Recent (and not so recent) happenings

There are some posts that will come out of order soon, but I need a longer time to think about them and figure out how to word them the way I want to and which pictures to use etc. I also found out the other day that people (or at least one person) in Jinju actually read this - oops. Not that anything I say on here is bad - I would tell anyone what I've written to their face, but it's like finding out friends are talking about you when you're not there - it's weird (and um, that's kind of what I'm doing). Even if it's good things, it's still weird. But I am trying to not let it affect how I write.

Just to warn you, this post is a combination of weird stuff and doesn't go together at all. Enjoy.

So, here are some things that happened recently. A few weeks ago I think I mentioned how my boss came to pick me up. I now realize by looking back over the blog that I did not talk about this. Sometimes I think I posted about something and totally didn't. Or I started to and never updated it so it's in some "draft" somewhere. So, to backpedal, at the end of January we had a few days off of work for "vacation" before spring semester started. My plan was to take one day completely off and do nothing. This plan did not work. I already had previous things scheduled for Thursday-Sunday, so my only potential do-nothing day was Wednesday. Things were going as planned until noon when there was a knock on my door. I answered in pajamas (which had a hole in the leg) and crazy bed-head hair and it was my boss. I wish I had been able to capture the look of shock on his face. He tried to call me, but he had my old phone number. Basically he needed me to go with him to the immigration office (which is in Jinju only on Wednesdays) to get fingerprinted  to extend my ARC. He looked at me and said, "I'll be back in an hour, is that ok?" So much for my day of nothing.

The best part of this story comes now. After getting fingerprinted and signing some documents (my boss did that part) we went back to the parking lot to drive home. His car (along with 2 others) was completely blocked in by a person who parked sideways in the middle of the lot. This apparently is not uncommon in Korea, and most people have their phone numbers somewhere on the windshield (usually near the passenger side - this particular card had an embroidered pillow suction-cupped to the window). My boss called the number, chatted for a minute, looked at me and said, "He told me to push it." I laughed, thinking it was obviously a joke and got in the car. When my boss didn't get in after 30 seconds or so, I looked in the side view mirror and saw him go into the car, pop the brake and push the stupid car. I could not believe it - he was pushing the car out of the way. It got better when he moved and the car started to roll back. Then another guy came over, helped him push and then held the car out of the way while we reversed. Then my boss got back out, helped to push the car back and the guided the helper guy into another spot. I tried to take a picture without them noticing me, which is why it looks so weird.

Pushing cars, a common Korean past time

Last week, after church, we went to a coffee. Lance went to a street vendor and bought some breads first. He got some egg bread (which I didn't try) and banana bread. It looks like a banana, but tastes like pound cake - no banana taste at all.

Non-bananay banana bread - my favorite! (because bananas are gross)

My fridge is a dorm fridge. This has been a slight pain in the butt, but I've dealt with it. Occasionally, the "freezer" section goes a bit crazy. I can't really fit much up there anyway, so currently, that's where I put my bottle of gin (which I have had for almost a year to those who think I am becoming an alcoholic). This week the freezer decided it was an alcoholic and tried to eat my gin bottle. This resulted in temporarily shutting the fridge with a planter and then repeated stabs with a butter knife to chop out sections of ice. Not fun, but it beats letting all my condiments get funky while totally defrosting it.

Ice cold gin (alas, no limes)

It's election season here in Korea too. The big time things haven't really happened yet, as far as I've been told, but currently there are huge posters up on buildings and some commercials (I think). One friend had someone come to her apartment, hand her a piece of fried chicken and leave. They also have this, which is kind of awesome. The candidates hire road-side bowers. They stand at intersections and when the lights change, they change direction and bow while wearing a sash with the candidate's info. It's totally bizarre the first time you see if, but then you get used to it and barely notice. Especially at the intersections that also have LG or Samsung stores with dancing girls, men dressed as "The Mask" on stilts and/or dancing turnips.

Last, but not least, on Monday my boss made me go to the doctor with him as I was still coughing. This was the same doctor who told me nothing was wrong a month ago. Now I apparently have (what we hope is seasonal) asthma. He said I probably had a cold and it morphed into this. Later, I checked with Dr. Google and my guess is that the virus cold, combined with cold temperatures, extreme dryness and dust led to this asthma. So now I am on 5 different pills (don't know what any of them are) for 3 days and I need to go back after I'm done with the pills. No inhaler or anything and it's not like a can't breathe. The pills seem to be working a bit, although I still am coughing up stuff and have a nose full of snot, but at least I am not coughing for minutes at a time anymore. I will keep you updated on the cold saga.