It has been a challenging afternoon not for any concrete reason in particular but just this endlessness. Few to no classes— kids will now only come to school one day a week according to Seoul directives; no travel; continued closure or severe monitoring of social places. The usual. My teaching course module took three times longer than it should have because I just couldn’t seem to focus on the screen and after lunch when the final paper was submitted I printed out Pusheen coloring pages and took a mental break with a few crayons. This morning I looked out at the road from my perspective in the coffee shop and…

I accidentally hiked a mountain today. While my instruction sheet from the hospital was pretty vague, other websites recommended no strenuous exercise for at least a week. Walking it is, then! As the pollution was finally in the green and the weather was hot but dry, I decided to wander around the easy trails at the base of the mountain behind school. I didn’t realize that after about 20 minutes I had already ascended halfway. Well what’s 150 meters more? This mountain is on the same ridge of my favorite Seoul hike: Achasan. I’ve never been to this peak though and at the top I was greeted by some (restored)…

The morning started off with a free comedy routine: stern security guard and the Yakult yogurt lady were arguing in increasingly loud voices outside the school gate about where she could park her motorized yogurt cart. Stern security gaurd is near retirement but called her ajumma and yelled at her with honorific language. Mrs. Yakult argued right back with an addition of loud huffs and scoffs. The office lady happened upon the same scene and as we breezed pass, I told her it was like a movie. She then asked if I was sick since I was out yesterday. “No, I went to the hospital and had a biopsy.” At…

They may be little gremlins but they are my little gremlins.

I asked C if she would introduce herself to the new fourth graders tomorrow; they’ve heard her voice online but have never seen her. “Oh, I don’t know, do you think I should?” “Of course you should! It can be as simple as ‘Hi, I’m Teacher C. Now show me your homework.’.” “I don’t know, I’m shy about that.” Girl, establish dominance! She also has yet to realize I have little to no shame when it comes to kids. I’ll do just about anything for a laugh. C and I got to chatting about America and Korea and I complained about fake English because the plum juice we got said…

C and I settled in for lunch between the clear plastic dividers when the VP, sitting to her other side, asked her a question which made her laugh then pass on to me in English: “The VP wants to know, do you like makgeolli and pajeon?” I laughed helplessly. So I suppose the office staff was not too embarrassed to tell everyone that they ran into me at the restaurant all those months ago. I do of course wonder if they left out the details that they were already eight bottles of makgeolli in or that the office manager showed me an old picture of his abs. Somehow, I doubt…