The last ten days have been a grind and I hate to admit it but a small part of me just wants this semester (non-semester) to be over so I can start over again in fall. Eating CU kimbap and cold noodles at my desk while losing hours of time to the internet is getting really old. My routine was luckily shaken up today, for all of ten minutes, as all the teachers filed outside while the pesticide company sprayed classrooms. C accompanied me down and I talked her ear off. I heard male music teacher tell the other teachers my name; I think one of the newbies was asking…

Saturday night marked the completion of a recently discovered Korea bucket list item: 소개팅. Korean style blind dating. C had suddenly proposed the idea to me Thursday afternoon and by Friday evening the man of interest had already set up Saturday’s dinner plans. I have to say, initiative felt nice. The night of, I texted my friend J in a panic: what does one wear to this kind of thing? In classic Korean style, five minutes before I was meant to meet him at the restaurant I received a text that not only had he arrived but had already secured a table. “Take your time” he texted graciously. The walk…

I dropped by S’s classroom to confirm our birthday lunch plans and she invited me to sit down and chat. She was happy to show off her class decorations, even though they used her entire school-allotted $47. S tried to convince me that Seoul is the only city in South Korea worth living in and if I move people might not be familiar with foreigners and might not be friendly. I just laughed at her, have you ever heard of Korean country folk being mean? And I’m the only foreigner I see on this side of town. “Well there are many Chinese here.” I laughed again; as we saw with…

To be honest with you, the last few days have been tough. The pollution suddenly picked up, I’ve had a lingering cold, and the plans I had for Busan Boy’s and my future came sputtering to an end. But today was a new day and even though I need a solid nap, I’m back on my game. Barista Violet couldn’t hear me over the blenders making frappuccinos behind her this morning so I repeated my order several times, finally realizing part of her confusion stemmed from me saying “iced coffee” instead of “ice Americano”. (There is no such thing as “iced coffee” in South Korea.) Regardless, we survived that interaction…

To the people who are my paperweights when I feel like floating away.

My Korean has improved to the point where I can argue with the 7-11 cashier about 1+1 sales. (It was not actually an argument. I grabbed two granola bars in a 1+1 deal and they didn’t ring up that way so she came out from behind the counter to investigate and it turns out the sign was in the wrong spot.) And yet my Korean is still bad enough to make crucial mistakes like accidentally convincing the barista I’m a stalker. This morning the local barista and I were happy to see each other again and she asked if I lived around here. I told her no, I live in…

When the security guards came to my literal rescue.