Finding comfort in the familiar

Being displaced from the familiar, I feel, results in feelings of excitement, nervousness, astonishment, and maybe a little bit of anxiety and insecurity thrown in there for good measure. It's not unlike that of a child, where everyday feels brand new for him because he's so young. That's why children watching the same thing over and over again and that's why they make you read the same story over and over again, it's to comfort them. Since everything is always so new, they need to seek comfort in the familiar.

I also find myself trying to find things that put me at ease. To try to find that familiarity in such a different culture and area. Even though the Vietnamese food here isn't that good, sometimes I just indulge into that nostalgic craving. The other thing that brings me back is the simple act of going to the gym. Such a simple thing but it helps put me in an area where I'm very familiar and comfortable.

Remarking off of what a colleague said her in her blog, every time I see someone who I don't is Korean I want to just run up and greet him or her.

Stuff that I've been doing -
Today my main co teacher and another co teacher went to Daebang Middle School near Daerim for a class observation thing. I thought it was pretty cool. I'm always down for things where I can learn a bit more. We saw how a Korean English Teacher conducted class and then we had a little discussion of it afterward. I saw my homie Matt from orientation there, he actually teaches at that school.

After work a fellow anteater invited me over to her area to work on our lesson plans. Unfortunately I was unable to find her due to miscommunication. Instead, I did some shopping and got some food.

On the way back, in the subway near home, I noticed this random Caucasian girl near me. I looked up and simply asked, "Excuse me, are you from SMOE?" just to make some conversation. Turns out she was but she had already been here for a year. We discussed our positions, how she likes teaching high school and how I feel about middle school. We exchanged contact info, turns out she lives in Guro Digital Complex, which is about four stops away from me.

I've also have been trying to reconnect with friends from the states that are in Korea for one reason or another. I managed to hang out with Esther the other night, I met her in Writing 39B my freshman year. I think I'm going to hang out with some APHIO people in Gangnam on Friday. They were Korean international students studying at UCI. Also, there is a girl, also an international student, that was a part of my APO family whom I never met that I contacted. I sent her an e-mail and I might meet up with her soon. Oh, and last but not least, one of my spoppers goes to a university here. Hopefully I can hang out with her too.

Random experiment of the day -
When I went to the pho place I left some tip. As I went up to the cashier to pay, the waiter brought me the money back.

Social Observation of the day -
I notice sales people treat me differently depending upon my dress when I go shopping. Sometimes I'll go right after work so I'll look all fancy schmancy. Sometimes I'll wear some flip flops and shorts. The days wear I'm all dressed up I have to beat them away with a stick; the days where I'm just casual I can't get any attention. However, I think this is something that happens everywhere.

Things that cross my mind -
I remember this lady would always come into Guppys at night on either Mondays or Tuesday, almost every week. She'd come with her friends. She was a little bit older and it was pretty obvious she wasn't married. I remember her trying to say hi to me one day when I came in to pick up my schedule but I was in a hurry and it didn't register until later. I remember overhearing that she has/had a boyfriend or something when she was talking to her friends. Yet, every so often when I'd look at her direction I'd catch her looking at me and she'd quickly turn away. I mean, the food at Guppys isn't THAT good. I wonder if she realizes that I'm gone.

I wonder how my family is.

I wonder how Chewie is. I miss that little fuzzy guy. To be honest, I almost cried the other day when I saw a dog that resembled him.

I wonder how my best friend and his family is doing. On that note, I wonder how all my friends are doing. There are a lot of people I wanted to be wasn't able t properly say good bye to.

I hope my brother remembered to pick up my last paycheck from Guppys.

I seem to eat about the same amount now that I did back at home but I'm losing a lot more weight now. My best friend and I discussed how, because of the excess of corn in American farms, there are corn by-products everywhere. You can find it in anything from soda to beef. Ground beef, actually, is mostly corn and stuff, not meat. That's why it's so cheap. Maybe that's the difference.