And I stopped in front of the toilet paper selection and contemplated which pack I should buy... and usually the debate is between which one is both of reasonable quality and at the best price.. but I stopped myself and started to wonder.. do I really even need this much toilet paper? I only need enough to last me through the end of July.. and with that thought, it really hit me.. through the most mundane of activities.. it really signified the end to me. Gahhh, so what did I do? I didn't buy any toilet paper at all and have been buying individually packed rolls for the time being... only seemed sensible.. ugh.. who knew sensibility could be so depressing?
It's still too early to reflect on the entire year in Korea overall.. but I guess I do have some things to say until it comes to that time.. until I can make peace with it. So in lieu of dopey and cliche reflections(for now, I still have a lot up my sleeve..), I'll tell a story. I don't really know if this will be of interest to anyone since it's just regarding my Korean class but whatever, this is for my own personal reference first and foremost anyways.
If anyone can remember my blog entry from far back, it wasn't too long ago when I transferred into the class and instantly resented everyone. I resented Jessica for speaking Korean really well even though she claimed that she couldn't write or spell very well. Sorry Jess, but now I believe you.^^ I resented Mark for using a word that the teacher deemed difficult.. although I was slightly relieved and delighted when he didn't know the word for getting married.(Yeah yeah, I know I'm horrible) I resented everyone for knowing what the Korean words for trading company and stock exchange were. I was scared shitless of 선생님 and I remember taking notes with my head down with a certain amount of fervor, anything to keep him from calling on me during class... I almost had an aneurism when he decided to give us an impromptu speaking quiz in front of the entire class (!!).. I remember the cold sweat collecting on my forehead as I received the questions he asked in terror.... holy shit, how am I going to explain the plot of Old Boy?!
So, we've come a long way. Slowly we learned to be more comfortable around each other and my resentment subsided. 선생님 became less terrifying and I actually began to really like him despite his initial scary appearance. I don't exactly remember when but we started the tradition of bringing snacks every Friday... Snack Friday we called it.. original, I know. Everyone came to class on a pretty regular basis... especially Alisa who managed to make it every day!(Although some days she would be 20 minutes late.. and other days, she'd be sleeping throughout class)... anyway, fast forward to......
My class and I deciding that we wanted to chip in and get our 선생님 a present so that he would hopefully never forget us and more importantly, so that we could show our appreciation for him being such a great teacher. We all chipped in some money and decided to create a "fun bag" consisting mostly of items that were kind of inside jokes for us throughout the semester. Like an energy drink with all of the fruit in the world(stolen from our cheesy Korean reading book) or bananas for the oh-so-secret banana game... Alisa and I also went shopping for the perfect tie for him.. blue and with diagonal stripes(just like he mentioned to us one day in class).. we also printed out the only picture we had of all of us and put it in a frame. Fast forward again to the last day of class.
We sat in our regular seats and presented the fun bag to our teacher. He looked pretty shocked that we had gotten him so many presents. We forced him to take out each item one at a time so that we could "ooh" and "aww" and laugh at all of the appropriate places and times. Finally, he reached for the class picture which was wrapped... and as he slowly began to unwrap it, I began squealing at a ridiculously high pitch. It was really beyond any sort of control I had over my body... I just began squealing my head off in nervous anticipation. And I couldn't stop..... he finally saw the picture and took a long pause.. he looked down for a while and then looked up at us and told us that this was his favorite of the presents. It looked like he was going to cry.. Me being completely emotionally awkward and not being able to handle the tension, decided to attempt to cut through it with this little gem "What?? You like it better than the energy drink??" The class laughed uncomfortably as again, I was unable to have any sort of control over my bodily actions. Yes, I never take the high road.. because dignity is a concept that has always eluded me. The high road has always been blocked with too many road blocks and obstacles... ah, and here I am with cheesy ass metaphors again. I can never seem to banish them from my life.... I don't know. I don't know how to properly end this story.. so I guess I'll stick with simplicity. Alisa, Peter, Mark, Jessica, Zhiyuan, Yao Yao, Nicole, Nicole Marie, Angela, and 선생님... I'm going to miss you all so much. Korean class was certainly one of the highlights of this relatively quiet(in comparison with last semester) semester. Keep in touch 반친구들
So now here's where I've also been preparing for the way back home.
Sigur Ros is fucking coming to Berkeley!! I recently bought 3 tickets(one for me, my older brother Aaron, and the younger brother Joseph) and am fucking PSYCHED!! This is the concert I've been waiting entirely too long for... and I'm only all too certain that it will be one of the greatest days of my life. How's that for pressure? Fuck prom, fuck graduation, fuck the wedding day.. THIS is it. I've also got tickets to go see Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, and Bonnie "Prince" Billy is set to headline the free annual bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park(with a possible appearance by Robert Plant & Allison Krauss although they might've dropped out).. Additionally, my brother is going to be DJ-ing for an event held for Irvine Welsh(who wrote Trainspotting).. what the heck? So I'm giving myself things to look forward to... because I know I'm going to need a lot of positive things in my life to help adjust to being back in the states.
And last but not least, a fucking reunion is in the works for August. Ever see An American Tail: Fievel Goes West? Well, it's like... a fucking Korean Tale: Chingoos Go West... (btw, did anyone know that James Stewart was Wylie Burp in that movie? wild....) Any chingoos reading this, we really gotta start planning dates for this! Anna and I have a tentative road trip planned to go up the west coast through Portland(to see our friend Tom) and then finally up to Seattle to see James(b/c Ryo you'll be in DC.. booooo) Gelly and Amy and Jake, I'm hoping that you guys can make it out here. And Jason, who is the only one who seems to have finalized any sort of plans... I'm excited to see all of you!! Okay Okay Okay... this post ended up being a lot longer than anticipated.. but anyway, this was me just spewing out everything all over the place.. again. Take care everyone and love and talk to you all soon.
PS, Peter and I went to this pretty cool art store in Hongdae the other day and I ended up buying a book bag there. It's plain and meant to be designed by the person buying it so I decided to cut apart my previously bought Jay McCarroll bag(GASP, right?) and sew the patterns onto this bag. Don't make fun of me for buying the Jay bag.. Project Runway or no Project Runway, I am convinced that I would have bought the bag anyway as the patterns are really nifty. So I spent practically all night sewing these bitches onto the bag since apparently, I don't really know how to sew. Well, makeshift sewing turned out to be okay and I think the bag turned out pretty well.... if I do say so myself. What do you think? All this while marathon watching the Gilmore Girls... ah, life is good.
