Highlights of my Day... Thursday, May 31

1. While having coffee with Mari, we got into quite the discussion that lead us to the issue of prostitution in Korea. I had mentioned that I can't stand Itaewon cause it's like a little America and I can't stand all the young dudes there who pounce on us girls like white on rice. Anyway, she had asked me if I knew "Hooker Hill", well, anyone who knows Itaewon knows Hooker Hill. It's not exactly hidden and Itaewon is notoriously known for it actually. The "working girls" stand there in the doorways of their little "shops", if you want to call them that, and they call out to the guys passing by.

2. I thought the conversation was rather intense and so I thought I'd lighten it up with sarcastically asking, "How come they don't have guys working on Hooker Hill?" It was definitely a rhetorical question cause I don't promote prostitution, have never supported it, nor am I hard up for skin. I may be single but I'm not desperate. I laughed at it but then Mari turned to me and said, "Ya, why don't they? I wonder where they do.... Hmmm" What's up with that??? Was she serious? Mari is a Korean girl from quite a successful upper class family but there she was in Starbucks, sipping on her overly priced coffee while sitting there in her very stylish, name brand clothes. Talk about awkward moment.

3. As the school term is coming down to the crunch, the school days have been blending into each other and I honestly am struggling with distinguishing one day from the next. I'm so busy with trying to update marks, hand back quizzes, student appointments, emailing students, and the list continues.

4. Having said this, I don't know if it was today or Tuesday when I got a most unexpected and super sweet phone call from my little Korean sister, Jane, in the States. She had called me to cheer me up cause of the whole recent break-up. She just broke up with her boyfriend too and so now we both have returned to the Singles Club. It was so awesome to hear her voice and I felt so happy to talk to her. I started thinking about her phone call today and so it kind of lingered in my head all day.

5. Definitely the highlight of my job is the actual teaching part. Today as I stood in front of 32 students in my first class, it hit me... this is exactly where I should be, teaching. This is me. The class was packed with hyper students and so we kind of got off topic but I love that. I love walking around the classroom and just rambling with the students. It's pretty cool to hear them test out their English. English has opened up a whole new world to them and so it's pretty cool to have eager students try to make me laugh with their funny stories.

6. There's a few boys in this one class that love learning slang and so I try to give them some new slang every class. Well, today I walked up to one and asked him what he was doing. He was clearly not doing his work but, in a serious face, he looked up to me and said, "I'm chilling like a villain." Hehehehe... I was almost in tears with laughter. I had taught him that slang a couple of weeks ago. Today's slang of the day was, "That's hype!"

7. You know the "two-second" rule, the rule that says you have only two seconds to pick any food that falls on the floor before it becomes contaminated?! Well... in my house I have a one-second rule... you have one second to pick it up before Mi Nam does. I'm convinced he thinks he's a four-legged walking garbage machine. I dropped a piece of apple today... 1 second, gone! Dropped a straw... 1 second, gone. Dropped a coin... 1 second, gone. Mind ya, two seconds later, the coin was back on the floor... he had spit it out. Hehehe. I'm not too sure if he has some kind of oral fixation but if he thinks he can put it in his mouth, he will and he does. I'm talking about food, pieces of garbage, cigarette butts outside, pens, my cell phone... etc. He even tries to chew on the floor, I'm serious. He's NOT normal. Anyway, the other day he killed a new t-shirt of mine that I had dropped while unloading the laundry machine. Of course I didn't realize this until it was too late. I knew he was too quiet in the other room, damn!

8. Headed out in the evening to see Wild Child. I let myself in but when I entered the house, it was in complete darkness. Wild Child was no where in sight but I knew she was home. Her little runners were at the front entrance. So, I stood there trying to hear her out. She was curled up under her bedsheets crying. I was confused... was she here alone? Turns out she had been home alone for a couple of hours. I tried to call her mom but her mom's cell phone was turned off. Hmmm...

9. In my attempt to try to cheer up Wild Child, I took her to the store for some ice cream. Ice cream always makes me smile and kids love it. However, as we walked around in the store, Wild Child had this sudden urge to take off her pants. I have NO idea what that was about but you can imagine how bad it looked when another customer entered the shop and saw me standing in the isle with a little 7 year old who's pants were around her ankles! Oh my gosh!!! Wild Child stood there laughing as I totally blushed with embarrassment

10. I know I'm not Wild Child's mother but I just didn't feel comfortable leaving her home alone and so I stuck around for a couple of hours. We played tag, soccer, ate ice cream, sang songs, and then she tried to make me tea... hehehe. Then, out of the blue, a neighbor dropped by and said she was here to pick up Wild Child. That was my exit cue.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Are you serious?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.
-- Trey Parker and Matt Stone