I have a few minutes here at school, so I figure I might as well get my thoughts out on virtual paper while they are still here.

Recently, two new friends took me to one of their favorite restaurants here in Seosan, and now it is truly one of my favorites. I don't off hand remember the name of the restaurant, but I definately remember the name of the food I ate. It's called, 벼다귀 해장국 (Byuh dah gooey hay-jahng goog) and it is amazing. It's basically just a foot long chunk of pig's spine, split into 3 four inch pieces, and then boiled in a spicy broth with onions and little veggy chunks. The meat literally fell off the bone, and then you dip that into a blessedly spicy mustard type sauce. It all just melts in your mouth. All told, the meal is 6,000 won, or about 5 bucks. I was absolutely stuffed when I left...didn't even eat any of the complementary ice cream or coffee they had by the door as you leave...wow.

Still kind of bummed about my favorite bartender leaving, but she will be on her own adventure in Australia. She's been there before, and she speaks pretty darn good English, so it may not be as much a shock for her as it was for me coming here, and that's good. Either way, I certainly will survive, but she was a pretty cool bird.

Just a short note about time frames; I am amazed at how fast all of this has gone so far. I am nearly done with my 7th month in Korea and even though there have been some odd isolated days, or days that I was bored out of my skull, it has really rocketed past. I can't really say I have been bored out of my skull, I guess, but certainly there's been the down days...not so much depressed, but not having the ability to do some things. It took nearly 2 months before I said the hell with it and just went into a restaurant on my own...or actually with a friend...because something as simple as ordering food amounted to a perceived traumatic experience.
It is just not so bad. If they don't want to serve you, they will just say closed. Not that I have had that happen often, but in Seoul, a friend of mine and I walked into a restaurant and they kept saying, "no English", and we couldn't determine if they meant they didn't know English, in which case we didn't give a shit, we just wanted Galbi, or if they didn't want to serve English speaking people. We tried a few times saying we didn't care, then just said the hell with it and went a few restaurants away and ate. They took our money and didn't bat an eye.

Last but not least, something I made note of on my Facebook page. It was the first day of the new school year for my students on a Tuesday not long ago. Korea begins their school year in March as opposed to September when we do. My Tuesday classes are *supposed to be the lowest level of my English students. Often times, I wonder how they got place there. Maybe they just are not good at taking the tests, maybe they just don't care about English Education, but either way, many of them surprise me and do very well. They did in the same classes last term, and they have done so already at the start of this year.

I was explaining to my students in class 1-C2 (I think), that in America, our school day typically runs like this: 8:15 or so, the bell rings, and students are supposed to be in class. They have class until lunch with short breaks in between to go to different rooms. They have lunch for maybe 45 minutes during that day, maybe only a half hour, maybe as much as an hour. After lunch they head back into the classroom(s) and then they work (in theory) until 3:05 or 3:15 or so, and then the bell rings and 95% of the kids scramble for the exits, their school day done. Some may stay for activities, such as football, baseball, golf, plays, musicals, etc, but in general, the students leave.

My students here in Korea didn't fully understand what I meant when I told them this. They all had a confused look on their faces. "Gone?" one student asked. "Over? School over?" another student asked while the others stared right through me. You could literally hear all of them thinking as the full concept sunk into their minds. One student stood stooped over, sat back down and tucked a leg underneath his body on the chair, so he sat much higher than before. He peered off into space and a slight smile crossed his lips. I could see him mouthing a word for just a few seconds and then he leaned over a little closer and looked at a good friend of his. Finally, he said the word, twice, as if as he said it, it became reality for them as well.

"Ooooh...Utopia."