Halloween Weekend

This weekend was a good one. On Friday I went into the expatriate jungle and explored the creatures in their natural habitat at a Halloween party hosted at my co-worker Sherry's apartment (a pretty killer party by the way). First, a word on the apartment. It rests on the top of an apartment/store/hagwon building with her apartment set to one side of the roof, a garden/outdoor area, and then steps that lead to the very top of the roof. So there's that, which I heartily enjoy.

While I won't get too deep into details, I'll mainly say I had a very good night with a crowd of (sans four) people I've never spent more than two minutes before with. My costume was of course a very cheap one that I thought of at the last minute, while walking home from work (does this sound like any other Halloween?). I wore a white t-shirt and borrowed a blue permanent marker from Sherry (I didn't even spend a cent on one of those notorious money pits--a ShinHan Art International two sided, fine and broad tipped pen). Essentially I was like Darth Maul with a pen (which I would intermittently lend to strangers for their word and picture enjoyment). I must say I probably would have had a rubbish time had I worn a traditional costume. It nicely gave fellow expats a reason to say hello.

I also finished a fantastic book by J.M. Coetzee (it's kut-SEE-uh, much thanks to the South African girls at the party for the proper pronunciation) called Disgrace. A short novel, I began it late in the week and read like an editor under deadline. I would comment on this more, but I feel too lazy for such things at the moment.

Today I went on a run through my backyard (aka the park). I ran past the odd looking racquet sports court and a little Korean kid yelled, "Hello". I immediately did my American duty and responded with a chipper "hi" in return. As I nearly stumbled into a woman walking down the annoying steps that run up and down in every way throughout the park, I slowly made my way to the area overlooking the courts where the boy proceeded to yell "nice to meet you!". He said it a few times before my tired bones offered a response, which was the same as his response (plus the word "too") to me. The boy howled in excitement and began jumping with arms and legs flailing at the quickly passing reality of acknowledgement from an English-speaker, likely American. You're welcome State Department.