Funny Story, Dolls, Matchmaker

So much happens the first few weeks in a new place that I feel overwhelmed in trying to remember/write it down. It's stuff I want to remember though.

Today I went to school to help set up for Sunday School and found out that no one was there...so I just walked back home. On my way back, I saw one of the funniest things I've seen in a really long time. You must understand that cars here are absolutely insane. If you don't watch where you're going it's really, really easy to get hit. Well, it was early in the morning and there was a lot of traffic. I was on the sidewalk, but coming towards me on the main road taking up one lane of traffic was an elderly man in an electric wheelchair. Imagine cars swarming around him with one of his hands on the controller and smoking a long cigarette in the other--obviously not happy with the cars around him. I wish I could have taken a picture. It looked so funny.

At home I dropped off my groceries (I finally found a good grocery store!!) and headed downstairs to figure out my address. The buildings here have no numbers, and there are no street signs, so it's not easy. I tried talking to the apartment manager, but he couldn't help me. On my way downstairs to talk to the security man, I stopped on the 2nd floor to drop off some dry-cleaning. On walking into the store, I told the woman to please clean my clothes (in Korean), and she scowled at me and said "Ani!! (no)" and shooed me out the door. Oops...I thought it was a dry-cleaner, but I think it's just a tailoring place :)

After filling out paperwork (I have no idea what for), the security man finally gave me the apartment's address. I'm not sure if it's really what I was asking for, but he seemed to know what I was talking about. Hmm...

Hungry for lunch, I headed to the kimbap restaurant, and was pleased to see my friend/older sister. She was happy to see me too, and she quickly brought me 2 little clay dolls that she had made and painted herself. They're really fragile and bend easily, so I'm not sure what to do with them without breaking them. Any ideas?? They're in the refrigerator now because it's so hot here that they were melting.

We ended up talking for about an hour and a half with the help of my phrasebook. I found out that she has two children, and one of them is my age! I also found out that she's Catholic and likes hiking. Ah!! The language barrier is so hard!! I hope that someday we can go hiking together. When I was about to leave, the apartment security man came in and is apparently friends with the kimbap ladies. He told me that I should date the woman's son who's my age. He said I could call him Uncle Mr. Kim, and that I had found a special friend in this woman. It was cute. He put us together, and said, "Mama...baby". It was sweet--even though no one can replace my own mom :) He took me into his office after eating together, and said that I need to find a Korean boyfriend. He said he will make sure it's taken care of. It seems like I have a few matchmakers here in Korea...

At home I cleaned my apartment, which was no little task...then popped in a few movies I got from Kwang (a friend from the U who works in the office with Ian). Last night I watched Freedom Writers. Even though I've already seen it, it is such a good movie!! It was a challenge to my own life. How do I encourage my students to be better not only in English but in life? Great movie if you've never seen it...