Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)!

The past week was nearly a blur, but a few highlights sparkle still. The work week was unusually slow, so that I ended up some days only having two or three classes. I spent the free time reading from my friend's Murakami short story book, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. I'm now nearly finished with the twenty-four stories in the collection, just in time for the package that arrived from home loaded with some books for my birthday. Payday finally arrived, so I was able to use Korean funds for the first time instead of relying on VyStar, not that that was much of a problem. Actually, it'd be better for the time being to use dollars to pay for things, since the Korean won is at its lowest point versus the dollar in quite some time.

Anyhow, I went back to the eye doctor for a check, and we ended up chatting about his new webpage, soon to be published for all the Korean world to see. Or so I thought... In actuality, he does laser surgery for Koreans and foreigners, a point that he wants to make abundantly clear on his new site. As he has performed the operation more than 2,000 times, I thought he wouldn't much more advertising assistance, but he informed me that the recommendation of a few Westerners would go a long way towards helping his office gain further credibility among the nearby US military, foreign teachers, and Koreans. So I offered to write a letter for him to help him out, and then he offered me a scandalously large discount on laser surgery for the help. I told him I'd do it for free, but he insisted this was a two-way street. So, I might get laser surgery done in October or November for half price, or rather half price plus the few minutes it'll take to draft a recommendation letter. It was clearly a blessing from above to have such a discount offered to me, and I'm pretty excited about the opportunity.

The other highlight was the "first date" I had with a girl I met downtown a couple of weeks ago. I met her at the park while I was eating lunch and she was studying English, and we struck up a conversation. After talking for a while, I asked if she'd be interested in a language exchange, where she teaches me Korean for an hour, followed by an hour of my teaching English. This seemed like an ideal way to get to know someone and their language, and she felt the same way. So we met up at a coffee place Friday and had our first session. We talked and studied for about three hours and arranged weekly meetings on Friday afternoons. We'll see how things develop there.

The final news was the Chuseok holiday. Saturday-Monday was this year's celebration, in accordance with September's full moon. Many Koreans celebrate by going to the tombs of their ancestors and clearing the grass and weeds, which then leads to a ceremony in honor of deceased parents and grandparents. They also spend time together with distant relatives, who all converge at the house of the first-born son (patriarch) of the family. Owing to the fact that I don't have any dead ancestors in Korea (thankfully he survived the war, I might add), nor family to visit, I joined the other orphaned foreigners for a celebration on Sunday afternoon after church. Three of my coworkers live in the same apartment building that has a spectacular roof made for Chuseok barbecue parties, and we enjoyed a lovely bit of potato salad, grilled cheesburgers, and more. By far the best food was the pumpkin pie. I ate about half a dozen slices. I met some other foreigners that I'd seen around town, and we played some Xbox 360, so I can't complain. I forgot to mention Saturday. On that day I went to Alayna's house for a family meal, and we made ricecakes with sesame seed filling, then had a delicious bulgogi dinner. On Monday I met up with my soccer buddy Phillip for some lunch near his university, and he gave me a tour of the place and the "soccer room" that sits on the fifth floor of the club building. His soccer team has a pretty cool dorm-type setup where all the players can hang out in-between classes and studying. We went shoe-shopping, but didn't end up buying anything. That night I went over to Doug's to play some more Halo 3, that being my first time on Xbox Live in about two months. It was nice to be back, although it was just a few hours. I've left my 360 at Doug's so he can enjoy it for a while. It doesn't do me any good at my place anyway, since I've decided not to buy a TV. So I guess I play it about once a month now, which is far more healthier, I think. =)

This week holds promise--I only work three days (Tuesday-Thursday) because Friday is my personal day for the month! I will hopefully play soccer, have my language study, and hang out before going on a two-day trip to the mountains. Pictures and stories to follow next week, I hope.