Concerning the start of the daily grind and nesting

I wish I could type Korean for hello, but as my language skills are not quite that far along, I can only half mumble it in passing. It sounds something like ahnya ha seyo. Hello, at any rate! The big news on this front is that I moved into my apartment yesterday night. Yay for cereal! It doesn't look quite as bad as it did at the party and the removal of several tacky decorations and movie posters that shall remain nameless (Leon? Really?) have definitely helped. AND, my mom's afghan is just the size to cover up the worst of the rips in the leather sofa. I have unpacked all of my clothes and will organize the rest when I get home from work later today. We did arrive to the nice surprise of a freezer literally half crusted over with ice. Luckily, a very nice and obliging friend spent about half an hour hacking into it enough to clear some space. We did the best de-frosting job we could on immediate notice with groceries lying in wait.

The experience of getting those groceries is definitely worth an aside. It is such a cliche that the way to a culture is through its food, but it's so very true. We went to a Korean supermart and oh...my....lord. Each food department functions separately and is manned by people hawking their wares to beat out the surrounding choices. It was a bizarre hour walking down the aisles being half yelled at in a language I don't know. The food situation will be interesting. There is precisely 1 kind of butter, cheese is really really expensive, there is a whole aisle devoted to ramen (though NO helpful pictures to distinguish seafood from chicken from pork flavors...) and a lot of really slimy and ambitious cuts of meat and obscure vegetables. We might have to go back more frequently than I am used to because apparently food goes bad more easily. The highlight of the trip for me, though, was finding pancake mix. Yay. And for people who talked to me before I left...I did find bread, pasta, and potatoes and bought all 3. So on a subsistence level, we're good.

Teaching is going OK, I am definitely learning and have only gotten 2 parent complaints and made 1 child cry. Despite momentary panic, I am told this is completely normal and actually ahead of the curve. Things are going better now that I have at least taught all of my classes and have a better handle on planning them. These last few days have revealed some more Korean quirks to my roving mind though...

1.) Education. Woa. I have an upper level class that goes to 5-8 other academies and don't get home until 11. They say their mom doesn't let them play on the weekends because they have to study. In some ways, I understand the need to take advantage of what you can when Korea has so SO many people vying for jobs, but it is sad to kind of lose your childhood like that. Needless to say, I feel really really guilty assigning them homework.
2.) Mirrors in elevators. Every single one, in fact. This might seem handy and it can be until you realize that for the fifth time in a row, you have been checking yourself out in the mirror and forgot to push the button. Embarassing? I think so.

Anyways, things are putzing along! Keep emails and comments coming, love and miss you!

B