bolaven schmolaven

The typhoon was a bust.  We actually did get to go home early around noon.  I went straight home during the heaviest rain of the day and locked myself in my room for the afternoon.  I kept peeping out the window to see if it was getting worse or not, but it seemed like nothing was happening except some heavy wind.

Overall, the whole typhoon was built up way bigger than what it was.  The door going to the roof of my building did shatter from the wind though.

bolaven is coming!

Typhoon Bolaven is on it's way to Seoul. Apparently, SMOE decided to close all public schools tomorrow, BUT teachers still have to come. Why, Korea, why?

"The Korea Meteorological Administration on Sunday predicted that Bolaven will bring the wind speed of over 50 m/s and more than 30 mm per hour of rainfall in Jeju and the south coast on Monday, with some parts of Jeju seeing up to 500 mm of downpours until Wednesday.

Bolaven is expected to be more powerful than Kompasu, which devastated Korea in 2010. The KMA said its winds will be stronger than Kompasu's in 2010 and Muifa's in 2011, making it the most devastating typhoon to come to Korea since 2000."

...still hoping to get a message in the morning saying not to bother coming in.

It's Friday, Friday!

First full week back at school is over in 4 hours!  Classes are going okay so far..hopefully the kids won't start getting devilish until at least November.  In other school news, the Japanese teacher at my school started talking to me after lunch.  On Monday, she came up to me and said she wanted to have a conversation and then proceeded to read me some sentences introducing herself.  Every day this week, she has said a few more sentences to me.  It seems like this is going to be a regular thing.  It's kinda funny because she really cannot speak English (Japanese is her first language and Korean is her second), but she has tried harder to communicate with me than any other teachers at my school who I am pretty sure CAN speak English better than they let on.  I really appreciate her effort.

[I know I need to learn Korean too..after all, I am living in Korea.  I just don't find it that easy to "pick up" (at least not in the way I know European languages would be).  For now, I know enough to get through everyday life.  The Japanese teacher told me that she studied Korean through a government program for Koreans who lived abroad- that's me!  So, maybe I will look into that.  She said she studied for 3 sessions of 3 months each so I think it will take a while.]

The weather this week has been pleasantly cool in the 70s/80s.  After returning from Japan, it was still pretty hot and humid, but around Tuesday or Wednesday, it got way better.  I can step outside without suffocating or sweating.  I actually wore pants twice this week without being uncomfortable!  I think this might be the last weekend pools are open so I'm hoping it won't rain on Sunday.

Also, this is the transition weekend where a lot of the teachers from my year will be going home and a new round of teachers will arrive.  Since one of my best friends recently left Korea, I will hopefully be on the prowl at the night spots for some new chingus in the coming weekends.  My group of friends is highly exclusive, but I feel like we really need to start expanding our horizons as our numbers are slowly dwindling.

Japan (pt.4) FOOD

Osaka is supposed to be a big foodie city and we certainly partook in trying many delicious Japanese foods!

Takoyaki- regional to Osaka- octopus balls

seared tuna

grilled vegetables

Curry

Udon

sushi lunch box

Sirloin Yakitori

Japanese style ramen

tuna roll

Mushroom Yakitori

Yakisoba noodles

another regional food- Okonamiyaki