Vancouver Trip + Black Hair
I’ve been studying Korean for the past year for these language tests, TOPIK, an internationally recognized Korean language proficiency test, and KINAT, a local Korean government language program. Both are to help me get a different job in the future. Once I get to that, I’ll share with you guys!
Vancouver, Summer 2013
In fact, all I’ve been doing since January of 2013 was lock myself up at home and study all day. Even when I went back home to Vancouver in the summer, I was still studying and taking mandatory online Korean lessons.
Despite my studies, I still enjoyed being with my family, and took my camera around to take pictures of the beautiful Vancouver scenery and chill city life. I always love being back because the people and pace of life is so slow and casual. Unlike in Seoul, no one is rushing and pushing you out of their way. You rarely see girls dressed up limping in heels, with a full face of makeup and curls in their hair. Instead, you are usually looking at people in sweats, runners, and a backpack or riding their bicycle around the city.
My brother, Gary, and I took a few trips to Granville Island. He recently got me into longboarding, so we rode around the area, shopping local products, sitting down on the grass to watch an outdoor high school play, and just enjoying the view. Vancouver life!
The story with the longboard (not skateboard!) is, on the first day back in Vancouver, my brother asked me if I wanted to try out his longboard, which he had been riding for a while. I had just gotten home after about 30 hours busing, flying, transferring, and waiting for a flight delay. Naturally, I said no.
He insisted that I try it out quickly anyways. In the 10 minutes on the board, we were both surprised that I was actually pretty quick to learn. I also had a lot of fun. After about a week on his board, I decided to buy my own. I’ve had a really bad fall on it once, limped about for 2 weeks, but I still love being on my board.
Here’s the rest of my stay in Vancouver.
Family dimsum
I swept up all that rabbit poop! It slightly killed my dream of having a rabbit >.<
Buttercup, the friendliest and most loving rabbit ever.
A sesame seed leaf from our garden the size of my face!
Early birthday celebration with my family. The Sephora bag is actually Starcraft 2, which I asked Gary for.
Where’s the blondie?
Lots of people ask, why did you dye your hair back?
When I was blonde, purple, pink, blue, or whatever color I was, I felt that it reflected me. I felt like blonde was the color that belonged to my hair. I felt that black hair misrepresented me.
Then one day, I just didn’t feel that way anymore. I felt like, my hair should be black. So, I had it dyed back. Pretty simple.
Actually, there is really no way an Asian with black hair can stay light blonde forever, especially if they redo their roots frequently. My scalp was feeling more sensitive each time the bleach touched it, and even though it didn’t look it, my hair was getting super damaged and I didn’t feel like cutting it off anymore.
I’m very happy having black hair now. My next goal is to grow it long and gradient bleach and color the tips. I will share that journey with you guys, too!
