And another thing...

I'm back in Seoul, and I spent the day playing on my computer and flopping about in bed because I feel awful. I think one of the kids at the daycare gave me a cold. Anyway, I feel better than I did last night so hopefully I'll be fine tomorrow.

I figure I'll use this time to add a few addendums (addenda?) to earlier posts.

The fashion. Okay, okay I was exaggerating. Not ALL women wear the same thing. There are women who wear jeans and T-shirts, who have boyish haircuts, and who wear sneakers. They are somewhat rare, but after enough people-watching to get a good sample size I have to concede that they exist. There are also quite a few foreigners depending on what part of town you're in, although they all stare at me as though trying to figure out if I'm likely to speak English if they talk to me.

Also, I haven't talked about the men here (expect to note that they all seem to prefer their adorable Korean women to Western feminists). All the Americans I've talked to complain about how Korean guys are effeminate and wear tight jeans and flamboyant colors. Whenever this happens I don't miss the opportunity to tell them how much I enjoy it. Seriously, I love femmy boys, especially the ones with nice legs. I wish the tight-pants look would catch on in America. Then I could ogle more hot ass and the boys would finally understand how much it sucks to try to stuff yourself into those things (boys, you have it good with your baggy pants. Don't you forget it).

Now, when I went hiking I mentioned the old ladies (ajumas) in their hiking gear and enormous visors. I'm afraid I was a bit dismissive of them, which I shouldn't have been because those ladies are frickin' hardcore! I wandered off into the woods so I wouldn't end up on paths clogged with slow, frail grandmas, and when I reached the top they had beaten me there! And remember that really steep rock wall that I was too scared to go down? Well, while I sat at the top I kept watching the ajumas coming up the other side of the mountain, passing me, and going over to the other side where the wall of doom was. I kept expecting them to reappear when they realized how steep it was on that side, but not a one of them did! There was nowhere else to go, so they must have gone down the scary rock wall. I have nothing but respect for them now.

Okay, that's all I can think of and I want to go to bed. I have this month to continue bouncing around Seoul before things kick into gear. At the beginning of June I'm going to see Phantom of the Opera with Eun-mi, then I'm going to fly over to China to spend a week with Kayli in Beijing and Shanghai, and then I'll be subbing for Doug's class while he's away. Crazy times.