Sour Grapes

I remember my last day of middle school.  Middle school was without a doubt the most miserable period of my life.  Nonetheless, there I was on my last day, crying because I could never be in middle school again.  I can't tell you how many times I have wished that I was one of those teenage kids with adult wisdom who narrate books.

I tend to make things look rosy right before they were over.  I thought about how much I loved Charlotte--which I did--before we left.  We have had a wonderful time here, and every time I go onto Craigslist to look at rental shoeboxes in our price range, I am afraid that we are making a mistake.  So I am glad that my mind is not doing its whitewashing thing right now.

It's actually quite the opposite.  I had an outing with my staff in which I was the only foreigner, and I was glad it would be the last time I was part of some Korean social ritual with its nerve-wracking mile long list of rules (several of which I am already breaking by being the boss, yet female and relatively young).  My staff and most Koreans are very polite, and will not tell me when I commit some faux pas, but nonetheless I feel like I always have to be on my guard.  Look what happened to Bill Gates. Today we were at the park, and yet another Korean grandmother tried to explain to me why it was bad for me to let my son play in the dirt, and I almost unloaded on her.  Daegu has very little free entertainment to offer parents of young children, and there certainly aren't parks with playground equipment.  Xander has to make do with exercise equipment, a stone ampitheater, a gazebo, and a basketball court, and I think he does so rather nicely.

We have really enjoyed our time here, and I'm sure we'll look back upon it fondly.  However, I'm not ready to start thinking about how easy things are here when we're making this leap of faith to Hawaii.  I'll take the sour grapes.

In other news, we saw a lantern festival last weekend.  X grooved to the Korean drums and generally had a blast.  A dear friend who loved Hawaii assures me that there are lantern festivals there, too.

X makes dirt piles on the basketball hoop

Downtown on Children's Day

Lanterns with Jin!

Lanterns floating into the air

Grooving to Korean drums while holding his own lantern

What Your Librarian (or Library Staffer) Wishes You Knew

1. Everyone has overdues.  Overdue items are not a huge deal.  Most library staff member have them, and we visit the library every day.  We do not write the "nasty emails" that remind you of your overdue items, and trust me, we are not looking down on you.  If you owe overdue fees, think of them as a nominal fee for an excellent service. (If you have more than a few overdues, you can usually talk someone into bringing them down to a reasonable level as long as you don't act like a jerk.)

2. Library items undergo normal wear and tear.  It's a sad fact of their library lives.  If you return a book with the spine tearing away from the pages or a DVD that won't play any more, we will not hold you liable.  Please don't refuse to return it and lose your library privileges because you think we are that unreasonable.

3. Circulation has a margin of error.  If you use the library regularly, eventually you will return an item that does not get checked in.  Don't panic.  Tell us, and we will search the shelves for it.  If you are not a jerk, we will give you credit for returning it even if we can't find it.

4. We do not judge your reading habits.  Don't mistake us for English teachers.  We do not think that you should only read wholesome literature.  We enjoy a good bodice ripper, young adult novel, culinary mystery, or horror story, or we at least have several beloved patrons who do.  I promise I'm not smirking at your bag of Nora Roberts novels.  As a caveat, if you say something like, "I don't read young adult novels, I'm not twelve," I am judging you for the book snob that you are.

5. We are a nonprofit institution.  No one is buying a Mercedes with your overdue fines.

6. It's pronounced "library".  It is not a berry.

I guess you can shelve most of these under "don't be a jerk, and don't assume that we're jerks."  Speaking of, I just had a delightful conversation with someone that started with, "Why are you working here?  Couldn't you find something else?"  Happy Friday, everyone.