I have Skype!

So I finally got set with Skype, meaning that any of y'all with an account, or who get an account (go to Skype.com to check it out - it's free to download, but you'll need to make sure you have a microphone on your computer), can talk to me for free, and that I can call all the rest of you for a couple cents a minute. I've still got to work out some sound quality issues, but it works! My Skype ID is kristinkmarsh - if you have an account, look me up or e-mail me your ID and we'll be in touch. Now if only this fantastic service could do something about that pesky time difference to the States ...

I also have a cell phone number, but I'm not going to post that here - just e-mail me if you want it. It doesn't cost me to receive calls on that phone, but I won't be calling internationally from there short of some emergency.

One more thing down ... on a list of about 100. But life here is finally settling into something of a routine, and it's nice to finally be able to focus on changes in smaller portions, rather than feeling like every moment brings something unexpected. During the week we have long days of classes, meetings, lesson planning and shuttling around to various errands ... at the end of the day there's just time to scratch out an e-mail or two while watching whatever cheesy English-language program might happen to be on TV or scrub a few clothes in the tub if the one washing machine in the basement is taken (it usually is, and apparently there aren't laundromats here like in the States ... some people are checking into a laundry send-out service, but I'll let them be the guinea pigs). During the weekends, we inflict ourselves upon the largely amused and partly annoyed neighborhood, taking over the tiny diner and getting impromptu Korean lessons at the 7-Eleven across the street, and we venture downtown and to various city attractions - which really means wandering around on the hot streets for hours like a herd of lost cattle, following a series of misunderstood or misgiven directions. Evenings - weekends, anyway - may mean a beer in the bar down the street, or a trip downtown to the expat hangouts or clubs.

Even meals don't seem so exotic anymore. It doesn't seem so out of the ordinary to eat french fries with ketchup or salad for breakfast (I think that first dish is some enterprising soul's idea of creating a Western spread at the hotel for us Americans) amid the more traditional hard-boiled eggs, Spam (or something like it), toast and cereal. Lunch and dinner are typically at the college cafeteria, where the staples of rice and kimchi (spicy, pickled cabbage) are accompanied by at least five other dishes, a bowl of soup and a piece of fruit. There are generally no drinks and never any desserts, and everything's eaten with chopsticks and spoons. Lotus roots are a big thing, pickled vegetables are all the rage, and I've quite gotten used to tentacles on my plate or in my bowl. It's hard to generalize the cooking, though, other than to say there's a notable variety of veggies and meats/seafood used in each meal. When I get a camera in a month or two, I'll do a more thorough post on some of the dishes. In the classic "weird stuff I've eaten" list of those traveling abroad, though, I've added tiny octopus, tiny fried crabs (both in entirety) and kelp - "You know, that stuff we feed our fish" as a co-worker put it. There may have been other items of note considering the amount of unknown dishes crossing my plate in recent days. Some of the other teachers were somewhere grubs were served, and another ate dog. Doubt I'll be seeking out either one of those anytime soon.

Friday we had a formal ceremony with the college president to receive our letters of appointment, starting with a half-hour dress rehearsal of how to meet a person of such high status (don't drink until he tells you to!), how to accept the letter (with two hands!) and how to bow (left hand on your stomach or elbow!) and shake hands (the ceremony was somewhat Westernized in an overture by the president, who proved to be a warm, gracious gentleman ... I wouldn't have been surprised by a pompous ogre after all the fuss, but that's the culture). The only people in the room, however, were our group, a handful of Korean academics and staff, and the president, which made me realize that in the States we generally reserve our ceremony for mass gatherings - here there's no need for an audience to make something a sacred event.

Then we spent the evening with the dean (son of the president) at a Western-style restaurant in the mountains - good food but not quite spot-on: The baked potatoes were loaded with whip cream instead of sour cream, for example. The dean was also quite anxious to see our Texans (in suits and boots) two-step, apparently, but the music selection was more of a techno club sort, so there were a couple awkward hours of people standing around, bobbing their heads in a "trying to go with the flow but not bust a move in front of an important boss" sort of way. A good time was had by all, though, a staggering bill tallied and an auspicious start made to a cross-cultural project of mammoth proportions ... which was the point, I think.