Monday, April 20, 2009

Nothing in particular.

I have been reading Jane Austen. This may not seem of great consequence to you but when you find yourself formatting your internal monologue to early 19th century speech patterns you realize that there will be a problem if you continue this trend with your 6 year old students. I'm sure that 5 minutes of "Are those books tidy? No, let's make them tidy!" will clear that problem right up. I have been trying to get a hold of an affordable copy of Jane Austen's unfinished (or finished but unedited or polished) final three works for years. It's (seemingly) never stocked in stores and online searches turn up as 'out of print' or $30. I might spend $50 a month on books but given how fast I read I can't afford for more than half of that budget to go toward a single book, 3 in 1 or not. Before the seder I had a little extra time to kill and as I think I mentioned in an earlier post I found the book on the used shelf for FIVE THOUSAND WON (about $3). Needless to say, I am still ridiculously giddy about this. On the way home today I read it every step of the way, up the stairs, on the train, while walking through the station, EVERYWHERE. One of the things I love best about Korea is that while not terribly common, you do see young people walking and reading at the same time. Usually, they seem to be studying but being lovely and young people just presume I'm a student too! For instance, while on a subway earlier this week:

Me: (Standing and reading Vonnegut avidly)
Elderly gentleman sittingdown to my left: Hello!
Me: Hello! (*GAH! Why do people never chat me up when I don't have a book to read and ALWAYS WHEN SOMETHING AMAZING IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!*)
Elderly gentleman: Are you a student?
Me: ...Errr no, I am a teacher.
Elderly gentleman: *looks startled* How old are you?
Me: I am 24 years old. (24 is my Korean age, also it is best not to use contractions when speaking to people with dubious English skills.)
Elderly gentleman: Where are you going?
Me: I am going home.
Elderly gentleman: What?
Me: I am going home....jeep (Korean for house/home), home.
Elderly gentleman: Oh, okay.
Me: Goodbye! *exits subway*

This is why I am sometimes tempted to wear more makeup to work instead of a little concealer and blush if I'm feeling particularly ambitious. People are always astounded that I'm a teacher at such a youthful age. It's true though, I never had a teacher younger than 30 until I hit college and even then I think they were more of a mid thirties. Whatever, the snooze button and I have a loving relationship.

And for your viewing pleasure:
:SLDKJF:LSKDJFLSDKJFKDIJLKJIDJFIDJFIDJFd. I finally have my ridiculously high speed internet working and BLOGGER WON"T LET ME UPLOAD MY DARNED PICTURE!!!!!!!!!! *PULLS AT HAIR*.....I'm going to go dig into my uber rationed stash of oreos from *cough* March. They are still good. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm chemical sugar!

3 comments:

Nancy K said...

I am terribly disappointed that you can't upload any pictures. I love to see your view of Korea. I enjoyed our chat and your comment on my blog. It's fun that my children read my blog.

Josh said...

thou art a wee bit cracked my dear

Alex said...

A wee bit cracked? Of COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!