IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND, I'M THE FIRST IN LINE! HONEY, I'M STILL FREE; TAKE A CHANCE ON ME!

I love that song! And, Julie Walters is just about the funniest actress I have seen in a LONG time!

"If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown, Honey I'm still free, take a chance on me!"

So, it's days like today that make me think this:

"I could do this for a long while. Longer than just another 6 months." This being the whole living in Seoul and teaching English thing.

The bulk of my day is spent at school and therefore, my feelings about Seoul and my life in Korea often come from how I feel about my life at school. Often times my life at school is not very pleasant. My school like often makes me think this:

"I WANT TO GO HOME NOW!"

But, not today. I really liked my lesson today. I was teaching prepositions and adjectives, which feels like really teaching English, so I really liked it. Also today, it was my after school activities that really made me like Korea. It's the little things sometimes.

After school on Mondays and Wednesdays, starting today, I'm teaching an adult class. The class starts at 7 and finishes at 9. So, after school today, I went to the little Kimbap place that I always go to and ordered Kimchi mandu to go (which is what I normally do) for my dinner. The lady who normally takes my order wasn't there, but her husband was there and her mother was there cooking as well. They all know me pretty well cause I go in there all the time, so it's no big deal, I just go in, order my mandu to go, get it, pay and then leave.

Well, today, I only had 1 dollar on me so I was going to pay with my card. But, when I went to pay, the guy said they didn't have a "card option" (of course all of these conversations are carried out in Korean). And, I was like... "Uhh.. I only have one dollar..."

So, just as I was about to leave my kimchi mandu and run out the door to find more cash, the guy was like "Don't worry about it. Just give me that dollar and then pay the rest tomorrow."

SERIOUSLY! I have a tab at this place now! How sweet is that!!!!

Then, I went to my adult class and it was great! I have some of my old students and they were so happy that I was back! I was thrilled to see them too! Old friends are so great!

Then, I came home and went on a run and found out that there's a new little grocery store right next to me! It's like a little tiny Kroger, right next to my house! They sell cereal and fruit! They sell fabric softener. They sell octopus and squid! It's so great! I'm so happy they're there! The people working there were so friendly too!

I got some cereal, fruit, crackers and fabric softener. Yay!

Then, I went back to my little kimbap place and paid off my tab. This time, the lady who normally talks to me was there and her husband was out. When I gave her the money, she was confused and thought I wanted more food; but with my stellar Korean speaking abilities, I was able to make her understand that I was just paying what I already owed!

"Kimchi mandu [I pointed to the money I had just given her] upsighyo."

If you were there and you spoke a little Korean you would understand this to mean:

"I already had some of your delicious Kimchi mandu, but could only pay a dollar for it. So here's the rest of your money. Thank you so much, you guys are so great!"

Or

"Kimchi mandu [point finger to indicate the money] I don't have."

At any rate, that was all solved and we all left happy. Or, I ran out before they could give me any money back. Yeah...

Anyways... now I'm home and full of fruit and good feelings!

Hope you are all full of good things too!


Love, prayers, good things,


Hil