This was just so important to watch... My grandmother was trying to cook some soup and forgot to take the plastic cooling tray off the bottom of the pot. Since the stove top is a gas burner, there was a pretty nice fire. My mom, aunt, and uncle were so tuned into Yu Na's award ceremony that me shouting "Fire!" didn't even phase them. It took me forever to get my mom's attention and then she tried to put it out with a wet rag, despite me telling her not to. I scrambled looking for a dry towel while she had to put out the wet rag that she set on fire. When I finally found a towel, I swatted the flaming stovetop like it was a big nasty bug. It worked. Fire gone. But the apartment was full of smoke, the smell of burnt plastic, and little plastic ashes sprinkled all over the kitchen. I ran all over the house opening windows and my uncle and aunt were still zoned in on the T.V. oblivious to the cloud of smoke they were sitting in. Sheeesh!
I went Shopping with my cousin Hana yesterday. We took a bus into Gwangju. On the bus ride, we helped eachother read signs. I helped her with signs that were written in English and she helped me with Hangul. I've been studying every chance I can get.
(I'm pretty close to being able to read and write pretty well. I just don't know what the words mean in English)
Shopping was very difficult. We went into kind of a commons area where there were clothing stores, coffee shops, street vendors, and all sorts of retail stores. I was looking for clothing I could wear in the classroom that would be appropriate for teaching. Most of the clothing we found was within 10,000-30,000 won (just under $30) The only problem was that most Korean clothing is suited for Koreans. Koreans that maybe considered overweight are still smaller than I am... so you can imagine it was difficult to find something in my size. There's a size called "free size". It's like a one size fits all, those seem to fit me decently. Luckily, Korean women wear very loose and baggy clothing... but as far as business attire, I'm s.o.l.
We stumbled by a fashion show a couple days ago.
I'm sure these kind of shows go on a lot. Koreans are crazy about fashion, even the men. Man-purses are pretty popular too. Also, couples will dress to match. I saw a young couple both dressed in brown suits; the boyfriend had expensive looking shoes and a long stylish haircut and the girlfriend was wearing buisness-ish looking high heels, a short brown mini suit-skirt, and brown suit-jacket. Both of their "suits" were the same brown material. They didn't seem to have a particular destination, almost like they were walking the streets just to look good. They were very young.
A group of girlfriends here are a lot like Sex in the City, they're all in specific styles, high heels, arm in arm with tons of accessories, mostly younger girls dressed older than they are... or older women dressed younger.
I feel kind of drab here. I don't have much style... or a sense for it.
When Hana and I got home, dinner was prepared and there were quite a few family members over. Everyone had already started eating and my uncles had been drinking for a while. When I sat down to eat, I was made the beverage server. Using both hands, I served soju, maekju, and whiskey to my uncles. They toasted with every drink served. My eldest uncle served me some whiskey and asked me if I wanted "ice-uh!?" in my glass. He tries his best at English but I don't think it's the language for him. haha! Drinking with my uncles is the best! They're so funny and so much fun.
I ended the night watching K-T.V. on my sweet new cellphone.
