This winter vacation has been… Boring. There. I said it! I hate to be ungrateful or even admit to boredom since I’m In A Foreign Country! Having New Experiences! But the virus, endless schedule changes, restricted travel, and winter pollution have made for a vacation that was much less exciting than I imagined. So to commemorate this final day, let’s reminisce about the good things I was able to do: Ask the market sellers in Sokcho about the price of sea cucumber and take some very travel worthy photos Eat 물회 in Gangneung much to the shock of the locals Be a photographer for a Korean family without them having…

A friend and I spent a delightful afternoon indulging ourselves at a famous strawberry buffet in a place fancier than I could normally afford. After much self coaxing, I rolled myself to the gym still wearing full make up from my strawberry themed outfit. Of course the trainer who I once asked to find my sports bra was there and his shirt was distractingly low cut. Not one of the standard gym uniforms that the rest of us plebeians wear. Unsettling encounters with men would not end there, however. I decided to take a more leisurely bus ride home and while wearing a mask and sitting in the same seats,…

As you know, whatever winter plans I had during this vacation were completely uprooted by the virus and school scheduling changes. It looks like with a continuation of the virus I’ll be unable to visit my former Chinese students in April like I had planned which is a huge bummer. I’m not sure there will be many places I can actually visit during our short April vacation since everywhere I’d like to visit is within Asia. As such I’m in a strange time suspension where I don’t have to work but can’t do much else. So today I decided to cross one thing off my list. I got an eyelash…

Face masks offer a certain level of anonymity and as a result, boldness. People tend to ignore me, or perhaps more accurately don’t take excessive notice of me, but once the masks are on, I make and receive a startling amount of eye contact. The other day I hopped off the bus and distantly saw a tall and fit young man, also masked, approaching in very form fitting business wear. It was a lot to observe at 8AM. I looked at him. He looked at me. We continued making very deep eye contact until I rounded the corner and subsequently had to catch my breath. The level of intimacy I’ve…

My heart! I ate lunch then decided to visit my coffee shop— not the one where the barista hates S but the one with the very chipper young woman. In the afternoons she is joined by a another young guy who doesn’t know me. When the bell rang as I entered the coffee shop she looked over his shoulder and we both waved excitedly at each other. He took my order, there was some confusion but we managed, and I even got up when “vanilla latte” was called. It wasn’t mine so she made a big X and we laughed. Teenage boy looked in on mild confusion. When my drink…

It has finally arrived! I told the English speaking woman that I wouldn’t be here next week and asked what I should with my things. She seemed confused as to why I would take vacation but I restrained myself from launching into “Vacation, Interrupted”. S told the office manager my situation but let them think what they will. Many of the words we practiced throughout the week were a buildup to “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” by Eric Carle. We practiced colors, then colors and animals, then “I see…”. I read the story once then reviewed I/you/we/us/me which all appeared in the story. Students later had to…