Bangkok

Overall, I wasn't impressed with Bangkok. It's just a big city with very little character. As a tourist there are lots of pagodas to visit and the architecture of those is cool, but I wouldn't want to live there. It was just a big, dirty city congested with too many cars.

That said, on Monday I did a bike tour with my friend Adrie that was enjoyable. The city part was alright, but then we crossed the river in a longtail boat (with the bikes shipped over too) and rode on a narrow elevated pathway in the jungle on the other side. That was the highlight because it felt like we were nowhere near the city. And technically, our guide said we were no longer in Bangkok once we crossed over the river.

On Tuesday I walked to a museum where there were some traditional Thai houses on stilts, along with pottery, jewelry, and tools that had been excavated from throughout Thailand. It was a cool museum and I had nothing else to do so I took my time. Then I went and got two massages: a 1 hour foot massage and a 1 hour traditional Thai massage, all for 240 Baht (~$7). Thai massage is different than a normal massage. They move you and bend you all around. A few times it hurt my hips some because of the way they were bending my legs, but overall it was definitely worth it!!

I got back to Pyeongtaek yesterday (Wed) evening and now (Thurs a.m.) I'm back in school already.

8 days of teaching including today, and 12 days total until I'm home!!

Ha Long Bay

For those of you who know me well, this will come as a big shock. I am officially over my fear/disgust of eating sea creatures that are either squishy or have legs. While on a boat in Ha Long Bay I tried clams, squid, and shrimp. I actually kind of liked all three, though I doubt they are anything I'll ever crave. I even ripped the head, skeleton, and legs off the shrimp! The next day I was going to try the shrimp again but the brain (brown liquid) oozed out when I tried to rip off the head, so that was it for that. I couldn't eat it the second day. But, that's still a major accomplishment for me. Lately I'd realized in walking through markets that just looking at the sea creatures no longer disgusted me like it had a year ago. So, I figured what better place to try seafood than at a place where it's as fresh as it's ever going to get.

I knew it was fresh because we stopped at a floating village for a little while and I was told the crew was buying our dinner. While they were doing so I got off the boat and walked around. There was a fishery right there under the floating village. Trapped in nets were big and small fish of various species, crayfish, crabs, etc. And for the first time in my life I got to see cuttlefish in person. If you don't know what a cuttlefish is watch the video I linked to. These were small cuttlefish, not much bigger than the size of my hand, and because they were surrounded by brown nets they weren't doing much in the way of color or texture variations with their skin, but they were still cool to watch.

I'd have to say Ha Long Bay has been the highlight of my trip. I walked through a natural cave in one of the karst formations, swam in the bay, and kayaked. To top it all off I slept on the deck of the boat (they call them junks, but I don't know why) floating lazily under the open sky! There were other boats all around as well, but it was surprisingly quiet and peaceful and it was the best night's sleep I've had this whole trip, until 4:30 a.m. that is. It started to rain and I had to go downstairs to my cabin. But then I couldn't sleep so I sat under the deck roof and took pictures as the early morning sky brightened. By 6:00 I was still the only person awake on our boat so I went for a swim for almost an hour. At first I was a little freaked out because I'd seen what animals live in the water the day before, but that faded the longer I was in. It was almost a perfect morning.

Unfortunately after that nice morning we faced a 3+ hour drive back to Hanoi and then I had a late flight to Bangkok and didn't get in until 1:00 a.m. I'm wishing now that I had never made my return trip leave from Bangkok. If it hadn't been for that return flight I would have skipped Thailand all together and just stayed in Vietnam longer. After being scammed by a tuk-tuk (3-wheeled taxi) driver today, I was ready to call it quits altogether. If I can get my flight changed without a fee to leave tomorrow afternoon with Adrie, that's what I'll be doing. I'm tired, cranky, and in no mood to be in a big city. I'm all vacationed out and don't think I can take much more city sight-seeing.

Only 15 more days until I leave for home!!!

Hanoi

I'm back in the 6-person dorm room. A few people left so I was asked to either move back to the dorm room or pay the increased price of the double room. After moving my stuff again I spent the morning at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. His mausoleum is MASSIVE and he is embalmed in a glass case for viewing inside just one small part of the building. Security was tight and the dress code strict. I was wearing a spaghetti strap summer dress and had to buy a scarf to cover my shoulders with in order to be allowed in. All electronic devices had to be left at the front and picked back up on the way out. The complex itself is a large beautiful park area that includes the presidential palace, Ho Chi Minh's summer home, his house on stilts, and a one-pillar pagoda from the 11th century. The whole complex would have been very serene and peaceful if it hadn't been for all us tourists.

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Old Quarter and doing some shopping. Unfortunately, by the time I remembered the Hanoi Hilton (Hoa Lo Prison) the museum itself was already closed. I walked there anyway and saw the outside, which is now overshadowed by the Hanoi Towers hotel and shopping complex. There was an older Vietnamese man in a business suit who was having his picture taken at the front entrance of the prison. I wondered if he'd been a former inmate but I thought it might be rude or insensitive to ask.

Finally, I walked around Hanoi at night. It was just as busy as during the day with motorbikes, cars, and people. I did a lap around Ho Hoan Kiem, the lake in the Old Quarter. It was really pretty with the city lights reflecting off of it, but not exactly peaceful since it's surrounded on all sides by busy roads, without much buffer between lake and road.

Next, I'm off to Ha Long Bay for some nature time!

Vietnamese cooking and stuff

It already seems like ages ago, but it was really just yesterday that I took a cooking class at the Red Bridge Cooking School in Hoi An.

The day started in the Old Town Central Market. I'd already walked through the market on my own because it was right next to my hotel, but the guided tour was definitely helpful. The guide told us the names of fruits, vegetables, and herbs that I wouldn't have known otherwise. He also told us some stories, like when we came across some baby ducklings. He said that when a couple is going to get married they buy a baby duckling and raise it up until it's big. Then on their wedding day they kill it and the duck is eaten during the wedding feast :(

After the market we took a boat trip up the river to the cooking school, where our class was taught in an outdoor traditional-style thatched hut. But, first we took a tour of the school's herb garden. I never knew what lemongrass actually looked like until now. Next we sat down to watch a demonstration of each thing we were going to learn, then we tried to make it ourselves. I really enjoyed the class and we got a copy of all the recipes, so I can't wait to do some cooking when I get home!

Immediately after the cooking class I caught a normal bus to Hue, where I connected to a sleeper bus to Hanoi. The sleeper bus was something I've never heard of anywhere else so I had no idea what to expect. I'd say it was a bunch of bunks but that wouldn't do it justice. You'll have to wait for photos. It was both nice and not. Nice that I could lay down for a 14 hour drive, but not nice because I was on a top bunk in the middle of the bus and afraid of falling off throughout the night because the bus driver did lots of swerving around other vehicles. I got into Hanoi around 6:45 this morning and spent the day walking around the city with a guy from Switzerland who I got switched into a room with. He just got here yesterday so I think he wanted some company. It's strange being in a two-person room with a male who is not my husband, but it's part of the adventure I guess. Plus, I'm only at this hotel tonight and tomorrow night, then I think I'm going to try to get to Ha Long Bay before heading to Bangkok. Laos is getting scratched from my itinerary because of travel logistics.

trains, "buses," and in between

I took a sleeper train to Quang Ngai (pronounced wan nyeye, or something like that) last night. Each berth slept 6 people, which is considered a hard-sleeper because its more cramped than the soft-sleeper, which sleeps 4 to a berth. I shared it with a Vietnamese family with two young boys. The family didn't speak any English, other than one of the mothers pointing out the window and saying "beautiful" about the mountains this morning. The boys were quiet and cute. I tried to take a picture of them out in the hallway, but they got shy and went running back into the room. The train ride was incredibly comfortable and the scenery upon waking was beautiful. We were getting closer to the mountains.

From Quang Ngai I took a xe om (the motorbike taxi again) to My Lai, where the massacre took place in 1968. I found out it is pronounced Me Lie. Having read a book about it a couple of years ago, I wanted to pay my respects. I knew it was going to be a difficult place to visit, and it was. More than once I wanted to just sit down and weep, but the xe om driver was waiting to return me to Quang Ngai, so I walked and weeped. I overheard a tour guide say that there are 7 survivors who live in her village and they will never forget that day.

How many people do you think can fit in a 15-passenger van? Fifteen, right? Wrong! After My Lai, I wanted to take a bus about 60 miles north to Hoi An. The xe om driver took me to a corner of Highway 1 and sort of rushed me into a waiting van. I knew it wasn't anything sketchy because the guide book talks about them and they're called "open bus tours". Well 2 hours later and after eventually cramming 24 people into the van (that includes the driver), I made it to a different corner of Highway 1 where I had to take another xe om to Hoi An. During that 2-hour ride I definitely experienced the Vietnam that many tourists probably don't see. I was the only non-Vietnamese person in the van. The woman on my left was falling asleep with her head resting on my shoulder, the woman on my right got sick then tossed her little baggie out the window. Every time I thought we couldn't possibly fit anyone else, the "bus" would stop and get more people! It was kind of nuts. But I made it to Hoi An in one piece. After a much-needed shower, some food, and drinking lots of water I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Old Town of Hoi An.

One other thing...I love baby cows but I think baby water buffalos actually have them beat on the cuteness scale! I saw one on the train this morning.

Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, as the locals still call it, is by far the busiest city I've ever been too! It even surpasses Shanghai. Today's city tour guide said there are 4.5 million motorbikes just here in Saigon (he said there are ~24 million in the whole country). Sitting outside my hotel, or anwhere for that matter, there is constant motion. There never seems to be a lull in the traffic, which also means never a lull in the noise. There is constant honking, but not the "I hate you, got out of my way" type honking. More like, "here I am" type honking to make sure you're alert and aware. The tour guide actually suggested crossing streets with our eyes closed, and didn't seem to be kidding. The locals do generally seem to cross streets at a casual pace to give the motorbikes time to judge when and where to go around them. It seems to work so I've been following their example, but the urge to dash for it is definitely there at times.

I am loving the food! I've had fried tofu with lemongrass, fried springrolls, pho (noodle soup), a fried potato/egg concoction from a street stall, and durien bubble tea. All fantastic! Why did William have to be sent to the food dregs of the earth?!

I'm in Saigon again tonight then tomorrow, maybe on a nighttime sleeper train, I'll head north. I haven't decided where yet. This is where a travel buddy would come in handy because I am so indecisive by myself.

some things I forgot....

There are some things I've realized need to be added to the "miscellaneous" post of a couple days ago.

• it is not uncommon to see young Korean couples in matching outfits, and not just matching colors, but actually the exact same outfit. It's more than a little disturbing if you ask me.
• remember the Seinfeld "man purse" episode? You've entered Korea. Young Korean men frequently carry man purses, and as imagined, don't look a bit masculine doing so.
• William doesn't think I conveyed the innate dangerous-ness of the 4-way-yellow intersections. We went through one yesterday on our bikes at the same time as a bus driver thought he had the right-of-way so yes, William, you are right. They are very dangerous!
• I still can't believe Korean women wear high heels every day in any outfit. Tonight we saw a woman wearing a t-shirt and jean shorts with black tights and high heels. Did I mention it's 90 degrees and humid outside? Why would anyone in their right mind be wearing tights?
• you can tell the little old women who've worked in the rice fields their entire lives because they are literally bent over at the waist, permanently. Their upper bodies are perpendicular to the ground. It's sad to see these 80- to 90-year-old women walking this way still pulling carts behind them filled with groceries, cardboard, or something else. It's always women, too. I've never seen a man bent over so badly here.

I'm sure I'll probably think of more things to add to the list when I get back from my trip. Until then I miss anyone and everyone who might be reading this!!

moved out and moving on

On Sunday William and I moved the rest of our stuff from our Anjeong-ri apartment to a friend's apartment in Pyeongtaek. I will leave on Thursday for my trip, then will stay here with Adrie before coming home on 1 Sept. William will stay here only until he leaves for home on Saturday. Right now we have the place to ourselves because Adrie is in Thailand, where I will eventually meet up with her. It's a good thing too because the apartment is too small to fit three people comfortably.

There's no doubt that we've been spoiled by our apartment this past year! I'm guessing it was 3 times the size of this place, which is maybe around 300 sq. ft or a little more. This is likely what our apartment would have been like if we'd accepted one through my school instead of taking the housing allowance. We're both happy we had the apartment we did, and the location around the rice paddies was much prettier than the city surroundings here. The upside here is that we're closer to the bus terminal to leave for the airport.

Can't wait!! Only 28 days, 1 hour, 35 minutes, 18 seconds (Dad sent me a countdown clock) left to go until my flight home begins :)

acupuncture

William and I just tried acupuncture a couple of hours ago. We've been wanting to try it for awhile since we're in a country that has practiced it for centuries, but I didn't know where to go. Then, when I went to the hospital for swimmer's ear last week, I saw an acupuncture sign so I asked about it. We didn't have to make an appointment so we went today after my last summer camp class. For the two of us it was an incredibly cheap 30,000 won (~$24). One thing I am going to miss when I leave is the health care, it's been fantastic! Way better than home.

My 10 needles (above).

William had 11 needles in the photo above, though you can only see 10 here. Also, his were arranged differently than mine. Not sure if it's a male/female thing or if there was something else that made the difference. The needles stayed in for 15 minutes under a red heat lamp, during which time it hurt quite a bit to move.

When we walked into the acupuncture area we smelled marijuana, or so we thought. There were a lot of older patients around so we thought maybe it was for their pain relief, or maybe even cancer patients, but we were wrong. Initially, when they asked if we wanted the "hot treatment" we thought we might be smoking the pot, so William declined since he can be drug tested at any time. I figured why not, I'm in a hospital, so I got the hot treatment. The translator called it Moxa, which actually isn't pot at all now that I've looked it up, but it sure smelled the same. It turned out to be the little burning, sticky disks on my back in the picture above, which were left on until they felt hot to my skin. When we realized we wouldn't be smoking anything William chose to get the hot treatment also.

It was recommended that we get acupuncture ever other day if we want. So we may go back again before we leave.

pesticides

The pesticide truck came around again tonight so after running around the apartment closing windows and waiting for the fumes to dissipate some, I went outside and finally got some pictures.

miscellaneous Korean-ness

As we count down our short time left in Korea, here are some unexpected things William and I have seen or experienced during the past year (in no particular order):

• Road construction equipment with no safety barriers. Example: one day at school one of the high school girls walked right underneath a bulldozer arm that was moving a large pine tree. The bulldozer operator just paused until she was through, then kept working. Wish I'd had my camera out for that one!

• I've seen parents driving with their infants sitting in their laps.

• Children as young as 5 or 6 can often be seen riding the buses alone, or with friends or siblings of similar age.

• Young children not in car seats, or without even a seat belt on. Case in point: on my bike ride home today I pulled up behind a small hatchback at a light. A little boy was kneeling in the backseat watching me. He smiled and waved, and was a cutie, but his mother didn't seem to have an issue with him being up and about.

• 4-way yellow lights: not that this is a big issue since most people pay no attention to red lights anyway.

• It's ok to pass through a red light as long as you put on your blinkers or pull over to the far right as you go through.

• It's also ok to pull over into the opposing lane of traffic to go through a red light if you get stuck behind one of the few people who actually chooses to stop at a red light.

• Pesticide machine: during warm-weather months a truck drives around with what looks like a fog machine attached to the back. Every time he comes by we race around shutting all the windows, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see inside our apartment because the smoke and pesticides are so thick! I wish I knew what it actually is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's DDT.

• Pedestrians typically have no idea whether cars are coming as they start to cross the street. It apparently never crosses their minds to look both ways. I guess they assume the cars will slow down or stop, which is what usually happens. It truly is amazing that we haven't seen more accidents!

• Children play on busy, busy main streets. Just yesterday we saw a young boy pull out from behind a blind corner on his bike right into a busy 4-way intersection. Again, amazing that everyone avoided hitting him.

• We saw a truck driving backwards on a busy main road, and not just for a few seconds to turn around. He drove backwards for at least 300 meters (several blocks at ~35 mph).

• On most mornings there are dozens of students serving punishment as I am arriving at school. They've barely been there, what could they possibly have done to be in trouble already?! Punishment often consist of standing on all 4's with their butts up in the air, or being hit with a stick (yes, the students do get hit quite a lot here).

Mount Seorak

William and I went to Seoraksan National Park over the weekend in the northeastern part of the country. We ran/hiked, and climbed the ladder up into the cave pictured below, but this first picture isn't mine, it's from Wikipedia. We were there on a rainy and foggy day so we couldn't tell that it looked like this at all. None of my pictures have any views like this, but I think I still got some nice ones. While climbing it was obviously steep and we could tell there was a big drop below us (it was more than a little scary), but we didn't know how much of the mountain was actually hidden from view. I wasn't a big fan of the see-through, wet, and slippery, metal steps, but I liked looking out into the fog because it seemed as if we were standing at the edge of the earth. It was also nice that hardly anyone else was there, so we nearly had the place to ourselves. I would not have wanted to be on those steps with 100 other people!On Sunday we rode our bikes into the mountains then back down to the beach. We stood in the Pacific Ocean, but it was too cold to swim, so we've now been in the Pacific on an eastern and a western coast. As always, I collected a couple of shells from the beach.I also climbed up to a lighthouse tower and got some views of the ocean, city, and mountains, while William stayed down below relaxing by the water (and watching our bikes).One more thing checked off our list that we both wanted to do before coming home.

I don't wanna'...

...live in the land of spiders anymore!

I found this guy in the bathroom early this morning, not far from where my feet had been moments earlier! Keep in mind this is only a 16 oz peanut butter jar that he's in. Every time I think about how close he was I shiver.

dragonflies

I don't think I've ever seen so many dragonflies at one time. It rained hard for most of the weekend, and now that it has stopped the dragonflies are everywhere. I just wish the pictures had turned out better.

Shanghai

Lots and lots and lots of people! The shear number of people everywhere, on bikes, in cars, on mopeds, walking, etc., was pretty crazy. And the mopeds were 100% silent so it's amazing that there aren't more accidents!

Day 1:
While William was taking his CISSP exam I took a subway to the French Concession area because the guide book said this was the area that gave Shanghai the name "the Paris of the East." The large sycamore trees lining the roads made it a pretty area, but really it was one large expensive shopping area. But then I found a beautiful park where some people were playing badminton, practicing tai chi, exercising, relaxing, etc. I also came across a group of older people in a pavilion area where a man was playing an accordion while others were singing and dancing.
By noon I'd been walking for several hours and my feet were sore! I took the guide book's suggestion and got a foot massage. Not all Chinese massage parlors have blind masseuses, but being a masseuse is a traditional occupation for the blind in China. It felt fantastic after it stopped hurting (he was pressing hard!)

Tea Ceremony:
Later in the day, during one of the sporadic rain storms, I met 3 Chinese students. The guy on the left had a Chinese name I can't spell or pronounce, then there's me-Sarah 1, then Sarah 2 (when I told her my name she laughed, then told me her English name and gave us numbers), and Andy on the right end. They were very friendly and invited me to a tea ceremony, after which we exchanged email addresses and took a photo.
They did their best in translating so I now know how to properly drink tea if ever invited to another tea ceremony. We tried 6 different teas: green tea, jasmine tea, ginseng oolong tea, a dried fruit tea that I never quite caught the name of, a 6-flower tea, and lychee black tea. They were all good but the dried fruit and lychee black were my favorites. Below is an illicit photo of the 6-flower tea. The tea woman had left the room for a second so I decided to take a few photos. I only got the one before she came back in and informed us that no photos were allowed. It turned out I could have taken the same picture later at a tea shop, so it's not too secret. The tea started out as one big bud until the water was added, then it opened up to what you see below.Food:
Both William and I wanted to try as much food as possible during our short trip. We went to a restaurant called "We Make the Best Noodles" and tried egg noodles with asparagus in a cream sauce, along with some fresh fruit drinks. But mostly we ate from small food stands rather than restaurants. It's too bad the U.S. doesn't have more food stalls, and I don't mean for selling hot dogs. Some of the "o.k." things we tried were: spinach-filled and pork-filled dough bun things, fried dumplings, and a bean-paste pastry (similar to a Korean snack).

The worst thing: rice steamed in a banana leaf. We each tried a small bite then it got tossed, yuck.

The best things: a bowl of lo mein and bubble tea. Ummm, delicious!

There were the usual squid and octopus-type things that I will always be too squeamish to try. (William tried the crawling tentacles in Korea, not while I was around, thankfully, but I cannot!)

On Sunday we did more walking around a shopping area and were followed for a good 20 minutes or more by 3 guys trying to talk us into going to their specific store. It was incredibly ANNOYING!!! So we left and took a very long walk to Old Town.

Old Town:

This was by far the coolest part architecturally, I thought. But it was a tourist trap...not for foreigners necessarily because we didn't see many, but for Chinese from other areas it seemed. There were loads of little trinkets and knick-knacks to buy within the 100+-year-old buildings, mixed in with the occasional Starbucks or McDonalds. There were some cool shops too. I especially liked the ones that sold chopsticks and tea.

We packed a lot of things into a short amount of time. Maybe later I'll think of other things I wish I'd written about, but for now I'm all typed out. I'll let my photos speak for themselves :)

singing road

I will get a Shanghai post up very soon, but until then here's a little something interesting. When I arrived in Korea last August a driver picked me up at the airport and took me to Anjeong-ri. Partway into the drive he turned off the radio and told me to listen. Here's what I heard. Name that tune :)

DMZ trip

William, myself, and our friend Rykie took a USO trip to the DMZ. The day started early with a 3-hour bus trip to Camp Bonifas, just 400 meters from the southern boundary of the Demilitarized Zone. The bus drove around Seoul then up along the western coast of South Korea. North of Seoul we started seeing razor wire bordering the water. We couldn't figure out why but then realized it's probably because some of the islands off the west coast are still in dispute between North and South Korea.At Camp Bonifas we received temporary UN guest I.D. tags, followed by a short briefing on the history of the DMZ and what we would see on the tour. Then we got on an ROK (Republic of Korea) Army bus and drove to the House of Peace and the Freedom House, both on the southern side of the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) within the DMZ (don't you love all the acronyms). (The white polls mark the location of the MDL.)
The House of Peace is for non-military meetings between North and South and we saw it only from the outside. We entered the Freedom House next to it, built in 1998 as a place for reunions between families who were separated on opposite sides after the war. Too bad it has never been used for a single reunion. We were told that the North won't let its families come to the Freedom House on the southern side of the DMZ because they're afraid of their people defecting to the South. There wasn't much to see in Freedom House, just a big empty building, but we had to walk through it to get to the JSA (Joint Security Area), which is a special area outside administrative control of either North or South Korea.It was here at the JSA that the Armistace was negotiated and signed. The MDL runs through the middle of the blue meeting buildings. The line of microphone wires on the conference table traces the path of the MDL. It was here that we were able to step into North Korea for a few moments. (To the right of the South Korean soldier is North Korea.)Next we drove through Checkpoint Charlie to get to Checkpoint 3 that was surrounded on 3 sides (in the distance) by North Korea. We could see the world's largest flagpole and a little bit of Propaganda Village on the North Korean side, so named because loudspeakers used to blast propaganda messages until 2004. Supposedly the village is fake, no one lives there and some of the buildings don't even have back sides to them. It's just for appearances to keep up with the South, which has Freedom Village inside the DMZ (although it's a real village where people live and earn ~80,000 U.S. dollars a year, but they must be present in the village for 240 days of the year to maintain their village residency. Women can marry into the village, men cannot.) Oh, and isn't the name "Freedom Village" the South's form of propaganda? Of course the tour guide never mentioned that.

The bus also stopped at the Bridge of No Return, which crosses the MDL. After the 1953 Armistice Agreement, prisoners of war from both sides were exchanged on this bridge. It's called the Bridge of No Return because the prisoners were given the choice whether to cross to the other side or not, but whatever choice they made they couldn't go back. If they crossed to the North they were stuck there forever, and vice versa.The rest of the trip involved lunch at a Korean restaurant, a trip to the 3rd infiltration tunnel, the DMZ Museum, and the Dora Observatory (no pictures allowed in the tunnel, or Dora Observatory past a certain point). The tunnel was dug by the North and discovered by the South in October 1978. We were only able to walk maybe 300-400 meters of the full length of the tunnel, after which it was blocked off. It was pretty cold down there, but not much to see.

Overall an informative trip.

oh the funny things they say...

Student: "Sarah Teacher, how old are you?"
Me: "I'm 31 years old."
Student: "Oh, like Baskin Robbins!"

rice planting time

The farmers have been planting their rice for a few weeks now and it looks like fun, although they might say otherwise. Initially all the fields were flooded at various times, and sat that way for a few weeks.
Then the big tractors came out to wallow in the muddy fields. I'm not really sure what they're doing, maybe flattening out the bottom or compacting the mud down.

One of these tractors got stuck in the field across from our apartment. He had to have a bulldozer come get his tractor out (the one above is not stuck). All the mud around lately has reminded me of being little and playing in the mud at the edge of Grandpa's garden with John and Kim. Maybe that's why rice planting looks like fun to me.

For awhile I kept missing the actual planting. I'd go to school and a field would be water. By the time school was out, the same field would have baby rice. With all the water-filled fields, it has looked like we're surrounded by lakes.
The rice was being planted so quickly that I thought they must have lots of people helping. Ahh, so naive, because then one day I finally saw the specialized tractor they use, which explains why the rows and plants are so perfectly spaced. It plants probably 7 or 8 rows at a time so it gets a field planted extremely fast. Fast enough that I've still not been able to get a photo of the tractor. One day when I didn't have my camera with me, William and I watched one for a little while. It's pretty cool but we're not sure how it works exactly. It seems like it would shred the baby plants.

(I'll try to post about Hong Kong soon.)

teacher appreciation day

Yesterday was Teacher Appreciation Day in Korea. My school had a ceremony during 1st and 2nd period which I didn't understand a word of, but I did get this pretty corsage from one of my students. All the teachers received one.Then we were allowed to leave for the day. I love half days!

baby strollers

On the bus home from school I saw two women pushing their little girls in strollers. At first it didn't seem strange at all, but then it hit me that they were the first strollers I've seen the whole time I've been here! Everyone carries their babies in a blanket sling like this photo or a store-bought baby harness thing. Even toddlers are usually walking or being carried.

This photo was from awhile ago, but the little girl was cute. We were on the bus and she kept leaning way back to play with some straps on my bookbag (when I was standing before taking the photo). The mother was talking to someone so I don't think she realized the little girl was keeping herself entertained.

my students

Today at the beginning of one of my classes, one student yelled, to no one in particular it seemed, "I love boobies!" Gotta' love junior high ESL!

Korean health care

Yesterday I took a sick day from school (today too) and went to see a doctor. I went to the hospital twice back in late January for a bad sinus infection so this was my third trip. The students are killing my immune system! Luckily I have health insurance through my school. With each trip I've been amazed with Korean health care.

At the hospital there is a foreign visitors desk where at least one person speaks English pretty well. Yesterday, a woman signed me in then walked upstairs with me so I would know where to go. She stayed to help ask questions for the doctor and took my temperature. I had a fever so she walked with me to have some blood drawn and to get a chest x-ray. She stayed with me until I was almost done and was very nice about it.

Within just ONE HOUR I did all of the following: 1) I saw the doctor, 2) had a vial of blood drawn, 3) received a chest x-ray, 4) saw the doctor again after my x-ray films were developed and blood analyzed, 5) paid my very cheap copay of 15,000 won (~$12), and 6) walked across the street to the pharmacy to get my prescription!! I had my prescription and was on my way home by the time an hour was up. I'd be amazed if all of that could be done in 2 hours time back home. I don't think I sat anywhere for more than 5 minutes yesterday, and that was without an appointment.

My chest x-ray was clear but my white blood cell count was high. The one thing I saw the doctor click in English on his computer was acute bronchitis. The rest was in Korean.

The pharmacy has a unique way of distributing medicine. Each time I've received a liquid and pills. Last time the liquid was a cough syrup in a clear unmarked bottle. The pharmacist wrote on the bottle the quantity and doses per day. This time I received the liquid in these shampoo sample-type packets with the frog on the front. I'm guessing that's the antibiotic. I was on different pills last time but received them in the same packaging, so the pharmacy counts out each patient's medicine, puts each dose in its individual packet, then vacuum seals the whole thing.
Way less packaging than giving each patient four or five different bottles of medicine! One of the pills is Tylenol because it's written on the pill, but I have no idea what the others are. It's a little disconcerting not knowing what I'm taking, but I got better quickly last time so I guess they know what they're doing.

cherry blossom festival

There are now a lot of new photos in my Picasa web albums for April. They include a trip to Seoul last weekend, a couple of rides with William, and another trip to Seoul this weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival with two friends.

It wasn't a festival like we were expecting. It mainly involved hundreds of people walking along the road under the cherry trees and taking pictures. It didn't matter though, the pink cherry blossoms were beautiful! The cherry trees have only been blooming for about a week, but they're already starting to lose their flowers. At times it looked like it was snowing flower petals. By the end of next week they'll probably be completely green, like some of the other trees. I love the green and pink together in the photo above.There were no games for kids, vendors selling toys or artwork, or any of the normal things usually seen at a festival, but there were some cool flower and photo displays from a contest. I thought this jeans one was pretty original.......but I thought the bull was by far the best. All the placards were in Korean so I don't know which displays won something in the contest. Maybe it wasn't even a contest, but it seemed like it probably was.
In addition to the blooming cherry blossoms, there were also lots of flower pots with a wide variety of flowers.
And more magnolia trees, this time of the pink variety.I have to include a few parting "ick" shots. A food vendor was selling silkworms and some sort of shelled animal that I haven't seen anywhere else. The silkworms are very common.