Well, here I am, confessing to actually being able to get used to this culture, at least to the best of my ability, although I am indeed confessing to people that there are days when it's like having a guest shot in a Lewis Carroll book; I keep waiting for the White Rabbit to come scurrying down Buyeong Samcha 1-gil in a huff, off to catch the bus to Gunsan. Or something like that. I can see him now, "I'm late, I'm late, for a very {screech! and the smell of burning rabbit-paw fur as he stops,} where the sam-H(&*^%( AM I?!" A fair portion of the food I still can't bring myself to try, I'm scared to death to try and take some of my rolls of film to the local Lotte Mart, for fear I have desecrated someone's grave marker by photographing it. I can see that scene, too, coming to get my pictures, the man behind the counter makes an announcement over the PA system in Korean, and every single solitary Korean in the place turns on me, ending in a scene that looks like an out-take from a Wes Craven movie. eesh. Something in all this is somewhere between maddening and amusing, depending almost chiefly upon the kind of day I've been having. Though, admittedly, these kids are indeed actually pretty smart. They have a stunning command of the English alphabet and the words themselves, by and large, the issue comes in chiefly with grammar and word usage. My favorite is still that of Jenny, one of my middle-school students, who while doing a homework assignment, came up with the sentence, "I love a lot of man." I didn't know whether to tell her to change the noun form, or use protection! My first foray into eastern medicine actually did manage to cure my cold, and I keep thinking that not spending my time getting gassed 12 hours a day working as a mechanic is probably in my best interest health-wise, so overall, I'm actually feeling pretty damned good about myself. Not like I'm planning on renewing my contract at the end of the year, unless my boss comes across with about a $500,000 signing bonus, which is unlikely. I'm takin what I can, enjoying the rest, as much as I can, and if I'm forced to ignore or generally toss out any part of the experience, ya know what? I can do that, too. More later.