A Mysterious Korean Message

The morning of April 31 has arrived and I'm patiently waiting for "workers" to come and unclog our bathroom drain. The email message sent yesterday said, "tomorrow between 9:00 and 12:00". At 10:45 our phone rang and the message, delivered of course in Korean, remains a mystery to me. Said message could have been related to our clogged drain, or maybe the "crop dusting" that was scheduled for last Monday, is taking place today, maybe we're being evicted... I guess time will tell. Until then, I wait and write.

For today, it's odds and ends, strung together here because they didn't necessarily fit elsewhere.
Our Thursday night English class has proven to be a goldmine of incidental information.
A boy in Korea has few, if any, rules as he grows up. A daughter, on the other hand, does.

It's customary in Korea, for a girl's bedroom to be positioned furthest from the front door.

Unless both parents work, children have few responsibilities. Their job is to study.

 Many children take some type of music lessons in grade school. When they enter middle school, however,
 those lessons stop. Now their time is devoted to school and study.

When they enter high school, their school day runs from 8:00 to 10:00. The hours from 8 to 6 are spent in
what we would call "regular" school. Classes from 6 to 10 are offered and attended to help students get     
ready for their college entrance test - the test that will determine which institution a student will attend, as
well as what they will study.

Then, when asked, "When did you go to bed when you were in high school?" The answer was almost unanimous, "Two oclock!"  According to my calculations, most are getting about 4 hours of sleep - some less. No one seemed to be phased by this. Our students all remarked, however,on the amount of
pressure they felt to do well.

Meanwhile, we had several students who talked about the long hours their fathers (and in some cases)           mothers worked. In one case, his dad left for work at 5:00 and returned around midnight. His mom
worked with him - left a little later, came home a little earlier - so he and his sister were resposible for
meals, cleaning, and other housework.

No wonder most look fit and trim!

Last night, Doug and I attended a concert by CNU's symphany orchestra. Very classical. We're guessing  students in the orchestra are all music majors and were selected as promising musicians at an early age. There were four pieces that featured soloists - a vocalist (tenor), two violinists, two flautists, and a pianist - all excellent.

Not having eaten since lunch, we caved in at 9:00 and ate pizza at "DUM DUMS" - a pizza place located right by our dorm. We've been there before - often enough that the manager knows us by sight. Last night we decided to venture out and try "Hawaiian. As it turns out, (and not unexpectedly, I might add) Hawaiian at DUM DUMs doesn't have quite the same ingredients we might  be familiar with. It  does have pineapple as well as other fruits - we spotted a cherry, (actually a half a cherry) and something clear in color that reminded me of the candied fruit that gets thrown into Christmas fruitcake. There was no ham but it was edible. ( I'm sure we've mentioned this before - when it comes to food...it's all relative!)  We'll probably stick with their pepperoni.

Well, it's almost 1:00. I missed lunch, no workers have arrived, Doug has no idea what's happening here, and our drain is still clogged. My stomach is growling so I think I'll see what I find inside one of those packages. Tomorrow morning we head for Seoul for a few days to spend time with the Engstroms, borrow books, and hopefully see the new Rodin exhibit that opens this weekend.