It's been a bit since I've written so I figured I was due to sit again and ramble about the state of Korea in general, and about my state in particular. This has been an exciting week for the most part, or at least pleasntly enjoyable. The weather here has been, apparently, unseasonably cool, which is very nice.

This week at work I had another Parents Day for my younger children advnaced class, these are 7 year old students who have all spent time in the states at some point and who now behave like regular American 1st graders for the most part, and whose english is on par with most 1st graders, we are still working on it.

Anyway, they parents came to our extra long class, and I suppose they had a good time. I had one father which is unusual because normally only the mothers are involved with anything to do with the school. I'm not sure why the family dynamic is that way, but most of the married women here do not work, or find getting employment impossible. There has not been much of a women's lib movement in Korea and for the most part married women are essentially an extension of the husband and their general role is to raise the children and cook. That said, it was rather unusual to have a father attending my class. The class seemed to go well, or at least I hoped it did, and I went on with the rest of the day as usual.

On Thursday one of the mom's from my class stopped by to see me. She told me that her husband had been very impressed by the job I was doing and wanted me to have a little gift. She gave me some handlotion and a card, and inside the card was a gift certificate for 100,000 won. I was really overwhelmed and had no idea what to say. I did say thank you and I am thinking on giving them a painting if nothing else.

In the meantime I finished my week and awoke on Saturday with a 100,000 burning a whole in my pokcet so I figured I might as well go shopping. I spent the first part of the afternoon in the fabric section at Seomun Market, which is huge. The section is the entire upper story of a hospital sized warehouse and it is packed from one end to the other with every kind of fabric you could desire. I spent two hours there and was quite thoroughly lost amongst the stacks of fabric and Koreans who were bargining or making comments about me. I still seem to fascinate Koreans. I did find two very nice pieces that I am going to make into a sweater and a pair of pants or a skirt, but I have not decided yet. After that I took my ill-gotten money and went to the only place I could spend it, the Duebec Department Store.

Now, Department stores in Korea are huge and flashy and full of incredibly well dressed Koreans in expensive clothes, fragrances, and makeups. I walked in coming from the market in my handstiched purple pants, and a 10 long sleeved t-shirt and my first thought was "I'm never going to find anything in this place that I will want to buy." I took the escalotor to the top, and then started working my way down. I found some candles, which I quickly procurred as many of as could be carried, as well as a stuffed doggie, which will entertain me. I then went down to the next level and was struck by the bright lights in the back and walked towards it only to find the pet section.

I was overjoyed because I had been thinking a turtle would be just the thing.  I did not, alas, find a turtle, but I did find a very nice, somewhat expensive, tank, and a beta fish. I tried to convey to the Korean in the pet section that I wanted to buy the tank and the fish. He spoke no english and tried to explain to me that I could not buy two beta fish because they would kill each other. I explained to him that I knew that already and that I wanted to buy the tank and one fish not to. At this point he got very flustered and ran to the back to get help and walked out with another Korean. Fortunately this on knew "Hello, and How are you", which I suppose was a step up from the Korean who knew nothing. I then tried to explain all of this again, with almost the same results, but eventually I did manage to buy both the tank and the fish. The fish is now happily swimming in my apartment, and it needs a name. I will get to it eventually.

That's about all. The rest of my ill gotten money was used to buy me dinner, a cab home, and beer for an alcohol fueled evening on the town. My head is recovering, but my fishy, as it is known now, is well and adjusting to it's new habitat.

More Soon,

Sara