Yay for citrus

I'm really glad I bought the oranges yesterday. I am definitely sick. Great. At least the 7-11 across the way had throat lozenges, tea, and microwaveable rice porridge so I didn't have to go too far to get what I needed. The microwave works differently than the ones back home, I'll have to take a picture for you to look at later. As far as I can tell, there's not any "start" button, although there is a "cancel" button and no numbers whatsoever. It does have a dial... but I don't know what purpose the dial is for. I figured out how to start it at least. Have to stand there and manually stop it, but I'll take it.

I don't really want to do anything except lie in bed and sleep... unfortunately the nagging cough I have prevents that... At 7-11 they had Halls and Ricola brand throat lozenges. Not the ones I normally get, but I'm sure that in a bigger store they have more variety. But these definitely work, I'm not going to be picky since I don't want to go very far.

Besides whining, I was also going to tell you that I changed the title of my blog since the only reason I called it "The Dual Identity" is mostly because when I was sitting at SeaTac, that was the only one I could think of that wasn't taken. I don't like that title though, so I changed it. I can't think really straight right now, so I may change the title again, but ... whatever.

Oppa picked me up on Sunday. He called at 3:30 saying it would take him 30 min to get to me (4ish). I walked down to the Kyung Hee entrace around 4:15pm... And waited... and then called him at 4:45-5pm. Well... a woman answered... and I moved the phone from my ear to look at it... and it said it was his phone number... and she didn't say who she was... so I had no idea what was going on, but she said that oppa was driving...

 

Anyway, I think we eventually found each other around 5:30ish. The woman was yeojachingu (girlfriend)... which he told me they had broken up when I first arrived... And I hadn't heard that they had gotten back together?... That was weird. What was even weirder (to me anyway), was then they proceeded to tell me that we were going to her family's house to have dinner. WHOA. Back the train up. Last time I checked you had broken up and now you're back together and I'M going to meet HER family????

 

I really think it's unfortunate for Oppa and Omonim that their long lost sister/daughter is me. I think that it would have been better had it been someone else. Omonim thinks I hate her since that first bad meeting and Oppa... well, I try not to be, but I think I must be a difficult person. I really didn't want to go to dinner with them.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I thought having dinner with her family was weird. Especially since they aren't married. I would have been fine going to have dinner with MY b-family, but again, I was a little taken aback since I hadn't even thought about her. It's not like I don't like her, but I... well, I'd rather get to know my b-family first, rather than get to know someone else's family. Also, when they are together it makes me feel really out of place... think third wheel, only in this case they can communicate just fine, while I can't at all... So they can yak in Korean to each other, but I don't understand what they are talking about so I just sit there.

 

And then they asked me why I didn't want to go to dinner at her family's place... And how to answer that question...? This communication barrier is really starting to annoy me. I think I'd enjoy my Korean language class more if we were focusing on things that would help me communicate to my b-family. Anyway, for lack of a simple answer that could be communicated easily, I just said we don't do that in America. I really don't like that answer, but I couldn't think of another answer that I could communicate. For the record, I don't think I've ever met any of my siblings' significant other's families.

 

I think they were both disappointed, but I told them they could go without me. But then Oppa parked and was trying to get me to go... We ended up getting coffee, then stopping by a phone store to fix my phone (previously I wasn't able to get on the internet or play games or download message attachments w/o wireless), and finally we went to dinner at Mr. Pizza... Like I said, Oppa's life would be much easier if it wasn't me... :(

 

Since I mentioned my Korean language class, it is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Combined with work as well and adjusting to living here, I don't think I can do a great job of all of them at once. I can't give 100% to all of them. I think my Korean class will be the one to get the short end of the stick. My job of course, comes first, and I HAVE to learn how to live here well, and in this I'm including developing my relationships with my b-family. I'm not going to be able to pass the Korean class anyway since I am leaving before the final, so I'll fail by default. Also, right now, although we are learning things that are useful, there are also a lot of things that I don't think are necessary at all. I don't think I've ever talked about city hall before in my life, even though I know what it is...

 

To finish with... just some funny stories of my travels here.

Adventures in K-land:
I went downstairs to the store and the woman that works there is very nice. The first day I arrived she helped me get my stuff inside and told me where to go and where to find a luggage cart. Anyway this particular day, I just wanted something quick to eat like a sandwich... The store isn't very big and she was watching me the entire time... That's one thing I don't like about Korea... the shop owners always stare at you... And since I can't read anything, it takes me at least twice the amount of time it takes regular shoppers... O_O Anyway. She realized what I was looking for and offered sandwiches in the cooler right outside the door. Then, when I went to pay, she noticed that I had a lot of coins in my purse and so insisted (even though I had bills to pay) that I dump my coins out. I kept offering bills to pay, but she really, really insisted... LOL. She counted them all out and gave me the leftovers... So I got rid of my coins. :D

Another day, I was waiting for someone inside one of the buildings on campus. There were several others who were also waiting for someone there. An ahjumma (older woman) was talking to someone, and I didn't think she was talking to me, until she hit my shoulder. I would normally say "patted"... but it definitely wasn't a pat. She definitely put some force into it. I don't know if that's normal for ahjumma's to do in general, since the older generation is much respected and can basically get away with anything .... LOL. But I think she must have been talking to me and thought I was just being rude and ignoring her... I told her in broken Korean that I don't speak Korean... It still makes me laugh at how hard she hit my shoulder. And not just once, not just twice, but three times... LOL

There's a game called Dragon Flight that I've been finding myself playing more and more. Its very popular. I see more people playing it on the subway than anything else. (The subway is almost always packed so it's kind of hard not to see what others are doing.) Oppa gave me that game to play on his phone and I didn't get it... until I started playing it myself. It's pretty addicting. And I've been playing it a lot today... LOL.

Click for video, Youtube makes it seem a lot more exciting than it is...

I was sitting next to another ahjumma on the subway one day. I have to be on the subway an average of one hour twice a day to get to my workplaces. So I use my phone and play games like most others on the subway. Anyway, the ahjumma sitting next to me started talking to me, she did pat me though. LOL. Anyway I explained again that I don't speak Korean... and that didn't stop her. She paused, but then started pulling out her cell phone and speaking in Korean again. She started playing Dragon Flight on her cell phone... LOL and proceeded to, at least this is what I thought she was telling me, give me hints on how to play the game effectively... LOL. The only thing I got out of our "conversation" is to do something slowly... O_O

To end with, I'm holing myself up in my room for Christmas, looking at pictures of my family and thinking about them. Trying to lesson plan and study, but getting distracted... And again, I'm not feeling 100% and Christmas is purely a couples thing here so... not much to do anyway.

Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope everyone is able to spend time with those they love. :D
Much love from Korea!