one of these things is not like the others...

tonight after yoga, i hopped into the elevator and just as the doors were closing, there was a girl coming out of yoga ready to leave so i made a heroic dive in between the doors and just as they were about to squeeze the life out of me and turn me into a martyr, they re-opened and the girl walked in. "yikes! that was a close one!" i gasped with pride. her response? no thank you, no smile, not even eye contact. just as the doors were about to close again, two more people walked out of yoga and, despite the lack of appreciation from fellow yoga-er #1, i threw myself between the closing doors again, allowing for two more little korean women to join us on the elevator. again, no response. and let me tell me, it sucks when you just miss the elevator b/c yoga zen is on the 9th floor and it takes a long time to wait for the elevator to go down to the first floor and all the way back up. but despite their lack of expression, i maintained my good spirits and even told one of them that i liked her shoes. they were a leopard print stiletto type of thing and they were fabulous. i pointed, gave a thumbs up, and she looked at me in confusion and annoyance. come on, lady, every country knows what thumbs up means. so then i started looking around at the shoes of the other women. one pair of leather pointy toe boots, one pair of red and blue patterned heels with a little diamond thing. and then i looked at down at my own pair of black and white pumas that look like they're made for rock climbing and have been several times. suddenly i found myself whistling the tune to "one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong" from sesame street. my whistling turned into humming, my humming turned into full out singing. (well, not full out. i was singing the words loud enough for them to hear.) i thought it was hillarious, but i don't think they got it. apparently, they don't have sesame street here either. today, we also found a place with a tanning bed, which was shocking considering that every skin product and lotion in korea is purposed to whiten the skin. they want to be white, we want to be brown. but mary's going to thailand for christmas and i'm going to the philippines and both of us will be on the beach for a week and a half straight and i'm petrified of turning into a painful and peeling bright red tomato after day 1. i haven't been to a tanning bed since high school prom (with the exception of once) and i really hate them. they smell, they're claustrophobic, they make me all sweaty and hot and, the obvious reason--it's a box of cancer. but i figured a few times wouldn't hurt and would also make my transition into beautiful beaches much smoother. anyway, we went after school today and seriously, i think the bed was from 1979 and i don't think they've cleaned it since then. i felt like i had been slimed. or given an std. i'm taking some cleaning materials next time. gross.

hannah got some pictures from the website of the 10k we did. here is the start.





there's me! #1399 just about to cross the finish line. and just to clarify, the children who are about to beat me walked the 5k and sprinted the last 10 feet of it. so no jokes. they aren't beating me.

look at the sea of koreans! try to find us! it's like where's waldo.