the secret to not being tickled is to pretend that it is you doing that to yourself. being unticklish is a sign of comfort. that's why you're usually not ticklish with a masseuse because the very idea of it is to be comfortable.

so i went to a coffee shop called dr.fish on the weekend. most things seemed fairly normal about this coffee shop, albeit the atmosphere and coffee were awesome. the one thing unusual though were bath tub style fish tanks that were level with the floor. in the tanks of course were the dr.fish. apparently this particular type of fish nibbles at dead skin on your feet. and for a couple bucks those feet could be yours.

i sat with my feet in the bathtub fishtanks imagining in my mind that the 100 or so fish nibbling at my feet were actually my own hands somehow poking them in a thousand different places, and that it was not many tiny fish enjoying my smelly foot supper. it was probably the worst self-inflicted tickling i've had. but i kinda enjoyed it once i got used to it. i felt loved. and actually it kinda felt like when your foot falls asleep, except without your foot being asleep.

anyway, now i need to find a date that would like to go to dr.fish with me sometime.

i think it's funny in class when the question asked returns the response "poo".

but they don't say poo in english, they say it in korean. which of course requires a translation.

now ask a cute little korean girl a translation for poo and watch as she clenches her teeth and pretends to make a pushing sound. it's hilarious.

by the way, the question asked was: what would be the worst animal to have for a pet?

various stories...

i was on the bus and i was talking to a lady. her english was very broken, but like i said, i've come to appreciate that. it's endearing when they still try to talk to you. at one point she said to me:
"can I ask you a personal question?"
i thought " there isn't possibly a question you'd be be willing to ask me that is too personal" so I said "yes".
She said "are you happy with how much money you make?"
I said "why?" usually when they ask that it's because they have a job proposition.
Finally, after much struggling with language I understood what she was suggesting. she said that another english teacher told her about his job, which was similar to my except that he had to go work at many different schools. basically it is an on call english teacher job.
she told me this with amazement that i can make a lot of money doing this even more than she makes. so i said how much. she confidently wrote with her finger on a wall a number that she assumed would impress me. i quickly realized her error, and i felt very bad for her. she wrote 2,000,000 won on the wall. and i tried to say in a humble way, i make more than that. incredulous, she asked how long do you work. i said 7 hours a day. even more incredulous she asked if i work on the weekends. i said no. she was in a stupor. i tried to be humble but clearly not enough. the thing is, in korea, english teachers make a lot more than their korean counterparts. also they work a lot less, and their apartments are paid for. i try not to tell any koreans how much i make because they'll probably be jealous, and resent foreigners. it's amazing, we have such an easy job and we can make really decent money. the only drawback is that we are far from friends or family.

i have another interesting story, but this is already too long. i've gotten into a habit of writing really long notes.

PICKLE DAY

today was pickle day for my one class. what is pickle day? pickle day is when the pizza shop gives you a mini tub of sweet pickles with every pizza you order. then you collect those pickles in your fridge for the nearly 4 months you've been living there because you don't like sweet pickles. the next step is finding out that all the students like pickles. so you bring your 15 tubs of pickles into the class and announce pickle day.

the best part is when some kids realize there's an expiration date on the pickles, and most of them are expired. kids are so smart these days.

YAY PICKLE DAY

i haven't written here in a long time, and i have a lot to say. but this time i'll keep it simple. i just thought i'd show something i've come to appreciate here in korea. effort. maybe not accuracy, but effort.

so i signed up for language exchange online, and this girl started writing to me. here is what i said to her at one point:

"you are trying very hard to learn english. i like that. many people
don't want to try. we can meet someday. i'll try to help your english.
anyway, right now, i'm very tired. i need sleep."

and this is her reply:

"Oh malcolm you need the rest, i think. this time many people want to learn English always, so you should break a leg your work becasue you're a teacher. as you do that, many students follow your instuction to get the high ability. Cheer up :D until we meet someday, i'll be trying to study all my exertion! then malcolm teacher, get the enough rest time :D
Take care from snowy weather!"

i thought this reply was really cute.