(no subject)
I like how interesting things and good people continue to bring joy to my life.
Last weekend, I had an early Korean lesson with Jiyoung, who then had to go to help an elderly man from her church with a dinner party he and his wife were having. She said he was so kind and gentle, she just couldn't say no. So, we met at 8:30, studied for a little while while having our coffee (cappuccino for me and americano, which she never finishes, for her). We talked about work/family/life balance mostly. She is doing all kinds of interesting translating nowadays, including working at a courthouse, translating for Chinese suspects. Scary, I am sure, but really fascinating too, I will bet. Though I don't think she wants to do that forever.
After that, I went back to my house to clean for a while, then met David so we could go to Kyobo Bookstore and read for a while. I was reading Blink, which fascinated me so much that even after sitting on the floor for two hours, I didn't feel bored or uncomfortable. David knows I have about a two-hour limit for...pretty much everything, movies, bookstores, museums, sitting down anywhere, so he thought it must be a pretty good book. We had some particular kind of kimbap (maybe Chungmuro or something) that is good for health after leaving the bookstore.
Sunday after church I went to meet Paul up where he lives, in Uijeongbu. Part of the reason for going was so I could start Christmas shopping. I also made a spur-of-the-moment purchase of a classy winter coat, lighter than my full-length one but warmer and cuter than the tan one I wear at the time.
But before we did that we bought kimbap to go (as there were no available tables) and ate it at a playground, where there were a bunch of ridiculous teenage girls playing on the playground equipment. One of them chucked a shiny, red wallet into the sand, which they abandoned there when they left to go to a noraebang. It was empty, but still...weird.
After shopping for a while (I bought a zillion things, Paul only bought a miniscule camera tripod which he proceeded to use at every available opportunity thereafter), we tried to go to an art gallery that Paul had heard about, but ended up at a different gallery instead, which was fine. We circled the room, trying to predict which artist painted which picture, and looking up words we didn't know in our cell phone dictionary.
Then! We had dinner at this wonderful restaurant, and ordered something called ddeoksam, which is basically samgyeopsal wrapped in thin sheets of rice cake. It was so so so delicious.
The week went by very quickly and fairly uneventfully. I am retaking level 3 Korean now, and I have my (excellent!) level 1 teacher again. She is really excellent at explaining the grammar clearly, speaking slowly without making people feel stupid, and writing down a gazillion examples.
I am going through notebooks like toilet paper...
So, it was a pretty nice workweek. My schedule changed minimally, so I am teaching a small, pleasant AP3 class instead of a small, pleasant AP1 class.
Yesterday I slept late and went to meet Jiyoung at her new house! I've never seen it before. It is much bigger than the apartment where she lived alone, and more homey, and there are mountains right nearby.
Man, I love mountains. I had no idea I would feel this way about mountains before coming to Korea, but they have such a sense of solid goodness, like unwavering care and protection.
Jiyoung taught me to make some Korean foods, dwenjangjiggae (sort of a bean vegetable stew) and kimchijeon (kimchi pancakes). It was so much fun. I am getting better at Korean so I am starting to recognize ingredient names.
Also! I really adore hanging out with Jiyoung! I feel like she really understands me. Not like Lisa or Liz understand me maybe, but we really connect well.
Around 4, she had to go to a class at her church, so I went back home. I tried taking the bus, which felt like a zillion hours because I had to stand the whole time. Next time! Subway only!
At home, I did whatever I felt like, which ended up being a lot of cleaning, reading this book (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) Paul lent me, talking to my friend Dave from Matignon via computer, calling my parents, making meatloaf and meatballs to eat later this week, as well as an awesome chocolate cake, taking a nap, and drinking tea. It was delightful. I stayed up too late reading though. Man, that book has beautiful writing, but is it awfully weird and creepy.
This morning, I went to church late, in the yucky pouring rain. Fortunately church started even later than I arrived. It was...okay, not that inspiring. But Silvia came, so I was very happy to see her. We went out to a Japanese restaurant for lunch along with some other folks from church, which was rather delicious, before parting ways. The priest, Father Alex, is trying to start a new international school, which he semi-offered me a job at. It sounds pretty awesome actually, plus I really like and respect Father Alex.
It was very sunny and warm right after church, but by the time we finished lunch it was cloudy and drizzly again.
I am suffering from a severe lack of light lately. The lights in my apartment are horrible and I don't spend enough time outside for real sunlight. Also it is going to rain every day this week. Hmpf. I really need to get some kind of new lightbox or at least something with full-spectrum bulbs in it. I feel like the world is very dark and unbearable lately.
Anyway, David came to visit after that, and we had dinner together. We got into a big fight (well, mostly it was me fighting and him being calm and reassuring and rational) about our different expectations for things like anniversaries and plans but we ended up working it out. One thing that (weirdly) helped was we imagined getting into a time machine and relived the whole day via a different storyline. In that story, we had white hot chocolate at Ediya, went for a walk by Yangjae Stream, took a nap on the park benches (that part only works in our imagination), went out for Chinese food, came home, and had cake. The theoretical day was really lovely.
Then we went back to reality and had actual cake.
It was darn good cake, I had broken little pieces of chocolate and stirred them into the batter. Best idea ever.
Can I just say how happy I am when my floor is clean? It's the loveliest thing. I utterly despise cleaning the floor, but it is always worth the effort.
Last weekend, I had an early Korean lesson with Jiyoung, who then had to go to help an elderly man from her church with a dinner party he and his wife were having. She said he was so kind and gentle, she just couldn't say no. So, we met at 8:30, studied for a little while while having our coffee (cappuccino for me and americano, which she never finishes, for her). We talked about work/family/life balance mostly. She is doing all kinds of interesting translating nowadays, including working at a courthouse, translating for Chinese suspects. Scary, I am sure, but really fascinating too, I will bet. Though I don't think she wants to do that forever.
After that, I went back to my house to clean for a while, then met David so we could go to Kyobo Bookstore and read for a while. I was reading Blink, which fascinated me so much that even after sitting on the floor for two hours, I didn't feel bored or uncomfortable. David knows I have about a two-hour limit for...pretty much everything, movies, bookstores, museums, sitting down anywhere, so he thought it must be a pretty good book. We had some particular kind of kimbap (maybe Chungmuro or something) that is good for health after leaving the bookstore.
Sunday after church I went to meet Paul up where he lives, in Uijeongbu. Part of the reason for going was so I could start Christmas shopping. I also made a spur-of-the-moment purchase of a classy winter coat, lighter than my full-length one but warmer and cuter than the tan one I wear at the time.
But before we did that we bought kimbap to go (as there were no available tables) and ate it at a playground, where there were a bunch of ridiculous teenage girls playing on the playground equipment. One of them chucked a shiny, red wallet into the sand, which they abandoned there when they left to go to a noraebang. It was empty, but still...weird.
After shopping for a while (I bought a zillion things, Paul only bought a miniscule camera tripod which he proceeded to use at every available opportunity thereafter), we tried to go to an art gallery that Paul had heard about, but ended up at a different gallery instead, which was fine. We circled the room, trying to predict which artist painted which picture, and looking up words we didn't know in our cell phone dictionary.
Then! We had dinner at this wonderful restaurant, and ordered something called ddeoksam, which is basically samgyeopsal wrapped in thin sheets of rice cake. It was so so so delicious.
The week went by very quickly and fairly uneventfully. I am retaking level 3 Korean now, and I have my (excellent!) level 1 teacher again. She is really excellent at explaining the grammar clearly, speaking slowly without making people feel stupid, and writing down a gazillion examples.
I am going through notebooks like toilet paper...
So, it was a pretty nice workweek. My schedule changed minimally, so I am teaching a small, pleasant AP3 class instead of a small, pleasant AP1 class.
Yesterday I slept late and went to meet Jiyoung at her new house! I've never seen it before. It is much bigger than the apartment where she lived alone, and more homey, and there are mountains right nearby.
Man, I love mountains. I had no idea I would feel this way about mountains before coming to Korea, but they have such a sense of solid goodness, like unwavering care and protection.
Jiyoung taught me to make some Korean foods, dwenjangjiggae (sort of a bean vegetable stew) and kimchijeon (kimchi pancakes). It was so much fun. I am getting better at Korean so I am starting to recognize ingredient names.
Also! I really adore hanging out with Jiyoung! I feel like she really understands me. Not like Lisa or Liz understand me maybe, but we really connect well.
Around 4, she had to go to a class at her church, so I went back home. I tried taking the bus, which felt like a zillion hours because I had to stand the whole time. Next time! Subway only!
At home, I did whatever I felt like, which ended up being a lot of cleaning, reading this book (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) Paul lent me, talking to my friend Dave from Matignon via computer, calling my parents, making meatloaf and meatballs to eat later this week, as well as an awesome chocolate cake, taking a nap, and drinking tea. It was delightful. I stayed up too late reading though. Man, that book has beautiful writing, but is it awfully weird and creepy.
This morning, I went to church late, in the yucky pouring rain. Fortunately church started even later than I arrived. It was...okay, not that inspiring. But Silvia came, so I was very happy to see her. We went out to a Japanese restaurant for lunch along with some other folks from church, which was rather delicious, before parting ways. The priest, Father Alex, is trying to start a new international school, which he semi-offered me a job at. It sounds pretty awesome actually, plus I really like and respect Father Alex.
It was very sunny and warm right after church, but by the time we finished lunch it was cloudy and drizzly again.
I am suffering from a severe lack of light lately. The lights in my apartment are horrible and I don't spend enough time outside for real sunlight. Also it is going to rain every day this week. Hmpf. I really need to get some kind of new lightbox or at least something with full-spectrum bulbs in it. I feel like the world is very dark and unbearable lately.
Anyway, David came to visit after that, and we had dinner together. We got into a big fight (well, mostly it was me fighting and him being calm and reassuring and rational) about our different expectations for things like anniversaries and plans but we ended up working it out. One thing that (weirdly) helped was we imagined getting into a time machine and relived the whole day via a different storyline. In that story, we had white hot chocolate at Ediya, went for a walk by Yangjae Stream, took a nap on the park benches (that part only works in our imagination), went out for Chinese food, came home, and had cake. The theoretical day was really lovely.
Then we went back to reality and had actual cake.
It was darn good cake, I had broken little pieces of chocolate and stirred them into the batter. Best idea ever.
Can I just say how happy I am when my floor is clean? It's the loveliest thing. I utterly despise cleaning the floor, but it is always worth the effort.