i'm back in my "fly-mackin' pad".....as my katharine kim says...

my freezer has been re-stocked with korean-mom goodness, i've been saturated over the holidays with my stinky brother, my dad's way of asking the same question three times consecutively in a row within a minute, my mom's last minute hour-long schpiels on why i should eat and make korean food in londonpoo...

and it's kinda funny....even though they KNOW that there is only one korean guy (and not eligible, might i add) in my dental class, and possibly in the entire dental school, they never fail to ask whether there are any suitable korean guys in my class. i mean, where would they suddenly come from? TELL ME, WHERE WOULD ONE SUDDENLY APPEAR IN MY CLASS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE YEAR????!!!!! then they ask about the korean guys in medicine that they know about, like steve. and just to really tease them and get them all real excited and "ohmigosh is there a korean guy we don't know about yay yay yay!"i told them that there was a korean guy in first year med, who i met supposedly once at the phoenix, but more recently via jesse, again. there are many interesting ways to get my parents to perk up and take interest, or at least, give them a mini-heart murmur...

anyway, the ride here was uneventful, but as always, the hours leading up to my leaving were a frantic "let's pack as much as we can in this tiny little suitcase and let ellen drag is around union station for hours" kind of sicko game, and now my hands hav the beginnings of major major kertinization, i've got little mysterious cuts everywhere, and my cuticles are all out of order. the horror! the horror! the train was full of western kids, and every single girl had my curious problem - a huge, way-too-heavy suitcase, another big bag, cutting through the fingers, a backpack, filled with things to make a bare apartment more homey, and in my case, another garment bag. one of the via guys helping me with my bag yelled a loud "heave ho!" when lifting my bag and exclaimed "what the heck is in there! must be guns!". okay, so here's what was really in my bag: jumbo costco size of tortellini, a big bottle o maple syrup (breakfast at my place will be divine from now on....yyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!), all this korean seaweed stuff, more korean dumplings (two different brands), korean bakery goods (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!), pine nuts (it's for my to-be-made-if-i-ever-have-time salads), more frozen chicken (i didn't bring salmon i'm SICK of salmon), more strange korean root stuff, and in all the little spaces where a large container couldn't fit, my mom stuffed in clementines and fuji apples...and GET THIS, i a LARGE jar of kim-chi!!!! and get this, as i was leaving my mom runs out to the car, i roll down the window, and she throws in a package of silky TOFU!!!! what else did i bring....there must be more...oh yeah, gum. like a million packs. oh, and HALF A HAM!!!!! i don't know who's going to eat THAT. my mom must think that all i do in london is...sit and eat ALL DAY. i did forget one thing i wanted to bring...my cocoa...for making chocolate cakes...waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

now i will weep and cry over my lost cocoa while i try to sleep....