Please let Derek know that I send my condolences. I do not have his contact information in my address book. I was sick last week, and am sick again. This week my illness is different. Last week I was coughing and sneezing. This week I'm blowing out thick mucus, and have a runny nose. I am wearing a mask and taking it easy.
This past week a large group of military folk arrived. I was walking downtown and noticed one black face, then another, then another.... Later I learned from Jim that nearly 9000 military folk arrived that day! I bought a fresh pair of Nike's that day too. They are white and green. They cost $59.00. I bought them at the Nike store here, so it cost as much as it would in the States.
So far, Pohang is pretty cool. I don't mind this place.
I went to dinner alone last Thursday night. A drunk Korean man walked into the restaurant and yelled at the waitress/cook. She worked at the restaurant alone. The man must have been her boyfriend. He walked around the counter to the area where she cooked and began shoving her! The man repeatedly screamed at her: "Yaaa!". Ya, means "hey!" The friend of the man came running into the restaurant after him and grabbed him away from her. The man and his friend stayed in the restaurant for about fifteen minutes. He continued to yell: "Yaaa!" Meanwhile, I was sitting in the booth adjacent to his waiting for her to cook my food! Other people in the restaurant acted as if nothing was happening.
There was a birthday party last week for one of the women from English Club. Jim told me about her party, so I went. She was happy to receive a gift from me. Luke, a New Zealander who is also an English teacher, bought a gift for her and was nice enough to put my name on the card. I thanked him. Jackie is nice. She and I took a couple of pictures together. She kissed me on the cheek in one of the pictures. She must really like me because public displays of affection are rare in Korean culture. Although it is common to see two women walking hand-in-hand. It is only a sign of frienship, though!
I met up with Jim and fellow English Club members on Saturday. We went to a lounge and played "Gong,Gong,Chil, Bang!" It means "007 bang!" 007 is taken from James Bond. Each person says Gong, or Gong, or Chil, or Bang and point to someone else. If you are the person who is pointed toward when someone says Bang...the two friends to your immediate left and right must raise their hands and scream "Hooray!". If you make a mistake you must drink! We drank a fruit drink concoction mixed with Korean wine: Soju. I continued to make mistakes, and kept drinking. However, I didn't get drunk. The alcohol content is low, and the fact that the drink was mixed made it even lower.
--Larry
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