day 24: the new pen pal

its a good thing that i didn't bring any mosquito repellent because then i wouldn't be itching like i am. last night emily's mom woke up in the middle of the night and came into our room and she said it felt like a sauna, so she opened a window. when i woke up, my legs, arms, and feet were covered in bites. it made for a really comfortable 14 hour travel home.

we got on the ferry at 8 a.m. and got put in this gigantic room with 85 other people. there wasn't any place to sit, so jean and i sat up on the deck. while we were there, this korean lady in her late 30s asked if i would talk to her son in english. she introduced me to her 9 year old son, and we talked for a little bit. he kept giggling and kept saying, "i don't know." so, then he finally got away from his mom's grip and ran off. she stayed by me for most of the rest of the 5 hours asking me questions about how i liked korea and all that jazz. she was a very nice lady, and it turns out that she's going to send her son to america in the next 2 years to be a foreign exchange student. then she asked me if i would be his teacher while i stayed here in korea. i told her that i didn't have any time, plus we lived in seoul (she lived near the bottom of korea) but that i'd be happy to be his pen pal. we exchanged email adresses and then the boat came to the port. (its surprising how many people i've given my email adress to. i should have made up business cards or something so i wouldn't have to write it on an old wrapper or napkin or something.) we said our goodbyes, and as we were walking off, she asked where we were going next. we told her, and she told us to wait for 5 minutes for a surprise. Jean wanted to go because he thought she was crazy (which she kind of is) but i was curious. then she pulled up in her car and told us that she would drive us to the bus terminal since it was another 30 minutes away. ah, I love being an American.

we finally arrived home at 10 pm, and i really hope that Jean gives me the weekend off because i'm starting to get sick of being with him every waking moment.