Over. Almost.

Except for my interview test on Monday, finals are over. I feel drained. I was at school until 10 last night, studying with Lewis, the New Zealand sheep shearer. Fellow westerners that we are, we struggled through untranslatable grammar forms and piles of vocabulary until the security guard came to lock the classroom for the night. Upon reflection, we really would have benefitted from having a Japanese or Chinese student around. Ah well. It's over.

I go on a brief trip tomorrow to the south of the peninsula, along with students from my dad's college exchange program. Five hours on the bus. Hm. But seeing a new part of Korea will be nice. Somehow, somewhere along the line, I went from being a tourist to just someone else who studies, works, has dinner with friends, sees movies, and fights to get on the subway here. Just like any other Seoul dweller.

I know how the subway works, I can negotiate buying multi-segment tickets at the travel agency, I know where to get the cheapest kimchee stew in Shinchon -- I can even tell you the storyline of the most popular TV show. When did this all happen? And what happens next?

Last weekend I saw Love Actually with Yuri, who is not Russian. (Yuri is a girl's name, though I did meet a Korean Canadian man with that name who, with no small amount of frustration, said that he was forever explaining to Koreans that his parents gave him a Russian name, not a girl's name.) The reviews are generally right -- overloaded, but a considerable amount of charm. If anyone's seen it in the States, though, can you tell me if there is indeed a storyline with two porn movie stand-ins? I keep reading about that couple in the reviews, but it wasn't in the version I saw here, so I don't know if they cut it for Korean audiences or if it ended up on the director's cutting room floor.

Yuri and I went to a great Italian restaurant after the movie (food's not that great, but atmosphere is almost European) and had wine and cheese, both being hard to find here -- at least, good wine and cheese (and the cheese wasn't even that great, actually) -- and it was lovely.

Hm. What else? My grandmother had back surgery and is coming home today (I think she's back by now). My great-aunt asked me to call if I'm going to have dinner at home, so she can make the rice to coincide with my arrival. Freshly made rice is best, she says, and I agree, but I eat two-day-old rice with equanimity and I don't think it a big deal in the least. I just don't like having to be accountable, I think.

Oh, jumpy entry! Why dost thou have to be so hither-thither and unconnected? Forsooth, mayhap it is because I am empty of stomach and likewise of brain. Verily, I shall get me some nourishing food stuffage. Etcetera, etcetera and exeunt.