How to mess up a good bad mood

Halla Mountain in the center of Jeju

I swear Christmas music is cheating. I got back late tonight because I had an after-school english camp in the middle of nowhere. I was tired, cold, grumpy and working on a pretty solid bad mood (waiting for a bus for 30 minutes in a cold north wind will do that to you). But then I made a mistake. I thought "It's after thanksgiving. Time for me to listen to Christmas music." So I put some Trans-Siberian Orchestra on my mp3 player. Instantly, my bad mood was ruined. Suddenly the cold felt refreshing. Even without Christmas lights, the city looked prettier. The hill to my house looked like an invigorating walk. As the Grinch once said "Blast this Christmas music!! It's joyful AND triumphant!"

Hereafter follows a few of my random musing from the week. And yes I'm safe. The bombs you may (or may not) have heard about that hit South Korea were far far away from me. Look at the map.

Monday my Korean lunch and I had issues. I was still recovering from being sick the previous week and my stomach had been bothering me most of the morning. Lunch was not contrived to help this problem. A strange combination of tentacles and unpleasant sauces greeted me on my tray. Upon receiving the reports of first contact from my eyes and mouth, my stomach decided to take unilateral action. It climbed up my chest, through my throat and took my brain hostage. It forced my body to walk to the nearest trash can and empty the contents of my tray so that I wouldn’t be forced to empty the contents of my stomach. After explaining that my stomach was upset and I wasn’t hungry, I returned to my desk and promptly ate a snickers bar. My tummy was appeased.

Late Tuesday night I discovered an interest fact about chocolate. It's a good cough suppressant. It stopped my chronic coughing and allowed me to get a good night's sleep. And I just know that upon reading this, all of my female friends suddenly developed terrible coughs that need immediate treatment.

Thursday the expats of Jeju had a party to celebrate Thanksgiving. Since I don't cook well to begin with (and the limited kitchen facilities here don't help) I decided to attend and assist by providing some drinks and ice cream. Just call me chef. Fortunately, some of the girls here possess excellent culinary skills and a feast was enjoyed by all. Friendly conversation and even a couple fireworks added to the pleasant atmosphere. Its one nice thing about Jeju. The English level of the locals is so bad and there are so few expats here, that any time I meet another foreigner we're immediately friends. Just having the ability to talk to them at all produces an instant camaraderie. More diversity would be nice (and good for the people here) but I'm helping provide some of that just by living here. Hopefully it will continue to increase over time.

For now time to get some sleep before part two of my English camp Saturday morning. TTFN