Back from America

And we're back! Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to the Theresa Show, your favorite non-regularly-updated blog about a girl, her boyfriend, and her cat traversing the wilds of Seoul, a gripping tale of love, betrayal, sloth, and hunger. When last we saw our heroes, they were in the throes of winter and the perils and pitfalls of teaching. Let's see what they're up to now.

Probably something really cool and international.

I was having a hard time finding things to write about. Park and I spent about six weeks in America, and, while it was tons of fun, I just didn't feel like writing about it. America is America. It's sort of homey, quite comfortable, and all of my family and many of my friends reside there, but it's not very exciting blog material. Most of our time was spent visiting family (and most of that time with family was spent wrestling with small children) or eating those American foods you only crave when you aren't in America. For instance, I couldn't get done eating cheese. Cheese was either on my mind, in my mouth, or in my hand on its way to my mouth. A lot of frozen pizza also found its way into my stomach, which was quickly followed by numerous unique and beautiful craft beers. Korea needs to step up its beer game. I'm tired of watery Cass and paying ten dollars for a glass of Guinness. Park and I also did a lot of cooking. Everyone in the family had to try Korean food, after all. Some of these attempts came out great. Others were merely passable. For instance, I thought Korean markets were everywhere, but it turns out I was just spoiled by Northern Virginia. There are zero Korean markets in the Boston area. Kansas City actually has more Asian grocery stores than Massachusetts. Score one for the Midwest. My family was baffled and delighted by the taste of kimchi, and my father discovered that spicy soft tofu soup or any spicy ramyeon is an excellent cure for a stuffy nose. Park also experienced his very first Arico Christmas, which meant baking lots of cookies, decorating the tree on Christmas Eve, and going to Liturgy at Holy Transfiguration. I think he did quite well with it all. And, of course, my dad took him shooting because this is America and that's what we do.

Freedom.

So then back to Korea we headed! After all that time in the US, we were ready to go. There was just one problem. Back when I optimistically booked our tickets, I had thought that a nice romp through Japan on our way back would be great. Foolish Theresa. We ran out of money. We ran out of money and didn't have a way to get back to Korea. A few nights before departing America, we set out to find lodgings and a ticket, any ticket that would get us back to Seoul. Park, with his great skills of research and an endless well of patience, was able to find us plane tickets at last. We spent one day in Tokyo, stayed at a really cheap but pleasant ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel), and generally enjoyed that one day. We were incredibly jetlagged, though, so our day lasted until about 4 PM before we crashed and burned, awaking at 10 PM, hungry and disoriented. We had limited funds so we filled our stomachs with the plunder from a convenience store.

I must confess that I committed a grave sin. When I was in my youth, I developed a (still very much alive) passion for anime. Naturally, when I heard to Akihabara, the mecca of otaku culture, I wanted to go there. How cool, I thought, would it be to have coffee and cake at a maid cafe. How cool, I thought, would it be to try on cosplay outfits or to browse obscure collections of elsewhere unavailable products. So when we arrived in Tokyo, I took Park to Akihabara. I am so sorry. I am so so so so sorry. Neither of us were prepared for the onslaught of animated boobs, for the cute Japanese girls gently coaxing us inside their maid cafes, for the unwashed masses slobbering over AKB48 (there was an entire eight-story building dedicated to the pop group), or the sketchy buildings labeled "men only". I had a blast. I could at least understand some of what was going on, but poor Park's heart was broken.

The panic, the vomit.

Not to mention that everyone thought he was Japanese. People kept trying to talk to him. A Buddhist priest even tried to lure us inside his temple before we awkwardly explained that we couldn't understand him, that we weren't Japanese, and that we were actually Catholic so this partnership wasn't going to work out so well anyway.

Speaking of temples, we did manage to visit the famous one in Asakusa. Park thought it was very strange. Korea has a large Buddhist population, and Park's grandparents are Buddhist, so he is very familiar with Buddhism. However, Japanese Buddhism has added Shinto into the mix. So, for example, you could walk into a temple and find yourself face to face with a Shinto shrine and a statue of Buddha, occupying the same blessed ground and attracting the same exact accolades. It's one of the many cool things about Japan.

Check out that gate!

 So the next morning came, and we set out for home at last. Park's family didn't know we were coming home on that day, so they were pretty shocked. We all went out for barbeque with the family and then spent the night at the sauna. There's nothing like a Korean sauna to wipe away the stress of travel. And in case anyone was wondering about the cat, Park's family watched him. He was an unholy terror at first, stealing food and scratching the innocent, and I still feel guilty for inflicting him on them, but I think they all found peace by the end. Anyway, he's back at my house now.

iPad cat