Thumbs Up

Today I was on the subway with a male Korean friend and this old man sitting across from us kept giving me the thumbs up. Like, over and over. He kept gesturing and then giving me a weird smile and a thumbs up. I was trying to tell my friend, but he doesn't speak the best English so it took awhile, but he finally saw it as well and then the man kept saying something to him. When we got off, my friend told me the man was just kept saying "nice" in Korean. He doesn't know what exactly was nice, but the whole thing cracked me up. Maybe he thought one of us was good looking...or he just really likes to see international friendships...I don't know, but it was hilarious. Our friendship gets the old Korean man stamp of approval. We were coming back from the Korean version of the dollar store and on our way, we happened upon a ukulele concert in the mall, which was pretty awesome. It was in honor of some Hawaiian festival and it was quite lovely. They played a bunch of songs and did some singing as well, and also played Pachabel's Canon...one of my favorites. Pretty good stuff for a free mall concert.

I've been making some more Korean friends lately and I have to say, it is quite nice to have someone that knows what is going on when you're out and about. They can read signs, menus, understand announcements...all the things I have no clue about. It's awesome. Plus, it apparently makes old men happy. Huge plus.

Anyway, my week back at school was kind of rough. I wasn't feeling great and had a fever for a bit. Also, the AC was on the fritz at school so it was unbearably hot in the classroom. It's hotter here than is it at home, in Charleston! I  didn't think summers got hotter than Charleston but I was wrong. This week will cool down some because it's supposed to rain all week..just in time for the AC to be fixed. I'm feeling a lot better as well. That is another benefit to having Korean friends, they know what kind of medicine to buy you at the pharmacy AND can tell you how and when to to take it. Fantastic! I really should learn some Korean. I really think I would benefit from it.

Last week I also saw Wicked for the third time and it was amazing, as always. I just love that play so much....musicals are the best and that one is exceptional. It was all I could do to keep from jumping out of my seat and singing along to every song. Our seats were terrible, but it was still great. And a surprisingly packed house for a Wednesday night.The Koreans were, of course, on a picture taking frenzy in the theater, so that was some added entertainment. I wonder how some of the things get translated...especially since some of the words are just made up nonsense. I'm guessing they don't pick up on all the puns either. Oh well, it's still enjoyable, even if you don't know what they're saying. I guess it's just like when I watch operas or listen to KPop.

Oh, and I finally jumped aboard the "50 Shades of Grey" book. And I'm not at all sure what all the fuss was about. I thought the book was pretty terrible. Pretty much just like any other romance novel with all the gratuitous sex, poorly written and completely unbelievable. A little weirder than most (not that I've read a lot) but I still don't understand the phenomenon. I was pretty disappointed.  If you need a good book recommendation, I read "The House at Tyneford" over vacation and it was fantastic. Depressing, but great. For some humor, Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" Mindy and I would totally be best friends. "There is no sunset so beautiful that it's worth waking me up over." My thoughts exactly. We're spot on for lots of other things as well. But a lot's happened since I read it so I forgot them all. I also read a book about the real Downton Abbey, which was pretty interesting. I haven't seen the show, but I might start watching. "Porch Lights" was a bust, not surprising, but I didn't have anything else to read. That author writes a lot about Charleston and it's all ridiculous, superfluous, and predictable. In my opinion. Now I need new books...recommendations appreciated!

So that's my life. Things are still going great in Korea. I really like it here. I am tentatively planning a trip to the Philippines for Chu-Suk...the Korean Thanksgiving. I think it's so awesome a trip to another country is just a short flight away. I really want to go to China, but it cost American citizens $200 to get a visa to go..even if it's just for a few days. The flight to Philippines cost only $100 more, so I think I'll wait and go to China when I have more time and can get more bang for my visa buck. Or maybe China and the US will work out their differences and I can go for free one day! Would be nice. I am not doing a great job of saving money here with all these trips but other countries are just too fun to resist.

Dream big people!