This month has been......

Hi guys, I've been thinking about different ways I could expand this blog and I thought "Why don't I start a photo dump?"

Every month on Instagram, I post a 20-photo dump of the month. While it's a great way to let people know how I've been doing and what I've been doing, I always found it a bit of a pity that I can't really explain what happened in each photo.

SO, this blog is basically going to act as a photo dump, but with each photo, I'll explain how this month has been. Also, sadly, I don't think it's going to be 20 photos long, but it'll still be comprehensive.

6/4 - Central Park Carousel

For a bit of background information. My school ended late May, so by June I had already spent around a week or so in New York.

But anyway, back to the photo, this is my now rising college friend Janina from school. To be honest, at school we weren't ever that close, if you get what I mean, but ever since finding out that we both lived in New York City, we became closer and started to talk about possible summer hangouts.

So on this day, we originally wanted to go picnic in Central Park and take in some of the nature while also sunbathing. Still, because it ended up being a pretty cloudy and windy day, we ended up abandoning our original plan and just decided to walk around, which is what led us to the carousel.

Ended up being one of the best 4 dollars spent, and we had so much fun reliving childhood memories.

6/4 - Roosevelt Island Tennis Courts

Met Phoebe and Stanley. After my hangout with Janina, I ended up hanging with another friend, Bill, who really likes tennis. When we arrived at the tennis court, it was COMPLETELY EMPTY just because of how hot it was that day. But eventually two kids, Phoebe and Stanley, ended up appearing on the courts.

Since I was already so tired from playing for 10 minutes, I ended up striking up a conversation with them. Honestly, they ended up being some of the funniest kids ever. Especially since Phoebe would chase Bill around the tennis court, throwing balls at him.

Honestly had a pretty fun blast, and this showed me how striking up conversations with new people can build new meaningful relationships. Stanley and I are even now TikTok buddies and occasionally comment on each other's TikToks.

6/6 - Punta Cana

My time in New York eventually came to an end as I ended up in the Dominican Republic. While this trip was mainly focused on the Mitten work, my family decided to take a short trip to Punta Cana beforehand.

In Punta Cana, I was shocked by how pretty the beach was with its pale white sand. Even more, I was shocked by the strong smell of sulfur. It honestly smelled so much like farts, and the whole shoreline was covered by Sargassum. Still, I enjoyed my time tanning and resting by the beach.

I even ended up reading a whole book, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Really good book, would recommend 100%.

6/8 - Punta Cana

In Punta Cana, we stayed at a resort, which meant that we spent nearly 90% of the time in the complex.

However, my dad decided he wanted to go horse riding, which resulted in us driving for 2 hours into the mountains.

It was my first time riding a horse, and at first, I was so lost on how to control speed and direction, but after a while I finally got the hang of it.

6/9 - La Vega

Soon enough, the vacation part of the trip ended, and we left beachy Punta Cana to start the Mitten part of the trip in La Vega.

In our accommodation, the night before our donation, I spent a large chunk of the night adding tags to the Mitten donations.

It was so great to see all the clothing donations that people contributed, and while I was scared because of my lacking Spanish skills and how that might impact my visit to the shelters, I was still excited to see the impact of the Mitten.

6/10 - Scrap yard

After we visited a children's orphanage, I ended up traveling with my parents to visit a warehouse that one of my grandpa's buyers in the Dominican Republic operates.

Here I saw wrecked cars that in Korea would be considered junkyard material, being cut up and sorted through to see if any viable parts could be reused and sold.

It was so funny when I would see Korean orange taxis with remains of old ads moving around the Dominican Republic because it showed me how, again, one man's trash could turn into another man's treasure.

6/11 - Moca

This is the last photo from the Dominican Republic, but it's a photo of one of our last meals.

It's a traditional Dominican Republic dish that's a mash of pig skin, potato, and cheese. On the side, it is served with this garlic water sauce that, when you pour it on top, helps cut down the greasiness of the dish.

At first it didn't look that appetizing, but honestly it was really good, especially the shrimp cream, and the restaurant that made it was supposed to be famous for it, so honestly great experience.

6/13 - Bowery St

After my week trip to the DR, it was time for me to go back home. This photo was taken during the drive from Newark Airport, where my plane had landed, to JFK, where my flight to Korea was supposed to depart from.

I remember this day so vividly because it was the day that the Knicks were supposed to be the Spurs. I remember even in that car ride, which ended up being a two-hour ride just because of the amount of people coming into the city. I could see how sports really connected everyone, and I passed by several watch parties as people all cheered for the start of the day.

It kind of gave me fomo that I couldn't stay in New York and watch the game with them, but honestly such a memorable ride through the city.

6/15 - Emily's house

By the time this photo was taken, I am now back in Seoul and starting to adjust to Korean Life again.

Whenever I go back to Korea, it always is so funny to me to see how the clothes I wear, the way I speak, and just a lot of me morph back to the Korean version of me.

But anyways, this was from one of my hangouts with my childhood best friend Emily, where we reminisced about our elementary school slime adventures, so we ended up deciding to reattempt slime making that night.

I ended up making a yellow butter slime while she ended up making a slushie slime.

6/20 - Dangsan Art Studio

One of the main reasons I actually went to Korea this month was for art. Especially since I'm planning to submit a supplemental art portfolio for college, my mom thought it would be a great idea for me to work in my grandpa's newly built studio apartment, which he had yet to find a tenant to live in.

Therefore, for the vast majority of the 3 weeks I was in Korea, I ended up basically living there, working just on art.

This photo shows one of the art pieces I started that I thought would be pretty simple but ended up taking so many trials and errors to get right.

6/21 - Itaewon

My school has a summer reception each year to welcome Korean new students into the Korean parents' association.

At first, when my mom told me I had to attend, I really was hesitant since going to boarding school means I see all these kids 24/7 during the school year.

But I was so happy I went because not only did I get to make some new freshman buddies, but I got to hang out with my friends, and after we ended up taking cute pics at this photo booth to remember the fun time we had.

6/26 Damien Hirst Exhibit

One of my dad's greatest joys is visiting Museums. So when he found out the Damien Hirst exhibit was opening up in Korea, he really wanted to attend.

After telling me several times that I have to go see it, I ended up visiting.

This is one of his most famous works, a perfectly preserved shark, but I found his other works, especially the organized pills, more impressive.

It was so interesting to learn how he does a lot of outsourcing for his artworks. It was especially impressive to see the diamond skull up so close and see it glitter in the museum lighting.

So, this ended up being the end of my June recap, as the rest of my photos were just more process images of artworks I made, etc.

Hope you guys enjoyed seeing how my month and come back for the next post!!!