day 32: the korean swimming pool

there has been some concern for the welfare of my soul. i'll let you know that i am perfectly safe, and intend to be that way. my writing must be very captivating for you to worry, but think of it as only dramatic elements. i have never been more happy, healthy, or intact in my life.

having said that, today Jean and I went swimming today. (don't worry, i wore sun screen and there were no sharks either.) there is this huge water area near the river that everybody hangs out at. Jean came to my house and then we took a bus over to his buddy's. we waited and waited and waited. (Korean standard time is very similar to mormon standard time.) jean said that this was the first time he saw me not smile, so he took a picture. when we were about to leave, his buddy walked up the stairs. turns out that his buddy was waiting for us at Jean's house. (and i thought i couldn't communicate in korean.)

the place was packed with all ages because it is summer break right now and its about 100 degrees every day. when we walked in, they made us all buy hair caps. there were huge posters of the korean olympic swimmer everywhere. i was thinking that they just made me buy the stupid hair cap because they want everybody to look like the famous Olympian. i was looking forward to at least swimming some laps in my stylish new fashion, but was disappointed when i found out that the deepest pool went up to my chest and that koreans find speedos to be appropriate for public places (plus, there wasn't any room to actually swim that much with how many people were in the water.) we splashed around a little bit, and jean got his buddies and a lot of little koreans to try to take me down. little did they know how adapt i am to to water fights.

we came home, dried off, and went to Mcdonalds. (my idea, since i am getting a little sick of kimchee every day.) it still didn't taste american, but was close enough to make me happy.