pickled radish, pickled

jellyfish, I mean, same goddamn difference.

LOOK AT THIS MAN. ISN'T HE MAGNIFICENT. (I'm a creeper, duh.)

BUKHANSAN. The beast of Seoul.

Teacher's tea time topic: are you an adventurous person? I'm really not trying to stack my own ego, but I was well and truly flabbergasted by my co-teachers' collective response to this topic. I was the only one willing to try most things. And they were appalled to learn that I had, in fact, already swum in a lake at night, and more than once, too.

Sweet potato noodles, sesame. I eat sesames in almost everything now.

Big-ass maple leaves carpet the streets. <3

If those aren't rainbow mosaic sculptures of poo, then I haven't a goddamned idea what they are.

I used to say I'd never teach,

and I meant it, too. But here I fucking am.

I've also said (a number of times, and recently too) that I didn't think I'd ever be able to stomach octopus. But I went for seafood ddukbogi with Shin Sung-Min today, and damned if I didn't let my manners (plus a bit of curiosity) get the best of me again. It wasn't as chewy or slimy as imagined; rather, it was a little crunchy - like a slightly steamed carrot. And the flavor was pretty bland. All in all, not as bad as I had thought. But octopus of the fresh variety still makes me want to vomit, so that's off the menu. For now.

Also, ate shellfish and cuttlefish for the first time. How many more "first times" do I have left? (With seafood, I mean.)

Also, drank yuja tea. Yuja is a fruit which looks and tastes quite similar to lemon, except it is sweet, not sour. Koreans love it, it seems, when the weather turns cold. And all the vitamin C can't hurt in warding off the swine flu.

here is an apple. let's share it.

I have no energy lately. Is it the cold weather? Is it stress over teaching? My co-teachers tell me they're always tired these days too; maybe it's a combination of my body fighting against the flu season, and the fact that I'm in the middle of a long stretch of teaching with no breaks (somehow, a weekend never seems like a long enough period of time to refresh myself, to get my energy back). Part of me really wishes the swine flu would get serious enough at my school for it to close. Just so I could have a break. But it's looking like the worst is over; the number of absences dwindles each day.

I want to walk into each class with lots of energy; I know that the class will be more interesting to the students if I am excited about the topic. Sometimes, that excitement comes naturally; other times, I can summon it up. But these days (by which I mean, the past week-and-a-half or so), I can't find it. I wonder if it shows through to the students. I wonder if it means I was silly to ever think I was capable of teaching.