More from the forgotten wonderland

Now I will organize this by people:

미주 (Miju): You all know and love her by now. Unfortunately, after seeing the cherry blossoms with her and her friends, I haven't spend time with her. Our letters are having more and more days between them, and I know she's always tired. I think tomorrow I will go out and find something to buy for her. I don't know what to get that's cheap and will make her smile. I feel bad because I let days go without writing even though I'm not nearly as busy as she is. We were supposed to hang out today, but I woke up too late! I ran into her last night on the way home from hanging out with my friend.

영하 (Youngha): Here's a new face for you all. He's two years younger than I am, and I met him on the same language exchange website where I've met almost all of my friends here (Miju is the only exception). He's incredibly eager to learn English better, although his English is good already. He's also an enthusiastic Korean teacher. So far I met him once for breakfast (I couldn't sleep and he happened to text me at 7:30am) and we talked for 6 hours. Then I met him again yesterday for lunch and he took me to the biggest bookstore in Seoul. Our first breakfast was at a McDonald's which is connected to a "Grand Market" department store. McDonald's breakfast here is healthier and tastier than in America. For our lunch, we hopped on the subway downtown and went to his aunt's Chinese restaurant, where we had 짜장면 (jjajangmyeon), which is noodles in a sweet black sauce, and some Chinese-inspired fried pork, which I forgot the name of but is the favorite dish of two of my friends [The name is 탕수육 (Tangsooyook), thanks 영하]. I tried to take off my jacket at the restaurant, but his mother came hurried over to me and put it back on me. I was confused. He said that in Korea, it's scandalous to show your shoulders. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Not even a spaghetti strap, just a wide tank top. Culture difference I should be aware of, eh? 영하 (Youngha) loves maps, books, baseball, and soccer. He always carries a map book of Seoul (maybe all of Korea?), at least one book, and in his wallet he has discount passes for games and club cards for various stores. He's quite tall, probably 5'10~6' if I had to guess. He has millions of questions and wants to tell and show me everything. Actually, as I'm writing this I'm texting back and forth with him because he had a question about something he's studying. He's a quick study and really funny. Time flies when we hang out. :)

기균 (Kigyun): After having lunch with 영하 (Youngha) yesterday, I went home for a while and then went halfway across town again to meet 기균 (Kigyun, pronounced like Kee-gyoon). He's 5 years older than I am. We walked and talked for a while. He's very similar to me, actually, in terms of personality and philosophy. He and I both have that "you only live once" mentality. His English is better than he thinks it is, and he's starting to learn French. At one point in our conversations before, I had said that I like baseball and basketball but I'm no good at them. We walked by a batting cage and he suggested we try. He went first and hit almost every ball. Tall and athletic~ I said I was too terrible and embarrassed, but I tried anyway and just knicked three or four. No hits. He apologized profusely for making me do it. Koreans are like that. I said it was okay because I prefer failure to success sometimes. You can't learn anything from success, and I love learning. We ate some spicy octopus and vegetables simmering in soup, served on a hot plate. I forgot the name of that, too. But, it was ridiculously delicious. We also had some soju (Koreans really like to drink). He was wearing a beanie, which he says he doesn't like to do, because he got a bad haircut recently. I don't know why, but that struck me as hilarious. Anyway, this time I did not miss the last train home. I hope I'll get to see him again this week or next week.

주환 (Joohwan): I haven't seen him for a while, since the photos I posted. He checks up on me via text every now and then. He has midterms until Friday, so on Saturday we're gonna go drinking together.

성동 (Sungdong): He's two years older than I am, and I've been talking to him on MSN since before I came to Korea. At that time, he was studying in Australia, but now he's back in Korea. He lives in the south, and I'm thinking of visiting him in May sometime. He's a great comfort and help when I need it. He made a flyer in Korean for me to post around town for English tutoring because I told him I didn't know how to find students. He said he'll send it to me soon, so I just have to find somewhere to print it. I also have to print materials to teach piano to two people starting next week. I have a mission! I'll ask one of my local friends for help....