Living and Culture

hello everyone
it is monday afternoon and i am about to start my first full week of regualr classes. after teaching an intensive session throughout august it now seems that regular classes are quite easy. i have much more time to do everything. the days are nicer and not as hot but it is still sweating like a pig weather. the only difference is that it is not as humid, which in korea feels like walking through sweat. i have found korea to be a nice place to live. one of my goals of living here is to learn the lorean language. it is pretty easy to learn hot to read it, but the hard part is understanding it. if i were you i would wish me good luck. anyway, speaking of living here, i have come acustomed to living in such small quaters qhich feels a bit larger than my kitchen at home. but on the bright side i need no more than what i have. it is cheaper and well easy to keep clean. if something is messy it is in the way. so i clean it.
As for differences in this country, so far i have encountered many old men who confidently will approach me and tell me i am handsome. that is fine with me, old men have experiance and are repsected to high degree, meaning they can almost do whatever the please. but recently i was in a small area of seoul called Dungdaemoon stadium, which is a market for shopping. anything you need you will find it. i was on the search for a nice side bag, a small one for carrying things back and forth to work. as one of my colleagues describes it, a man pruse. i like it either way. as i was looking at a few bags none by the way looked like purses, a young man about my age came up quietly and non threatening and waited patiently as i looked through the many bags in front of me. i thought at first he was the salesman of the little hut. as i continued to search he didnt say anything and let me do what i wanted. he wasnt trying to sell em anything. so i thought to myself there is nothing i like here, so lets move on. as i went to walk away the young man, came a little closer, said "hello, you are very handsome man", i said "thank you' and we both went on our way, he in one direction and i in another, i looked back in amazement and saw that he was no shop owner and in no discomfort at what he had just done.
in Canada i am sure he would be in the hospital right now recovering from a severe beating unless of course it was me he said that to and i have yet to actaully hit some one for something they have said to me. nevertheless he was a young man with good intentions and meant no harm. it made my day as it was nice to know you can be honest about someones looks and not be seen as hitting on someone. so that is my first culture shock story for you, i hop eyou enjoyed it.

the pic you see is the view from my apartment. it is a nice one. i stare out almost every morning between emails and msn messages.