The weekend

So it's Wednesday, and it's been a long time since I have written anything.
So I am making up for lost time, by wasting time. I really don't feel too bad about it, I just found out that I will only hvae one class tomorrow. That is great news, because it means no grade three class including the boy that makes me crazy, but sad news, because it means no grade three class with the boy who I think is just great. He wants to be a doctor, so he is ALREADY working really hard, in the equivalent to grade nine. Go guy. He is the only kid in the grade school that I would even consider tutoring. I would tutor him for free, just because I think he is great, and seems to actually want to learn.
Well, the weekend then.
I don't even remember what we did on Friday. Probably napped, and complained about the fact that our apartment appears to have no heat.
On Saturday, I had to get up early. I volunteered to teach extra classes at the girls' school on Saturday morning. The grade twos were upset that there were no classes for them with the foreigner, and since I am working less than I am contractually obligated to anyways, I figured what the hey, and they got a recycled lesson from another school. Don't get me wrong, it was a great lecture, fun for the whole family. I did three lectures, and then got a free lunch, and then went home.
The plan had been to go to Kwangju for the Kimch'i festival. They had contests for foreigners, and it sounded like it might be fun. We had actually been planning on it for a few weeks.
But, when I got home, Jessie had gotten a new codec that allowed her to watch a bunch of programs that she had on her computer but couldn't watch before. So, we decided to watch one or two before we went.
That turned into three or four, and we thought that that would be well followed by a nap. Then it was about 8 o'clock.
Oh well, there's always next year.

I had been corresponding pretty regularly with Rodrigo over e-mail, so we made plans to have a guy's day in Kwangju.
We met at Starbucks, which actually has the highest concentration of foreigners out of any one place in all of Korea, I think. That's bound to happen, I suppose when there are thirty thousand foreign workers fresh out of university. If other universities were anything like Queens', and I'm pretty sure they were, we're all used to walking into a coffee shop with an unifinshed coffee from another coffee shop. Ahh, memories.
So we had a coffee. We went to Shinsegae (spelling?), the department store right next to the bus station. Poor Rodrigo. I have problems buying clothes here, because I am too big. I am too tall, too wide across the shoulders. Rodrigo is about 7' 8", and 350 pounds of solid muscle. Okay, that is an exaggeration (He looks like Darryl Sheppard and David Briggs had a baby, for those of you in the know). We tried on some clothes, and they were a little tight on me, and they were sausage wrap on Rodrigo. It was clearly not a good place for us to be shopping, and on top of the size problems, it is a pretty high-end retailer, so we couldn't have afforded anything anyways.
We went downtown after that. There was a little music store, and I stupidly went in. I almost walked out with a bass. A Gretsch Bass. For about $200. Maybe I should have. Maybe I'll go back tonight... probably not.
We caught the movie "Lord of War", which was good, but I recommend waiting for the video. More of a thriller than an action movie. By this time, we had been to Starbucks twice, and the "thrilling" aspects of the movie combined with my jitteriness made me want to punch the person in front of me in the back of the head.
For those of you who didn't know, I am drinking coffee again.
We went out for barbecue, and it was delicious. Astonishingly so, after a day with very little food. There didn't seem to be enough time, what with all the coffee drinking.
I found a coat, which was really good. I had been very worried that I would wind up having to pay over $200 for one that actually fit. But I found a really nice one for only about $85, so it was a good day.
I also bought a sweater, and have since bought another. The weather is getting very cold, and the schools are not heated. Short of wearing the same two or three sweaters that are appropraite for work every day, I needed to grab a few new ones. Mission accomplished. Next mission: turtle necks.

In other news, I am signing up for piano lessons tonight. I am really excited. The lessons here are very very inexpensive. And I will get to play every day. I am going to see if I can rent an electric piano to practice on too.

I just got handed a piece of dried fish or squid, covered in honey. This is a pretty common occurence when I am actually in the staff room, rather than hiding in the english lab. Well, the hiding days are over baby, because the english lab has no heat.

That's all for now.