I know my abc's

Well not all of them in Korean but most.

This week has been rather uneventful for us here. The ex-President of Korea committed suicide this week, and this was big news for Koreans, but did not mean much to us. Although I did learn that unlike in the U.S. the president here has serious power. From what I gathered, the president here controls the prosecution aspect of the legal system and has long arms in most other aspects of government. So this position is far more powerful than that of the American President, in terms of respective power.

Our Korean lessons are continuing well. We are learning more each week, although I fear I forget much of it by the time I get home from lessons. We learned some words today and a couple phrases, as well as practicing how to put consonants and vowels together and what sounds they make. There is still much more to learn even on that limited subject though. Nevertheless, I do think we will have some conversational level of Korean in a month or so. Provided those who converse with us only use the words we know:-)

My recent adventure is a DIY project. Since this is not common in Korea, generally the attitude is that there are other people to do things like that (that meaning whatever the particular task is, from making something to cleaning or anything else that is outside one’s experience/job description). We have been having some issues with the air getting stuffy and also very humid. This is because we dry our clothes inside and our bathroom fan doesn’t suck up much air, so we get a lot of humidity from showering and drying our clothes. Well, I wanted to find a way to remove the humidity, but the A/C is not necessary at this time and I don’t know of any other way, besides airing out the apartment.

Our apartment doesn’t have screened windows, so I decided to make them myself. Another problem is that our windows open outward on a hinge, not inward or by sliding. So if I put a screen up, it has to be on the inside, and I still have to be able to open the window (the latch is attached to the part that swings outward). So I have made my own little frames from PVC cord hiders and attached a screen. I am still having some difficulty figuring out how to hang them. I think I am going to use a Velcro strip all the way around it and attach another to the window frame. I still have to find the Velcro, but otherwise I have a makeshift window screen. Presently it will stay attached due to sticky tape-like stuff on the back of the cord hiders, but that will wear out quickly, hence the need for Velcro.

Hi this is Jenn:

The Koreans just started getting really worried about Swine Flu this week. One American came over with it so they are kind of freaked out. Now our school is having all employees take their temperature every day. I think this is silly. They are worried about finding the people who have the flu but they are not worried much about good hygiene to keep the flu away.

No one thought it was a big deal when one of my students got blood all over the class room floor and glass wall from a bloody nose. They had the eight year old wipe it up with a small piece of toilet tissue. No sanitation required. And people don’t have a problem eating off the same plate. They have an ice cream cake each month to celebrate birthdays but the Korean teachers grab a spoon and start digging in. Needless to say Chris and I have not joined their little party.

I have been following a blog about 52 Americans and other foreigners (It’s still hard to get used to the fact that I am the foreigner.) were quarantined for 8 days because of the one girl I mentioned earlier who arrived with the swine flu. If you are interested I am posting a link http://underquarantine.tumblr.com/ to his blog. I found it quite amusing. I started reading this blog the night before they started making us take our temperatures at school. I was very concerned that if our temperatures did spike that they would cart us away and put us in quarantine for a week.

Anyway, we are Swine flu free and very healthy right now.