Girls Generation in Gangnam

The group of friends was split into two camps. One turned up its nose at celebrities and one was ridiculously excited at the sighting of pop group Girls Generation in Gangnam. Gangnam is an upper-class district in Seoul with a surplus of nightclubs, restaurants and plastic surgery clinics. It's also where an American breakfast joint called Butterfingers Pancake House is -- and where Girls Generation was spotted.

First, some background. Girls Generation is a popular music group that won the Artist of the Year Award last year. Don't ask me why it's singular, because there are freakin' nine of them. I really don't know much more than I did when I joined the group running toward the pancake house. A crowd stood outside, looking at the second story window and silhouettes of microphones for a TV interview. A few brave (obsessed) souls went inside to "go to the bathroom" and got to see them -- one guy even said a girl looked straight into his eyes.

After about an hour of waiting, my friends and I were the only ones left in the frigid cold when suddenly, all the girls dashed out of the restaurant and hopped into a monster of a black van that was waiting for them. I managed to get ONE clear (not really) shot. And there you have it.

Simon and his Tat

I don't have the pleasure of knowing Simon well, but when I see him, I laugh.

He's a lion in everything but teeth. A largish group of 15 single girls has formed in the southern Seoul district, and Simon fancies himself the leader of the pride. While the estrogen flies thick, Simon manages to counterbalance it all with doing things like farting potently, growing a shaggy beard (mane) and getting huge, impulsive tattoos. His soft side, however, comes through in some of the best original music and poems I've ever heard.

Simon showed us the latest installment on his back and we were all happy to see things like butterflies and caterpillars in his gigantic buffalo tat and hear him moan about the pain in a low, endearing roar.

Kissing Pens: You Know You're Studious When...

Today I was given the Korean equivalent of a BFF necklace: kissing magnetic face pens! Three 6th grade girls decided to visit me every day during their lunch break to hang out and speak English. Hellen, who frequently tells me she loves me, wants to be an English teacher when she grows up and reads her English textbook in her free time. Hellen will keep one pen and I'll keep the other -- in a very safe place for a long time.

Gifts and days like these are what teachers live for.

Raspberry Secrets

Euno leaned forward, eyebrows raised, and asked, "Do you know the Korean story
about these berries?"
I glanced down at the tiny bottle in my
hands and shook my head, ready
for something good. The story goes something
like this:

A long time ago, an old man of 70 went into the woods and ate a
lot of mountain berries. When he emerged, he immediately fathered a baby.

There's a little more to the story that I won't publish, but according
to my coworkers, raspberry products are still consumed for sexual stamina
and fertility. Is that why there are hearts on the bottle? Possibly, but you never
know in Korea -- hearts whimsically show up in the strangest places here.