tea diaries ~~~~~ groooooovy

I gotta make this one brief, I'm battling my host brother Kyeong-Hwan in Quake 3 (he loves the railgun) ... but I had the most amazing day. Woke up at 6:45 because I didn't know if I should bid the family farewell in the morning ... turns out that they usually don't make breakfast but they made one especially for me this morning - sausage, bacon, eggs sunny side up, homemade apple turnovers and rolls, and fruit. The food here is to die for. Played with the dogs and games with Kyeong-Hwan in the morning, and then left for the school with my coteacher Kim Soo-Hee. Turns out the vice principal is a jolly fellow fond of singing random songs whenever he likes (my kinda guy), majored in English so he speaks pretty well, and a lot of fun to be around. We went out for lunch at this place that served a sort of bibimbap (rice and veggies and eggs mixed together) only with squid tentacles and some clams ... it's a lot better than it sounds guys. You learn to love the tentacles. Sat by the beach and enjoyed the view until a storm rolled in ... best wind ever on a humid day. Got to watch a 2 inch spider sense the weather change and actually roll up her web in front of us, it was fascinating. We all spoke enough English to laugh and make jokes which was very nice. Got to see my school and meet hundreds of people whose names I'll hopelessly never remember ... for the first week. I've gotta get them eventually though! ;) Saw the "English Zone" of the school which is wallpapered in really cool notable quotes in English - Emerson, Einstein, even Cicero ... and really random adages like "Finder's Keepers" which was posted above a urinal in the bathroom. Don't want to guess on that one. I have my own office ... !! Okay well, a desk and one half of a room, but hey ... my own office :D Went out and got a bank account, looked around at cell phones and figured out they were a little too expensive, and it looks like my host family is going to give me one of their old ones. They love technology here, I'm typing on a maybe 24 inch flat screen computer, and they have a wall-mounted flatscreen in the living room which is ungodly huge. The lap of luxury. ;)

I was about to fall asleep in mid-afternoon in Kim Soo-Hee's car when she told me that my host mother wanted to visit her at work. She works as a cook in an International Convention Center next to the World Cup Stadium. It's a ginormous building with amazing views, they host all sorts of international conferences all year. I thought I might be going to see her kitchen and maybe have a bite to eat, but when we meet her she motions us around this cavernous maze into a side door of ... a Chinese tumbling show ! Did you guys see Ocean's 11 with the little Chinese man and the two-pole jumping act? Well picture that times a hundred. These kids were maybe 10-15 years old jumping all over each other, juggling beach balls upside down, swinging and tossing each other from swings 25 feet in the air, and man. Wow. The day got better and better. :) Did of course end up meeting her ajjima work buddies in the cafeteria, eating some good kimchi and rice and noodles and soup, and then sitting up in the ocean view lounge that had a 270 degree view of the best beach in Korea.

:D

Well my host mother just brought me some keom-cha (lemon green tea) and some cookies, so I'm going to go sit outside in the living room. Goodnight all. :)