특별한 기적을 기다리지마 눈 앞에선 우리의 거친 길은*

* = don't wait for a miracle, there's a rough road ahead (Teuk-byul-han gi-jeok-eul gi-dari-jima, nun-appesan-woori-eh geo-chingireun)

I will start today with a list of pros & cons.

Pros:

• Pottery with L3: So today, all of the Sogang levels had outings with their respective levels to different "culturally informative" places within the city. Level 3 wound up going to this pottery shop in Hongdae, where you could decorate your own mug, which would then be fired and glazed for your enjoyment. I have to say that as a person who does not much care for arts and crafts, I actually had quite the fine time. I think this was much more due to the pretty outstanding people in my class than the fact that I am now the proud owner of a mug emblazoned with a purple cow (yeah, I don't know either). Most of my class was in attendance, as well as (most of) our teachers; my writing teacher was the only one who wasn't there, which made me pretty sad. She's my FAVE. Not that I dislike my speaking teacher or my listening teacher (whose clothes indicate that she is either still living in the 80s or is just horribly misinformed about what actually looks good on her). Okay, that was mean. But I kind of want to take her shopping or something.

3급 hard at work on our mugs. I've never seen adults so excited for arts & crafts. P.S. Becky spent the entire time we were there with that same ridiculous grin on her face. It was kind of adorable.

again.

speaking teacher, 이선생님. She's pregnant and said she's too fat for photos, but I disagree and am posting this anyway. Note with delight the Asian peace sign. Sadly, I have no pictures of my listening teacher to post...

my finished product. I didn't draw the cow, it was from a copy-on stencil thingy. I did, however, color it purple and then, in a fit of artistic exasperation, give up and draw polka dots on the whole thing. What this has to do with Korean culture, I have no idea, but it was a nice bonding experience.

• After pottery, lunch with (most of) my class. We ate at this nice BBQ place and had (I hope I'm getting this right) 닭갈비 보끔밥, or spicy chicken fried rice. NOM. It was really good and it was really nice to just hang out with these people I see every day outside of KLEC. Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly?), they are all older than me, probably by at least 5-20 years. No other Americans, either. But you'd be surprised how much you can communicate using extremely broken English and rudimentary Korean.

the initial: spicy, savory chicken + ddeok + scallions/onions

the finished: FRIED RICE :)

the happy eaters: Akabame, Konomi, Ada, Chuchun, Seona, Becky, Yukiko, Jere, Riston. Given that I know these people's names only in Korean, I actually have serious doubts about whether or not I am spelling them correctly. But 3.5/5 Asians throwing up the peace sign = win.

• Pronunciation class, which is offered in addition to regular classes on Tuesday and Thursday. Really, this class wasn't all that great/necessary, especially because I feel like Lee Sunsaengnim pounded pronunciation drills into our heads at Yale, plus I did a lot with Jihye; however, it was a huge ego boost, because while just about everything else I do here seems sub-par, I am a superior pronunciator and put the Japanese girls here to shame. Okay, so what I really mean is that I found an opportunity to pay back two girls in my class who are always helping me out when I have no idea what is going on by helping them to understand the subtle pronunciation differences between 가, 카, and 까. Success?
• Korean beauty products, which are available at no less than 5 or so makeup stores on my street. I bought a face wash from a place called InnisFree (all organic products, surprisingly not as expensive as you might expect) and it's FABULOUS. Probably the best stuff I've ever used. The only downside to this is that when Sneha and I first went into the store, we were tailed by the ONE makeup-store employee in perhaps all of Korea who was Korean-American. She pounced on us immediately, recognizing us to be the Korean-deficient English speakers that we are, and proceeded to follow us around the entire store, despite the fact that we told her once or twice that we were just checking out the stuff at all the stores on the street to see what was there and were not interested in knowing the details of every product on the shelf. Actually, in Korea, this isn't terribly out of the ordinary - ajummas in shops consistently stalk you from the moment you enter, and it's terribly annoying and oppressive (at least it is in my opinion). It doesn't really give the opportunity to compare products or prices because you feel insanely pressured to BUY SOMETHING FAST and get the hell out. But JESUS, this girl from InnisFree was just too much. She also had some farfetched and convoluted story about what she was doing in Korea and why she was working at InnisFree. The whole thing made very little sense, and I was almost disappointed when I found a soap that I wanted to buy, because it just provided her the opportunity to talk more. I've since been back to InnisFree (the second time, I went with Christine), but the girl found me again and picked up right where she left off. Expletive.
• I bought 2 magazines from a street vendor in Sinchon Rotary, both of which are in Korean. One of them has Korean actress Jeon Ji-Hyun on the cover, who I have venerated since I saw My Sassy Girl, a hilarious Korean film that remains in my top 5 all-time favorite movies. Evidently, she has a new movie coming out and they interviewed her about it; I expect to have some vague idea about what she said in the interview by the time this program is over, which is to say, it is probably going to take me months or longer to decipher it. But one day, I swear I'll read it, and the rest of the magazine while I'm at it.
  
• Waffles from Casse Croute. I eat 2 a day sometimes. At less than a dollar each, I feel absolutely no guilt in buying them. I might feel guilt if I have to buy new pants as a result, but for now...well. We'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it.
• I may be going to Gyeongju in two weeks. This is all slightly up in the air, though, so I will refrain from providing details until things are more set in stone.

Cons:

• I am about 95% sure my wisdom teeth are coming in. This is just awesome, since I have no hope of getting dental care for the next 2 months. I have a decent supply of American ibuprofen, but I doubt it'll be enough with the headaches/pain I've been getting. Plus, the last thing I want to do when I arrive home is get oral surgery, but it would be necessary to do so ASAP in order to return to Yale fully recovered by the end of August. I've made an appointment to get all of this checked out on August 19, which is...a day after I arrive home. SWEET (not).
• Speaking is still a royal pain, but! there is hope. I responded to a KLEC message board post by a Korean girl looking for a language exchange partner (I help with her English, she helps with my Korean) and I got a response back! Hopefully, I can start meeting with her soon, although I haven't heard from her in a few days...
• I will not be traveling to Tokyo this summer. Enough said about that.
• No Jihye time this week. It's still concert season, but I think they basically have July & August off. Soonish?

On that note, I cannot believe that I have been here for over 20 days, indicating that I'm a quarter of the way through my time here. I think I express some degree of shock over this in every entry, but yeah. Time flies, dude.

As always, if you're reading this, chances are I miss you.