Honestly, now.

So tonight I was walking home from having a smoothie when I ran into Mary and her cousin (Daniel, a native Korean) outside of the Mini-Stop (convenience store).  We also saw Jeremy (from my old TKD class).  We are are standing and chatting about ice cream (no, really we were.  it’s getting warm in the evenings and ice cream was looking good.) when some drunk Korean man shouted at me, “Hey!  Where you from?”  I told him.  To which he responded, “F*** America!”

Huh.  Well, then.  I understand that I will, from time to time, catch this kinda flack.  I understand that people will have issues with my country.  Hell, I have issues with my country.   However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not super-grateful to have grown up there.  I’m lucky and I know it *claps hands*.  But I won’t take offense when people don’t like my country.  That, and I won’t argue with drunks.  I have better ways to waste my time.  (Like T.V. They have Battlestar Galactica on these days.)

So I replied, “Well, then. Whatever.”

Said drunk man starts saying a whole stream of things in Korean (I only understood the bad words, of course).  And while I didn’t understand most of it, Mary and Daniel did.  And trouble ensued.  Some things were shouted in English (again, by said drunk man), which I will not repeat.  The thing ended with the friend of the drunk man (who was also trash-talking us) trying to simultaneously apologize for his friend and shift the blame to us.  Whatever.  However, I did take a perverse pleasure in pointing out that 2/3 of the people they were shouting at were Canadian.  And to the friend’s credit, he did look sheepish, at least for a little while.

And then I came home.  And opened my door to this.

I laughed.  Really hard.  He was just SO proud of himself.

And now I’m going to bed.  Cheers!

Yeah, I got 95 days left on my contract.  Not that I’m counting.    Okay, maybe I am.  I keep going back and forth as far as if I’m going to stay another year.  Just not sure at all.

Anyways, this weekend a bunch of us went into Seoul for that lantern parade, which is in celebration of Buddha’s birthday.  (We get Thursday off.)  I took a lot of photos.

I’d better run.  I need to get to work a bit early today.  One teacher is on vacation so I need to make sure some things are straightened out.

So for the past week, I’ve been a sick woman.  (And not just in the regular sense.)  Fever, sore throat, and the whole nine yards.  I seem to get sick more here and I stay sick longer.  Stupid pollution and dust.  For the most part, I’m feeling much better.  Just can’t quite kick to cough.

On the bright side, I will have awesome abs.

I was looking at my calendar and I realized that I only have 100 days left on my contract. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here 265 days. Already I’m making a list of things I want to do when I get home. (This doesn’t include spending time with people, because that’s just a given.)

In no specific order…….

1. Walk around the farm and get reacquainted with fields of grass and non-polluted air.

2. Play in the dirt (gardening)

3. Eat some homemade chocolate chip cookies that my mom made

4. Look at the stars

5. Drag people out of bed very early in the morning for breakfast at Milton’s

6. Drink at Henry’s with the Lawrence crowd

7. Enjoy the fact that I can buy clothes/shoes that FIT

8. Eat dim sum in KC

9. Drive my car

10. Drink some concord wine

11. Go to 80’s night

12. Spend an afternoon reading in a bookstore

13. Walk around Mass. street

14. Possibly drinking alcohol and then painting a shed

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If you can think of others, feel free to add them.

Cheers!

I just put some more photos up.  I’ve been told that some people have been having trouble seeing photos when they are in my blog, so I’m just going to put them on my web album.

So for some pictures of the scavenger hunt,  me at work, and my ugly dog (summer and he’s shedding, so I just had him shaved.), just click here.

Have a nice day.

I went shopping today.  I left my apartment with high hopes of finding shoes that fit.  By 10pm, those hopes had been smashed, ground into dust, and burned.  I’ll be glad when I’ll be home and can find stuff that fits.

Basically, I have the same complaint as a lot of foreigners, mainly that I can’t find anything that fits.  But added on top of that, I’m just not a huge fan of a lot of the stylish clothes here.  Well, I am.  Just not on me.  (I really, really hate cap sleeves. Always have, always will.  They feel like they limit my range of motion and I don’t like the way they look.  And they are exceedingly popular here.)

My quest for shoes landed me in Itaewon.  Granted, the place can be fun.  However, if you’re by yourself, there is a high risk of getting hassled.  Nothing that feels dangerous, mind you.  Just annoying as all get out.

Here’s a sample of a conversation today:

Random Guy:  Do you have a boyfriend?

Me:  Yes, he’s a great guy.  We’ve been dating for almost 6 months.

Random Guy:  So can I have your number?

Me:  Uh….no.

Random Guy:  Why not?

Me: Because I have a boyfriend.

Random Guy:  So?

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.   Note to self: remember to wear a fake ring next time.  But then again, I’m not sure that would even work.  Another fun tactic is to send a blank text message to one of my Korean friends (or someone that speaks Korean.)  If I send a blank message, it automatically sends a message that says, “Please call me now,” in Korean.  Thank you Mary for letting me in on that.  

There is a silver lining to the day.  I met up with Heather, who used to work at Avalon.  We had just decided that we really liked each other when she left.  So today, I met up with her (and two of her new friends) for some dinner.   It was a really nice time.  I look forward to hanging out with her some more.

So overall, the day was good.  No shoes, but I did find a skirt that I really like.  Hassled on the subway, but I got to hang out with my friend.  And now, I’m going to bed.

In a country where a woman with round blue eyes gets told that she’s beautiful on a semi-regular basis, the back handed compliments are hilarious.  Today, for example:

Korean Friend: Do you date?

Me:  (with deep concerns over where this is going)  Ummmmmmmmm………..yeah.”

Korean Friend:  You should improve your appearance.  You know, wear make up.  Fix your hair.

Me:  ………..

Not a lot you can say to that.  And it’s not like she was being mean.  She was just telling me what she honestly thought I should do.   I just think it’s funny.

In other news……I took over a class from a teacher who has left.  I’ve taught the class a few times before, so the kids knew me.  Here’s my favorite conversation of the week

Student: Teacher!  You….teach…this class now….and next time….and next next time and next next next time?!

Me:  Yes.

Student:  (holding up his pinkie finger) Promise?

Yeah, that made my day.