August 2011 – Creative Meanderings

Getting back into it…

Aug 312011

I joke that I don’t do anything that makes me sweat…; it’s mostly true, but getting older means that I should try to be conscientious about my health.

So, I try to eat a little less (still love food, tho!) and exercise. When I moved to Abu Dhabi I got into swimming regularly despite my previous general dislike towards the ocean. Swimming in the Arabian Gulf is easy. 🙂 Plus, even though I am exercising, I don’t sweat since I am already wet. Perfect!

However, with the crazy heat, I couldn’t swim all the time and with friends being runners, I decided to get over my dislike of running. I started with walking on the treadmill and then gradually convinced myself I could run for a few minutes at a time. Last spring, I was really into it and I was looking like I was in high school again. 😀 Yay for me. Then, I got lazy … and holiday-body returned after the long summer break.

Thus, I’m getting back into it. I am not really training for a marathon and I sort of dream of a triathlon (yes, why stop at a marathon, when you can try for it all – haha), but I tell myself that I am so that I will work out. I alternate swimming and running (on the treadmill) in hopes that at the very least I can keep eating all the food I love without showing it!

To keep track, I use . There are a ton of sites out there, but I just followed my friends. 😉

New documentary on young adoptees

Going Mental No Responses »

Aug 302011

Thanks again to 8Asians, this trailer for a documentary on young adopted girls – Somewhere Between – looks interesting. It is nice to see/hear the voices of young adoptees and those from other countries.

What is striking is that the issues and thoughts are the same as those I am familiar with – a sign that despite changes in the world, some things still have a lot of room for growth! 🙂

Header Make-over

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Aug 292011

If you actually read my blog and actually visit the actual URL site, then you can see I have changed the header of my page. The old one felt dark and with the black background made everything feel somber. It was probably how I felt at the time of starting the site, but it seemed time for a change.

So, I have given it a brighter header using a sunset picture from our family trip to Hawaii in January 2010 (which was posted on my old blogger travel site…need to update here!). I like the brighter feel and yes, it seems to reflect my feelings these days. 😀

My Adoption Journey – 1

Going Mental No Responses »

Aug 292011

I have decided to start a new series of posts related directly to my adoption experience. This is mostly because I have started to delve more and more into the world of adoptees who are starting to express themselves about this whole being adopted thing – especially Korean-American adoptees. I know that some are reading, some are searching for support, etc. – like me. So, I feel like it is time to share a bit more of my truths.

Since I was 8-years-old, I knew that I was alone in my life experience as not only an adopted child of international origins, but also as one who somehow survived the domestic child welfare system in the US. Once I met fellow Korean adoptees, I also confirmed my belief that it would be difficult to find anyone who shared an experience anything like mine. In some ways it was nice to be different since I have always had an independent streak, but in others it left me very lonely, introverted and mistrusting of everyone….

Sometimes when I listen to my fellow Korean adoptees who were able to establish themselves in one family, I think, “What are you moaning about – not having a choice, not knowing your origins, etc.? At least you had one family who you knew loves you through it all!”

By the time I was eight, I had been given up by my birth mother, left a Korean foster family to be adopted in the States, which led to an adoption, a foster mother, an adoption, a foster family and then a final adoption. For now, I’ll spare the details that go with this, but that alone makes me waiver in my empathy and sympathy for the other Korean adoptee or non-Korean adoptee voices out there whinging about how they didn’t have a choice to not know their heritage….

I didn’t have a choice about anything either … and does it make me worse off or better for having survived? No. However, it does make me think about perspective. I mean I would have loved to have been adopted by my family right from the get-go…, but then who would I be today?

Thus, I try very hard not to complain about my past. It is all part of my life journey…, still the emotional turmoil is what I must face…and so I write. 🙂

Monolids

Going Mental No Responses »

Aug 282011

This is a bit random, but this article on 8Asians (again) reminded me about struggling with issues of make-up.

I have long since given up on the idea of eye make-up and wear a minimal amount in general despite being told by a few older Asian ladies that I am beyond the age of needing to be wearing more make-up. 😛 I wear enough, I think!

Anyway, something that has long bothered me (among a number of topics!) is the fact that all fashion magazines neglect showing the Asian face. From how clothes will look on me to how to wear make-up, I never had models that I could relate to. While magazines are starting to show more of the Asian face, they still use models who are more “white” than Asian.

Many Asians actually have monolids (if you don’t understand, check this site out), not the double-lids of the preferred models. Therefore, wearing eye make-up is a totally different experience. Not just eye shadow, but mascara as well. In my case, my lashes fold under rather than out, thus if I wear mascara it tends to rub on my cornea rather than flowering out nicely to flirtatiously flutter at a cute guy. 😉

Lately, I have taken more effort to embellish my lashes (don’t know why), but still eye shadow remains unattainable. I just do the eyeliner and try to enhance other parts of my face that are flattering….

Anyway, a lot of dribble about this, but the article sort of re-surfaced some of my angst on this issue. 😀

More later,

-T

Thoughts on Koreans

Going Mental No Responses »

Aug 282011

A while back I read this post on 8Asians and thought about how Koreans love emotional drama – more so than many of the other countries I have visited. Koreans and Japanese are often compared, but I always find Japanese people too stoic and though their tv dramas attempted to be dramatically emotional, it was rare that it succeeded for me as it often felt more forced than real.

In any case, this Koreans Got Talent opera singer is a young Korean man who came up from the streets and has an amazing voice. Just watching the clip shows how much emotional drama there is – not even American Idol goes this far!

So, then I wonder, not really knowing Koreans that well, if there is a great deal of emotional drama in them?

Due to my life circumstances, I have learned to be very stoic and internalize my emotions, but I am drawn to people who are passionate and expressive – is it a matter of opposites attract or am I really craving my natural instincts in others?

Anyway, random thoughts on that…

More to come,

-T

New Abode

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Aug 272011

Before the summer holidays began we moved apartments from our downtown Al Serkal Towers building to uptown Guardian Towers.

Sometime in March, R and I decided that we would move in together since we were always together anyway and spending the nights at one or the other apartment all the time. Since I have had roommates from the beginning, I moved to his place and continued to open my apartment up to guests.

Since the university is opening a new campus off the island and near the airport, HR at work had been busy trying to find new places for people to have an easier commute to the new campus come fall. For whatever reason, our building was one of a few to be fully vacated by the university employees and so we were all offered various options for relocation. Thanks to a lovely friend and colleague, the Guardian Towers opened up as a brand new building complete with a rooftop pool and gym!

So, we moved! Our living situation is the same. The apartments are slightly smaller (much smaller than my old one, but more maintainable) and it is sooooo nice to be out the old neighborhood! There is even underground parking so no more hassles with fighting to find a reasonably close space. 🙂 All-in-all, it is a good move and it’s nice to start anew in our home together. 😀

Here are some pics of the new place.

We are still putting some small touches to settling in, but you get the gist!

More to come,

-T

Summing up Summer 2011

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Aug 262011

These are all the photos from my summer travels. Enjoy! 😀

_Hello Kitty Must Die_

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Aug 262011

_Hello Kitty Must Die_ by Angela S Choi

So, the cliche saying of “Don’t judge a book by its cover” could also apply to book titles. However, when I was searching for something new to read on my iPad Kindle, I came across this title a few times. I could relate because the sickening expansion of Hello Kitty around the world makes me a bit nauseous. Thus in my quest to force myself to read contemporary literature now and then, I decided to download it.

Hello Kitty has very little to do with the story except that it is a reference to the Asian peeps of the world. From a Chinese-American viewpoint, Choi writes about a successful Chinese-American woman, Fiona, who struggles to make her Chinese and American identities and cultures work together, but finds release for her frustrations in this endeavour with her friend Sean. Sean is a serial killer who never admits directly to his love of murder, but Fiona knows (in fact helps choose the victims) and eventually begins to pick up his habit in her own way.

It was an interesting storyline and a pretty quick read overall. I was a bit surprised at the amount of cynicism and generally pessimistic attitude of the characters. Perhaps it is a sign of the times since it is contemporary fiction, perhaps it is the general way of thinking nowadays, whatever it is, I am not there yet and really don’t want to be ever. Still, it is always good to experience everything and I am very glad that I was spontaneous in this book choice. 🙂

More to come…

-T

(I will probably be taking a break from pleasure reading for a bit as I must return to academic reading… 🙁 )

Back in the Dhabs

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Aug 252011

It seems weird to write about normal life, but after getting in the habit of writing daily about my days, I guess it is easy enough to just carry on as usual. 🙂

My flights from Bangkok to Manila to Abu Dhabi were relatively easy – as easy as traveling for an entire day can be. I arrived late at the airport and got out pretty quickly, but was quickly given a proper AD welcome-back with the smell of the taxi driver for the (thankfully) short ride back to our new apartment.

Woke up after a pretty full night of sleep and unpacked. Then, I had to deal with my car since the battery had died.

I called the dealer to see if they could send someone to start my car since the 24-hour roadside service center failed to answer the phone…some service, huh? Luckily, they were able to send Ahmed out to start up my car. While we waited for the battery to charge a bit he attempted to interest me in sex – presumably with him – as he lied to me about being married (ring on the finger – duh!) and tried to flatter me with saying I looked very young. Hahahaha. Oh will the fun never stop?

With my car started, Ahmed explained that I wouldn’t be able to get the car battery changed today at the dealer, so I opted to head to a local place to change out my battery. That was a very easy thing to do (surprise!) and then I got my car washed and went grocery shopping since I was already out. It felt weird to do ‘normal’ things after being on holiday for so long. Plus, I was already exhausted! However, I decided to see if I could get in to the new campus before they closed for the Eid Al Fitr holidays… No such luck…but I got some photos and I tested one route there, which makes that one just under 20-mins. I will try some other ones over the next week or so…

New AD Campus from road25-Aug-2011 05:35, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.8, 12.6mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100

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Getting a little closer25-Aug-2011 05:38, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100

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The men's campus buildings (the women's is on the other side)25-Aug-2011 05:38, NIKON COOLPIX S51, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 100

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So, I got back, had a lovely swim in our rooftop pool and have been relaxing the rest of the evening. 😀 Tomorrow, my baby comes back and then ‘real life’ will be in process. I am just happy that we still have another week off before work; it will be a quiet week of readjusting.

More to come…

-T

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