Black History Month ReCap

This is the first Black History Month with a black president, and instead of bringing together more of an appreciation for the black and african contribution to America,

People print stuff like this:

Ok. We will not belabor the point. All in All. Bad move.

So if you saw that online or in the New York Post, to make you feel even more...Like this country really cannot get past race, Watch Alexandra Pelosi's "Right America: Feeling Wronged -- Some Voices From the Campaign Trail"




Oh and when the US Attorney General says:

Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.

He is too extreme, and should not have said that. WhaTT!!

Eric Holder aint never been so right in his life. Happy Black History Month!

Black Ladies in a Foreign Land

So as I stated previously me and Best Bup were departing for our new life in South Korea. We have made it and this is officially my first post from my new home. Overwhelmed is an understatement of how I feel walking around here. One of the first things on my things to do list is to enroll in a Korean class. (Actually I think Imma just get another Rosetta Stone, Korean edition.) It is frustrating when you can not understand simple things that one is trying to say to you in the grocery store or when you are ordering your Big Mac. (Btw my Big Mac was rather tasty. Why is McDonald's so gourmet here and delicious?!)

The Job

In Korea I work for a nice little Christian English school. Korean children go to an average of three schools a day. (American kids are F*CKED!) They may go to a traditional school first, then an English specialty school, followed by a math focused school, etc. They be GRINDIN! You are considered a bad Korean child if you are in bed before midnight because once you get home from school you then have to study! We are a school that specializes in English language and culture. It was so funny when the kids first saw me they asked, "Teacher African?" One of the directors quickly and with a lil tude responded, "Teacher is American NOT African!" She told me that I must clarify because the kids are used to seeing Africans and not "Black Americans." So now I am the "Brown American." One little girl said, "I want to go to America where sun is HOT so I can get brown like Teacher! She is sooo pretty." That made me smile and I tried to explain the best way I could, through our language barrier, that this was not a tan.

On another occasion I caught myself slipping into ghetto girl mode when a student did something right:

Me: That's Right! GO Boo!

Other little girl: Yeah Pookie!

Me: LMAO Where did you learn that?!

She answered me in Korean and I did not understand but I was DYING!

My employers are very protective and like to force feed me all the time. They get pissed when I don't finish my food so I am now eating everything even when I am not hungry. In addition Best Bup and I ventured to Seoul this weekend and one of my co-workers was insistant on taking us to the train station and wanted us to call when we got there so she knew we were safe. She wanted all the details of our trip! I told her we would be FINE! So sweet.

The Culture

So as I previously stated I seriously underestimated the language barrier in Korea. Trying to explain to a cab driver where you live with charades is quite difficult, even if you have the address written down in Korean. But I did notice a few things about Korea:

1) Korean men are fascinated by Black women. They staaaaare! Then they come over and straight FLIRT! I think we have an international reputation for being overtly sexual or something because the response we have gotten from Korean men has been somewhat shocking. We stay friendly but often have to check them! This evening was interesting because we went to eat and were invited to join a party of 3 Korean men at another table. Needless to say it was interesting because they knew little English and we know little Korean. But they managed to ask if we had boyfriends and for our phone numbers. I found out one of the men we were dining with has a son that goes to the school I work in. I was quickly sworn to secrecy about our encounter in the restaurant. We had a nice FREE meal though!

2) Koreans are HUSTLAS! Any way they can make a dime, particularly off Americans, they are on the prowl. And if you waste their time and ask questions and do not buy they get PISSED! I told one vendor I would come back and he snapped, "NO! You buy NOW!" I left anyway and he scowled at me as I walked up the street away from his store.

3) Koreans say EXACTLY what they are thinking. One gentleman told my homegirl that she looked like Elvis Presley's daughter. (Mind you she looks NOTHING like Priscilla Presley!) I was weak. I also was hit with the hotness as soon as we arrived. In the aiport our escort looked at my passport and points to my first name and says, "This name Good!" He points to my last name and says the same. He then points at my middle name, which I HATE, and says, "This name not that good!" I was like word??? I don't like it either dude.

Bups in Korea

When we arrived in Seoul this weekend Best Bup and I finally saw people that look like us. I live around an hour outside of Seoul and I notice the closer you get to it the less people stare at you because they are used to seing your kind. The first Black woman I saw I wanted to hug and say HIIIII but instead we just exchanged a friendly smile. The network of Bups here are very tight and for the most part positive. They have nice events like poetry readings and fashion shows where we can meet and greet which is cool. However, I was DISTURBED at how many Black American women were givin us the MEANEST LOOKS! Like damn b*tch what did I do to you to make you look at me like that?! Aside from that I am looking forward to meeting and socializing with more international bups.

It took a lot for me to write this post and I barely scratched the surface of what has been going on here but once I get internet in the crib I will post more often. I am also still getting used to the time change. For now this International Bup is signing off....

Buppie Don't: Airport Behavior

Just in case you missed this. ...

Do you think I could do this and be cool? Yea right.

Headline " Single Black Female Shot Dead at Airport for Disturbing the Peace."

Stimulus

The Economic Recovery Package. The Stimulus.

I am impressed with the amount of programs and changes some people in the government are planning to make. Education, Improved Infrastructure, Job Creation. Overall folks want to improve the amount of money we have in our pockets, and the effectiveness of our government system.

But if you are like me, this recession, taught you a lot. For one CASH rules. FAIR ISSAC can kiss my ass. We do not need credit, and this FICO scoring methodology the banks developed and now rely on is some bullshyt. Clearly is does not work, because these industries approved people anyway who could not pay their bills or could not afford the interest hikes the banks made! MOFOS.

But its on its way to approved.
I am keeping a close watch and you should too.

I see two projects less than a mile from me in DC. I better see it happen.

Check on the Stimulus Watch HERE. After all it seems our children's tax dollars are going to have to pay this back.

Middle class = 125K!!!

I saw this and I had to share! Buppie's! Yuppie's! How are we going to make it??!!! 125K!!!! WTF. Not even dual income! That is just one person?!! Good news is this 125K middle class is in reference to NYC folks! Whew I am Safe... I think!
Peep this document, skip to page 11 to see if your city's middle class income was mentioned:

---

It Takes 6 Figures to Be Middle Class in New York City

Not everyone's "hearting" New York these days. Stratospheric rents, lengthy commutes, and exorbitant living costs are just some of the culprits driving the middle class out of the Big Apple, according to a study released by the Center for an Urban Future.

A person living in Manhattan needs to earn $123,322 a year to be considered middle class, the equivalent of a $72,772 salary in Boston and a $50,000 salary in Houston, the study says.

America is already facing foreclosures, a rapid decline in housing sales, and massive layoffs. Couple those conditions with the fact that expenses in New York have risen faster than wages, and you've got your mass exodus. The city, of course, has never been cheap, and even when times are good, NYC can hardly support a middle-class lifestyle. About 150,000 residents fled the five boroughs for other locales in 2006, compared with a loss of 141,047 in 1993, when the city was in much worse shape economically, the study says.

New York has always been a city of aspiration. Now it's on the verge of losing that status. Some of the findings shed light on how this happened:

• The average rent is $2,800, which is 53 percent higher than San Francisco, the second-most expensive city in the country.
• The average apartment in Manhattan sells for more than $1.4 million (the median price is $900,000). In the third quarter of 2008, only 10.6 percent of housing in the New York City region was affordable to people earning the median area income.
• New Yorkers pay higher taxes than people in any other major U.S. city, roughly 50 percent more than the average in other cities and nearly triple the U.S. average.
• Young families that earn less and have little savings are also being hurt. A family of three earning $55,000 a year will have to pay nearly half of that income for early childhood care. Families making $100,000 will often pay more in day-care costs than they do in a monthly mortgage payment or rent.
• Electricity bills are higher in New York than anywhere in the nation except Hawaii. Residential electricity prices increased by 27 percent between 2002 and 2007.
• Monthly telephone costs are much higher in New York than in other major cities. A monthly flat-rate telephone bill is $34 in New York, compared with $17.10 in San Francisco.
• Residents of outer-borough communities, such as Astoria, Ditmas Park, and Canarsie, have some of the longest commutes in the nation. For residents in St. Albans, it takes 51.7 minutes to travel to work.
• New York residents pay higher prices for milk ($4.08 per gallon) than residents of all other cities except for New Orleans, Minneapolis, Miami, and Kansas City. The national average was $3.82.
• New York has historically done well in attracting highly educated people, but an increasing number of those with bachelor's degrees—29,370 in 2006 versus 12,955 in 2005—are fleeing the five boroughs.

Black History Month is in a Recession

I look forward to Black History Month, but this year it seems like that joint is in a recession.
BET.COM considers its BHM tribute pictures of famous people on the Red Carpet???


HENCE WHY Watching BET is part of the demise of every type of folk. (EXCEPTION Baldwin Hills, and American Gangster)

The best part of Black History Month for me is learning, and I love absolutely love the TV programming. But this year, there is nothing on that I have not seen. Where are the specials???

Perhaps they had to cut budget. We all know the first thing to go is the diversity budget.

Nonetheless if you have not caught these shows, Check them out. Learn something about Black History.

- African American Lives
- The Black List
-PBS List of Programming

Random Thoughts: EFF Chris Breezy, Don't Give A...

Am I the only person who does not give a FCUK about Chris Breezy beating on Rihanna?
I do not condone Domestic Violence, but if its true she gave him herpes... I would have beat her ass too.

Look at this ish:



EWW. You itchin? I think I am about to puke all over my keyboard.

I am very very impressed with our President Obama. He is a communicator! I love it! I feel good.

Valentine's Day is coming. And I will spend it how I usually do. Not Giving a FCUK. Vday..eh. Last year I got played. YEP. PLAYED. And since the years before were not all that, I will spend it doing what single ladies do best, Go to the club to be vulnerable to a hawking ass lonely lames. HAHA.

And those are my random thoughts....

International Bup

So in an earlier post I briefly touched upon what was going on at my job and the hotness that was coming along with it. I knew it was only a matter of time before I needed to make a move for two reasons. First, I was no longer fulfilled and felt that I had attained all that I was supposed to in that position. Secondly, because they were about to get rid of us anyway the pressure was on to find another gig. Preferably a gig that would point me even more in the direction to fulfilling some of my long term goals.

This leads me to where I am now.

In November Best Bup calls me and says, "Let's move to South Korea. My immediate reaction was, "South Korea?! What the heck is there???" She then goes into how we can go and teach English for a year. She also told me about the money involved and my ears perked up! Now Best Bup sometimes has crazy ideas that I just dismiss as being crazy, however, this idea was not that crazy to me. I had already been thinking about how I was going to move abroad because it was something I wanted to do before I settled down. This was one of my personal goals that I needed to achieve since I am now 25. So after some prayer and thought the next step was research!

Best Bup and I began corresponding with a high school friend of ours who is already in South Korea and she was so enthused that we were thinking about embarking on this adventure. She began to inform us about all the things to do, how nice the culture is, and how much money you can make. I then turned to the blogosphere to get the perspective of other Americans living in South Korea, particularly bups. People had some gripes about the culture and adjusting but nothing I would not expect when moving to a foreign country. Therefore, Best Bup and I found a nice experienced agency that worked with us and answered all of our questions about relocating to South Korea. The process of securing our positions in Korea has already given me an idea of what we are going to experience. It was hard for our agency to find us jobs because:

A) Best Bup and I wanted to be placed close together. The agency initially told us this was feasible and they knew it was important to us because this was a huge step. (I think they began to think we were lesbians because they tried to put us in a one bedroom apartment but we had to tell them to pump their brakes on that one!) So it was important to us, and it became important to them, to find us jobs at Korean schools that were in close proximity to one another. That way we would work and consequently live close to one another.

B) We are BLACK! Now Koreans are not necessarily racist they just do not equate Black people with teaching their children English. So initially our agency was trying to find us jobs at the same school but hiring two Black English teachers was a stretch for many Korean schools. However the organization we are working with was persistent and found us both jobs within 8 stops of one another on the express train and we will be living around 30 minutes outside of Seoul. We leave February 14th.

Needless to say, Best Bup and I are extremely excited about this opportunity and the experience it will bring. I am also excited about living rent free for a while with no car note. (My living accommodations over there are very nice and I sold my car because I won't need it overseas.) We are contracted to stay for a year but if we enjoy the experience we can stay longer. I am hoping that I enjoy it because I would be interested in possibly staying longer than a year.

I have teaching experience but I know this will be quite different from my prior experience teaching. First off I will be teaching Korean students in Korean culture, DUH! Second when I taught a few years ago I was teaching high school students and this go round I will be teaching K- 6th grade. The school I am working with also saw on my resume that I am an artist so they are excited about me helping them implement an art initiative at the school as well. A frequently asked question is, "Do you speak Korean?" The answer is, "No." Koreans are starved for native English speakers to come to their schools to teach their children English. And their English classes are very strict "English Only" zones. Now I am learning some basic Korean like, "I need to go to the bathroom" or "I do not understand". But my school, and most schools in Korea, have worked with many native English speakers and have a system on teaching. I will undergo a training before I start. I do plan to take Korean classes once I get to Korea because as we all know living in a culture helps you to learn the language and it would be foolish in my opinion not to take advantage of that.

So for the time being this Bup will be writing from Cheonan South Korea about my experiences in a foreign land. I will keep you all posted!