Lost In Translation

My love affair with Asia started a year and a half ago when I met a foreign exchange student at my school. I immediately fell in love with everything about her culture, style and life.
I started studying Korean in September of 2006 and so far... I'm still lost in translation. Well, not completely; I could probably find myself around Seoul (the capital of Korea) without getting too lost. Everything about Asian culture fascinates me and, as a Westerner, I am intrigued by their technology. Their lifestyle is GO, GO, GO! Everything from their mini iriver mp3 players to their Hello Kitty charms (which is something you can't walk around Tokyo without seeing).

What's for breakfast? Rice. Lunch? Rice. Supper? Rice. Yes, they do eat a shitload of rice in Asia, but not all the time. And besides, who doesn't like rice? They all eat very small portions, which could be why they're all so tiny. But can't we learn something from them -- I mean, here a Big Mac is considered a snack for Christ's sake. And their Oxygen Bars... we need those here (for anyone who doesn't know it's a place where you can go sniff oxygen for a half hour and get skinny while doing it). Why wasn't I born Korean?

On a completely different note, I can't sit through a Japanese movie without someone saying "those crazy jpas!". Who ever invented that phrase was a) not very smart and b) completely racist. What's wrong with having a movie about a bunch of kids killing each other? Or a movie about a girl who kills you by watching her sick twisted home video? They're all being remade into American anyways... which is another thing I can't stand about the West, are we that pathetic that we can't come up with our own ideas for movies? Asian horrors are the only horrors you need to watch anyways, trust me.

As they say in Korea, annyeong-ee kah-saeyo!