bfast- same

lunch- rice, kim chi, zucchini, galbi (special Korean chicken dish... good flavor but the bones wierded me out - I had a hard time figuring out how to eat it!), and a peppery soup that was milky looking with those rice cake things again

dinner- still full from lunch!... I ate a few bites of the yummy curry I made last night (Korean curry mix with apples, carrots, bell pepper and tofu), and a yogurt

Didn't see my Korean mom today. Maybe she moved to a different corner?

The computer teacher was using my "office" as a testing center for the first three class periods of the day, so I just put on my headphones and did my thing while 30+ Korean kids stared at me. Great times :) The computer teacher reallllly wants to speak English fluently, and she kind of latched herself onto me today. I was kind of surprised, but enjoyed her company.

Lunch was wierd- I was surrounded by the big wigs of the school... the principal, head teacher, assistant principle... and everyone was watching me eat. I think it was because I look absurd trying to eat with chop sticks, and galbi is a very important Korean dish. I tried to act like I didn't notice, and would just look up and smile at them every once in a while... but I got a little self conscious.

My alien registration card arrived today - I am now an offical "alien" :) So, in the afternoon the special education teacher took me to the bank, where I opened a Korean bank account.

After classes ended, my two buddies were hanging out in my office. Yea Gyun (the girl) asked me to go to the market with her. So, when 5 o'clock came around, we left school and headed for the "market". When we got outside, my little guy was waiting - I asked him "do you want to walk with us?" and he shook his head yes. Love that kid.

Yea Gyun ended up taking me to a stationary store in the shopping district about 10 minutes past my apartment. "I want to buy you a gift," she said. She wouldn't take no for an answer, so I looked for the least expensive thing I could find (we decided on some really cute Hangul stickers!), and we were on our way. I was so humbled at the selflessness of this little girl. She is amazing. I learned a lot about her today - she is learning English and Japanese, and hopes to learn French. She had so many good questions for me about culture in the U.S... and she had many good insights into Korean culture, too. One that stuck in my mind: I told her kids in Korea work much harder than kids in the U.S. (in Korea, most kids go to at least one extracurricular - i.e. piano lessons, English school, etc. almost every day of the week). She said, "America is better than Korea, so we have to work harder". Quite a big statement from a little girl of 10. She is an amazing person.

It was now dark outside, and I was worried about her walking home alone. She said her mom would be picking her up on the corner across the street from my apartment, so I waited there with her. I got nervous when we were waiting for what seemed like a long time, and it was getting later and creepier (at least to me) being outside. Finally she called her mom and everything worked out perfectly. She gave me another gift before we parted ways - a cute little notebook specially designed for learning vocabulary (she has been teaching me so many Korean words). What a fun gift! "Now," I told her, "I have no excuse to be bad at Korean!"