Holy Shit! I'm in Korea!

Yep, I had another "moment" today. I was going to the grocery store. I don't know what I was thinking about, but it was very "in the style of Canada", and then I looked up to see nothing but Koreans. Then it hit me. "Holy Shit!", I thought, "I'm in Korea!". It's so strange that it still hasn't really hit me all the way. I still think to myself sometimes "I should stop at the Timmy's on Counter Street before I head back to rez". Like I'm just in some new weird area North of Princess I've never noticed before.

And how sad is it that my Canadian point of view is referenced to Victoria Hall? Oh man, Queen's you have ruined me for life.

Jessie and I are both a bit sick. Sore throats, lethargy... basically, it just means MORE napping, so no real change.

At the grocery store, I saw two more non-Koreans. Having become very accustomed to Korean customs and culture, I naturally did the Korean thing and stared, slack-jawed. They wound up behind me in line, and they turned out to be from Uzbekistan! How random is that? I guess pretty random, but not random that we would meet here, since it's just natural to seek out other foreigners when you are here. One of them tried to speak Korean to me, but I don't know any, so I said "English only!", and then he spoke English to me! How bad is it that I've been here for almost two months now, and I don't know any Korean? There are people who know multiple languages out there, and my lazy ass only knows passable french... and "thank you" in Korean.

Jessie is in quite a pickle at school. Her co-teacher asked her a few weeks ago to lead an "English Club" to do a short play. She was pretty excited about it, because it had the potential to be a LOT of fun. Anyways, Jessie chose the play "The grasshopper and the ants", which would have been really good. Anyways, practices kept getting postponed, or moved, for other things, like those pesky mid-terms. Well, about a week or two ago, Jessie was told that the play would be performed THIS FRIDAY! They still hadn't practiced, and Jessie's coteacher (who reminds me of "Senior Cardgage" from www.homestarrunner.com) told her that she had to change the play. Her coteacher got here the script last week. The week before that performance.
No costumes ready, no set, no kids who know their lines, no practice yet.
And I haven't even mentioned the kids in the "Club". They do not want to be in the club. The "fun" thing about extra-curriculars in Korea is that they can be assigned. These kids don't want to be there! The new play was chosen because it would be "funny", and therefore more fun to be in, and have more jokes that would be funny to people who couldn't understand the dialogue. But... it's longer, and Jessie can't exactly communicate physical humour easily. "Okay, Man-woo, you go over here, and trip over Kim-bop, and fall into the (something funny). It'll be hilarious!" "..." "Oh wait, you don't understand english". And yes, Kim-bop is actually a food. I just don't know Korean names. I only know food words.
Anyways, this whole english club thing is a bad idea. Doing a play is supposed to be a way to make enlgish fun, and possibly convey that it has a use in the real world. But forcing kids into a play will not be fun. And forcing kids to perform a play they don't know or understand will not be fun. In fact, it will be horrible and embarassing, and probably won't make any kids want to join next year. And it sure won't Jessie any more fun to her students, as it is apparently "her" idea, even though she's being forced to do it.
They had their first practice on Friday. Apparently, there was some debate about a scene in which a woman who is made a slave (a boy playing a girl, the non-verbal jokes become clear...)is leaving the evil king, and the boy/woman kicked the king ("Good Riddance"). Well, that apparently turned into a full-blown fistfight, and one boy was taken to hospital, and the other had gross welts on his neck.
What a great club!
Well, back to solving online mysteries. Can we escape this room? Only time, and online walkthroughs will tell.