Two Months!

Wearing my explorer pants
at Unhyongung Palace.

While we were recently discussing Nicole's wedding in May (and how it seems so far away), my co-teacher Tammy said thoughtfully, "Well, time flows." I like that expression so much better than the flying version. Some days time seems to flow painfully slowly, like it's struggling over logs and rotting leaves and miscellaneous garbage that have fallen into the shallow creek near my apartment. Other days it's speeding by like crazy and I can't believe it's already been two months since I've seen so many lovely faces (Skype doesn't count).

With the flowage of time have come some good developments, especially in the language department. My Korean is coming along swell, thanks to my language partner, Eun Young, with whom I meet twice each week. Though we spend 92% of our time together talking about food, shopping, what our weekend plans are, and how messy her closet is, sometimes we fit in some instruction. I taught her idioms like "I'm having a blast!" and "Get a grip!" and she taught me these important phrases:
"I'm just looking."
"It's too expensive."
"It's okay."
"Have you eaten?" (This is a common way to greet a Korean person after a meal.)
"It's delicious."
"Please speak more slowly." (Of course, this is super long and difficult to say.)
"I live in apartment 1202."
"May I take a picture?" (I'm trying to practice this one a lot.)
"Excuse me."
"Sweet potato."
I really try to use these phases when an opportunity presents itself, but sometimes I get flustered and the many similar sounds blend together in my brain and confuse me. I accidentally sputtered "It's delicious" instead of "Excuse me" while trying to make my way through a crowded market. But then I hit it out of the park trying to get out of a packed sauna - the same flub would've been much more embarrassing in there.

There have been some at-home cooking experiments and some sightseeing experiments, and I've continued to meet a crazy variety of people from all over, even a Saudi businessman and a transgender German journalist. Amid the confusions of life in a different culture, there are lots of little things that amuse and delight me: Wow this bathroom has toilet paper! Wow it's warm enough that I can take my coat off! Wow the subway seats are heated! Wow this entire meal is $6 and I don't have to tip! Wow someone commented on my blog! I was worried about some readers' attention spans (and my own) with the online diarizing, but I hope you're sticking with me. With any luck, the coming months will (continue to) bring plenty of enthralling tales.

Obviously I'm enjoying the food. (I think my portion was smaller than hers.)