My Great America.Com

I bought this domain 2 years ago, when I got out of the military service.
I was hoping to make an website where me and other people from all around the world can gather together online and talk about United States.

But I realized it is really hard to talk about USA rationally. People from different background have different opinions on USA. Many people seemed to be biased by the media. I didn't like USA but some people seemed to hate America just because it's a cool thing to do.

I started cycling, so that I can speak for myself. I can't be wrong as long as I tell from my real experience.

That's why I started.


This trip has changed me.

Businessman Y

Y visited me from Charlottesville. It’s been 15 years since I saw him last time. My family moved to Germany and He came to USA.
I think his parents were pursuing the “American Dream”. His father quit job, sold the house and sent all the money to his uncle who came to USA earlier. His uncle promised his family that he was going to set up everything for them; finding a new house, a job, school.

But when they landed in Chicago, noone was there. His uncle ran away with the money.
“We used to live in house in a bad neighborhood” he said, “after a while we weren’t even surprised to see rats strolling in the living room”

He and his mom worked 15 hours a day, cleaning big stores like Bestbuy or Target, stacking boxes.


Y became a very successful business man now.

American Friends

I never thought I could make friends in USA.

Once again, I was wrong.

Borat

The whole adcenter crews went to theater in Shortpump to watch the premier of Borat.
We went to a Italian restaurant “Bertolucci” and celebrated a birthday party.

Borat wasn’t fun at all. He seemed to making fun of every innocent people he met in America. But it occurred to me that I’m the only person in the theater who didn’t enjoy the movie. Others laughed “their asses off”.
It was funny to see James, who is Jewish, cracked himself out the whole time.
“I don’t care. Cohen himself is a Jew. I heard he is even a strict Jew.”

First, I don’t understand Americans laughing at themselves. If somebody came to Korea and made of fun of my folks, most people find it offensive.
Maybe, Americans are more tolerant than anybody else. They are cool people, joke is joke and they laugh. That’s why comics make fun of all the races in America, Latinos, Blacks, whites and even Asians(are Asians really bad drivers? I think it’s just Asians in America) and noone seems to start the riot.



(Kramer: I mentioned earlier in this blog about the tolerance of Americans about jokes. But Americans have very strict line. And Kramer crossed the line. I used to like the Kramer character (my favorite was Costanza). Americans are very harsh on people who cross that line. I think Kramer is out forever. Some people don’t cross the line and they are out.
Saddam is out. Kim Jung Il is way over the line. I’m very afraid.

Halloween as "Cat in the Hat"

It was a nice neighborhood. I didn’t see any blacks around the neighborhood.
I went there dressed up as the “Cat in the Hat” (it was funnier when Mike Myers wore this costume)
Samie got lots of candy. I didn’t get anything. People thought I came to accompany the small kids. I wanted to have chocolates for myself too.
Kirsten told me “people look down on you if you go trick of treat when you’re over 12.” She suggested that I don’t ask for candies. I was sad. It was another Halloween ruined.

I think it is amazing that people spend so much money on decorating houses for one day.
They spend money on the decoration and on candies.
Maybe this is way of American life I don’t understand.

My miserable Halloween 2005

My first Halloween party. This is not my first Halloween that I spent in USA.
Last year, I rented a “orange pimp” costume. It cost me 80 dollars. I was very excited about one of the biggest American events.

But I had 3 hour long “Interpersonal communication” class at 7. I talked to the professor about my plan.

“Too bad” he said, “It’ll be an unexcused absence and you’ll have a quiz after the break. You’ll get C for class participation and 0 point for the quiz”
I went to the classroom, dressed as an orange “pimp”. After the first half of the class, I went out to talk to some of my friends where I was. I came back to classroom and the professor told me that I cannot take the test because I was late. “But you’ll be absent for the half of the class”
I walked out of the classroom. By the time I got to Georgetown, my friends were done with trick or treating.

The whole decoration in front of houses thrill me. This Halloween will be full of fun. “This time, it’s a payback”

I-commerce

I knew it. I should have known that an attractive- but- 40 year old woman is never attracted to an Asian.
She showed me a small pamphlet which showed how the ‘system’ works. It’s selling all the brand name product to other people. She told me that I need to be in a lecture next Monday to get more information.
She told me that she knows thousands of Koreans who became millionaires because of this “I-commerce”. She said Koreans are genius in selling stuff.

“Isn’t that just like the pyramid scheme?”
“no, it’s not” she said, “They go door to door to sell stuff. We don’t do that. We use internet to sell stuff”

Is there any Americans who fall for this type of crap? It’s so sad.

It was a very sad meeting at the Starbuck’s.

(some pictures of Smoky Mountain to refresh today's mood)

Cooking

I cooked today.
Donna called me. We set up a meeting at the Starbuck’s at 4 o’clock tomorrow.

BMWs

I went to Kroger’s for grocery shopping this afternoon.
I don’ cook usually, but to recover from the cold I have to eat something other than BMWs(Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s)

I bought
Small chicken
4 Ramen
1 miso soup
4 onions
2 garlic
10 yogurt
12 coke in fridge pack
2 Ben & Jerry
3 frozen pizza

A nice woman came to me and asked where I was from.
She asked me for my phone number. She said she’s a business woman. She was looking for somebody who knows a lot about the Asian market.
I asked her how she knew I’m in marketing business
“I saw you dancing in the supermarket”

She maybe one of the ‘desperate housewives” who are lonely inside. She didn’t call today. She’ll call me tomorrow. I’m excited.


Do you know what's more fun than riding bicycle? Not -riding bicycle!

-> this is not fun either

bombing Korea

I sat at a bar in an Outback restaurant. I was exhausted from the 70mile trip I did today.

An old man sitting next to me, eating a Sirloin Steak, asked me where I came from.
I said “From Hongkong” to avoid any conversation regarding North Korea. I was tired of the reactions of Americans on the nulcear test.
"Why are the North Koreans like that?" "Why is Kim Jung Il so dumb?" "Your family still lives in Korea? Aren't you afraid about them?"



“So you must suffer a lot from the Communist China.” I said yes.

He started talking about China, using lots of 4 letter words. He was so drunk he didn't care what I said.
Then I got curious about what he thinks of North Korea.
“The damn North Koreans”, he said, “We should bomb that damn place and get rid of Kim Jul Il”
He said he served in the Marines and spent a year in the 50’s in the border between South and North Korea.
“Can you speak Korea?”
“Yes….well, I can think of only ‘Juriga’. ‘Iriwa’ to give orders to Koreas.

'Juriga' and 'Iriwa', which mean ‘get out’ and 'Come here", are not a polite way to speak to other people in Korea. He spent a year in Korea, and they were the only two words he could say?

I got very upset when he started talking about women in Korea. He said it was easy to sleep with Korean women.

"Wow, women were so cheap there?"
"Yeah. Koreans loved dollar. And they still do, I'm sure."
"But I heard US military has been causing lots problems there. Most of the prostitution started because of the US military. I also read an article about the crimes of US soldiers in Korea. They are bad people"
"Well, whereever there are people, there are always problems"
"But you know, a friend of mine told me that USA sends the dumbest soldiers to Korea. I think it was the same way 50 years ago"

I was very sorry after I said it. It's not because I hurt his feelings, but because he showed me what some of Americans think of my country.

And Insulting him didn't make me feel any better.

(This is not the bad guy. This is a good guy, Franky)

A Lost Bag

weather: rainy

It was pouring rain. I couldn’t leave this goddamn place! The elevator was broken, so I had to use the emergency stairways.
Then I found a bag, which was open and the clothes were thrown on the ground. It was obvious that somebody was robbed.
I went to the front desk and told them about this. The receptionist said, looking indifferent,
“We are not reported anything about the bag.”
“Now you’re informed”
“I’ll check that later”

I bought two boxes of Chinese food as take-out. They were my lunch and dinner. I don’t want to spend too much time outside.

I don’t think the rain will stop tomorrow. I’m miserable.

Pretty Safe Motel in Raleigh

distance: 42 miles
weather: slight rain, 49-54F
difficulty: hard


I’m at a Super 8 motel in Raleigh. I’m scared. The receptionist told me that a black man asked about my room. It was the guy who helped me with my bags. He told the receptionist that he was a friend of mine. Now it figures. He used a phone on the front desk and let me talk to his brother. The whole intention was to show the front desk that we were friends.
How naïve I was!
This is a slum. I’ve seen many blacks hanging around this neighborhood but since I told myself that I should politically correct and shouldn’t judge a place by the skin color of the people in this place I didn’t worry about staying here.

I changed my room immediately.

I didn’t go outside. I had popcorn and a can of coke for dinner.


“We are pretty safe motel in this neighborhood”

pretty safe motel is not good enough. Who would want to stay in a pretty motel? It's like having sex with a "pretty safe" condom.

North Korea

My hometown, Seoul, is only 30miles away from the border between South and North Korea.

It'll be very hard to keep Seoul unharmed if they starts attacking Pyongyang.

I hope that North Korea won't be the next target of America.

Becoming a Stand-up Comic

Today’s ride was very comfortable. It wasn’t cold nor hot. The wind was blowing from the back. A few cars passed me by slowly. Some drivers showed their thumbs to cheer me up.
I walked in to this Comfort Inn. The receptionist, Jay, asked me what I was doing in such a small town with my “Lexus”. I told him what I was doing. He was surprised. He called the manager immediately. Then he said with a happy smile “The manager said that you’ll get 50% off”
I was very glad.

When I came back from the Outback Steakhouse, he told the other receptionist who I am.
“That’s the amazing man Mr. Lee who is crossing USA by bicycle.”
I started talking about my last 3months. Then people started gathering around. I was very delighted.
“This whole thing started with one tiny mistake I made” I said, “I underestimated America, I didn’t know this country is so fxxking huge”
When I finished my 30 minute long “stand-up” There were 2 receptionists, 3 janitor men, 2 cleaning ladies and 6 guests listening to me.

I feel great.

life lesson from cycling

One should not cycle across the USA,

because it's just crazy.




That's the wisdom I got from this journey.