Late Night Musings

I am mesmerized by Korean commercials. They are a blur of white, grey, beige and watery, pasteled-out greens and blues. The edgy ones add a little chrome. And they all have beautiful women. Beautiful Korean women sell everything from powdered sauce mix to widescreen TVs. And the cameras, lets not forget the cameras. Camera and cell phone commercials are to Korea what car commercials are to the States. Lavish and ubiquitous. And they all have extremely annoying jingles, often ripped from well-known English songs. One commercial that I swear plays every half hour if not more blurts out a version os the YMCA that is positively mangled by Korean-commercial-cuteness.

Cute. That's the word of the the nation right there. A national obsession with cuteness. I printed out a Hello Kitty coloring sheet one week, because Kitty was skiing and sledding with her friends and it fit our theme of Winter. My kindergarten girls practically fell over each other trying to get their hands on it. Then all of my afternoon girls saw it on my desk and begged and begged - and even swore they would do their homework - if I gave it to them. When I wear my Tinkerbell necklace I have girls climbing into my lap all day to ooh and ah over it.

The Christmas party went well enough. Heather, a rather masterful baker, created two tarts that tasted incredible. The two of us also threw together a layered chip dip that was a smashing success. And I wore one of my new sweater dresses, this shockingly skintight number - the kind of which I've been picking off the racks in increasing amount. I'm convinced that once I leave this country I'll leave the skinnyness behind too. And all the clothes I've bought here will pile up, musty and unloved because I either can't fit into them anymore or I'd feel too conspicuous in the foreign styles.

Things I'll miss about Korea part 1:

- The rubber-paved, exercise-machine-lined running path by the river.

- School lunches, in all their subtle, super-healthy deliciousness

- The seamless subway system

- The whole "no-tipping" culture. It's so easy!

More to come later! In the meantime....Too much to do. Going to see the Nutcracker with Marina and Beather tomorrow, which will be awesome. And Christmas shopping!