Korean mosquitoes look like gnats. In comparison, the American mosquitoes I grew up with look like they're on steroids. But as the dozen or so bite sites on my legs, arms and head (that's right, my head -- like, what the hell? Skeeter Special Forces?) silently testify, the little gnatty buggers are just as nasty.

Was told today that I should watch some recent Japanese anime for a more comparable example of Wonderful Days-type animation, but I have to say, I saw about five minutes of the the fairly recent (just last year, I think) Spirited Away (which has a totally different name in Japanese), and while I can see that it has a better storyline and wonderful imagery, it inhabits an entirely different realm than Wonderful Days. So, even when not hopped up on lack of sleep, I still say -- go see it.

I finally signed up for a taekwondo class, and while it's kind of far from home, I'm gonna roll with it; the facilities look great, the owner is authoritative but kind, and no one in the 7:30 pm class looks under 16 (and one woman is over 60!). So I start on Monday, and I hope the four-times-a-week routine will inspire me to keep better hours and healthier habits. For months, I kept a very regular schedule of school, work, and home, and while it may have been good for my health, too much routine made hk very dull, so I whipped 'round and started going out a lot a month ago. Which has been great fun, but is now beginning to take its toll. So time again to adjust.

This is boring, even to me. I'll shut it now.

Psych!

I met up with someone from my class today, Sister Chun-ha. Before today, we had never spent any time together by ourselves, but since I'm not in class with people everyday anymore, my classmates seem to regard seeing me as a special occasion. Dunno. Anyway, many moons ago, I wrote about her when we were in level 2 together, and I was impressed by her language ability and beautiful eyes. Today, though, as I listened to her talk about being disinterested in class, in playing piano, in doing much of anything, I realized with a start that she's exhibiting all the symptoms of depression.

Having recently been there, I pulled out the old pop psychology songbook and told her I thought she had (directly translated, anyway) "melancholy sickness" and that I'd been in that town myself until a month ago, when Lewis and Mia showed me the way out.

It's a bit strange, being friends with a nun. A Chinese nun, at that. Who didn't want to come to Korea (she signed up to go to America but the convent couldn't get the visas). It's not like we can talk about boys, which I do with Tex, the missionary; or movies, which I do with Janet; or -- well, I suppose we could talk about movies, but I don't think she sees very many. In any case, there's a huge cultural and experiential gulf. To wit: Chun-ha said today that there was once a German priest who came to visit the town where her convent in China is. He went to class in the mornings and went sightseeing in the afternoons, so that by the end of his stay, he knew of places that she didn't. "We thought it was weird that after a morning of hard work in class, he went out and exerted himself again in the afternoons, " she said. "Chinese people would probably take a nap instead. But westerners seem to be very open. Chinese people seem to have narrower views."

So... different, yeah. But despite this, I feel a good amount of affection for Chun-ha, and vice versa, which makes me wonder how exactly people become friends. Okay, not people in general as much as me, specifically. I mean, I had very little in common with John, but I loved him more than anyone else in the world. What is it that I respond to in other people whose interests and lives are so different than mine?

Oh, gross, more introspection. You have to forgive me; I didn't admit it earlier, but I'm still deep in debt at the sleep bank, which makes me more voluble than usual tonight, as well as less interesting and cohesive. I am finally going to SHUT IT now. G'nite.
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[3 minutes later]
For cryin' out loud -- I was so busy writing down complete FLUFF that I forgot to mention that shots were fired in the DMZ yesterday. A couple from the North first, and response fire back from the South. No one hurt on the South side. I asked my dad about this and he didn't seem very concerned -- just another in a long series of periodic skirmishes on land and sea. It was big news, though.