she read my mind, she said that she knows exactly where I could stay that night. She took me who hardly walk straight to her dorm. I do remember this part clearly so don’t imagine things! Her roommate was away so I could use her roommate’s bed. She gave me some baggy tees to change and we said good-night.

Next morning, I woke up with a pounding headache… you know the usual why-did-I-do-this-to-me kind of hangover. I immediately cleaned up quickly and tried to leave as soon as possible after saying ‘Thank You” as I was embarrassed. She said, “wait!” “I would like to give you a token of gift for your visit to my dormitory room.” (This is where my friends find it questionable.) She gave me a hand phone accessory from China. I think I left pretty quickly right after saying “Thanks a lot” again. Oh, how dreadfully long that subway ride was due to my condition that morning. All I wanted to do was to go home & sleep, not 50 min subway ride!

After some resting, I felt a lot better then, I really appreciated her hospitality and thought she is a really cool person. But, I didn’t have her contact info & I had to fly out to the US next day for over 2 months so, I lost a track of her. Last fall & winter, I did bumped into other guys in her group but never saw her at that bar. I also didn’t go out drinking much since last fall due to my stomach problems. Then it just remained as a funny experience I had and a story none of my friends seem to forget.

Yesterday, I got an email from her. She found my email address from the school site. (I don’t even know where that site is, honestly!) She wrote that she wanted to see me before she went back to China but, she didn’t have my contact. She added that she remembers that I kept saying that I would love to visit China oneday. She is teaching Film in a university in Dalian and asked me to contact her if I ever want to visit China and I should visit Dalian where is only one hour flight away from Seoul. What a pleasant surprise! I wrote her back in Korean, wishing her all the best and I did try to contact her through one of the people in her group to say “Thank you” – which was true.

Hmmmm…..I guess I will be visiting China some day. Life is funny.

 

follow up – Back in NYC story

After not-so-great week since my accident, I’m finding my old self pretty rapidly. My wounds have been my biology project to observe intensively… (it’s always amazing how our bodies can heal.) For one week, no going out, no museums, no drinking, no dancing, no bikram yoga, no snowboarding…, I’ve managed to get enough sleep. ah~ much needed sleep. I went to my follow up appointment with my burning unit doctor and they seemed to think I’m healing pretty well. I just have to make sure not to get any sunlight for… hmmm not sure how long. I guess few months? They gave me 3 pairs of tight leg warmer thingy (it’s stretchable cotton bandage thing that keeps pressure on my legs) & told me that I probably will have to wear them for about a month. I was thinking ’since leg warmers are in, why not buy another pair and wear them over?’ I asked my doctor if I can drink wine or beer now and his answer was, “Yes, of course! But not too much so that you will hurt your legs again!“

Right!

Anyway, I started to feel great and it didn’t hurt walking anymore this Friday. After working a long afternoon & evening to fix some designs, codes with Michelle at Park Slope, I was wondering when I was having drinks as A called me the night before. I only got one text message at 8:30 pm as “where are you?” I sent few text message explaining where I was and when to meet. No replies or no answering my calls. Oh, she usually doesn’t answer any calls… Anyway, I tried to reach her until morning to figure out what happened but, wasn’t successful. Oh, well…, She is such a good friend who even was at ER with me but, it’s not good that I begin to be skeptical about any plans with her now. In New York, we all have many different excuses & last minute misunderstandings. I just have to remember the pattern. I’ve encountered several friends who just flaked on me without any messages in numerous occasions & I’m starting to wonder if this inconsistency was here before in NYC and I just began to notice that since I’ve been away from the city for a while… Now I appreciate reliability I get from some friends since I begin to understand being reliable is one of good qualities in friendship.

I arrived back in E. village after a long work day. It was hitting almost 11 pm but it was Friday night. I called up Sonia and she asked me to come out since she is in LES with her friends. It was pretty close enough so, I decided to drop my backpack and join them. The bar is called “The Dark Room” Entrance is very grundgy. I had a hard time finding it. I may have passed that bar many occasion since I lived near there but, never noticed this bar. When I walked in, there were some crazy drunk guys and I had to find her quickly before any of those drunken crazy man talks to me. Then I found them dancing on the floor. I was quickly introduced to her work friends. Very nice people. They were all dancing so I decided to join with a glass of Stella beer. The music was a way to mainstream but, we were also singing so it was fun. I couldn’t believe myself but, I’ve danced few hours I think. It was definitely fun.

Even when I got a strange remark, such as, “You are very stylish for a Korean.” I immediately replied, “What is that supposed to mean?” That statement has a full of strange remarks. Is he saying Korean girls are not stylish enough and/or is he saying I’m stylish despite of my handicap of being Korean? Was it compliment or insult? That was pretty dangerous remark to say to someone like me but, I thought he meant well (somehow) and was delightfully drunk so I decided to let him pass this time.

We walked out for a social cigarette break then, we saw two boys yelling ’sexist!!!’ on the way out as they were bounced off from that bar. Then Sonia’s friend talked to them and realized that the bouncer guy wasn’t allowing any guy without a girl accompanying them. (Since when did we girls have to take boys to the bar?) So we decided to help them out. Sonia and I claimed to the bouncer that they were coming to join us and we’ve known them the whole life (well, she said that ) The bouncer guy seems like half believing but, he let them in. They thanked us & got in.    After two glasses of Stella and two hours of dancing, I think I had enough for a night after my fast recovery. But, I couldn’t find my hand knitted Melino wool scarf. I found my hat and coat but, my scarf was no where to be found. Oh, no… Sonia and I were going through a pile of coats and those two guys who just got in felt obiligated to help us so looked for it as well. At the end, I STILL LOST IT!!! Well, Ce la vie. Good bye, my scarf. I’ve only worn it a little more than a month but, it was good to feel you on my neck. Still it was a good Friday night… On the way home walking, someone behind me pulled over my hood as he passed me, “HEY!” I screamed like a New Yorker.

It’s like a jungle Friday night at 2 am.

***Note: these photos are nothing much to do with my post except they are taken in E. Village, New York about the same time.

 

Life is full of surprises

It’s been exactly one week since I arrived in New York City. My friends were giving me warm welcoming and helping me out where to stay as much as possible. I feel really lucky to have such friends in my life & it’s been always my pleasure to hang out with them. As my resolution for 2008 is taking care of myself – be healthy and not getting stressed, I got my annual exam from my primary doctor, got a flu shot and some medication for stomach problem I’ve been having. I still had some problems with sleeping but, I guessed it’s something to do with jetlag.

I was so excited to reconnect with my friends here and was just happy to be back – even it’s temporarily. So, I’ve organized alumni gathering 2 weeks ahead of time. My plan was to see my alumni friends as many as possible in a given time. I have a friend who is coming up from Philadelphia and several I haven’t seen for over a year now… This morning I woke up late (since I don’t fall asleep until 4 am these days) then leisurely preparing to get ready to see my accountant for tax, thinking what to wear to alumni gathering and so on… I wanted to take a shower and was hoping there would be hot water since I had a luke warm shower last time. This is an old apartment of my friend who has stayed here over 10 years. Most people are not familiar with how old apartments in E. Village can be but, there are many with tilted floors which make squeaky noises when you walk… this is one of them but, very homey and tastefully decorated. The bathroom has a great looking four legged bathtub. Nice? I was happy to find out there was hot water… a bit too hot at the beginning but, it was nice to take a shower and wash my hair.

Then it was after shower that accident happened. When I was closing down the water, I must have turn hot water wrong way and it broke the valve and boiling hot water poured out. Oh shit! I jumped back right away but, it was too late. I had 2nd degree burn on my legs below my knee. I couldn’t figure out how bad it was so I just breathe deeply for few seconds. I put on clothes carefully and try not to touch my legs and I keep them in cold water as I called emergency. Paramedic came and they seemed a bit horrified at the sight of my wounds… yeah, they ain’t pretty. It started with, “What happened?!” They did some emergency treats and took me to the ER with the burn unit.

My friend, Juliette came to the apt immediately and Annette came to ER room and kept me in company for 3 hours. After I got some pill that made me loopy, I was laughing and joking with her the whole time. Once they cleaned my wounds and after 3 hours, some redness of 1st degree started to disappear. They looked a bit better then. They gave me some anti-biotic cream to put on and covered them with some gauze that seems like new techno texile. Then they pull up fishnet stocking like gauze to hold the first layer of gauze. How cool? I wanted it a bit more inches but, they were a bit stingy. I have managed to get some good 20 inch though. It would make really nice fishnet stocking… although they are white. After they released me at ER., we walked out. It was dark and rainy. Great! I didn’t have my shoes with me. We took a pair of socks at the drawer from hospital so, I was okay until finding a cab at rush hour. Hew!

My accountant got the news so we postponed the meeting then I had to make a hard decision of not going to the gathering I am hosting. I’m sure they will all understand. I was so looking forward for this gathering then, life has funny way of surprising me. Now, I’m in bed in my bandage leg warmers for the whole day. Is it because I’ve been running around with people to meet & things to do? – I’m forced to lay down and rest. It’s definitely a forced vacation! Who knew?

It just became a bit painstaking to explain to friends why I got 2nd degree burns on my legs but, I owe them explanation. I also think I’m lucky that I’m not terribly hurt. It could have been worse. Also, I gotta respect this funny surprising curve ball that life threw at me. I will be okay.

I guess it won’t be an option for me to get leg modeling career, huh?

(left: Day 2: ridiculous amount of gauze over the injuries. No, I will not share the horror sight of them. right: Day 8: They gave me this tube to keep the pressure on my injuries. It’s to prevent any scars forming. I need to wear that for many months until everything is back to normal)

 

Leaving NYC again in one hot summer day…

New York City street during hot, humid summer night…

My last two weeks in New York city was really humid and hot, oven weather. Usually, I would be sitting in the air conditioned office and working until sunset during summer days but, this time I was back for my summer vacation. I walked in the street almost everyday in the summer heat while going somewhere or doing errands. That resulted nice tanned sandal marks on my feet. I was back to take care of some matters and work on my research projects with some friends and catch up with my friends in the city. The real reason I was back was that I need to keep that connection with this city.

Now I look back, 5 weeks has passed so fast… I haven’t realized how fast it passed therefore I have missed some friends during my stay. I hope they understand that I really wanted to see them all. I also got to meet some friends unexpectedly who I didn’t see that often. It was lovely. I met some new friends even during this short stay I had so many generous helps and care from friends during this trip unexpectedly. I felt that I was very lucky to have such good friends… I was delightfully surprised about their largely generous effort to make my NYC stay meaningful and good.

I had some conversation with my dear friend who I spent decent amount of time together during my stay… I said, “You know, I love being in NYC but, I’m realizing that I don’t really belong here. Obviously, I don’t feel that I belong in Seoul, either.” My friend nodded and said he understood exactly how I felt and he also felt as if he doesn’t belong in NYC. After few seconds passed… “Actually, I don’t belong anywhere.” We almost said at the same time.

During this trip, I have grown closer to certain friends and I felt that our friendships have reached in different levels. It was so nice to chat with such a good understanding of each others. In contrary, I felt some newly formed distance with certain friends of mine who I consider very close… I guess it is natural process of different phases people have. I know we will turn around and our friendship will continue to grow again soon. I will miss them all.

New York still means a lot to me. This is only place I have came back after my first leave and lived the longest compared to any place in the world. 17 years. With my sentiments and other complex things going on inside me, my preparation to leave was again very hectic. On the day of leaving, 5 hours wasn’t enough for me to be back for my car service. After shipping two boxes of mail to Korea additions to other shipments, I was still running around to banks and organizing stuff.

My car service from Korean vendor was waiting for me about 15 minutes in front of my place. After apologizing my lateness to my car service driver, by the time I sat in the backseat, I was sweating like I was in Bikram yoga studio. (yikes, I know) I wiped off sweat on my forehead and drank up a bottle of Vitamin water then said, “JFK, Jet blue, please.”

Here is where my story turns…

The driver is about 50s – middle aged Korean American gentleman and he kept looking at me via back mirror. After few moment as I cooled down a bit, he said I reminded him of his ex-girlfriend who he really loved when he was a college student. I said, “Really?” half believing. But his eyes were serious… a bit even teary. I thought to myself, ‘He is serious.’

He continued, “I have a wife and two kids but, I still love her and I wonder how she is now…” ‘I guess he didn’t marry this love of his life.’ hmmm, I thought to myself again. On the way to airport, he spoke about her more reminiscing his past love.

How strange… I thought I was going to reminisce about New York on the way to JFK but, I ended up sharing his reminisce about his love who he still hasn’t forgotten.

 

more list on previous post, “Back in NYC”

More List:

The Back Room

This hidden bar owned by an actor has a secret room in the back of The Back Room. The cocktails are really good and good crowd during weekdays. I haven’t checked this place during weekend so can’t tell.

Rockwood Music Hall

A good indie music venue on Allen street where you can appreciate American Indie band scene.

Freeman’s

This is an awesome restaurant located at the end of alley at Freeman’s Alley on Rivington street (Note that this alley is not on the google map) Their foods are great, one of the best Bloody Mary I’ve tasted and the restaurant decoration is quite odd but, it works. I had a brunch, “smoked trout” with a cappuccino and a Bloody Mary…and I thought about going back there for a dinner.

Vbar

Their WiFi is unstable but, it’s lovely to sit there with my laptop and a glass of wine and work during late afternoon. Great selection of beer and wines and coffee.

 

Back in NYC – places and events I went so far…

OK, just to see how insanely I’ve been exploring around New York City last 10 days, I’ve decided to list where I have been so far… this list will continue on:

Lady Sovereign & DJ guy

Lady Sovereign 07.07.07

It was at Spiegel World Theater, a strange place in South Street Seaport… near the deck where you can recline to see brooklyn bridge over East river. It was supposed to start at 11 pm (no opening band, yup!) but got delayed to after 1 am… right! But, beer and brooklyn bridge water front view kept us all from complaining too much. Once the DJ guy spin some music, Lady Sovereign came out. She seems really young and small but, her performance was awesome. Since it was a small theater and a small crowd, I was able to stand pretty close to the stage. The crowds were very very young… like high school kids. Hmmm… if you want to learn more about this artist, go here >>>

The Boredoms / 77 Boa Drums 07.07.07

With every free concerts in NYC, it always involves with long lines and a park. However, 77 Boa Drums sounded really cool especially with the group The Boredoms… As I suspected, there were lines of people waiting in line from early on that circled the park.  I was with some people who I barely knew but, it was alright.  It was 7 pm but, sun was really strong and hot.  I looked around and the crowds were, you know the crowds I expected to be at this event.  New Yorkers… some with notebook, some with camera.

My feeling was that it would have been better to listen on the Brooklyn Bridge but, oh well, I was just following my crowd.

The Golden Bridge 07.08.07

My friend and I decide to meet up for Sunday brunch… then instead of brunch, we decided to go dim sum in China Town.  Hank picked “Mandarin Court” and I’ve invited Tina to join with us.  5 min to Mandarin Court, I got a phone call from her. “Dude, it’s close for sanitary violation”  Hmmm… When we all gather together, Tina said she has an idea & we decided to trust her due to her Taiwanese friends & she probably went to dimsum more than I did.  So she picked “The Golden Bridge”  We walked in through red carpeted staircase.  “You know, red carpeted staircase is a good sign of real dimsum place…” Tina said & we gave her 1 point.  Oh, unfriendly middle age woman hostess who will yell at you to wait and point you where to go… Tina, you got another point…We also found that place is for the chinese wedding bangquet scene… Wow, we didn’t have any doubt that this is the place to be.  Dimsum was delicious by the way.

Bar Pitti

Strangely enough, this lovely Italian restaurant has different treatment toward customers. When I went there with my american friend, they served us sensibly but, when I went there with my two other Korean girlfriends – apparently we spoke in Korean, the waiter was pushy and unpleasant. (big rolling eyes here)

Core

Happy Hour Brunch Bloody Mary & Mimosa for $3… It’s a hard deal to break in LES. Not to mention they have back garden which is a trend for restaurants and bars nowadays. (Poor residential neighbors who have to put up with noises on their back gardens..)

Grotto

A pleasant Italian bar / restaurant with great Mojito. Food was delicious and service was great and the backgarden was lovely with Chinese red lanterns hanging(??) I would say it’s a bit pricy but, it’s LES… Nothing is priced moderate here. It’s either cheap or expensive here, no middle ground.

I have gotten about 8 mosquito bites at the garden by the way.

Essex

I always wondered how that place would be like whenever I passed by and finally, I’ve managed to go there for some bites with Sonia. Salmon was delicious but, magrita was too sweet to my taste.

The East Side Company

It’s a hide bar established on Essex street near Rivington street. They specialized their signature cocktails with fresh fruits and stuff. It’s cozy and nice but, don’t ask anything else than the cocktails on the menu.

1492

My favorite Spanish(Portuguese?) Tapas bar in LES. They do have back garden and friendly staff who spoke (I think Portuguese… not sure though) Anyway, great tapas food and Sangria! I’ve been there twice already and I would go back. This place writes over Sala on Bowery street

Heathers

Low profile bar with worn out wooden floor, bar and tables… my E. Village friends like this grundgy bar where it isn’t too crowded during weekend. Cheap Beer.  I prefer the 4 seat table next to the window.

Boxcar Lounge

My friends’ by far favorite bar on Ave B. Their Happy Hour is great with Stella draft – not to mention back garden. I used to go there a lot during winter and sat by a fire place with my friends to drink late at night. Now, it seems to be more popular.

Esperando

Great Brazilian/cuban restaurant. Great wine, Mojito, seafoods dish. Everything I had tasted for multiple occasions were delicious. I’ve visited there twice already…

The Cake Shop

This free WIFI coffee shop on Ludlow street reminds me of Seattle whenever I visit. I don’t know why but, old vinyls and old chairs, indie bands posters and etc. They do have their own cup cakes which I’ve been addicted since I tasted for the first time.

88 Orchard

I’m hooked to this lovely free WiFi coffee shop with large windows all around and high ceiling. I go there almost everyday for their capuccino… mmmm, also pretty comfy to sit there for hours and work on my laptop. It gets a bit too crowded around 11 am though.

Guss Pickles

Right across 88 Orchard… Their pickles rock! Especially freshly made one reminds me of cucumber kimchee. If you think pickles tastes like those you buy in the bottles and cans, you should try to taste Guss Pickles. You would never go back. This is what Korea truly is missing. Pickles they served at Italian restaurants weren’t really pickles… awfully weird tastes – somehow my friends who were trained with that taste seem to like them.

Jeeb

Please read “Back in Lower East Side, NYC“

Hasaki

By far, the best affordable sushi place. I love sitting at their bar.

Clinton Bakery & Co.

Great food and generous amount but, you need to wait really a lot for them.

Pink Pony’s

My regular brunch, late night drink place… I visited again to have a brunch on first Sunday I got here.

 

NYC – single friendly city

After staying in S. Korea for about 4 months as an independent professional who is a single, returning to NYC brought me back my good old appreciation for how comfortable it is to be a single in this city. People say there are so many singles living in New York City, perhaps too many but, whether it is because there are so many of them or because city is great for singles, if you are a single and you are living in New York City, you are in the right place.

When I wake up and walk into a cafe in Lower East Side and order a cappucino and read a newspaper, almost everyone in the cafe are alone starting their days with a morning coffee and a newspaper just like me. I can just blend in easily into the scene. When I walk into a favorite restaurant for a lunch or a dinner alone, there are many comfortable bar sittings ready for me and I see other likely single eaters inside and nobody asks me such a question like I get a lot in Korea, ‘Did you came alone?’

Not to forget to mention those strange stares which prevented me from going out alone and I often ended up ordering in instead of walking into a restaurant for that reason, although that didn’t really prevent me eating alone in restaurants in Korea.

I like the fact that I could leisurely read my book or newspaper or work on my laptop (LES free WIFI rocks!) among other similar customers at different cafes and restaurants. I really didn’t hesitate to walk into a restaurant or cafe here and I actually really enjoyed my peaceful moment of thoughts and observing others in the scene. I think everyone needs some time alone to reflect their own thoughts or their environments whether he/she is a single or not. Why everything has to be with someone all the time? Sometimes you get to reflect a lot of your environment and yourself when you are alone in public places. When you are spending your time with someone significant or family members all the time, it’s very difficult to look at yourself and reflect upon. It’s easy to lose yourself. hmm…I should consider to keep this habit time to time even if I don’t have to. A thought to myself.
When I explained my delightful reappreciation about this characteristic of New York city to some friends here, they just told me, “That’s why you belong here…” Then I guessed slightly if they really know the difference.