With the Costco surplus of candy my mom sent for my birthday, Easter, and Valentine’s Day, I once again made goodie bags so that I alone won’t be tempted to consume it all in one sitting. In the morning I interrupted stern security guard watering the plants to give him the first hand out of the day. “Thank you thank you,” he said in English. He added in Korean, “happy birthday!”. The next bag went to C and the third to S. There was a woman with a bob typing away in 3-2 home room but when I knocked and she turned slightly, I realized it was not S at…

Yesterday morning was quickly efficient. I followed up with the eye doctor who said, “your dry eye is all gone” which was a far cry from earlier in the week when he scared me with words like “corneal erosion” and “forever”. I wanted to make sure absolutely sure I understood. “다 났어요.” He told me. I had learned the verb earlier that day from my tutor to mean “happen/occur” but from context I assume it meant “all gone”. So I threw up two thumbs up and asked him, “all good?” “Yes, 다 났어요.” He repeated as if I learned vocabulary through osmosis. Okay! I assume I’m fine now. To reward…

Yesterday started with a morning of feeling defeated and ended with a comforting dinner of hot wings with Busan Boy. But bear with me for today was wonderful. Yesterday the ENT explained my allergy tests perfectly clearly but told me “I can’t explain it well in English. Maybe next time you can come with a Korean friend.” He spoke English just fine but I suppose English is stressful for him. I wanted to cry in frustration, though: don’t you think me bumbling my way through every day interactions in Korean is stressful? He also said “I am yellow and you are white. The things we are allergic to may differ.”…

The nice woman who works at the 7-11 by the school recognizes me at this point. When I checked out with my usual triangle kimbap and juice, she darted out from behind the counter to grab and scan a grape soda which apparently came as a freebie. I usually don’t pay attention to the deals so I appreciate her caring. After an extremely uneventful day at school, I stopped by the local pharmacy to pick up my mask since it’s my dedicated day. After procuring the masks, the pharmacist asked me where I was from and after I said America, he switched to English and asked me what state. It…

My hair has been extra polite because it knows this week I’m getting a perm. Too late ma’am! District elections are in full swing now. I walked past a gauntlet of picketers and happened to cast a glance which landed on the candidate herself who was standing on a trailer. She made eye contact with me and bowed and I felt SEEN. She didn’t need to acknowledge me, especially since I can’t vote here but wowza electric. I wonder if she’s running on a more conservative platform or if she’s facing her opponents as both a woman and a nonconformist. Over the weekend C asked if I wanted to order…

I don’t want to be dramatic but the observations I’ve made about the Seoul accent, namely: 오 > 우 (o > oo)요 > 여 (yo > yeo) have been confirmed! When I pointed these out to average Seoul people, they had not a clue what I was talking about BUT if I spoke with a Seoul accent not one person dinged me for pronunciation. And I heard people speak this way all the time. The most notable, and ripe for satire, example is: 아니고 (anigo) > 아니고 (anigoo) which is a way to say “You’re wrong” or “That’s not it”. I hear it 99% of the time from whiny students…

I miss you ton.

April fools if April really started the months ago because life keeps pulling pranks. More school delays– grades 4-6 *should* begin on April 16 online and grades 3 and below on April 20th. I have no idea what that means for me. I suppose I’ll find out tomorrow when I go to school. En route to the doctor to officially ask for an allergy test, I was confused by the gray, sunny skies. The weather app said it was a clear, cloudless day and yet there was no blue shell above me. Then I checked my most used webpage to determine that the PM2.5 was in the red (unhealthy for…