April 2021: Welp, I’m a Quarter of a Century
Hi hi, late monthly update because I have been so so busy!
This April was a wild one and I was barely at home.
Let’s see—my friend and I started visiting places for our Daejeon series, which will be a bunch of vlogs.
Plus, we went to Nami Island for my birthday! We spent the night in Seoul for the first time in a looong time. Seoul is always denser and more packed than I remember. Not gonna lie, it was a little freaky sometimes. We double-masked but we had to escape crowds of people (mostly foreigners or ahjossis), unmasked or nose peaked out. That was frustrating, to put it mildly.
But still, my birthday weekend in Seoul was great. We ate delicious vegan food at Plant, where we sketched our names in their guestbook. Then we nightcapped with craft beer and drank homemade makgeolli on the rooftop.
I’m aching for summer. While Texas is hitting 90s routinely, Korea is still sitting at around 50-60s (12 C), but that Sunday was unusually warm. We headed to the Seoul Museum of Art before heading back to train station. I sat with my friend, drinking green tea, people-watching until it was time to go.
Still, that wasn’t my actual birthday. The real day was on the next Tuesday…and of course, I lost my voice. I could not speak. I had to miss a couple of classes but my sixth graders sang HBD to me :’)
After, I headed to a café to eat a freaking amazing macaron and read some. I ate a yummy chili con carne dinner, picked up some more desserts and headed home to finish Attack on Titan with my friend.
My 25th was probably the chillest day-of birthday I’ve had yet.
I do feel a little weird about my age, but not badly. I always promised myself I’d let myself age gracefully, and 25 isn’t exactly knockin’ on death’s door—despite whatever teens on tik tok might say.
I do feel like 25 is significantly older than 24…and I have noticed myself eyeing hair bleach and piercings more than normal. Is it time for my quarter life crisis or have I done that already?
I think I’m a little delayed on self expression but yeah, I feel more confident and happy with who I am than ever, and I think I’m just hitting my stride.
Anyway, this month I made some good art. Took out my Chinon CS for photo walks. Had spring picnics and late night chimaek (chicken and beer) outings.
Oh! And I got microblading—eyebrow tattooing—done in Seoul. I went to bad girl brows, who did an incredible job and was super sweet. She spent over an hour making sure the shape was just right. The first week, the brows were VERY dark and my students said it looked like I took a sharpie to my face lololol. Now, they’re much softer and I’ll go in for a retouch in a few weeks.
Of course, I’m still SO STRESSED about leaving Korea—the logistics, mostly.
I bought my ticket home. I dug out my closet and sent a box of winter clothes home. I’m exhausted.
Busy month, so less navel-gazing for you. Hope you’re all well and, if possible, vaccinated! I probably won’t be able to get mine for…another three-four months :/
Thanks for reading!