summer.

summer has hit here, potent in its humidity. you cant even step out the door before it jumps on your back, the burden of it makes you sweat profusely. the koreans here eat a hot spicy diet during the summer to make up for the heat. the food makes you sweat even more, but the evaporative cooling more than makes up for the momentary discomfort.
my air conditioner has been m.i.a. up until this lovely evening, i have endured. now finally, i can close up the windows, lock my door tight, turn off the fan and crank up the cool, controlled climate of my tiny studio. a miniature terrarium, a capsule, of the arctic circle brought south, and placed in the gut of korea. they won't even know i am here. ill be the silent, cool, one on the tenth floor of bobostel.

work has been on and off. teaching it seems, has moments where the work load is enormous and seemingly impossible to finish all of it. other times, the past two weeks for example, i sit at my desk and struggle to fill the 8 hours i spend in my chair. the new york times are a thorough read. several blogs are good reads as well. there would be a great deal more digital ink on my blog as well, were it not for the censoring power of the gyeonggi-do school system. several web-pages have limited access if any: facebook, myspace, bbc, and blog postings (reading posts is a different story) - all in the negatory.
I received a package today in the mail from my parents. it carried with it reminders of the southern united states: taffy, texas pete, and the black spot.

"I think i smeeellll somesin burnin."

it was a pleasant surprise in the middle of the work day, to be interrupted from the complete isolation of my english office and notified of the arrival of a package from the united states for me. my weeks of waiting at an end, i could not wait the whole day to open it back at my humble house. in the middle of the teachers office i broke out the box cutter and opened up that monster to reveal its innards. they spilt out onto my lap and i gleefully stuffed my face with its contents. i offered my co-teacher Min Kyeung some of the taffy. she took it, but did not give any indication as to whether she enjoyed it or not. it might have just been out of politeness that she took it from me.

I have been living for 17 days on a paltry sum of 60,000 won, or about 50 bucks. some unexpected bills came up at the end of july, namely the bill for my housing service fee. it does not pay automatically as i had initially assumed. the number was substantial. im working with 40 for this weekend and the next week. it should be more than enough, but the food from the box sent from home was a welcome addition to my ramian in the pantry.

Mud-fest is coming up next weekend. Its a large festival in Korea, its purpose: unknown, but perhaps it has something to do with the coming of the rains, the monsoon season, and the excesses of mud it brings with it. but for any reason, they have massive amounts of mud in a beach town, with music, and festivities and food, and many people come to join, celebrating for a saturday in the middle of july. the summer is here, and its keeping it real.

over and out.