No Hugging

My Korean co-teacher told me today I should stop hugging the students so much. Especially my little buddy Lay since he has been getting worse recently. A no hugging policy is obviously never going to work for me, since the little boogers are so dang cute, but I am going to have to start getting a little stricter with Mr. Lay. He has started saying "no" to everything I ask the class to do. Unacceptable. The other kids all laugh, but thankfully no one else has started down his path of rebellion as well. They rest of the class is doing pretty well, behavior wise other than some getting a little too worked up for their own good sometimes. But, it is a pretty long day for them, so I can understand when they start getting a little stir crazy.

Anyway, I finally went to the doctor here. He spoke really good English and it was really really cheap. About 11,000 won..that's like $10 and some change! To see a doctor! Amazing! And the meds were cheap too. So fantastic. I did have to pay $11 for some honey, but it's all relative I guess. Anyway, I feel a lot better, but I have a cough that will NOT QUIT. It's so annoying. Especially when it wakes me up at night. Or when I have coughing fits on the subway or in front of the class. Not fun. The meds have not taken care of that quite yet, but I'm hoping soon. The doctor said the coughing at night is because of acid reflux...but I'm not so sure. I mean, he's the doctor and all...but I cough all day and it's not any better/worse at night. Who knows. Apparently I have to stay away from chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, ice cream and peppermint. The caffeine is kind of a problem, since I get such bad sleep and the meds make me tired. Doesn't really work well when you have to teach and be happy all day. I have never eaten so many Halls in my life. They don't have the heavy duty Ricola here, so I've stocked up. For a good thing, they are only 1,000 won ($1 about) so I can buy lots. For a bad thing, the package says "cherry candy" on it. Which kind of concerns me. I can't read the rest, so I'm thinking they are probably chock full of sugar. And even though they do soothe the coughing, they don't work for very long. Oh well, I haven't found anything else helpful. Do they say that in the states? I never paid attention. And where they that cheap? I don't ever remember being sick for this long. I usually have allergies, but they only has a few days normally. This is getting ridiculous. Although, I was warned since pretty much everyone told me I would be sick for a while. The "Korean Crud," or just "The Korean," is what people call it. I think I'm going to call it the "Korean Funk."

However, I did have some energy today and I cooked myself a nice little dinner! It's amazing what a little energy, motivation and grocery shopping will do for you! As always, though, I have to buy more food than I can use before it goes bad so I'm going to see if anyone is interested in some onions tomorrow at school. I also looked into how to freeze veggies, but it seemed pretty complicated with blanching and blah blah. Can't deal with all that, sorry.

Oh, and I finally got paid! So fantastic. I have a bank card and everything! Korean banking is a little on the wack side, though. Setting up online banking was a pretty arduous and ridiculous experience. They have like, 10 different security things you have to install and use..it's a little much. Which also means you can't just sign into online banking just anywhere, like at school. Also, you can't make transfers into foreign banks unless you actually go into the bank, with your passport. Seems a bit much to me. But whatever. My money is going fast though! I can finally buy groceries..which includes some expensive "foreign" groceries..like honey and pesto sauce. Luckily, I got a hook up at the commissary on base and he has provided me with 3 boxes of Crispix!!! So excited! Also, there are pretty much a million trips I want to take and things I want to see, so money is just flying out of that bank account.

Well that's it for now. Got some cool trips coming up, including a DMZ tour next weekend! Excited! And now I'm going to watch the last Harry Potter movie. Also very exciting! I really like it here. Once it gets warm, I think things are going to be even better. Can't wait!

Dream big people!