The Darker Side

It's been about a week so I guess it's time I update this thing. As for the darker side, I finally managed to get sick on this side of the Earth...aside from the random delights that come with trying new foods and welcoming new bacteria. Fortunately I think it's going to be a quick one. If first came in on Saturday and I'm feeling a lot better as of Monday evening. I don't think I've ever slept quite that much in one day though--let me give a shout out to downloaded episodes of Mad Men for filling in the spare time (for those of you who haven't seen this show, watch it. Now. AMC isn't paying me to say this, but I'm open for offers if the word gets out). Anyway, I guess the random Korean medications I took couldn't have hurt. I mean, I have no idea what some of the stuff was (a bit ashamed since I'm going to medical school next year) but I was too lazy to figure out the translations and just assumed that my host mother wasn't trying to kill me...the verdict on that one comes back if I make it to the next blog post. The sickness couldn't have come at a better time though: I had Friday off for some sort of "testing," I only had to work half a day today and there's a school "festival" tomorrow--for which I should attend--followed by another round of "testing" on Wednesday that I definitely don't have to show up for. Sorry for all the quotation marks, but I use them as much for my own amusement at this point. It's just with testing and festivals and field trips and school 'let's be lazy days,' I'm pretty sure I've ended up with more days off than I actually work--I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, it's just...amusing. As for the festival, I'll try to lug the camera around tomorrow to capture the glory of Korean flag girls and stale dokboggi, even if ol' Jungang High School can't match the opulence of Keith's Jeju boys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpTJISyKGrA&p=FF23A0D80A471DD4&playnext=1&index=9). I expect it will be somewhere on par with the North Korean Mass games (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBWOEdy_-qM). Okay, maybe not. But a boy can dream.

Switching my train of though here...This upcoming weekend is the first Korean Formula one race--situated right here in Mokpo. Okay, not actually Mokpo, but it's like ten minutes away. Supposedly I'm getting free tickets because I'm white, or not Korean, either way you want to look at it. I kind of doubt I'll get the tickets to be honest, but you really never know around here. I can't say being...Western...gets you that many perks, but if definitely puts you in interesting situations. Like walking around this "Health Expo" on Saturday afternoon with my host mom and sister: random Korean women handing me bags of kimchi and taking my picture for who-the-hell-knows what publication. I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me. Most of all though, I can't walk ten feet outside the apartment with random kids saying hello to me. I mean, it sounds innocent enough, but with the snide little smile on their faces and the lack of any interest in engaging in conversation (that, and you've already heard it 3,459 times the previous week) it starts to seem less innocent. Don't get me wrong, I don't get angry or anything. I just stop thinking, "Oh, what a nice kid" and start wondering when the little #$%* can think of something more creative. I'm sure any other ETA reading this knows exactly what I'm talking about, so if you have any suggestions for a good comeback I'm all ears.