Random

We saw this lady carrying a tray of bread on her head at Namdaemun market this weekend. This is not uncommon, but being fast enough to snap a picture is. Bonus points to the hottie in the bottom left corner.

Actual quote from the cafeteria this week:
Hyundong (a student) picks up an anchovy off his plate and points to the head: "Shawn Teacher- eye!"
Shawn Teacher (in all seriousness): "OK, Hyundong, now eat your eyes."

Also, at school this week is "No TV Week". It might as well be "No Air Week" because it's not gonna happen from me and probably not from them either. Anyway, the kids have all signed contracts agreeing not to watch TV, play video games or use the computer this week. However, little Erik K already plans to break the contract. He said,"My mom says I can watch TV. If I don't see the TV she is very tired." I spend a lot of time with Erik K and although he is really funny, I have to say I can see where his mom is coming from.

Yuna Kim's mug is plastered everywhere. She's the first South Korean figure skater to win an Olympic medal and she is a real hero in Korea right now, although I'm not sure what "be white" is supposed to mean or what that smoothie is going to do to me if I drink it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8uH1seeCL8&feature=player_embedded
This has got to be the most popular song in Korea right now. It doesn't matter what store you're in... it's playing.

It doesn't get laid out much simpler than this.

Breakfast has come to Korea! Koreans eat a regular meat/soup/fish/etc meal for breakfast so the last time we lived here there wasn't a single place anywhere near us that served western breakfast food. We used to make all our breakfasts in our apartment which is okay, but sometimes you just feel like going out. A few weeks ago we found a place called Butterfingers a few blocks away that serves up really awesome pancakes (after you wait an hour to be seated) at really inflated prices. Beggars can't be choosers. Anyway, today we went to a pub called Big Rock, which is also just a few blocks away, for their breakfast buffet. It was fantastic! And cheap, at a little over $10 CAN. There was all-you-can-eat bacon, sausagey, hashbrowns, french toast, muffins, bagels, fruit, an omlette station, and free refills of coffee and OJ. Man, I love progress. It's so tasty.

The picture has nothing to do with anything except that I like it. We started taking Korean lessons with my assistant teacher, Mindy, last week. I previously learned a bit of survival Korean ("here", "there", "hello", "how much", "beer") but I thought the language was basically impossible to learn. Every word seemed to be a real mouthful. But we learned a few simple phrases ("don cho ah hey"= "I like money") and left our class feeling like learning might just be possible. Maybe.