i feel it all

i have lived in korea for exactly one month. (holy shit) moving to korea has meant learning how to survive in a new culture. it has meant eating with chopsticks nearly everyday, generally having rice while using those chopsticks. it has meant bowing when entering a building. it has meant taking the bus (and sometimes the wrong one) to work and back. it has meant getting used to being looked at like a celebrity/alien/foreigner with snakes coming out of my ears (sometimes all three at once).

it has meant seeing my first entire james bond movie.

i went to the new 007 movie yesterday with one of my students. i was a bit leery of going out with a student, as i wasn't sure if he thought it was a date (we can't date our students...if we want to date them, we must tell them to transfer to pagoda). we met up in sinchon, a very university-oriented part of seoul, about 30 minutes by subway from my hood. we headed to starbucks (again, i have no idea why i always end up there when i travel. i hate american starbucks, why do i suddenly find korean ones ok?) and then to the movie. it was nice to see one of my students outside of class. he commented on how young i look in casual clothes. haha i must look really old in trousers and button-downs. we headed to the movie. i have one thing to say about it...

james bond is so cool.

wait, two things...

i find daniel craig's face attractive (i was asked this exact statement by my student. i heart konglish.)

we went out for sushi after the movie. it was one of those restaurants with a bunch of sushi chefs in front of you, making sushi and placing it on a conveyor belt that moves around by the customers, tempting their watering mouths as all sorts of raw fishes and various creations slowly roll by. the sushi chefs pretended to be japanese, and whenever someone walked in, they would say (in korean) 'welcome to our restaurant,' but with this high-low intonation that, apparently, japanese sushi chefs use. it was highly entertaining and i wanted to take a video. they were adorable.

i made my way home after sushi, deciding that four hours of teacher-student time was enough for one day. and i had an alterior motive to come home.

dexter. 

my newfound obsession. i borrowed season one of this gory, incredibly fucked up (sorry, i try to keep it pg on here, but fucked up is the only way to describe this show) showtime series from one of my managers at work. i have made my way through nine episodes. seven to go. i imagine it will be finished up in the next two or three days. definitely before the week is through. i have nearly passed out the last three nights watching dexter.

i awoke this morning, wondering what my day would bring. i had a lovely chat with miss katherine for a couple hours, catching up on all things american and korean. i attempted to lesson plan after i got off the phone, but was interrupted by the daughter of my landlord, scolding me for not using properly color coordinating my garbage. green is for food waste. white is for general garbage. recyclables go into any plastic bag. if you do not sort by color, you can get a million won fine.

(since that million won will be going towards a lancel bag in a couple months (my new years/'you've survived three months in korea' present), i opted to pick up some of these colorful bags this afternoon.)

it was a beautiful day and i decided to take advantage of it for awhile. i opted to learn how to walk to my school, in case the bus or subway workers ever decided to strike (yes, i know, this is not france, but you can never be too prepared...). it takes about an hour on foot, but that is if one goes at a very slow stroll, stopping to take pictures of statues and leaves on the way. it was quite easy to get to school and i ended up turning around, taking a different route home. i was feeling quite anxious before i left for my walk, so i knew that i needed to calm the f-word down (see, pg). after listening to some sexy aussie rockers and reminiscing about good times as i walked home, i realized how much better i felt. i remember going to a study abroad infosession about paris a couple years ago and was told that if i ever felt sad or weird, i should just go out and take a walk. that has been my saving grace while living abroad. the ipod was invented specifically for expats.

i stopped by my new favorite store (besides lotte), the kim boutique, to pick up a scarf that i had seen a couple weeks ago and have been covetting ever since. it is a lovely shade or purple and it could wrap around your neck about a million times. it is huge and warm and it is like traveling with a pillow around your neck and shoulders. i love the girls in there. they speak very good english and the first time i was in, they had the 'once' soundtrack playing. i knew then that this would be a place i would often frequent. i will be back, after i get paid in a couple weeks.

i continued my walk home, pleased with my purchase. and then i saw it.

american apparel.

now, i consider myself a rather observant person. but when i saw american apparel in the light of day today, i wondered, 'kenz, how the hell have you missed this EVERYDAY as your bus goes by?' i will not miss it tomorrow.

i made my way back, picking up kimbap and some apples and oranges on my way home. i can now say that i have a kimbap lady. i walk in and she knows that i want chamchi kimbap to go. im starting to have my little neighborhood friends. there is the man who works at the waffle restaurant across from my house. i went in once with andy and ever since, i bow and say 'anyong haseyo' as i pass by. he is adorable, always wearing the same counterfeit seven jeans and red and white zip-up hoodie. then there is the girl at the dak poki stand who always bows, says 'anyong haseyo,' and then waves and says 'hiiiiiii!' i have never eaten dak poki at her stand (i actually hate dak poki, it is this weird rice cake thing in hot chili sauce. i like the chili sauce, but the rice cake just tastes like nothingness.) nonetheless, i consider this girl to be my friend and i always look forward to walking by, knowing that i will get a very happy welcome as i pass by.

i have seen one other foreigner in my neighborhood, so i imagine that we are talked about in depth. i can only imagine the korean rumors that have spread about this tall, western woman. im sure they are all much more exciting and creative than the truth of my being an english teacher. ah, c'est la vie.

and now the time has come to finish my lesson plans and get a little workout in. but first, i think there is one necessary activity in my future.

dexter!