email: moved in

Subject: RE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 01:42:59 +0000
thank goodness it aint snowing like this in pyongchon.

dear mom and dad,
i am all moved into my place, it's bigger than i remember it to be when i first saw it, really, im rattling around in there. and it was actually pretty clean; i lucked out im sure b/c ive heard it's the responsibility of the new tenant to clean the apt, something about good luck? thank you to whoever was there before me, maybe they remembered that it's a foreigner moving in!

wow, i really really love my classes and my students. and now that i live here in the area where i teach, things are even better. before i got here, i was afraid i'd be going into a class of students who couldnt understand a word of english, but they actually understand quite a lot. i think it's more SPEAKING that is the challenge for them, they're thinking about proper grammar and subject/verb agreement, etc; i remember the feeling quite well from when i studied spanish. even the bits they dont understand, like when we're reading a story or something, if i do enough gestures and enough little drawings on the board, they get me. i have them give me a verbal summary at the end of each class and it's really cool to hear them say things in their (albeit a little broken english) own words.

it's snowing today, and ONCE AGAIN it took me a minute to realize it was snow! "where's that fire?" i think to myself as i see all this ash floating around in the air! it's weird to walk around in it, i keep trying to not inhale too deep b/c my brain keeps telling me that that is ash everywhere even after i realize that it's snow. mom,dont worry, i have my long johns on, im plenty warm.

tomorrow is my day off and im going to see about buying a tv and dvd player, b/c i havent done my step workout since i left the hotel and im feeling "sloth-ish." i think emart will deliver... i'll have to ask one of the staff at the school to help me. maybe write a note with my adrs on it asking for delivery. one of the korean women in the office has an extremely difficult name (for me) to pronounce, and she said i can just call her "twinkle." most people have an english name and korean name, and the kids come up with some doozies "Genius" "Miss Beautiful" "Princess Pretty" "Terminator" but it threw me off a little when this co-worker, a grown woman, is called "twinkle." well, she does twinkle, she's terribly friendly and i like her a lot.

i was riding the subway the other day (which i love, it's so fast and efficient and you dont want for a car here), i always stand, even if there are seats available. reason being is that there are a lot of elders, and if there arent any (or if there's plenty of space when i get on the subway) odds are that the next stop will have many elders who should have the seats. i say all that to say this: i was riding and gazing out the window not paying attention to anything, and then i felt that "stare." i look over and i see two elderly women looking at me. this has happened a couple times before, and when it does, i always smile and give a deep bow. so i did this of course, and the women smiled. a minute later, they motioned for me to come over and sit in the empty space next to them. i smiled and said no thank you b/c i was getting off soon, and gestured hoping that that translated if not the english. they just kept smiling. it was pretty cool. ~sha.