Kimchi, not for me

The big holiday here, aside from Christmas, of course, is the Lunar New Year - it's actually starting tomorrow-ish and goes through to the 10th of February. So on that note, this will be the last time I can post anything until next Friday...unless I become so ambitious so as to attempt to navigate in a Korean PC room (I referred to them as "internet cafes" and was gently rebuked). We shall see.

Have I mentioned how extremely cold and dry it is here? If not, let me just tell you...it is extremely cold and dry here! Right now it's only 19 degrees F (I did not get the hang of the whole Celsius thing while in Israel, and it so far continues to be far beyond my mental grasp). And it's a dry cold, which is an entirely new experience for me. Living in Florida all my life, my only idea of "dry" is what you do when you get out of the beach, pool, or shower. I always thought it would be nice to experience what a dry heat or dry cold would be. I changed my mind. I have to sleep with a humidifier on every night, which isn't so bad, except that the floors are not carpeted - which is good in a really important way (no mold can grow down in there), but inevitably, I always forget to sop up all the condensation in the morning and nearly break some very important bone as I walk from my bed to the kitchen. On that note, my voice is nearly gone. It can't quite make up it's mind if it wants to stay or go, so it's kinda halfway there. It's actually annoying, because I have to do a lot of yelling in my kindergarten and first grade classes, and now it's become a sort of a yowl...I can say part of a word loudly and then my voice either cracks or disappears entirely. My students think it is hilarious though. Just now, one of the Korean teachers asked me if I had taken any medicine, which I haven't...so she offered me a bottle of this liquid not-quite-medicine, but a nutritious Korean traditional drink that seems to help mostly all that might ail you. She said it had to be warm first, so she kindly went downstairs to warm it up (I wouldn't have been able to communicate with the people in the kitchen to tell them what I needed to do). Both Jenny and Ally (two of the Korean teachers) sat there, watching me expectantly, obviously trying to hold back smiles, as I began to drink it. I paused for a moment, realizing that if they weren't as nice as I know they are, they could be giving me any variety of disgusting concocction to drink, and I'd be helpless, since the bottle was in Korean. Nonetheless, I know that they are entirely nice, so I drank it. It definitely wasn't good. At most barbecue restaurants I've been to, they have a kind of sweet barbecue sauce. The aftertaste of this stuff tasted like the aftertaste of sweet barbecue sauce, but the actual taste tasted nothing like it. I'm sure I'm making no sense at all. And I don't know if it is because of the power of suggestion, but I think part of my throat already feels better. We shall see, we shall see.

I must quickly make mention of the fact that, where I am, it is already my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Val! I called her this morning, which was very exciting for me, because I don't get to talk to either of my sisters often enough. I'm already in the thinking mode, to find THE perfect birthday gift for her. If anyone has suggestions, email me.

Before I go, I think I'll put in a shameless plug. I'm going to include both my address and phone number here today. I'm putting my address, because I always forget to give it when people ask for it. And I'm putting my phone number in because...well, in the hopes that some dear friend of mine will take pity on me and call me during the next week. (See? Shameless...just like I promised!)

Address
Teresa Tucker
Skyville 402 Seokchon-dong 154-8
Songpa-gu, Seoul, Korea 138-843

Phone number: 82-2-425-4003

With that said, I shall go and do much work. Happy New Year! :)