Things have happened

Well since the last time I chronicled about my stay in Korea much has happened. I've visited the Pacific Ocean and seen the barbed wire fence that runs along the coast and is supposed to ward off North Koreans.

I've gone shopping at a night market in Seoul at three in the morning. It was full of shoes, shorts, shirts, and sunglasses. Due to my large in Korean foot size (11 US) and my general uneasiness about Korean fashion (lots of bright colors, and tight pants) I didn't really buy anything.

I've finally played basketball, but I'm not sure it can really be called basketball. The quality and general rule following that accompany a normal game weren't really evident.

I've grown to love Korean food more and more. Especially dumplings, noodles, and dare I say some vegetables.

I've tried and failed to get my driver's license. Thanks to my current Oregon driver's license having a provisional title on it (despite the fact I've had it for 6 years and it will not expire until I'm 26.)

I've also visited Costco 3 times, and Korean Costco is in fact like American Costco. There's the huge pizza slices and hot dogs. As well as Kirkland signature everything, apple pies, tillamook cheese, and yes mom the huge trail mix bags.

I'm no longer uncomfortable taking the subway. Mind you I was never uncomfortable with the cleanliness or people on board, just the general lack of knowledge of how things worked. I now feel somewhat confident I can navigate the cities system with no stress.

And most recently I had parent visiting day in the preschool. Picture this if you will a room full of mothers, cameras (video and flash), siblings, preschool students and me sweating and dancing and singing like I always do in the preschool. Only most of the kids are distracted by the aforementioned moms, siblings, and cameras and I'm pretty much doing all the silly stuff by myself.

Needless to say I'm not the crazy about doing parent visit days. The kids acted nothing like normal and it was weird. But it's over I survived and hopefully won't have to do another one for a long time.

Here is a picture of me and I fellow teacher at the night market. I nearly bought these but knew I probably would never wear them.



This last picture is kind of indicative of how a lot of my pictures turn out. I generally don't smile in pictures and haven't really since about my 2nd grade school pictures. I usually decide to go with more goofy/intense route. What happens is that the kids in my pictures kind of sheepishly smile while I make a face that is a little over the top and slightly disturbing.



At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I do intend to update this a little more frequently.