Apples apples everywhere

I've just had a 10 kilo box of apples delivered to me. I'm not kidding. Ten whole kilos of big, round, shiny red apples! They are a present to me from the parents board of the school, which is a lovely thing to do and I sincerely do appreciate the gift. However...this is distressing me on two counts.

Firstly, obviously I'm wondering what to do with 10 kilos of apples. Now, if I was at home, I would bake. Apple cake, apple pie, apple tart, tart au tatin, any form of appley-cakey goodness. And I would stew a lot of them to have with yoghurt or custard, and it would be yummy. However, it being Korea, I have no oven. Thus, no baking. Nor do I have a large enough saucepan to stew more than two apples at a time. I am currently contemplating purchasing a small oven, as they can be got a fairly reasonable price. This, however, presents a further two problems: a) where to put it, as I have no, literally no, kitchen space; and b) buying an oven with designs to bake would result in buying bowls and spoons and trays and tins, and sourcing the ingredients, which would be difficult and costly. So you can see my dilemma.

But the second count on which these apples are distressing me is a very simple one....I'm leaving for Shanghai in less than three hours!! So there is no time to stew them, nor can I spend the next week eating them! And I can't take them to China with me.

So all this was a long-winded way of saying I've got shedloads of apples and I don't know what the bejaysus to do with them! For the time being I'm going to stick them in my fridge and hope that they're not a rotting, maggoty mass by the time I get back in ten days. Maybe I'll make cider. All suggestions welcome.

Today was an easy day at school - mid-term exams started, so I had no class. Which meant I spent the day sending pointless e-mails and playing cute games online! Then left early to run some errands. I love running errands! It makes me feel all grown up. I usually gather them up over a few weeks until I have enough to justify an errand run; which also means that I procrastinate over some errands! But there was an even better sense of grown-up-ness and accomplishment today as I managed to buy train tickets, in Korean, operate an ATM, in Korean, exchange traveller's cheques and then get Chinese currency, and then send some letters from the post office, all in Korea, using my broken Korean! I'm getting there!

Had a lovely few evenings in Daegu the last couple of nights, having dinner and catching up with friends I haven't been able to see because of being incapacitated. Was nice to be able to wander around. Looked for a mobile as well, as I still haven't got that sorted, but despite our best attempts, and even using Korean people, due to various other complications it still hasn't been sorted! Ah well, can't use it in China anyway! I just miss texting. It's been 6 weeks since I sent a text. It's amazing how much you miss it, when you rely on it so much back home. Sad, but true.

I had more of my wonderful observations of Korean life to talk about, but as usual, they all dashed out of my mind as soon I started to write. Oh, but I did find my mecca! A lovely lovely bakery, that smells like a bakery from back home (Norn Iron home, not Aber home), with lots of delightful looking cakes and breads. Also lots of funny looking things...Koreans like their savoury pizza-style pastries, but they put peas, and whole burgers, and ketchup and mayo on top. Mayo! But I've got somewhere to go when i need a good cream cake. And the lady in the shop decided to have a chat with me. She was really friendly, and I think was telling me that the last English teacher from my school used to go in. But I've adopted the good old attitude of nodding and smiling when people talk Korean to me. It's going to get me into trouble some day!

That's just reminded me of something that happened last night. Those who know me will know of my habit of attracting strange foreign men. And of the scene I made in Mexico when a pregnant woman slapped her husband for staring at me. Well last night I combined both: attracted the attentions of a strange foreign man and made a scene. Got on the train to go to Daegu, paid a little extra as I'd got the times mixed up and got a fancy train, so there I was in my comfy seat. And a drunken old Korean man sits next to me, food all over his face, and decides he wants to talk to me. Not just talk to me, but lean over right into my face and insist on talking to me loudly, even though I keep telling him I don't understand. I had earphones in, and kept putting them back in and turning away, but when he started leaning over to pull them out himself, I decided that wasn't the best idea. So this goes on for about ten minutes, with all the people around watching us, but not helping. Eventually the conductor comes over to talk to the drunkard, checks his ticket and finds out he's in the wrong seat, so moves him. A few minutes later he comes back to get his bag, and talks at me for a few more minutes. As I say, people all around were watching, and continued to watch after he had left. So I can add causing a scene on a Korean train to my repertoire!

Right, time for me to shower, finish packing and leave for Shanghai! I've got a two hour train trip, and then a five hour wait before my flight! It'll be a laugh. Next time I write, I'll be telling you about Shanghai. Happy Chuseok everyone!