Note: I have self-nominated this post as the post with the least interesting pictures ever. You’ve been warned.

Monday, Oct 21

Here we go again. I thought I was going to have an exciting story to tell you about a DATE, but he got a little annoying at the last minute so I said I’m out. That’s a story for another day.

Got myself to class, ha ha. There are only 3.5 weeks left, then the final. I may take off another day or two to see leaves, but I should be okay, attendance-wise. I’ve actually missed fewer classes this term than any other as I haven’t been broken.

Nothing exciting today. Wrote yet another presentation…tried to learn new vocabulary, more today than usual…

Tuesday, Oct 22

Dreary, rainy day. Sunset time is already 5:45, so on a day like today it’s already pretty dark when we leave class at 5:30. No rooftop for me today. I have a lot of schoolwork, anyway. Another review test tomorrow to study for, and I have to hand in the text for my next presentation (didn’t I just DO a presentation??).

Oh, did I tell you guys I was correct in that I failed the midterm? Every section. Oh well. Sort of takes the pressure off since now it’s impossible to pass the class, so I can lighten up a bit on the tests. And the class will be easier next time. And even easier the time after that ha ha!

Wednesday, Oct 23

Lovely fall day today, clear and crisp and cool…I saw it for the five minutes it takes me to walk to class. I was thinking since a test was today, that tomorrow I could take it easy and go to the park in the morning and to a cafe to study before class….but I remembered I have the tutor. I do have tentative plans with LEP#2 tomorrow night, I’d said let’s do something fun” and he said “great!” I just haven’t figured out yet what that is!

My space bar is not spacing…I have to keep going back and SLAMMING down on the bar to separate words. Guh. So if I miss some, excuse me.

Thursday, Oct 24

Today was a big day – I Left the Property! I went to Seongsu (neighboring town) to meet LEP#2. We haven’t met since Iune for one reason or another on both our parts…and then I think we just got out of the habit of making plans. But I reached out and we met up,

Funny Small World Story #2 (remember “Are You Bettye??”): so the Uber driver sort of missed the station where he was supposed to drop me…so I texted Yunjun saying I’m headed back towards Exit 3, where are you? He said to take a video of where I was, and he would come find me. I sent the video and he said “I see you, I’m headed towards you.” So I’m standing at the crosswalk looking for him and I see someone waving at me, is that him? No, it’s two people, not him. Wait – they look familiar! They were two people I know from school, one from my building, we’ve all done some things together…I just thought, again, in all the dongs in all of Korea…I keep bumping into people I know. Small world, right?? Anyway, he appeared right behind them and they all three came to my side…I made introductions all around (cuz that went so well for me last time)..we chatted for a couple mintes…but they were headed home, and Yunjun and I were headed to a brunch cafe for dinner.

The meeting was fine. As usual, we spoke no Korean…but that’s on me. It’s just too hard for me to initiate it. But it was just nice to be OUT, in the evening, outside my little box (I came halfway around the world to put myself back in a little box), and have a human to talk to. Plus, the food was good.

But I really paid for it the next day….

Friday, Oct 25

…when I had to spend the whole morning right up until classtime doing the homework from the day before, the new vocabulary, and prepare for the afternoon’s class.

We got our grades back from Wednesday’s test that I thought I did okay on. Ha ha. I did not do okay. 65. Twenty points off just on spelling mistakes. Ugh. Oh well. I’m not gonna let it bring me down. It’ll be better next time. I’m feeling more confident In Class, and I knw they’re not going to make me leave the country, so…I’m okay.

Saturday, Oct 26

Today was stay home and do schoolwork, study, clean my room (where did all this stuff come from??), and read.

I finished Pachinko  (by Min Jin Lee), a really good novel about a Korean family from the 1930s up until 1989…I learned more about the relationship between Korea and Japanafter colonization and after the wars…it was a good read, not “fancy,” just straight-forward, engaging, good story-telling. It’s 500 pages but really goes very quickly. I recommend it as a good piece of historical fiction even if you’re not particularly interested in Korea or Japan.

Sunday, Oct 27

Hanging my head in shame. Today was the day I Was Going To Get Out and Find Some Beautiful Foliage. I had Very Specific Plans. I had routes mapped and cafes lined-up. My camera bag was packed up and ready to go.

And then…I just did not go. You can take the girl out of the goshiwon but…oh. Yeah. No. You can’t.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!? I WANT to do things, I WANT to see things, I WANT to make beautiful pictures…I just…don’t. It’s so HARD. Ugh. Seoul has fantastic public transportation hajiman I hate public transportation, ha ha. IT’S great…but you have to WALK to it. And from it. And sometimes there are no seats and you have to STAND on it.

I have a hard time convincing myself I’m a lazy person. I just don’t like…to make my body carry me places. I sweat. My heart pounds. I breathe heavy. My hips hurt. My foot hurts. Sometimes my knee hurts. If I walk a lot while carrying a heavy bag (books or camera), my back hurts. It’s UNCOMFORTABLE. I’m not lazy. I don’t like being UNCOMFORTABLE. That’s one of the guiding principles in my life. Don’t put yourself in situations where you’re going to look stupid…and don’t put yourself in situations where you’re going to be physically uncomfortable.

What genius thought traveling would be a good idea for me??

Seems I’ve put myself in a situation where I look stupid AND I’m physically uncomfortable.

I don’t REGRET it. Cuz you always have to weigh the options. And this was better than the option (to continue working for ____ years). But that knowledge doesn’t make me any less physically uncomfortable.

Sigh.

Why do Sundays always end up like this?

See you next week…same bat-time, same bat-channel.