I got a random email a few weeks ago from Tsvety, a girl I used to (sort of) teach while I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria. At first, I was excited to see an email from her simply because I was interested to learn what she’d been up to lately, but then I read the email. Turns out she was soon to depart for a summer in, of all places, Seoul, Korea. Insane coincidence? Absolutely.

Just as surprising: there’s a university in Sofia, Bulgaria that has a Korean philology department. I’m still mystified as to why, but apparently it really does exist. So my friend is here, living in Seoul with a family who is acquainted with a Korean family she met in Sofia, practicing her Korean language skills and doing the cultural immersion thing.

This weekend we got together and wandered around part of Seoul a little bit. It was really nice to see her again and to hear about some of the things that are going on in my favorite little Bulgarian hometown. And I’m really enjoying my role as the go-to person when she wants a “western”- style break from the norm of all Korean all the time that she has on a day-to-day basis.

I was at the dermatologist’s office on Saturday.  After looking at my skin and talking about its condition for a couple of minutes, and after saying, “okay, I’m going to have you do this, this, and this, and I’ll see you again in 3 weeks,” the doctor checked his calendar.

Doc: Hmm, unfortunately I won’t be able to see you on August 4th, because I have an important conference to go to in Boston.

M: Okay…

Doc: So would you like to come earlier or later?

M: Probably earlier would be better, since I’ll be travelling pretty soon after that.

Doc: Oh really? Where are you going?

M: Well, I leave here on the 18th to go get married.

Doc: You’re getting married? Congratulations. When is the wedding?

M: September 1st.

Doc: Great - we’ll have your skin in good shape for the wedding, I promise.

M: Thanks! That’s what I’m hoping for.

Doc: So, when are you going to have a baby?

Okay, seriously people, I am not even married yet!!  And after I get married, barring some sort of surprise, I don’t intend there to be anyone but me and my guy for quite some time - I’m talking years, not months here, if ever (okay, maybe an animal or two, but no more than two, and definitely nothing that can talk back).  I realize this is Korea, where if you’re not trying to have a kid, you’ve either already got kids and are trying everything you can to send them to all the ”right” schools and push them to be “successful” and competitive, or you’re not married (in which case your main goal is to find a spouse and everyone asks you why you’re not married yet).  I realize that.  But seriously, give me some time to catch my breath!

Every now and then I come across something that gets under my skin and provokes me to climb up onto my soap box and say something about it.  This month, it seems it is a story in the International Herald Tribune about a young man who was born into a prison camp.  Generally, even in places where slavery still exists, the children are not automatically slaves these days.  But this story would seem to suggest that, not very far from where I am living these days, several generations are brutally punished and made to do hard labor for their entire lives because of the sins of an ancestor or relative.  The punishment is truly reprehensible.  The fact that it is meted out to those who have committed no crime is utterly unforgivable.  And the results of all of this are so, so sad.

. . . highly educated people does it take to cut a cake? We may never know, but here’s a good guess:

We may have done the party on Monday, but we slept in on the 4th and celebrated properly.

Happy Independence Day, America!