why is the rum always gone?

I may or may not have just figured out how to pirate movies off the internet. It depends on what you consider pirating... and since I think of rum and eye patches I'm innocent. I've always wanted to be a pirate though so either way I'm ok with you calling me a pirate.

So I just ran my Korean washing machine for the first time and I was really proud of myself until I went into my laundry room and found it flooded with water. One of my team teachers came over after school just to show me how to use it so I covered it with pink little labels so I know what each button means. That is one thing that is amazing about this culture. They are so kind and will absolutely go out of their way to help you in anyway that they can. Everyday when I leave school I am bombarded with girls who will run up to me and say "Hello! Hi teacher! How are you? We love you!" and that is the most refreshing thing in the world especially coming from middle schools in the U.S. where alot of students purposely avoid you and on occasion call you names that make you wanna cry. And just as a side note, while the teachers at my school call me "Washington!", my students, especially the girls are enamored with my curly hair and so now I have been promoted to "Beautiful Curly Washington!" But I digress and as a matter of fact I took a short break from writing this paragraph to discover my laundry room flooding for real. I totally jinxed myself by exaggerating earlier and now I'm waiting for my non-English speaking landlord, who by the way is another wonderfully selfless person, to come and save me.

Interesting story from this weekend that I was just telling one of my friends whose name rhymes with Seth over email. So Friday, I changed out of my work clothes in the bathroom of the subway station into my normal attire of bum clothes i.e. sweats and flip flops, on my way to meet a friend. I'm on the subway and remember that I need my card to scan off of the sub as well so I flip open my bag and...my bra flies out and lands in the middle of the floor while about a million people stand there staring it. Also, I had been wondering why these older women kept staring at me and realized after I picked it up that I had been sitting in the seats reserved for senior citizens. Way to go. Ash 0 Korea 2. Then I met Lyndsey and she forgot how to get back to her house so we were lost in pouring rain for over an hour. Not exaggerating. So Saturday and Sunday she spent all day making a map to her house, haha. Gotta love her.

Saturday and Sunday I went on some amazing hikes. It was freezing cold and pretty overcast but well worth it as you can see...

This is from Uam Historical Site...I can't really remember the history behind it but we found it at night and it was so cool. Plus the view of the city was amazing.

This is from the top of Mt. Bomun...I think that's the name anyways...but I definitely wiped out a good one on the way down.

There are also a bunch of natural springs on the way up. They have little cup things that everyone just grabs and drinks out of...but I wasn't adventurous enough to drink out of a little plastic thingy that had a million other mouths on it. I know, call me lame. But I did it the rogue way which is way cooler.

I think the hardest thing about being this far away is that I'm missing out on some big things back home. But I suppose big things happen all of the time so there's really no good time to leave for a year. Anyways, my friend Heather is pregnant with her second child and I'm pretty bummed that I won't be there when he's born (I know it's a he, I just know these things). Also, the thought of not being around for PLU volleyball for the first time in 8 years absolutely kills me. I really do feel a little sick when I think about it. And I just miss EVERYONE. So ya, just thought I would vent about that for a hot minute.

Last thing, saw a woman pick the biggest booger out of her nose on the subway the other day. I was trying so very hard to be chill about it but I gagged a good one. Oh my gosh it was so awful. I can't do boogers.