Who knew Simon and Garfunkel were amazing????

I didn't, but I do now.

But anyways!

One of the things that has been most consistent in my life here in Korea has been the inconsistency.

One day it's a good day, the next it's terrible.
One day it's easy, the next day I don't know if I can do it anymore.
One day my students respect me, the next I can't even get them to sit down.
One day everything seems stable and secure, the next there's so much confusion and turmoil I don't even know what to hang onto.

My earthly forms of stability are all in America... sometimes I feel like I'll fly apart if I don't have someone to hang onto. Someone older than me... like a parent.

But, today was a good day. I was able to manage my classes fairly well and I had some nice conversations with my co-workers.

Kyeongmi, the Korean teacher who sits right next to me, was putting lipstick on after lunch. When she does this it cracks me up because she has to use a paint brush to apply it. Apparently one of her daughters got into her makeup bag and smeared the lipstick all over her face leaving just a mangled blob inside the tube. Kyeongmi didn't want to throw it out because that lipstick is expensive, so she uses a little paintbrush to apply it to her lips.

Today, just as she was finishing this after-lunch routine, I leaned over to ask her a question and before I could even get a word out, she grabbed my head and started trying to put that lipstick on me.

UGGHH!!! She's like my SISTER!!! I kept swiveling my head around trying to get away from her, but she was insistent! I felt pretty sure that she was about to sit on me... just like my sister used to do when she thought my face needed an adjustment in some way!

So, I had lipstick on for about a minute today. She was pinning my hands down, but as she was trying to get the music teachers' attention, I managed to wipe it off.

YES! SHE WAS PINNING MY HANDS DOWN!! Holy cow! It's like sitting next to a weird combination of Haley and Mom.... in Korean form!


But, then we were talking some more and she invited me to stay at her place every Friday night next semester.

I think she wants to adopt me.

But, I also thinks there's this weird, unspoken kind of battle going on between her and Mikyeong, my co-teacher who's recovering from cancer.

They battling for me. Like, trying to see who I like the best or who has the biggest claim on me.... I'm not sure how to deal with that one. I like them both. Why can't we all just be friends???


Here is a picture of Kyeongmi, my neighbor.


I called her cute today and she didn't like that. She said that in Korea, you can only be cute if you're young. So, I said she was adorable...which, to me is almost the same thing, if not a word that I would more readily associate with younger people... but she liked that better.

Talk about stability. If I let her, she'll try to be that stability for me.... if I let her.

There's also Mikyeong. She wants to be that too... if I let her.

"So what are you complaining about, Hil?" That's your question, right?

No matter what I do or who I go to here, there will always be inconsistency. I can't avoid it. They can't avoid it either. I love them... really! And, I know they love me too. For crying out loud, Kyeongmi hugged me like 8 times today! WHAT AM I A TEDDY BEAR??

But, maybe my life is supposed to be led alone... for this year. Maybe my life is supposed to be inconsistent.

Or maybe I'll get a puppy.



Peace out, Ya'll!


H