Well, its been a long time since I last posted - when I realized that I had forgotten my login information to write a new post, I knew that I had set a new record for futility. I've been kind of busy, with a nasty bout of the flu before my parents came, and then a really bad ear infection (and I thought that only children got those) which followed by my parents visiting for ten days. To make a long story short, its been a long busy month or so. However, now that all those things are done, I'm caught up at school, I thought I would just write a few notes.
Spring has just come not too long ago (say for the unfortunate time that my parents were here, when the weather was unseasonably cold) and right now, the weather is gorgeous. The wind blows through with nice spring air, and its a nice change from the typical air pollution that sticks around because of the high-rise apartments and office buildings that dot this country. I hope that this weather last for a while, because the temperature is already starting to get warmer and more humid as the days go by. The nice thing with all this warm weather has been the amount of spring flowers that have bloomed - unfortunately, the cherry blossoms don't stick around too long, but the other flowers are just starting to take their place, so everything is smelling spring fresh; sort of like a splash of "April fresh" fabric softener... (okay, enough of that stuff)
Well, as we just started the month of May, that means that another birthday is coming and going very soon - its hard to believe that this will be my second year here, and while part of me thinks that its been a long time that I've been here, the other part of me believes that it hasn't been all that long - what's fourteen months in a lifetime? Oh well, this weekend, I'll be going to Pusan with my roommate ( Pusan, or Busan) is my roommates hometown, so he's going to be showing me some of the sights, things to see, when he's not spending some time with his mother, grandmother and sister. Upcoming, date wise, this is the month for teachers. On May 15, its Teachers day, and while I may not believe in Confucianism, the somewhat dominant religion of most Koreans, I do agree with them when they promote teachers as the most important members of society. Last year, it was on a Saturday, and I got two pairs of socks and some cologne. However, this year, its on a Monday, and I'm hoping to cash in...and my birthday is the weekend before that, and I've been leaving my kids notes about that as well....(my first time around, I didn't mention anything about either day, and then I saw teachers all around me rack in the gifts, some as much as 100$ gift cards to the bookstore, and I realized that simply treating it as a normal day isn't what's in my best interest...
When my parents came here, it was wonderful for me to show them my little corner of the world, with my friends, institute and country area. However, the only disheartening thing was opening the gifts and things from home. Its discouraging, only because its at time like those when I realize how much of home I miss. And while this has become my new home, its still hard to get reminders from home, because as much as its sometimes hard to believe, there are parts of Canada and home that I do miss. (but as of right now, I sorta like Seoul (minus the awful air pollution) a lot better..)
Otherwise, things aren't that new with me. I'm presently 90% finished my new website, which I hope to get up and running within the next month or so. There are still some things that I need to get ironed out, such as my comments page, and a starter page for my Education Portfolio, and some other small things to take care of. Hopefully, the website will be user-friendly enough that most people won't complain about the new site, but think its a nice upgrade over this public site.
Well, its time for me get going; take care all, and don't work too hard
me