Ryan Bought Me Flowers!

They came from an old lady in the subway. He haggled her down to almost nothing. She didn't know what hit her.

A New Breed of Bums

Earlier this week, Ryan and I walked by a beggar on the street. We've grown quite accustomed to this in the busy areas of the city. He was dressed in the shabby clothes with his face partially hidden. There was nothing out of the ordinary until his cell phone started to ring. When he pulled out his cell phone to answer the call, we noticed that his phone was nicer than our phone. No doubt he had a camera, MP3 player, games and television on his state-of-the-art phone. I wondered how he paid for the phone or the monthly bill. He must be doing pretty well as a bum. I half expected him to suddenly pull out the automatic remote to his BMW to unlock the doors and head home after his busy day at work.

Achoo! Blahhhhhhh!

The flu has been going around the teachers at YBM. Unfortunately, our management is not smart enough to give us sick days. If we are sick, they deduct pay from our salary. Therefore, everyone who is sick still comes to work to share their symptoms. What started as one person with the flu has affected the entire office.

The flu hit me on Monday. I missed my first class but I was too hard-headed to miss more. So I went to class, dizzy, light-headed, with a fever and a stomachache. Part of me hopes the flu hits the management or at least the students complain about their near-dead teachers pathetically attempting to teach as they curl up in a ball under the desk. Would it be so much to ask for a few sick days?

What Are the Chances?

Since I've known Ryan, there have been two concerts that he endlessly talks about. The first one is the Garth Brooks concert. One of his goals is to see Garth in concert again which is difficult because Garth had retired from traveling and performing. Coincidentally, less than a month after we left Missouri, Garth announced a concert in Kansas City, MO. Ryan just stopped sulking about not going to see Garth when another concert was announced in Missouri: Jimmy Buffett.

Ryan talks about Jimmy Buffett concerts with such love and admiration. I even had the opportunity to go a Buffett concert with Ryan a few years ago in Chicago. He was counting down the days again until Jimmy's next concert. We were just informed recently that Buffett is performing in St. Louis in April. What are the chances? Ryan's two favorite performers come to Missouri within a few months when we're in Korea.

Yellow Dust

In Korea, there are four seasons: Summer, Autumn, Winter & Yellow Dust. The yellow dust season is somewhat similar to Spring in the U.S. The winds start to change which bring in the warmer air. Unfortunately, Korea is in close proximity with China and so when the winds change, they start to blow from China. This means that all of the yellow sand, toxins and pollution blow into Korea from China. The sky actually takes on the color of a grayish yellow. This is a sensitive subject in Korean-Chinese relations.

On average, 200 Koreans die each year as a result of the yellow dust and 2 million Koreans get sick from the toxins. Many people choose to wear surgical masks to avoid breathing the toxic air. On Monday, every elementary school & kindegarten in the South of the country was closed due to the dangerous air. Seoul wasn't hit so hard and so Ryan and I still had to work. As great as a day off would be, I would prefer the Chinese toxic air to stay out of the city.

West Coast Swing

Ryan and I signed up to take an 9 hour swing dance lesson on Saturday. The instructors were from California and so we jumped at the opportunity to do something fun in English. West Coast swing is a little different from your typical swing and has a little more hip-hop style to it. One of our teachers at YBM, Hanna, also came with us.

I was surprised when we first got there because the only other students were Korean and they were all real dancers. The teachers, Jordan & Tatiyana, were nice enough. We stuck through the first two hours and picked up some basic skills but then Ryan took off. Hanna and I hung on through until the end. We were getting really good, although a lot of the guys had really sweaty hands and were a little "too" into it.

The lesson ended at 7:30 and then there was free dancing. Hanna and I went to grab some food and when we returned, it felt like we were walking into the scene from "Dirty Dancing" when the main character walks downstairs and sees how all of the workers really dance. Our swing dance classmates were throwing each other around and flipping each other. We tried to show them up but our dance experience includes ballet and club dancing. We finally admitted defeat to the swing, salsa, ballroom dancing experts and took a seat and watched the pros.