back in jersey

i arrived in new york's JFK airport on thursday evening via korean air. i noticed that it was a much shorter flight coming back compared to going to the philippines. the winter rain welcomed me and my grandmother so it was a rather slippery ride home.

i had very little sleep because of packing our baggages with pasalubong and weighing them carefully so we don't go over the limit. as much as i wanted to watch movies during the flight using their individual touch-screen entertainment system (see cute bear above with a friendly seatbelt reminder), my body surrendered to the fatigue and slept most of the time, waking up only to occasional turbulent bumps and to nourish myself with the korean mixed rice bowl meal ("bibimbap") which i have come to love so much that i bought a box of korean hot pepper paste (the essential condiment for "bibimbap") at incheon airport's duty-free shop. i did get to watch one movie, "ghost town" starring ricky gervais, tea leoni and greg kinnear...then i dozed off in a fetal position on the two seats i occupied.

whenever i ordered the "bibimbap," the stewardess would ask if i knew how to eat it, seeing how i obviously do not look korean. korean air's flight crew are all so pretty and flawless, like the actresses in koreanovelas.

anyway, i would tell the pretty korean stewardess yes, i knew how to eat "bibimbap" since it really wasn't too hard to figure out the mechanics of consuming it. just mix the rice into the vegetable and beef combo already in the bowl, squeeze the hot pepper paste tube, mix further and you're ready to go "mmm...bop, bibimbap!"

okay, that just made me hungry again at this ungodly hour of 4am. i really should be fighting off my jetlag and not blog about food. last night, i ate rice and salted egg with my aunt's home-made achara ("pickled papaya") at 2am. midnight lunch? haha.

it would have been great to spend christmas in the philippines, but i had to return early. besides, the reason for the trip wasn't for a holiday but for a death in the family.

i will retire for the night now while it's still dark, although it's going to be morning in a couple of hours. more details and photos from my trip in the coming posts. this jetlag allowed me to write around 70 christmas cards since i arrived (talk about holiday rush), although i know most of them will reach people in the philippines in january. it's the thought that counts, right?