old lady spits knowledge-and-some stuff in our house

we were waiting outside of the subway station one recent rainy morning, expecting a phone call that would determine our transportation issue, luckily Josh had his thermos full of hot freshly brewed coffee and he was sharing with me (aw, he's so good to me...). it was raining and gray and early, and out of no where a short, stout, funky looking korean-looking older woman came up to us to ask us what had happened to cause the traffic jam like no other. her english was perfect and we soon found out that she was korean in heritage, but a savvy new yorker in reality. One of the first things she said to us, upon spotting the thermos of coffee, is that she must have coffee to make her brain function. we got a kick out of this, and Josh offered her up some of his coffee, which she took in her empty water bottle and decided to spend about forty or so minutes speaking her mind to us as we shared this random experience with each other.

we never got her name, but we did know that she was visiting korea to take care of some legal matters in the aftermath of her mothers death. she was crazy unhappy about the legal system in korea and began to explain the corruption that exists amongst lawyers and the court system in general. as the conversation went on we talked about politics and happiness and financial comfort. she believes that the problem in america today is that people are not happy, and that we need to get to the root of the problem and find what makes us happy before any large scale problems will be solved. she dreams of working to have more low income public housing (all with wood floors, by the way, cause carpet is inferior she said), because when families don't have a roof over their head they fall apart. She talked about her desire for her country, the US of A, to take care of it's own before reaching out to the rest of the world, and with any extra money or time or energy to by all means help! She spoke about korea, noting the apparent hollow culture and lack of foundation to grow upon, her frustration with dealing with the lack of logic and backwards priorities. She shed a tear for her lost mother and for the general sadness of the universe, she gave us a sweet, genuine smile, a thanks for the coffee, and then had to be on her way.

In this brief encounter this anonymous old woman evoked such emotion in me, she was smart and had a sweet heart, and she was laughing at the injustice and dreaming of better times. She said things that had real value and she was just plain real. she was drawn to us because we were the only non-koreans in sight, I'm sure, and I'm glad for that random morning.

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This is a garbage score that I found on one of our many walks a few months ago, this old dude is said to bring luck to the home, although I didn't know that until some korean friends came over and said so. It was in the trash all rolled up like a scroll, on the side of the road and I'm glad I decided to investigate, cause it's finds like this that can't be bought, yet are the greatest souvieniers! This will likely hang in my home for years or maybe generations...

this large wall art is a Gustav Klimt print, in a fancy golden frame that we picked up when we first got this apartment. some guy in on of the massive underground plazas was selling cheap art and both Josh and I fell in love with this right away and had to have it. It sits above our dining table (our only table).

we have been painting and drawing and recently dabbling in some pastels, this was the work of a mellow weekend evening, ball point pens and scrap paper... they now watch over our apartment.

my dinner this evening! a huge salad with a tasty homemade dressing and tons of fresh veggies and some Russian cheese that Irina gave us, some wheat/nut bread, egg, and of course kimchi! it was fabulous...

be well fine friends and strangers alike. thank you for reading my ramblings! 

xoxo, nic