i really need to start telling more of the stories of everyday life here in korea. so here's a start.

every time i go to the grocery store, the lady asks me (in korean, of course) if i want a bag, and since i'm normally only buying a couple of things (namely milk and eggs), i've gotten used to saying aniyo(no) without really thinking. but last night on our way home from school, our list was a bit longer and included 2 big bags of potatoes. i absentmindedly told the lady i didn't want a bag, she looked at the amount of things we were buying, looked at elizabeth, and proceeded to load the groceries into elizabeth's arms. elizabeth panicked at first because she really didn't think it was all going to fit -but apparently that lady knew what she was doing because it stacked up just fine, thought a bit precarious! it wasn't as funny for lizzie, but i sure enjoyed it.

then yesterday when i was walking to the subway, i ran into (quite literally) one of my girls from school in an alley. i found out that she lives hardly a block from me. she was playing soccer with her brother and cousin and when i tapped her on the shoulder, she turned and gave me this huge smile -"hello teacher!" she was so excited to introduce her brother and cousin and it was really fun to see the neighbors watching us amazed as donna burst out in english like she owned the language.

one more story. so later that day i was at the foreign food mart. i had been standing in line for a while and i was a bit frustrated because the guy at the counter was helping a man who'd just walked in before those of us waiting in line. when it was my turn, i laid out my items on the counter and instead of adding them up, the guy turned around to look for something on a shelf. after a minute, he turned around with a capri sun juice drink in his hand and stood there putting the straw into the drink. seriously -he thought this was a good time for a snack break? ok, i was annoyed. but that's as far as it got. after poking the straw into the drink, he handed it to me and said, "try this." i was floored. here i was was getting mad over having to wait an extra 2 minutes to be helped, and he was just smiling and treating me like a friend. i walked out with my drink wanting to be more like that man behind the counter.