Last night I went out with two co-workers to the Spaghetteria, where we had lasagne, spaghetti carbonara and a cream-based noodle thing. In true Korean fashion, we had our own little plates and shared the dishes communally. We did, however, use forks. (No knives, though. And the side dish was slices of sweet pickle.)
It's only the second time I've had western food since I've been here. Strangely enough, I don't really miss it. Maybe because I'm not a foodie? I just don't pay attention to food all that much, though I certainly enjoy it when it's in front of me!
Another Saturday morning at the office. Like last time, two weeks ago, I haven't gotten too much work, so I've been merrily answering email for two hours. Whee!
It snowed yesterday in parts more northerly, though apparently there was also a bit of snowfall in Seoul too. It's certainly cold enough; you can see your breath during the day as well as night. A nice time to sleep in late and have brunch and read the funnies and put on a fuzzy turtleneck sweater and maybe go buy some groceries or do a bit of shopping and then return home and make some hot chocolate and read on the couch, covered by a blanket, until you set the book down to rest your eyes for a moment and you fall asleep for an hour.
Sounds nice, doesn't it?
Have I done these things today?
NO.
Instead, I woke up blearily at 7:30, stumbled to the bathroom, wrinkled my nose at the smell, opened a window to admit a blast of cold air, quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face, returned to my room, put on some clothes, shrugged at my hair, and went to work. That is, after I gave Ajuma the rest of the rent. (I mistakenly thought it was 400,000 won, and so stiffed her 30,000 won the other day. Actually, I think that even 430,000 won is a good deal for room and two meals a day, plus pleasant company - I think it's about US$400 - but I've been told that it was on the high end.)
Which reminds me, I learned how to use the ATM this week! Very exciting. The Foundation set up a bank account for me (some service, eh? or is it just another expression of diabolical control? mwah ha ha ha!), and I got paid for October two weeks ago. My dad's been paying for everything thus far, but I was determined to stop that trend by paying my own rent, at least.
Since I wasn't given checks with the account (checks are not widely used here, which explains why my parents always paid for everything in cash in the States), I thought I might have to give Ajuma the rent in cash. But when I went to the ATM with Myungsoo, my work buddy, she showed me that you can get checks from the ATM! They're like travelers checks, in denominations of 100,000 won (about US$75), and you can use them any where; shopkeepers check your signature and ID when you present them.
Neat-o.

So my written midterm is over, but I have an oral midterm next week, for which I really need to study. Apparently in Level 1, students have an individual interview with the teacher, but in Level 2, you are paired with another student, and talk in front of the teacher. Which is all fine and good unless you get paired with someone with a lot more vocab and who can speak a lot more fluidly than you can. On the spectrum of ability in my class, I'm on the lesser abled side (for now, my pretty!), and there are at least two people I'd hate to be paired with: a Japanese girl named Midori (it means green in Japanese - isn't it pretty?) and a Chinese nun named Chung-ha (I think that's right - we call her sun-nyo-nim, or Sister, in class).
Sometimes I catch myself staring at Chung-ha, because I'm just fascinated by the fact that she's a nun. There are two other nuns in class - Rosaria, an older Italian woman (gotta get her story), and Theresa, a novice who's also from China - but Chung-ha is so young and pretty, I can't help but look at her. Plus, she wears the classic black and white habit, which looks - dare I say? -cool. She also works really fast - I was paired with her to do some exercises a few times, and she'd say the answer before I got finished reading the question!
(It was kind of annoying, actually.)
Anyhoo, as Chuck would say (shout-out to my buds at TPG), I need to rehearse the conversations in the textbook. I've heard that if you know them backwards and forwards, the oral exam is a snap.

Well, well, haven't I just blathered on today? Comes of having no work thus far (I just wait for people to bring me or email me their documents to edit). It would be nice if this kind of day came more often; I could study and email and blog away to my heart's content. It's 12:30 and I haven't had any work yet today. People here go to lunch at 12 - it's pretty regimented. On a half day like today, they go at 12, return around 12:30, and leave for home at 1. Maybe next time I'll try that too. Seems somewhat of a waste to commute two hours in order to work only 3.5, though, doesn't it?
One of my team members (the Foundation has teams, not departments) just left for a 2-week business trip to South America. She lived there for several years as a child, and I stared at her curiously before she reminded me that both of the Americas are destinations for immigrants. I'd forgotten that there is actually a large Asian population in South America, including a fairly large Korean population too. Vaya con dios, Miss Min.

Postscript: If you're seeing some weird characters in place of things like apostrophes and dashes, I apologize. They don't show up on blogger.com, where I input these entries, but I'm seeing them on my page. Grr.