Nov. 12th...

...is apparently my best day for jobs! As I am boarding the subway on my way to meet the blowfish guy and his wife, I get a call from Ms. Han requesting that we meet today. I haven't seen her in months and her son has blown me off the past 3 weeks. Then Paul and I meet the blowfish guy, his wife, and the mother of another child for the class. Blowfish man and friend's mom both speak great English, the wife not so much. After they make it clear I'm the one for the job (Paul doesn't have time anyway and they'e more comfortable with a woman) they invite us to stay for a blowfish lunch. I love free lunch, and more than anything, eating meals with Koreans. Foreigners just kind of make up the rules, but when you eat with Koreans there is definitely a more refined/restricted way of eating. The sides aren't appetizers, they're meant to accompany your meal. I always scarf em down before the meal. You don't eat until the eldest dishes it out for everyone and starts. You don't finish everything (again I always do), and you usually don't drink water. Why is it that Americans are the only people who drink water!? I digress. So we decide the class will be once a week at one of the students' houses, this will change monthly, there will be 6 students between the ages of 5 and 8 (Korean), it will be conversational, I will be paid monthly, and I will get a snack in the middle. Asa! In the middle of lunch I get a text from a recruiter I wrote to on craigslist regarding a tutoring job. He wants to know when I'm available to chat. I call him back later and he says he has a tutoring job Tues/Thurs 7:30-9:00 for a 38 year old doctor, $40 an hour. Between these two new jobs, and Ms. Han, I'm back to my salary before I left and I only work 18 hours a week. Woohoo Thailand back on! Although now I hear there's been a large volcano eruption in Indonesia, so perhaps Bali's a better option (cheaper flights).

Off to meet Ms. Han now, then run, Joe's birthday dinner at Zelen. Zelen is my favorite restaurant here. It's Bulgarian food served by really attractive Bulgarian waiters. Once Susan and I got a bit tipsy in the afternoon after a wine tasting and head in here for a late lunch. It was 3 and they said they were closed until dinner. We weren't having it. They finally let us in and said they'd serve whatever they had in the kitchen. It ended up being an awesome soup and stuffed cabbage. Even when they're closed they're good!

Tomorrow Emily, Dave and I are hosting a gluhwein party. We're basically taking cheap sweet wine, heating it with bourbon, and putting apples and oranges in it all served with homemade banana bread, which Paul Em and I made last night, and brownies, which I will make tomorrow. Looks to be a nice little weekend.