Poaching Friends

I decided to poach John's friends today.

On Wednesday afternoon I went downtown with John, and to a little coffeeshop he recently discovered. Daegu has its fair share of coffeeshops, but this one really is a good discovery. It's very very peaceful and does great teas and coffees. The specialities are the tea lattes and the green tea lattes, they really are terrific.

Anyway, on Friday John was saying that the woman who runs the coffeeshop had invited him out for dinner with her family, and knowing Korean custom, they would insist upon paying for him.

And so today I went downtown by myself, and to the coffeeshop, and the woman owner was there and enthusiastically introduced herself, her son and his girlfriend. She gave me a free tea latte and we chatted a while before she went to church. I promised that I'd be there again next week and she said something about a meal.

I need some Korean friends I reckon. I've got my Korean name now, after all. You see, Korean friends are good because they pay for your stuff. Ok, now that's a very cynical and manipulative reason for making a friendship, but hey, that's me. A helpless combination of genetics and upbringing.

At least I'm not as bad as the deviant H. He said he would make a new Korean friend every couple of months and they'd stay friends until they eventually got tired of having to subsidise him everywhere.

I need a Korean to help me with the language too. As well as "thank-you" and "cheers" I now have "hello" and I think I know the word for "stupid" but I still struggle in conversations.

Back teaching again tomorrow. I'm feeling ok about it. I've got two problem classes, as I've said, but I think I know how to deal with them. One class is basically good but the book they're using is bollocks. But I've analysed it and think I can get something out of it, if I can prize them away from their beloved alphabet game.

The other class needs discipline, that's all. So bring on the Cane of Almighty Punishment.