it's 9:39 but all i've had for dinner is bottled water. i'm debating the merits of eating the octopus potato chips the new girl in the goshiwon gave me last night. these are chips that are molded into the shape of an octopus, featuring a bewildered looking cartoon octopus in snorkeling gear on the packaging (do octopi need underwater gear?). given to me by a girl who carries two cell phones because she is an event planner and sometimes, from what i can understand, needs to talk to her family and friends on one side while SIMULTANEOUSLY event planning on the other side.

today i cleaned my room, which was fairly easy. the size of my room is such that putting something away involves moving it, at maximum, about four feet. i probably could have cleaned my room while sitting on my bed. last week noelle came and visited, and since she wasn't allowed to talk all she could do was mouth her silent "oh my god"s.

so when korean people are sick they wear surgical masks and walk around looking not like patients but doctors, nurses and dental assistants. on tuesday i met up with my friend sojeong, who brought me the following: hybrid orange/mandarins (divine), a sort of cure-all beverage called ssamgatang that you heat up in the microwave and then chug right before bed (she texted me about 12pm to remind me to take the cap off before heating lest the bottle explode...it's lucky i have a late bedtime) and a 3-pack of masks, one of which i, of course, dutifully wore. on the subway, walking around, at the museum, paying my bill at a restaurant, etc. etc. i used to think that all dental assistants had unusually beautiful eyes; i liked how when i had my teeth worked on they were always really busy looking at my mouth, which meant i was totally free to look at their eyes, something i don't really do with a lot of people for minutes at a time. anyway, i'm sure they all really do have lovely eyes, and i KNOW their eyeliner skills trump mine any day, but i now realize that there's just something about being set over a surgical mask that makes all eyes look very big and doe-y, and very dramatic when they blink. (as i watched my reflection in the subway window this morning, every time i blinked a voice inside my head intoned very gravely, "nurse, the scalpel...") ok, but the other great thing about the mask was that i could cough and sneeze and sniffle without reaching up a hand to cover my mouth! which was amazing! i could be coughing AS I TYPE THIS. also, i was about 70% warmer in the face area while walking around outside. all of which means that when i come back to the US i will not only be a bed eschewing, kimchee eating, shoe removing irritating FREAK, but i will also probably insist on wearing a face mask through most of february. i know that this is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR, so i'm just giving you all fair warning.

today in korean class i learned to say, "don't put the refrigerator near fire or water. and since this refrigerator requires 220 volts, don't overload the electrical outlet with too many appliances. it's dangerous."