And so it begins.
I have just gotten through with lunch. The menu:
Chicken (ommm)
Cucumber Kimchee (my favorite!)
Regular Kimchee
Rice
Seaweed Soup
This constitutes a wonderful meal. Sometimes they have unsavory items such as dried and shriveled anchovies laid abed this crunchy stuff or some such. There are many SMOE-ers who end up only eating the rice and kimchee everyday. (Not liking Kimchee in Korea is like not liking peanut butter in the U.S. or not liking that paste stuff from Australia. what is it? V-Verm-???)
And now, my wonderful friends who I would give all the cucumber kimchee in the world for, I must tell you that for three and a half to four hours everyday i have to fight a devastating food coma. Right this moment, as we metaphorically speak, I am fightin the urge to lay my head down on the desk and snooze. The fake wood looks almost spongy and my eyes could use just the tiniest close. I don't know what it is. The food portions aren't even that big--in fact, they're tiny. I starve until lunch and then I starve approximately two hours after lunch, continuing until dinner. You'd think this new hunger would stave off the food-coma, but it only transforms the feeling from a pleasant urge to cat nap to a weakening ache behind my cheekbones.
So I make myself lists of things to get accomplished. Lately it has pertained mainly to lesson plans and Law school application stuff. But who wants to think about that when dreaming would be so much better? Or, even better, an obliterating nothingness from which one emerges refreshed!
Oh to feel refreshed. I barely get that on the weekends and hardly ever during the week. I have to catch it in snatches. Lately I have taken to forcing myself to work out once I get home. Just a little run on the treadmills in the downstairs rec room of my apartments at O.S. Vill. I feel a hundred thousand times better after I do this. But it doesn't always happen.
On the weekends I feel as if I must make the most of every free second I have. This is not to say that I don't have time to myself during the week, because I certainly do (I get off of work at five and have my whole evenings free). But there are not many people around to hang out with. lisbeth is over an hour away by subway, so seeing her during the week is almost always out of the question. Andrew has a night class from 7 to 9. If I went to see him or he me, we wouldn't see each other till late, and then have to go to school in themorning. Hopefully, after andrew's night class is over, we will get to see more of each other. This weekend, we celebrated our second anniversary. I made him Kimbap (a korean dish which is kind of like cooked sushi) and noodles. I bought a low sitting table and covered it with a scarf. we sat on the sleeping pads i bought for guests. I also had candles and music. It was cute-mom called it a 'poor kids in the city' anniversary. I think he really liked it. Afterward, we went out in a district around Hongik university called Hongdae. This is where all the young people and foreigners go to get their party on. We went with my cousins dani and nica (Daeun and Yeaeun). Of course we had a wonderful time, but I was exhausted on sunday from being out and drinking soju. I went to the movies with Lisbeth and Dani and watched that weird/dark/kids movie "9". I really liked it, even if it did make my heart crawl.
But thats what I mean by being tired. I was tired Sunday and Sunday night i couldn't fal asleep since I'd been up late on the weekends.
Amy, a girl from Michigan who lives next door to me, has been my primary comrade. We go to dinner every evening, we work out together, and we generally complain about SMOE and the oddities of our Korean teachers. Its nice having her there. We explore our little section of Seoul together, looking at the odd Seoul fashions, trying new food, and flirting with a cute Korean guy who sells gelato.
(Note about fashion: Andrew thinks the seoul fashions are ugly. They have to cover your shoulders, but can be as short as you want it to be. Everytime I tried to find a suitable Seoul 'going out' dress, he told me i looked like a bag. I think its more conservative bohemian and I sorta like it. Except some garments can be really ugly in their attempts to be tastefully conservative...weird huh?)
I've killed forty minutes. I've still got three hours and twenty minutes to go.
I love and miss you all. I'll post pictures later I promise.
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2 comments:
congrats on the two year anniversary. Sounds like an anniversary you will not soon forget.
I am going to Sassy with Peach tonight. do you think you could make it in time if you leave now ?:( It wont be the same without you.
I'm glad Amy is keeping you company, can't wait to see the pictures.
vegemite
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