Oh- hum, Friday is here. On the last day of the work week I only teach one class, but all the teachers have to be here from 2:30 until 9:30. That gives me a lot of time to read essays, do some crosswords, type on the blog, and space out for hours. One of the teachers is leaving next week so we're having a soju and jello party tonight. That could get messy.

My cultural realization of the week is that things are not always as they seem, especially in foreign lands. Take barber shops for example. When I first arrived here I noticed that there seemed to be an obscene amount of barbers. It seems that every block has two three of those red and blue spinning poles outside certain buildings. Here's the deal, those spinning poles mean something different than they do in the states. They signify a massage parlor, an oriental massage parlor (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). If you went into one of those places expecting a haircut you'd end up being very surprised, "So, this is how they cut hair in Korea."

But that's not it, coffee shops are not coffee shops, at least not when they are downstairs. If they are upstairs they're legit, but if you go to a basement coffee shop you'll be offered to buy something more than coffee. On Saturday nights I like to go out for a haircut and some coffee. Kidding, I heard about all of this from the veteran teachers, and I would think that they were trying to pull one over on the new guy, but this seems to be comunal knowledge. I'm just glad they let me know instead of sending me out to pick up coffee.