A Very Long Day

Today, as you can imagine with it being Saturday, really started last night. As is tradition, we went out for Soju Friday, a mass gathering of ECC employees uniting under the flag of drunkenness to celebrate the close of another week without any major incident. I got the new guy, Albert, to join us, and he sat right between me and Kayleigh, making sure our glasses were full all night--and into the morning. The ride home in the taxi was fun, because I figured out the trick to speaking Korean: be drunk! My driver was tres amused...

This morning came a little too early. I was the only member able to represent cheerfully this morning, albeit a little less polished than normal. Chris and I met early so we could grab McDonald's before Korean lessons. It was delicious! Lessons went well, and really it's as I suspected: my kids need to practice their English outside of class, and I need to practice my Korean if either of us are going to get any good. Fortunately, I have many friendly, lovely coworkers who help. As you may imagine, I was a star pupil. (This is where my amazing humility demonstrates itself.) I did make two mistakes on my homework, just to remind me that I'm not quite perfect. Yet. ;) Today we learned words for items in the classroom and worked with the Korean versions of "this" and "that."

Afterward, we met up with a hungover Heather and visited the Mexican restaurant--finally!! It was pretty darn good. I had a chicken burrito, trying to eat healthier than the chimichanga I wanted. Unfortunately, the burrito really could have used more spice, and the chimichanga came with this delicious spicy meat sauce... So I know my decision for next time.

After enjoying a cup of tea, Chris and I headed off to Cinderella for our haircuts. I totally got my hair whacked off, and I'll have pictures taken tonight to prove it. I also got a wave perm, which as far as I can tell didn't do anything, but I'll wash it on Monday and find out. The hair designer was very sweet, and she did her best to speak in English with me. I understand how Koreans feel, now, about approaching a foreigner to speak in English; my shyness really came out when I tried to mumble something, and I ended up blushing and waving it off as nothing.

I've just gotten home from that ordeal, and now I'm going to rest up before heading out for Mel's going away Saturday night. Should be dancing, drinking, and fun!