You've caught me in a good mood.

Honestly, I'm not even upset about my apartment & the fact that I can't really use a bit of it.

I was walking to Lotte Mart, which just wasn't as crowded as usual on a Saturday night, or maybe it was just my continuing & mysterious lack of anger & frustration. In any event, I was thinking about how all I can ever do is ruminate on the bad things here, of which there are SOOO many, but today I was able to acknowledge the good. Like the fact that crime is ridiculously low here. A friend posted about this the other night: she took a pic of a scooter parked outside her building just before midnight, with the keys still in the ignition & no locks or anything of the kind on it. I think it was still running, actually, because it was one of the ubiquitous, if not fucking reckless delivery drivers. No one will touch it or steal it, he has no reason to worry. If I go to cafe & have my computer with me, I can go to the bathroom & not ask anyone to watch it for me. I can use my phone to reserve a table because that, too, will not be touched. Were I to lose it, someone would try to get it back to me (as that taxi driver did a while back, for example). & despite my never-ending irritation & frustration with how blasted crowded & slow & illogical people here are, they are also incredibly kind & warm & welcoming. Like Chile, honestly, but more so.

Teaching here is another joy because, as I discussed with my family, the kids are taught respect of elders & discipline at such a young age. I use SMILEY & FROWNY FACES to keep my classes in line. A class that Dylan hated is, while I've only had 3 so far, putty in my hands. All I have to do is say, "Frowny face," & the ringleader very passionately insists NOOOOo, she definitely doesn't want those! I spent the rest of that class fulfilling requests to draw Pikachu or Chip & Dale (!!!) in their books, to their complete delight. Sean I've been teaching since he was in Phonics, & he's completely crazy about me. He taught this same class that saying, "Thank you," gets them extra smiley faces, & that my signature on their completed pages is something they really really want in their books. This is how I keep anyone under the age of 10 well-behaved & enamored of me. When I'm in the hallway & see even middle school or high school kids that I've never taught, they bow to me, & say, "Hello, teacher." One night I was walking home, & the sidewalk was narrow. A kid came from behind me & passed me (a rare occurrence anyway), & scared me. That kid turned around & bowed to me as he continued on his way

If you start regularly going to a restaurant or coffee shop, you'll get little "services," anything from free extra shots, free coffee, or free snacks & food. I was getting coffee from the shop close to work where the staff speaks good English, & are always delighted to us, when an old man who was leaving gave the owner a bunch of pistachio-stuffed rice cakes. So naturally she gave me some.

Hell, even the fact that I've been pregnant for 2 years to many Koreans means OLD PEOPLE have offered me their seat because they think I'm even a little pregnant (or maybe they think it's a lot, lol). But it's all of that that makes it less difficult to just detest the place as thoroughly as I often feel & say I do. While I avoid going out so as to prevent another fit of frustration, going outside pretty much always includes some sort of interaction that lets me smile @ people sometimes.