Cheonan, Korea Rep.

Life seems to have caught up with me the last few weeks! I have settled into a routine and seem to have very little spare time left! School has been busy as I teach more and more and I also stupidly planned a lesson that involved me marking a worksheet, so about 400+ to mark in one week. I won’t be doing that again soon!

Also, I got sick! The yellow dust from China is highly unpleasant. I don’t watch the Korean news so I don’t get the warnings of the dusts arrival like the locals do. A few weekends ago I waited at home on Saturday morning for the man to come install my internet line and cable TV. I stupidly left my windows open to get some air flowing through my flat, not realising that the dust was out and about. I think it must’ve been this that did the damage. On the Sunday morning I woke up feeling awful and on Monday, even worse. I was told that when the yellow dust affects you, you feel as though you are getting sick and need to go to the doctor. I had all the signs of impending illness: swollen glands, sore throat, stuffy nose, gritty eyes etc… Luckily most of them wore off after a few days and I am convinced it was the yellow dust as usually those kinds of symptoms would’ve had me in the doctor’s rooms back home. I am still constantly blowing my nose…lucky for me one of the “freebies” left on my desk were 2 boxes of tissues – the prize for my “A-team” winning the dodgeball game at the teachers’ sports afternoon. I have since asked Junsik to be my “yellow dust person” and to warn me if he hears of any impending dust clouds…

Teachers’ day was on Sunday the 15th of May so many old students came to visit the staff room on the Friday with gifts for the teachers. There were loads of flowers delivered and many brought big boxes of drinks which the teachers shared amongst everyone. Once again, many things were put on my desk during the course of the day! Jina is such a sweetie, I told her how much I loved the ginger tea I had in Seoul and the next day sitting at my desk was a bag with a 1kg jar of “honey ginger tea” and a 1kg jar of “honey citron tea” which has citrus rind in it. So delicious! You put a blob of it in a mug and pour boiling water over it and stir until the gooey honey stuff dissolves. I am moving through it at a rapid rate. Jina also brought me a pack of medicine to help with my symptoms, she is so thoughtful!

Now that I have internet in my flat I feel less isolated. I love being able to Skype home and see the other person too. The line is super-fast so it is usually a very good-quality call. Re. the TV, I have yet to discover which are the nine English channels on my TV amongst the zillions of Korean channels. I have however, found one which shows CSI’s one after the next so that is pretty cool.

After church two weeks ago we all went for a picnic at a traditional folk village in Asan, the town next to us. It was nice to get to know the other girls better and great to see the village. It is a working village so it is not all for show – people actually live there. A lot of people go there to have a “day out”, many with pets! I saw a couple with a cat and a dog. The poor cat’s body had been shaved except his tail, paws and face. He looked like a little lion! He meowed constantly – I don’t know if he enjoyed his picnic very much.