Where to Begin.....

So much has happened during the past two weeks I don't even know where to begin.

1. Ian's visit- Ian visited me here in Jinju for five days, and it was truly lovely to see him. We did all sorts of things around the city, like rock climbing, some ultimate frisbee, hiking, drinking and dancing, tons of eating, and I even took him to the jjimjilbang (he did very well, haha). (Pictures to come.... maybe)

2. Thailand- Immediately after Ian visited (we flew out together) I went to Thailand with Juheon. Everything about that place is incredible- the people are lovely, the food is beyond compare (even the "crappy" food they sell on the street!), the weather is perfect. Most of my time there was spent on a Jurassic Park-esque hippy outpost island called Koh Chang. It's 20% immaculate beach, 80% undisturbed scary jungle (complete with monkeys and elephants!). Highlights included riding and swimming in a lake with an elephant, renting scooters and driving around the island, an all day snorkeling trip to four islands of paradise, touching a King Cobra! at a poisonous snake farm, getting an amazing eight dollar massage!, going to the best aquarium in the world, eating the freshest fruit for breakfast everyday, etc.
There were some stressful times, mostly involving travel/decisions/planning. I lost my camera my second day there! (I think Juheon will give me his pictures, and I bought a disposable camera that hopefully can be transferred to digital format.... pictures to come...maybe!) I got completely covered in mosquito bites and simultaneously horribly sunburned even though I applied SPF 50 religiously- terribly uncomfortable, haha. It became immensely difficult to communicate with Juheon- whose English I had greatly overestimated- and tensions arose there over plans, etc.

3. Pneumonia- I also had a faulty snorkel during the all day trip, and ended up breathing in a lot of sea water. Sometime the next night, in Bangkok, I began feeling tremendously ill- the chills, fever/sweats, incredible chest pains, delirium, nausea, and a bloody cough. I knew then that I probably had pneumonia, and I still had two full days left in Thailand. Though I really didn't want to leave, I realized I had to try to get to a doctor immediately. In a feverish delirium, I tried for hours to switch my plane ticket to come home earlier, but everything was booked solid and I would have ended up having to pay about $900 to get home! (Outrageously enough, I was so miserable that I considered it.) I told Juheon to leave me at the airport, as he wanted to stay and I was too sick to be much fun. When I didn't get a ticket, I was pretty upset, but in the end, I landed on two nights in a comfortable hotel by the airport, sleeping as much as possible. I had almost no energy but managed to get out a little bit and see a very small part of the city. Though we had separate flights, I actually ran into Juheon at the airport on my way out, and once in Korea we took the bus home together. When I arrived back in Jinju yesterday, I tried to go to the doctor's office, but as it was a national holiday, everything was closed. I slept for almost 17 hours and woke up this morning confused about where and when I was. Though I feel like garbage, and haven't really eaten anything since Friday morning, I somehow managed to get it together enough to go to school today, the first day of the new semester (ie, mandatory that I be here). My suitcase is still sitting where I dropped it after walking in the door yesterday afternoon. I plan on going to the docs this afternoon, where I will hopefully be given a super-antibiotic shot and a week's worth of pills.

4. New School Year/Teachers- Ellen is gone, together with three others and the Principal. This morning I got to meet my new co-teacher, Kim, who seems really nice but generally clueless. I can't judge- this is her first day on the job, afterall- but she has been teaching for almost 20 years and has absolutely no idea about anything regarding our teaching schedule, planning together, etc. I asked her, "Will we be teaching today?" to which she replied, "I haven't any idea!" and went back to typing away on the computer. Her English also kind of sucks when compared to Ellen's... it could be difficult to communicate with her in the future. My new Principal is the exact opposite of the old terrifying one- he is jovial, always smiling, and friendly! He even said hello to me and shook my hand. It's a strange atmosphere today, where a third of the teachers are brand new and I'm too sick to really pay attention. Hopefully this afternoon I can get myself fixed up and unpack!!!

More soon,
<3M