Wait, What?

So I watched I crime unfold today and I didn't do a single damn thing to stop it. Actually, I wanted to--but I couldn't. Here's the story: I was sitting behind the ol' Mart this afternoon, taking a drink break and enjoying the sunshine before hammering out another day in the gym. Suddenly, I look to my left and there's this little kid, no more than 8 or 10 years old....creeping, yes, creeping, his way in through the back entrance of the store. At first it was more amusing
than anything else, because I honestly had no idea what he was doing. Then as soon as he came running out what a candy bar of some sort, it was all painfully obvious. To be honest, I did nothing. I just watched. On one hand, I was a little shocked. But mostly I was just speechless. Let me emphasize that last part: I couldn't--and still can't--muster up even half the words in Korean to adequately describe what the boy did. I mean, these store clerks/owners eke out a pretty meager existence, so that's just shitty. But what could I do? I wanted to tell the clerk, maybe stop the boy and have him give it back--but really, imagine doing that using only hand gestures and dirty looks...Every day I have another source of motivation to learn this language.

On a lighter (or darker, I dont know which?) note, typhoon Kompasu just blew through Mokpo last night. And when I say blew, that's about right. It started around 4 in the afternoon...just in time to drench me on my way out of school...and finished before I woke up the next

morning. Apparently the winds were anywhere from 50-95 mph, but I think I just slept through the bulk of it and woke up to bright and sunny skies this morning. It was, however, enough to drench my lower half in the 3 minutes I spent walking from the cab to a restaurant with the other Mokpo ETAs: Sean, Auburn, and Michelle (seriously, Nora, you missed out). Aside from the typhoon, damn it felt good to speak English at a normal cadence again. On top of that, it was nice to just sit around after dinner, watch the rain, grab some brews (at the New York bar, slightly pricy but nice atmosphere...new goal: find the dive bar with the $1 drafts) and trade horror stories about the past two weeks. This week I think the trophy goes to Sean: getting hit in the chest with a middle school girl's shoe. I guess they thought he looked like W.--though it would be far more hilarious if I thought middle schoolers actually kept up with politics.

On a final note, today (or technically tomorrow morning) is my favorite day of the year. College Football kickoff. Yes, that really does deserve bold and italics, it's that important. The past two weeks, every minute of Gyomushil (teacher's office) free time, ever ounce of late

night energy, every smidgen of creative inspiration--has gone towards mentally preparing for the season. No, I won't actually touch a football, but I am going to try to watch as many games as humanly possible despite the fact that a 12 noon kickoff back home actually means a 1 a.m. kickoff over here. Goal #2: find a good replay service. You might think this description is overkill, but after long deliberation I decided that college football (and maybe a little NFL, OK, and good beer, too) would be the only lasting remnant of American culture to pervade and infiltrate my life in Korea. We all have our vices; it could be much worse. With that said, if you tell me the Ohio State score before I get to watch the replay, check your mailbox for death threats in two weeks. Ok, maybe three weeks--because I'll use media mail, I'm that cheap.

Btw: the middle picture is me making Kimbap with the fam; I can roll like a champ.