Books, Stares, and Other Realizations

My new weakness...the bookstore. :) I'm such a nerd! Kyobo bookstore is downtown, two subway stops from my apartment. It is four floors of...well...heaven. In this store you can buy a pen with a cute little pig on it, or a notebook with Homer Simpson's face on it, or a watch...just a watch...nothing fancy :), or a paperback version of Wicked which you may start reading one of these weekends, or a Phonics book for that Basic after school class. It has everything...it is my oasis. University students stare at you while thumbing through a bilingual version of English Spoken Conversation. Their eyes are saying..."Doesn't that white kid already know English?" The answer is yes...he's just not sure how to teach it yet. lol English fluency does not, an English teacher make.

In other news, I've become more desensitized to street gawkers. :) Remember that time you strolled through town and all of a sudden you came across someone from India? I remember working at Tanger in Branson and on occasion my store would be instantaneously full of Indians! Red dots, long flowing detailed robes, and what's that I hear? Hindu. And for a split second, you find yourself not taking just a quick glance, but 15 seconds have passed, and you're still processing what you've just seen. This scenario is a good description of a normal day in Korea. Pass by a middle school student and they glance, but usually say, "Hello!" Then they giggle and run. Pass by a university student and they might say just a simple, "Hello" but nothing else. Pass by a little kid and they won't say anything...they just stare...and if you come too close they run to mom because let's face it...the tallest human you've ever seen is a white guy and he's coming right at you!! lol But the worst are the old people. All of the students most likely have a foreign English teacher in their school. But the old people...they were never afforded that luxury. So they stare you down with a look that you swear you can feel...and then they shuffle off to wherever they might be going. So the next time you stare that little Indian guy down because he's chattin' it up with his wife and 15 relatives in the mall...don't stare, a quick glance will suffice. :)

Other realizations

• Don't fret when you put another 10,000 won on your transportation card. You've used enough money to ride a bus for a month then you would have used to power your car for 2 weeks.
• When air drying your clothes, it becomes unwise to let your laundry pile up for 6 loads...it will just end up making you angry because your chair and doors have become drying racks.
• When your teacher says to meet at her car at 7:40, your natural response might be to show up at 7:35. But in Korea, its best to show up at 7:50, because you will probably wait another 10 minutes after that.
• People will stare at you more when eating in an American restaurant. I don't know why, its just what I've experienced lol
• Patience is a virtue...it doesn't matter that you are out of toner and you've explained this more than once...someone will eventually get on it....I think.
• You take your chances with street food vendors. Sometimes you get a tasty waffle, other times you get a pasty donut full of black bean paste. Just avoid the guy who smokes while cooking his wares...eww.
• Last but not least, take a chance on getting lost. You might end up in a tower, 83 floors off the ground overlooking the city :) The only thing taller than a Korean mountain is a Korean building lol And this building was fortunate enough to be constructed on top of a small mountain. :)