Back in the US

Back in the U.S.A.
December 20, 2002

Okay, by popular demand, its time to update to what few if any readers actually read this website!! If you are reading, let me know! To me, not much is going on. Basically, after Hanoi I went back to Seoul for a little while, and then flew to San Francisco to start working at City Hall's Department of Elections.

The Elections Department went well.. nothing spectacular.. a little bit of moving around.. including to a co-worker/friend's apartment.. and also subleasing another place.. of course, the Elections is only a seasonal job, and shortly before it was finished, we were also finished.

At the time of this writing, I have just recently brought my girlfriend to Michigan for the Holidays. We're planning to take a long road trip back out to California shortly after the Holidays. Just arrived in Michigan a few days.

San Francisco is as fine as always. I was fortunate enough to live in two different areas. One area was the Richmond district, and the other was the Sunset district. Both are west of the downtown, still in the San Francisco city limits. They are both a little more asian-oriented then the rest of the city, which is great for me. It was significantly safer, better restaurants, and more comfortable to get around.

When I first arrived back to San Francisco again, I stayed at a hostel on Market Street near to City Hall. That part of the city is just covered with homeless and drug pushers and addicts everywhere. It was exhausting to just walk out of the hostel in the evening. People would be approaching non-stop constantly begging for money or trying to sell something. Its about the worst I've seen in a long time, kind of reminded me of being in a very very desparate third world country. I was extremely relieved when I made the move both to the Richmond district and the Sunset district shortly thereafter.

San Francisco has alot of highs and lows about it. I love the diversity of the people, and the beautiful landscape, but I can't stand the rampant agressive nature of the homeless and the abundant street drugs. It attracts some of the worst of the worst, and I'm surprised that they can't clean that up a little bit like Manhattan did. Anyhow, I'm no longer in San Francisco now though. I just left with Flor about a week ago.

Over Thanksgiving weekend though, I had a good time going to San Diego in southern California! San Diego is about the complete opposite of San Francisco in some ways. Its extremely safe, the downtown is very alive and abundant with normal people (not homeless and drug pushers/addicts).. a nice place!! Plus the beaches and everything is condensed enough to get around quick throughout the city of San Diego. The only disappointing part is its not anywhere near as multicultural as San Francisco or Los Angeles or New York. Its a predominately caucasian city, but I have high hopes it will change and hopefully alot of the, at least, asian immigration will be attracted there in the future. It has alot to offer. Anyhow, I'm currently applying to a graduate school in San Diego, and hoping to get in! If not, I'll apply to some others in California, its time to do something about my bachelor's degree.. which is doing absolutely nothing for me whatsoever.

Anyhow, back to where I am now. Currently I'm in Michigan. We took one trip to Detroit. What's Detroit like? Its an empty vastland of abondoned broken-glass, dilipitated housing and buildings. However, they have recently built up the downtown area (a small area). There are several casinos, and an area called Greektown. Greektown is surprisingly small for being in a large city. Its only about two or three square blocks, but its interesting as there is a large Greek population there and mostly all Greek restaurants (with a few Jamaican, Cajun, and Ethiopian restaurants). Not far from Greektown. We also went to a few other areas of Detroit.. like Hamtrack.. which was traditionally Polish.. but seems to be changing into almost entirely an Arabic neighborhood these days. All in all, that is mostly what Detroit is all about. Its quite a contrast from New York though which has all of those neighborhoods and hundreds and hundreds more.

Anyhow, soon, we'll be going to an Amish neighborhood in Indiana and also going to visit Chicago. I'll write back in a few days about those places. Shortly after that, its a trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto, then its a nice long road trip to California. That trip we plan to visit my friend Keith and his Korean girlfriend in southern Illinois, and then going to Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and then San Diego California. Yeah, I'll be moving to San Diego this time around.

What else is going on? Well, my girlfriend bought a camcorder!! That is highly recommended for anyone to get! I've been wanting one of thoes myself for a long, long time, and finally enjoying that! Kind of funny and fun to watch. We've just been filming normal life type things. Okay, I'll be back to write more in the near future i hope..