Full on Rubdown

That was the best haircut I think I've ever had. In case you were wondering, $7 dollars in Korea gets you an scintillating haircut, a deceivingly erotic head massage and a free bottle of "freezing" shampoo. The head massage I didn't see coming...which made it all the more exciting. Well, aside from my deep satisfaction and this newfound love of Korean hairstylists, life in Mokpo is in a flux. The fall breeze is rolling in, whipping up that cold chill that'll bring about the cornucopia of colorful leaves in a few weeks. I don't necessarily have any heartfelt longing for America right now, but I guess it's this time of year that I start to feel a bit nostalgic for Autumn in Ohio. I mean, the winters suck, the summer is hot and humid--but the other two seasons, however long or short, never fail satisfy the craving for elementary perfection. I guess it didn't hurt that I went to "One fo the Prettiest Colleges in the World" according to some.

Over on this side of the earth, though, I think Chuseok must have been some definitive turning point in the year--whether openly acknowledged or not. It's like all of a sudden everyone started wearing long sleeves and pretending its cold outside. I was also wondering why the gym was so crowded on Monday and Tuesday--and one of my co-teachers enlightened me by explaining how much everyone eats over the holidays, then proceeds to the gym for two to three days after they start to feel fat. It may come a little bit earlier than back home, with or without the 'resolution' part, but I guess we're alike than more ways than I could have imagined.

For lack of any midweek excitement, I thought I'd also mention how ridiculously fast everyone eats in Korea. I really don't want to generalize here, but it's not just my homestay family, or every single teacher and student at school, or when I go to the restaurants...OK, you get the point. I'm just amazed at how whenever I eat it's like a race to stuff it all down and then pass into a food coma. The school lunch room goes from zero to 300mph then back to zero again in about 10 minutes. Usually I just watch and giggle to myself--but sometimes it's a matter of life and death. I mean, there's only so many quail eggs on the homestay table...which seem to be a hot commodity for whatever reason I cannot figure out. My little brother covets them like they're the only golden tickets to Willy Wonka pleasure-ville, so if I'm gonna get some protein I better bring the battle ax to the table and prepare for a pissing match. No, it's not actually that bad, but primal instincts do flair up every now and then.

I'll leave it at that, and then go pass into haircut-pleasure coma for the rest of the evening.