The thoughts that cross my mind on four hours of sleep...

At the present moment, I again find myself in a coffee shop, as I still do not have the internet at my place. It will be at least another two weeks before I have my alien card due to the fact that someone somewhere screwed up my application and I had to re-apply. This really makes me jazzed, as it means that I can't have the internet, a cell phone, or a bank account for at least two more weeks. By the time I get them, I will have been here almost two months. But my school gave me a cash advance, so it will be fine. I'm just cranky because I'm hungover. I really do drink far less than all of my blog posts suggest...

This morning when I went to my preferred coffee shop at 10:13 a.m., I found that it was closed so I had to go to another one down the street. They opened at 10:00 a.m., I have been here for well over an hour, and so far I have been the only customer. I'm used to it by now, but it initially struck me as a bit odd that nobody in Korea drinks coffee at what would be considered peak coffee drinking hours in the States (approximately 6:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.). Coffee in Korea is not treated as a drug; it's treated as a lifestyele. People don't speed through a pick-up window at Starbucks demanding grande frappacinos with a triple shot of espresso, no whip, and skim milk. Instead, they typically sit inside the coffee shop and languorously linger over a latte for a few hours with friends. It's more about social interaction and less about getting the jitters. While the coffee shops do open late, they also stay open late (usually until midnight), and actually have a pretty steady clientele up until that point. I don't know what point I'm trying to make...I don't know if I'm really trying to make a point at all...it's more of an observation...a rambling, incoherent observation that I make as I try to cure this hangover the Western way: with coffee.

Before I go home and go back to bed for a few hours, I want to make one more rambling, incoherent observation. Yesterday morning, I woke up singing the local television jingle of an ear, nose, and throat clinic back home. I only know the words in fragments, but I know the beat well. It goes something like this: "We're the best da da da da da everything you do da da da da discover a healthy new you da da da da Midwest, ear, nose, and throat!" I have been here for well over a month now. I am on the other side of the globe. I am constantly being distracted and introduced to new things. I am hearing a different language being spoken all around me all the time. There is a lot of noise. I therefore don't know whether to be frightened or amused by the fact that I can wake up in South Korea singing a local advertisement jingle to a health clinic in South Dakota that I will likely never visit. What does this imply about the apparent effectiveness of seemingly outdated advertising techniques such as the annoying jingle? What does my own memory and recital of said jingle imply about myself as a human being? What does the existence of an advertisement for an ear, nose, and throat clinic imply about society in general? Am I supposed to feel inclined to go get an earwax cleaning in the same way that I am supposed to feel inclined to go buy a cheeseburger?

Anyways, I need to go. They seem to have decided to play American hip-hop music to please me. Little do they know, I am no Chris Brown fan...