it means 'breaktime', or more idiomatically: 'taking it easy'. when our
sonsengnim (teacher) says it, i snap out of my early morning stupor, wipe the drool from my chin and run to the
hwajangshil (toilet) to retouch my make-up. or i go to the vending machine for a cup of cheap nasty coffee (only 100 won = 5 pesos). but mostly i go and hang with the guys in my class who go out for a smoke outside the IFLS building. no, i don't smoke with them. it's just more fun there than staring at the grass growing outside our classroom window.
it's also less geeky than looking at our schedules and the club invitations (sports, drama, song, korean culture). kalinga from sri lanka, sunder from mongolia and tenzin from tibet/india being good students during one
shiyoyo.
this is me and asma, photo taken by siege. it think my pants were falling down here and i had to hitch them up. or maybe i was scratching my butt. as you can see, to keep warm, i have to wear three layers of clothing (what igor calls my flag shirt, burgundy wool sweater, olive jacket from the black shop) and a silk scarf from tita daphne's trip to vietnam. yes, silk
does keep you warm. its lovely sheen is just an added bonus. that's the grass growing quietly behind me.
cecep actually asked me to take this photo of him reading the paper. i have no idea why but, yes, he does look the distinguished gentleman from java here. one of the few times he's not puffing on a kretek. you also see here a tiny fraction of the rather manly profile of azri the sculptor/designer from malaysia. he looks very fetching in a sarong. lovely feet.
this is what we call the news team. yes, they're media people. phuong is a reporter chick from hanoi, vietnam. payara (or something to that effect) is a TV producer from mongolia. that big guy with the cheekbones is tugsu, also from mongolia. they're the first people to be ever late for class. too much shoju.
two engineers from vietnam, son and hung. they work for the same TV station as phuong. they look like engineers, no? i think exposure to certain algorithms marks you for life. the geekiness just never goes away. asma tells me she keeps catching hung staring at me during class. either he likes me (God help him) or he's mesmerized by the nasal drip i get when it gets terribly cold. you should hear me blow my nose in class.
BreakTime is also the name of a small cafe right outside our university. it's a lovely place to read and have coffee or hot chocolate on a warm spring day. like most places, they offer free broadband internet. they serve organic tea and coffee and play christian praise music is english. they also serve pretty little cakes topped with exquisitely cut fresh fruit. haven't tried those; too expensive.
these photos are from the first time all six asian writers invited by KLTI got together. the thai guys were a week or so late so they're still playing catch up with the hangeul lessons. binlah is apparently a very famous writer in thailand, and is the reason why i got to meet some very nice business students (aka taipans in the making). they needed to interview someone from thailand for some class project. i knew couple of thais so... i set up a meeting for them.
me, asma and cecep outside BreakTime. it's warmer inside of course but there was some kind of fashion shoot going on so we were forced to stay outside.
cecep looking very distinguished, with the lights of dongdaemun-gu in the background. he's like an indonesian vim nadera. lots of interesting allusions in his poetry. and he performs with a band! i got some of his MP3s. very trippy. some tracks have a kind of hobbit house/beerhouse feel to them.
siege pretending he's saying something smart or witty but is actually just posing for the photo. looks like a girl here. not his best side.
me trying to look pensive. photo taken by me. nice scarves, no? very warm too.
it's also less geeky than looking at our schedules and the club invitations (sports, drama, song, korean culture). kalinga from sri lanka, sunder from mongolia and tenzin from tibet/india being good students during one shiyoyo.
this is me and asma, photo taken by siege. it think my pants were falling down here and i had to hitch them up. or maybe i was scratching my butt. as you can see, to keep warm, i have to wear three layers of clothing (what igor calls my flag shirt, burgundy wool sweater, olive jacket from the black shop) and a silk scarf from tita daphne's trip to vietnam. yes, silk does keep you warm. its lovely sheen is just an added bonus. that's the grass growing quietly behind me.
cecep actually asked me to take this photo of him reading the paper. i have no idea why but, yes, he does look the distinguished gentleman from java here. one of the few times he's not puffing on a kretek. you also see here a tiny fraction of the rather manly profile of azri the sculptor/designer from malaysia. he looks very fetching in a sarong. lovely feet.
this is what we call the news team. yes, they're media people. phuong is a reporter chick from hanoi, vietnam. payara (or something to that effect) is a TV producer from mongolia. that big guy with the cheekbones is tugsu, also from mongolia. they're the first people to be ever late for class. too much shoju.
two engineers from vietnam, son and hung. they work for the same TV station as phuong. they look like engineers, no? i think exposure to certain algorithms marks you for life. the geekiness just never goes away. asma tells me she keeps catching hung staring at me during class. either he likes me (God help him) or he's mesmerized by the nasal drip i get when it gets terribly cold. you should hear me blow my nose in class.
BreakTime is also the name of a small cafe right outside our university. it's a lovely place to read and have coffee or hot chocolate on a warm spring day. like most places, they offer free broadband internet. they serve organic tea and coffee and play christian praise music is english. they also serve pretty little cakes topped with exquisitely cut fresh fruit. haven't tried those; too expensive.
these photos are from the first time all six asian writers invited by KLTI got together. the thai guys were a week or so late so they're still playing catch up with the hangeul lessons. binlah is apparently a very famous writer in thailand, and is the reason why i got to meet some very nice business students (aka taipans in the making). they needed to interview someone from thailand for some class project. i knew couple of thais so... i set up a meeting for them.
me, asma and cecep outside BreakTime. it's warmer inside of course but there was some kind of fashion shoot going on so we were forced to stay outside.
cecep looking very distinguished, with the lights of dongdaemun-gu in the background. he's like an indonesian vim nadera. lots of interesting allusions in his poetry. and he performs with a band! i got some of his MP3s. very trippy. some tracks have a kind of hobbit house/beerhouse feel to them.
siege pretending he's saying something smart or witty but is actually just posing for the photo. looks like a girl here. not his best side.
me trying to look pensive. photo taken by me. nice scarves, no? very warm too.
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