Weekend

As I was getting ready to leave my apartment rumbling started. I looked out the window and it wasn't particularly sunny, but it wasn't very cloudy, either. Was it thunder, or was it construction work? Within a few minutes it got darker, the sky let loose with torrents of rain, and thunder and lightning were everywhere. Thunderstorms are so rare here that I would have enjoyed it if I didn't have somewhere to go! I waited about 20 minutes past when I had planned to leave. Most of the lightning had stopped by then and the pouring rain had lessened to a drizzle.

The bus wasn't horribly crowded, but I wasn't quick enough when seats opened up, so I had to stand the whole way. I took the bus directly to the foreigners' compound, and with the rain and the many students getting on and off, it took a whole hour. My arm muscles felt a good bit stronger after holding myself up for that long!

I arrived right at 2 PM. The teacher and the Japanese girl had just arrived; the two guys came later. Wen-loo has family visiting, so is in Seoul, I think. The test was not what I expected. I thought it would be matching the English and Korean or something along those lines, but there were a lot of adjectives listed and we had to write their opposites (in Korean!) on the line. For several of them I knew what they meant in English, but couldn't think of the opposite in Korean. Others I got the spelling wrong. As usual, her tests are more like quizzes, anyway. Immediately after taking it, we went over the answers, and in so doing learned them a little better. The rest of the class we did the review chapter, including 2 reading passages and a listening part. For next week (actually 2 weeks because of the national holiday) she's going to explain "라거" better. It was in the reading passage at the very end of class, and she didn't know that we hadn't studied it before.

David and Clemens drove me downtown. It was definitely time for a haircut! I told the guy I wanted a haircut that was as cool as possible, so he gave me a Japanese-style haircut that he called "shag." It basically amounted to thinning my hair out by about 50%. It's a lot lighter and dries really fast--perfect for the summer. Then to KFC for a late lunch, then to Wal-mart to get some groceries. There were even more foreigners than usual there. Back at home I did some laundry before spending the rest of the evening relaxing with the computer and TV.

On Sunday after church Kendall and Scott and I arranged to meet on Wednesday to discuss the church website. Sarah (the high school senior) wants to go to the orphanage on Saturday with our group, but needs help getting there. I'm meeting her at the University gate so we can go together. At Shinbok there were only 3 students, so the Bible study went fairly quickly, then they asked me some questions about cultural things in the USA. Octavia asked me if I could help edit something that she had translated for someone else. Uh, OK, but I still have things to get done at home tonight. I thought it was for a student, but it was a UK visa application for her friend and the friend's two children. It took 90 minutes to wade through all of the paperwork. I think it's weird that people will spend so much money to study/live overseas, but then be cheap about doing the visa application. After all, doesn't she want it approved?! I'm not familiar with UK immigration laws! She's been accepted to a university in the UK, but when her conversational skills are barely adequate, how will she be in a classroom trying to take notes?!

After we finished we went to the nice restaurant near Mugeo-dong yet out in the countryside about 5 minutes. It was a nice dinner, but nowhere near the going rate for 90 minutes with a native English speaker!

Back at home I did some more work on the censorship--I posted on Korea Life Blog advising people to check out the petition and forum, then returned to Mikerowesoft with a censorship update and request for them to sign the petition. I added my ideas to the forum, then sent some emails--this time to WTVT, Tampa Tribune, and Bay News 9. Yes, small papers/stations, but I figure that the big organizations haven't responded, so I might have more of a chance of being heard at a smaller place. There was no further response from the GOP site (from June 30). Apparently they either don't care or don't know whether it's them or the Korean government blocking me from their site.