a new cold (some comfort food) and a new friend

I have a cold. I am low-energy and have a sore throat. I am sniffly and surpressing the urge to whine, whine, whine. I may look up some phrases so I can whine in Korean. Teaching, with low-energy and a sore throat is not fun. I am not the only one who's sick though - Tom's had this cold for the last month. (I suspect that I either got this thing from him, or from Liz - thanks guys!)

Anyways, Tom and I went for some comfort food last night... all the way downtown to a fantastic little tuna place he had discovered about a month ago. Since yesterday was pay-day (in theory) we splurged a bit - 30,000 won each - and ate the most wonderful fish (both raw and cooked). The presentation alone was spectacular (sorry, no photos) and it was one of those meals where, every time you think it's over, there's something else that appears. Raw tuna (different parts of the tuna) and swordfish, tuna cooked in bulgolgi sauce, tuna cooked in another way, miso soup, potato pancakes, japanese salad... each item served individually, not once were two items served at the same time! A nice, three hour meal.

And a new friend... well, not really, but a teacher who speaks excellent English (he's an English teacher, who I actually teach with!) who has been, well, a bit less than friendly with me for the last few weeks. Do you know how frustrating that is, to have someone who speaks English so well, not want to talk to you? Well, frustrated no more, I have somehow won him over. I am not really sure how I accomplished this feat, but he's smiling like mad at me every time he sees me, and is friendly and joking around all of a sudden. I think something happened where he's not afraid to speak English with me anymore. Who knows what... but now, its unstoppable - I'm hearing all about everything! That's freakin' fantastic (although truth be told, I'm not so much of a baseball fan).

And on the subject of "afraid to speak English with me", I'm becoming pretty skilled at recognizing the look of terror in peoples' eyes (omg, here she comes, will I have to speak English with her?) and I can honestly say, it is reducing significantly. I do try korean every so often, but I really don't know enough for any meaningful communication...

Anyways, off for a nap in the teachers' sleeping room. (yes, we have a room dedicated to sleeping)