My to-do list remains long, but I thought I’d spend a minute updating here. The morning was off from class, because there was a mass, and I have never quite seen a mass like this before: there was a choir, but at the end, some apparently very-famous Korean Catholic pop star came and sang three songs. I think the sound system was a little overloaded, as it gave out a little way into the third song, a couple of times no less, but she sang her little heart out (little, because she was strikingly short and small of build) and the kids loved it. I and the other new profs were all introduced by the President, and the students cheered, cheered like mad. Which is to say, the students here are quite lively, quite energetic — they’re what people use the Konglish word “active” to describe. It’s a very nice change of pace, and now I need to go prepare my my own little heart out, so that we have something interesting to do in my evening classes tonight. I’ve got a rough plan, but it needs some filling out, and I need to get some specific materials. Then there’s getting the housing stuff sorted, applying for a faculty card, getting my bank account info to the office, getting textbook choices approved by the campus bookstore… oh, so many many things!

As you might imagine, I really have to go now…