Changing of the Leaves and Measurement

This past weekend Amy and I had our usual rendezvous. (Remember, this is New York Amy, not the one I work with, who, by the way, randomly hugged me in the teacher's lounge the other day. It's so bizarre, I'm becoming a total homophobe). I met Sally, from my Korean class, on my way to Amy’s subway stop and the three of us went to check out the foliage of the Northeastern part of the city. We hiked up a mountain—Sally having a bit of a harder time because she chose to have a cigarette shortly before our departure. It was just beautiful! I explained to my two Yankee friends that we don’t have this where I’m from. It’s not cold enough in Louisiana, or whatever causes the trees to change color, and by the time it is, the leaves all fall off. The weather here is mid 60s during the day and mid 40s at night. It’s pleasant though. I don’t have to wear a jacket and I can still wear flip flops, but recently I’ve taken to protecting myself a bit better because I don’t want to have to teach sick—that would be complete misery. Anyway, I took several pictures there and on my walk to school the following few days because I just love it! I always thought people who liked to look at leaves were gay. I guess I’ve become one of them though, because I could tolerate a life in a place that has an annual change like this one. (I emailed the pictures already. If you didn’t get them and are interested, just let me know).

Amy had an envie for some Indian food, so we headed toward Itaewon after our exploration of leaves and trees. We wound up at a Pakistani/Indian restaurant. I have had friends from the Middle East/Lebanon/Bangladesh/etc. whose mothers have cooked for those of us not accustomed to eating their normal dishes, and have loved them. But I didn’t know what the heck they were, and if I did at the time, I didn’t know when I had to order on Sunday. And so I wound up with mutton flavored with almond, and an order of roti. So amazingly good! I didn’t feel like Ben Stiller in Along Came Polly, either.

Time has changed and you guys are actually in Daylight Savings, something 70 countries participate in, Korea not being one of them. So that makes me now 15 hours ahead of my home time zone and 14 hours ahead of my Eastern pals. If you received the Excel sheet, please adjust accordingly ;o)

I have read SIX books since I’ve been here. This is double my post-LSU average, which is already infinitely higher than my during-LSU average. Anyway, I had lots of time to read on the train on my way to Korean class and now I use that time in the mornings to do housekeeping (literally and figuratively) and then I read at night. (The books I’ve finished? Black Like Me, Mountains Beyond Mountains –which I highly recommend), Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World As A Smart Mouthed Goddess, Culture Shock! Korea, A Confederacy of Dunces, The Tipping Point... and now I’m reading Blink).

Well some things in this country are measured differently than they are at home. One example is shoe size. I wear a 250 here. It’s done in millimeters—now that’s specific! (speaking of shoes—I tried to buy some the other day and I have a very, very narrow foot. The man insisted that the pair of shoes he put on me fit. I told him they were too wide. He was hollering at me, insisting this was correct. I just looked at him and shrugged. I might be American and use a different size, but I know when shoes fit and when they don’t, pal!) Another thing is temperature—my apartment stays about 24°Celsius. Another thing is weight. I weigh about 55 kilograms here (2.2kg/lb). And when you think about it, that doesn’t sound like very much. So it makes me wonder why the United States, land of obesity, doesn’t use this same standard for measurement. I mean, if you are a big person, wouldn’t you prefer to say that you way about half of what you really do? The disadvantage of this is for weightlifters. If you want to be the biggest, baddest guy in the gym, you sound like a total wuss when you can “only” lift 98kg.

Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed