oh new world that has such people in it...

after nearly a year of clearly nothing of great import to discuss, i finally have found a reason to keep the blog, well, a blog.
korea, who knew, new land of opportunities.
although it's really only the first day (well, technically the first day starts tomorrow as that's when we get down to the real learnin'...), it hasn't really sunk in that i'm on the other side of world. perhaps it's because we're sequestered at this university on the outskirts of seoul, and the hodgepodge crowd we have here is nothing short of a direct cross-section of americana (americana as in that giant, healthful, culture salad). every once in a while it sneaks in that i'm not in boston any more - like when i need to find a payphone, and i have to say: 실레 합니다 아주씨님, 전화 어디세요 ? and then get an answer that's indecipherable.
i guess in some way that's not such a bad thing... at least i'm not suffering from severe culture shock... well,  i'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. however i don't think the other shoe dropping would make too much of a sound anyway. i've already had a fair share of glitches due to linguistic boundaries at the airport, so it's really up and up from this point on - i mean, my grasp of korean is only going to improve, right? (one should hope.)
oh, one thing i can't stand though... since this week is like summer camp, a lot of the people here are behaving like it really is summer camp - as in all the whining, and how much they miss how things are back at home. HELLO?? you're not home, you're on the other side of the world. things are bound to be different, that's why they call it a different country. and if everything at home was so freakin' great, then why the hell did you leave? the trip alone is not a piece of cake, and i get that you might be jet-lagged, but for godsakes! quit being so ethnophobic! this is not the land of tacos and cheeseburgers, you knew this when you signed up. so shut up, take it all in, and then whine about it when your year is done!
on a slight side note: i think there's a mouse trapped in my toilet tank... i hear little squeaks when i go in the bathroom. it's probably some loose nut, but that's what it sounds like...