The Return to Soraksan

Just as I promised you, we returned to the east coast of South Korea to play in the ocean and see Soraksan park again. The fall colors were even better than we thought since the weather was perfect. This, however, also had the impact of drawing half of Korea's population to the trails of the mountain. Packs of Korean hikers clad in ultra hiking gear (for well-kept, sometimes paved trails) swarmed the mountain and made it a bit difficult to feel like we were out in nature's wilderness and beauty. Their bright red, pink, yellow, green, and blue jackets, gloves, pants, boots, walking sticks, hats, backpacks, and similarly dressed children, allowed for no stopping, or any passing, on the trail. The first hike we went on wasn't so packed, so its memory hasn't been marred.

Here's a slideshow of our weekend. Call me lazy, but it's a LOT easier than posting them one by one. Enjoy!! Back to work today...

Pictures with No Connections

So, I had a few pictures to share, none of which seem to particularly go together... but, at the same time, I couldn't exactly leave outdated photos of me battling tonsillitis when it's been gone for a few weeks now, could I?

We've been doing well, and the days have been going quickly, for the most part. Fall has come with its cooler weather, and there's been plenty of sun and perfect feeling days! October makes me love Korea more than I did before... Next weekend, we're setting off on a three-hour bus ride to the coast to revisit our beloved Sokcho and Mt. Soraksan, which will hopefully be ablaze in fall colors! In the meantime, life has been a bit dull in terms of documenting it with pictures or stories on this blog. However, here are a few selections from the last couple of weeks:

On an evening bike ride to our Korean friends' house for dinner...

A post-dinner workout at our friends' house (the same night). A lot of Koreans are fans of the hoolahooping (though they call it something I can't remember). It's like no hoola hoop you've seen or experienced before, I am telling you! It's got little jabby things on the inside that apparantly "melt" or "work" your abdomen fat away while hoola-ing. All it caused for me was grief. I guess I'm just not strong enough. ;)

View from our friends' apartment. A little nicer than ours, n'est-ce pas?

Last week, I had my 11-year olds write messages to their foreign teacher who returned home, and I couldn't help post some of their artwork/doodles. So incredibly cute in a remarkably Asian-cute style. I'm not sure if it's true in real life, but cartoonized Asians sure seem to wink a lot. (thanks to Berry for her drawing)

My student, Julie, drew this one.

My tonsils felt ignored...

...so they decided to get really puffy. Well, they got the attention they craved. After a few days with a sore throat, I came to the conclusion that I had a little case of tonsillitis. So, this morning, Dan's friend brought us to a nearby clinic. The doctor took out the tongue depressor stick and put it on my tongue and looked at the back of my mouth for about 0.5 seconds. Then he asked me a few questions, then handed me a prescription. The visit cost a little over 4,000 won (about 4 US dollars). We proceeded to the pharmacy downstairs and I got my medicine (oh no! Another 3,000 won! How will we ever afford doctor visits and medicine that add up to 8 dollars?!)....

Anyway, this is what the medicine looks like (I thought it deserved some documenting):

1. feeling a little skeptical about the colorful pills...

2. maybe they'll do the trick...

3. putting my complete trust in the pills

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it a bit cruel to have a patient who is already experiencing enough pain simply swallowing to take 6 pills 3 times a day for 3 days?