Well, it's that time of year again. Spring.... Change of season.... Allergic rhinitis time. The time of year when I am most susceptible to throat, ear and chest infections. I know my body's responses to these seasonal mishaps so well, that I am able to diagnose myself very accurately by now. Usually, I can go to the doctor and inform him/her of my symptoms and request a script for antibiotics, and before I know it, all's well. So imagine my huge surprise when I fell sick as a dog after my birthday weekend in Busan, barely managed to drag myself to the doctor on Monday, only to be told that I had a COMMON COLD! How's that for taking the wind out of one's sails! I got a jab in the bum, and meds for 3 days.
I still felt ridiculously ill the following day, so stayed at home. I must say, I have NEVER been that sick from a COMMON COLD. It took all week and into the start of the following week before I began to feel like myself again.
Another wonderful characteristic of Spring in Korea is the Yellow Dust which blankets the Korean peninsula. This Yellow Dust blows in from China and Mongolia (the Gobi Desert). This year, the highest levels ever were recorded on Saturday and Sunday (2684 micrograms per cubic metre). I was in Daegu for the start of my Korean language course at the YMCA. I couldn't understand why my nose was burning so terribly and the sky was overcast with an eerie blanket of what looked like highveld rain clouds. Meanwhile it was the dust, which kept many Koreans indoors for fear of respiratory problems, and apparently drivers and pedestrians who were out and about complained that the dust clouded their visibility.
Now the Korean environmental activists are on their government's case to release research findings regarding the pollutants that blow in from China. Apparently, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide blow in from China, polluting the Korean atmosphere, and account for half of the pollution in Korea! Seems like everyone's on China's case about something or other!
About my Korean course.... I enrolled for a Beginners' Course, but when the teacher started the class, speaking only in Korean, it felt like a verbal machine gun was being fired at me. I started switching off, and thinking that perhaps this was too advanced for me! Thankfully, an American classmate expressed the same concerns, and after that things seemed to slow down a bit, and the class became pleasantly bearable. There are 2 classes of 50min each, every Saturday for 12 weeks. This week we did introductions - self- and others. I would encourage every foreign teacher to enrol in classes like these, if only to help one be patient with one's own students! Teachers become so accustomed to being the ones with the power and authority, that it helps to be taken down a peg or two now and again!
And so it would seem that my passage into my 37th year on Earth has come with a taking down of 2 pegs thus far... being told I had a common cold, when I thought I was dying! And being stripped of my teacher's authority and becoming a nervous student again! (Sigh!) These lessons we must learn....
Stay learning, everyone! More news next time!
Andrea
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