At School

I was told blogging’s addictive but I didn't believe it till now. I brought my computer to work today because one of my kids was wearing a Bob Marley shirt yesterday and didn't even know who he was, so I brought it in to play some Bob for them. Why wear the shirt if you don't know who is on it? But then that’s kids for you! (Again- I sound OLD!)

There is such great light in my classroom at this time of day. It is a quarter to five and it is brilliantly sunny outside. I just went out to get some kim-bab (the Korean version of California rolls, but a little bland unfortunately) and it is so perfect outside, its almost a sin to be in here. But since I am here I might as well write a blog. I have a spare right now.

I ride my scooter to work every day. There are many women who ride scooters here, and I can tell they are women because they don't wear helmets here very often. But still it is an unusual thing to see, and a female foreigner on a scooter, in a skirt must be really unusual, because I get very surprised looks. A few weeks ago I was riding down my street and two boys on a bicycle were riding up, and the kid sitting on the handlebars was SO shocked that his jaw dropped and his eyes popped out. I half expected him to tip the bike because he was trying to tell his friend what he was missing. It was so funny that I started chuckling.

There is a lot here that makes me chuckle. In a lot of way Koreans are so much like Iranians. They have been so insulated, and they are so homogenous, that there is little “political correctness”. I have to say, most of what irritates me comes from the fact that I have lived in a very uptight PC city most of my life, where people can say things like “What are YOU looking at?” and that usually means “F-off and stop staring“. Here there is no secret made of the “spectator sport” and if you ask such a dumb question, you will get the obvious response: “You- what else?” That is of course if you speak the language.

I like staring at them too. Believe it or now they DON’T all look the same and I have found Koreans to be profoundly beautiful. I prefer the dark skinned ones though they are big on the China-doll look and use everything from powders to laser surgery to obtain that look. I have two girls in my classes who are very delicate, with fine features and beautiful lines. I will photograph them all before leaving. I guess that means I better start soon. The other thing I would like is to have a web-cam and show you what this class looks like, but then the parents have to give consent and it gets complicated.

Two very popular surgeries in Korea are having your eyes enlarged by cutting a section of your eyelid out, and lypo suction because they like to be very very slim. So as a result, these operations are relatively cheap here. It is about 800 dollars US to get lypo done here, and I know of one foreigner who has had that done here, and was very happy with it. So for those of you looking for an excuse to make your way out here, think of how much you can save on plastic surgery :)

I am home now, and spent a small fortune on beef for dinner tomorrow. What the hell, its payday, and I want to make a decent curry. So, I will wrap this up by making an observation. A week can make a hell of a lot of difference. I am in such a different head-space now than a week ago! I am much better, livlier and really looking forward to seeing Seoul.

I will keep you posted.

K