My friends seem to have decided that I have some kind of Jekyll/Hyde situation going on, for they now treat me as two very different people. Our names are Winter Hails and Summer Hails. Winter Hails made her appearance around October or November, and was with us until about the middle of June. She is [...]
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I’ve become friends with my French teacher from last month (I’ve now moved up to the next class), and am greatly enjoying the whole socialising-in-French thing. I can’t quite explain why I love French so much. I always have. At school, the French teachers liked me because I really, really, really wanted to learn. My [...]
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As I sat on the train home tonight, I became conscious of the fact that a woman was staring at me. She was sitting a few rows further down the carriage, after the middle break where the seats faced the opposite way, towards mine. When I spotted her, she didn’t even react – just continued [...]
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Bzzzzzzzzzzz! Bzzzz-bzzzz-bzzzzzzzzzzz! I pause midway through my sentence and look nervously around me. Terri hastily pushes her chair back from her desk, her eyes darting around the room. The buzzing stops. Errr… yes… I continue uncertainly. So, I woke up with a jump, and the only thought in my head was – Bzzzzzzzzz! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! BZZZZZZZZZ! [...]
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We went on a field trip yesterday – a Korean-language one this time, so I don’t know exactly what it was about! But it seemed to be educating the youngsters about forests and conservation and that sort of thing. It was a very small museum-type place with various tree-related displays and posters, and friendly ‘guides’ [...]
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Teachers, please come downstairs. The announcement came over the speaker system, and I reluctantly left my air-conditioned classroom to fight my way downstairs through the heat haze. I was rewarded by the sight of a large box on the office table, full of ice-packed containers delivered by a grateful/cunning parent – one huge tub for [...]
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The sun is shining! It is a little slice of heaven, for although the temperature has soared with the appearance of blue sky, the sweaty, sticky, swirling steam bath of the past few weeks has temporarily lifted. I can once again step outside without a blanket of Pure Wet settling around me. As I walked [...]
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The conversation at lunch today turned to the faces Korean women make when they have their picture taken. I must admit, I do find it all rather odd. Korean women love taking pictures of themselves. They’re quite open about this. You will see them in groups, or alone, at tourist attractions, or just walking down [...]
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Yesterday was the 12th of July. Nothing unusual in Korea, of course, but I felt the need to call home in the same way that ex-pat Americans probably did on the 4th. Not because I personally celebrate the day, or feel patriotic about it, but because I knew that my parents’ house would be filled [...]
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It has been raining since… heck, I don’t know, last year maybe… and I believe Daejeon is now a small, waterlogged island in the new ocean known as Korea. I squelched home today under my totally ineffective umbrella, and found one of the local stray cats taking refuge at the top of the steps to [...]
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You Say Goodbye, I Say… Historical Snapshots It Just Makes Me Happy
