Yeah, but what does it do?

Did my two friends have fun in Korea? Stupid question...

Thankfully, they stayed in rather nice hotels rather than on my floor, seeing as how they never made it in before 6am the whole week, and I of course had work. But they loved it here, and it is such a good feeling to have friends appreciate the city you call home, especially when they visit from my personal Mecca, London. In the end, their feelings about Seoul mirrored my own I think. What a fun, fun, fun city that is interesting and vibrant, but not exactly... sophisticated?

Hopefully that picture is worth 1000 words as I intend to say nothing further about their trip. I have been grappling with my own ideas about my blog; what exactly am I blogging for? I have already seen two benefits- I am reflecting on my time in Korea often, and I am using this writing to springboard to more imaginative work. But it is a strange thing to have readers; it is a much more difficult process than I thought to work out not only what is interesting, thoughtful, and perhaps amusing to me but to others as well. Non-writers, I imagine some of you thinking "you shouldn't give a shit about that" but you do. Or rather I do. For example, a blog I would love to write is about why the film "The Wrestler" is a failure. You'd have to be some friend to pore over my thoughts about that. I think I become more obsessed with music every year, and would love to write about that, but there are loads of great music blogs. So Korea, for those within and without? For me? Teaching? I can hear yawning already! It's just a word!

I am struck by something my mother said to me over Christmas that I dismissed at the time. I'm almost 30, and I think I am fair in judging my career so far a success. But my mother during the course of one conversation said to me, "you need a mentor." And as I sit her thinking about travel, education, culture and even a few things beyond that I feel I could learn to write about and perhaps earn a living from, I realize I do need someone to set a direction for me. Strange that this need comes much later than it did for many... so hmmm... perhaps some new topics- what it is to travel, and maybe what it is to teach. And you know what, screw it, I think I might just write that wrestler blog as well.

Or perhaps my blog is entirely too internalized for my own good- I'm just the type of person dumb enough to post what sometimes is like a journal online. Certainly it would be shorter, and easier to recap weekends in Korea. Meet Jenny. Dinner. Friends. Hongdae. Groggy. Actually, that's no fun to write or read... Stick with me and let's find out where this takes me!

Bonus! if you actually made it to the end, or just scrolled down, here is some great music I have been obsessing over. I've also been listening to the Dirty Projectors and White Rabbit and reminding myself how good Vampire Weekend's album is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXLTMCXlYbQ
such a beautiful voice... and something totally different...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbGpvOulec&NR=1
How awesome is that for summer?