Five Things About Me

I loved reading Elisabeth’s slice last week with five things about her. I figured I should try it out on my own.

Something About Yourself: An incredible amount of space in my brain is taken up by music lyrics. I can hear a song once or twice and catch on to most of the lyrics. I few more times, and they’re committed to memory. Another strange thing is that I can hear a song for the first time in years and begin singing along, not missing a word. I wish I could replace the stored-up lyrics for more useful information, but instead of remembering the elements in the periodic table, I can rap all the words from Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

Something About Your Neighborhood: I live in what’s called the GEC, the Global-Edu City. It’s a unique place in that four international schools are here, one right after the other down the main road, all within 2 km of each other. The GEC is like a small town, with eight apartment complexes and a few pockets of compact houses and townhouses, three small grocery stores (much smaller than anything you’d see in the states), a police station, a bank, a park, a couple coffee shops, a handful of restaurants and take-aways, an obscene number of convenience stores, a fire station, a bookstore, a couple of hair and nail salons, a dog groomer, and a few other random shops. It’s convenient living in the GEC, but you can never go anywhere without running into a colleague, a student, or a parent. I sometimes miss the anonymity of living in a big city.

Something You Love to Do: I love entertaining, cooking for others and hosting them in my home. I adore the planning almost as much as I do the actual hosting. Small touches are important, such as getting the lighting right, playing the right playlist for the attendees and the occasion, the scents- from the food and candles/oil diffusers, and the presentation of the food. I haven’t been able to host very often in the past couple of years, but I’m hoping that changes soon as things start to open up more.

Something You Hate to Do: I hate washing dishes more than anything, which makes it difficult to love hosting so much, as there’s always a mountain of dishes at the end of the night. I wish I could find washing dishes calming or therapeutic, but I detest every minute of it.

Something You Want to Learn: I’ve never lived anywhere as long as I’ve lived here without learning some of the local language. As it stands, I know all of three Korean words (thank you, hello, and yes). I’ve tried learning Korean through apps and a tutor, but I haven’t been able to pick it up. I blame it on the fact that so many people in the GEC speak English, so it’s not vital to speak Korean to go about my daily tasks, unlike other places I’ve lived. I’m so embarrassed that I haven’t made more of an effort to learn, and it’s a goal of mine to at least learn how to read Korean characters and speak some basic phrases.