Books. Books. Books.

i read books. not many, just a few books.
there are 1061 books in my house.
there are 274 books in my room and 787 books in my brother's room.
i counted all the books.
it took me 30 minutes.
my father and brother like books.
this year they bought 134 books.
my brother's room looks like a library...

... hilarious excerpt from a student's journal this week!

Speaking of books, what are YOU reading?
On my shelf these dayz...

1. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
2. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
3. Under The Overpass by Mike Yankoski
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
5. The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Estatic Poems by Rumi

And true to scatterbrained form, I'm reading them ALL, at once, in bits and pieces...

Deceived by an Apple

I bought a new cleaning product from the mini-mart close to my apartment. They didn't have the one I usually buy in stock, and as I couldn't read any of the labels, I chose the one with a green apple on it, thinking it might have a nice fresh scent. Oh, Eve, will you never learn? Spent some of Saturday morning cleaning, and I'm pretty sure this product is high-content, if not pure, bleach. My bathroom smells like a swimming pool, and my head feels like it's swimming now too... from inhaling fumes in an enclosed space, while scrubbing tile grout on my hands and knees. Whew... strong stuff. But the bathroom is sparkling!

Oh, and more about my bathroom (I can't believe I haven't blogged about this already)... it has been quite the experience! My shower is open-concept... as in the shower head is mounted on the wall beside the sink, and there is a drain on the floor beneath the sink. So everything gets wet. I mean everything... the walls, the floor, the sink, mirror, toilet, and my towels if I forget to take them out. The toilet paper has a little plastic flap that protects it from getting drenched, and the power outlet also has a cover. But let me tell you... it is not pleasant to use the bathroom after showering.... for a while the toilet seat just stays wet. It kind of feels like a not-yet-trained child was there before you!

In winter, the tile floor is icy cold, as the bathroom's back wall is adjacent to the unheated hallway, and has none of that nice in-floor heating that is in the rest of the apartment. So I would stand, shivering, in the center of the circle of warmth that the hot water makes on the floor around me, and then scurry outta there as soon as possible. I guess it was good for water conservation! And I understand now why Koreans love their saunas and spas, in winter especially. You see them out in the streets most mornings and evenings, carrying a basket of toiletries, on their way to or from the public bathhouses. I haven't made it there yet, as I am told bathing suits are not permitted (men and women bathe separately, but together with their own sex) and I'm not sure I'm quite brave enough for that! A pleasant feature in my bathroom, however, are the seahorse stickers on the floor, which I think are supposed to be grips for your feet. Most are missing parts of their fins or tails, but this one is perfectly intact!



I don't think any shower experience could be as bad as that time in an Ecuadorian hotel, when I electrocuted myself (twice) in the shower, by trying to change the position of the shower head, with my wet hand. The shower head had unenclosed wires wrapped around it, and I felt a current of electricity, in my fingers through to my elbow! Conversely, I don't think any shower experience could be as wonderful as biodegradeable shampoo in the lake in summer at home, or as peculiar as showering in a solar-heated makeshift bathroom in Fiji, with cracks beneath the door wide enough for a rooster to stroll in and have a look, and numerous geckos flitting around the ceiling above my head. Or... as beautifully simplistic and memorable as that gorgeous sunny last day at camp in Ecuador, when three of us showered out of a bucket drawn up from the camp's well. Really, my bathroom here is relatively quite sophisticated!

The One-Year Mark

I know I said it was only a one-year contract, but I've extended my time with the school here for a few months more... the plan at present is to be home to Nova Scotia for Christmas!!!

The Cultural Cringe

There are three things I don't think I can ever get used too, no matter how well-adjusted I've become to Korean culture over time...
1. Children that bow to me. I'm all for respecting your elders, but something about these little guys bowing their heads to me, makes me very uncomfortable. It always catches me off-guard, whether it happens on a street corner or in a school hallway... I get the cultural cringe. I do admit I've started bowing to my elders here, out of respect for them and this cultural custom, but I guess I just don't feel worthy of such a display of public submission myself. I'd rather a high-five or a "Hi, teacher!" or even just a shy smile, but some of these children have been taught to be very respectful of their teachers. Others, of course, are little rugrats, of similar breed to those found in every other country I've visited! Don't worry, there's always an element of craziness in my classroom.
2. The parasol-carrying women.


Au contraire to the deep, nut-brown tan craze of white North Americans, Korean women do their utmost to protect their skin. It's probably a healthier way to go, but carrying these frilly sun shields reminds me of an 18th-century English novel... I've even seen skin-whitening sunscreen and face bleaching creams here! I am personally quite fond of the intoxicating feeling of sunbeams kissing my face, and will probably pay for it, in later life. I get scolded by women here for standing in the sun instead of the shade at bus stops! It's really quite amusing. But hey, I've always thought wrinkles were beautiful, they are like storylines, displayed on faces.
3. No seatbelts. I always do a double-take to see babies bouncing on their father's knee while he drives the car, three monkeys (children) tumbling around in the back seat, or two crammed together on the front passenger seat, no belts. It just amazes me, especially with the number of traffic accidents around here. How many times do we have to make mistakes before we learn from them? Seatbelts, people... seatbelts!!!