H1N1...School's out-for-swine flu! Let's go to Seoul!

School was open for two weeks when the H1N1 virus infiltrated GSIS. We showed up at work on Monday morning, only to discover all of our coworkers in t-shirts and shorts, and no students in sight. We somehow were the only employees that had missed the phone calls the night before from our principals, and just happened NOT to check our email before we went to bed on Sunday night, nor in the morning as we were getting ready (which I usually do every morning). If we had, we would have gotten the message that school was being shut down for a whole week. We had meetings that morning and frantically worked (getting lessons together to put online for the students to work at home) until 11 am, when the school had to be evacuated. We would not be allowed to return until the following Monday morning at 7:30 am. It turns out that Korea has been making very secure laws about H1N1, trying to keep it from spreading here, as they have very little of the vaccine to offer their citizens. We had one student the week before who had tested positive for H1N1, and several more students who had symptoms and were awaiting the results of their tests. The health department said that if we had at least 2 confirmed cases, we would have to shut down for a week, so we went ahead and closed down. We ended up having one more student confirmed, as well as a few faculty members, so it was a wise decision to close.

So, this left us with a week off of school and no plans! I still had 2,000 new books in the library that I had been hoping to get shelved that day with the help of many parent volunteers, but that did not happen. I couldn’t go up to do any work at all, which was a little frustrating, but it ended up being a great blessing! This was really the first downtime we had had since we arrived back in Korea about 4 weeks before. The first day we left school with some of our coworkers and went to another city called Osan, where a US airforce base is, and ate lunch at an AUTHENTIC Mexican resturant! It was very delicious, and we enjoyed hanging out with new friends.

The next day we went to Seoul to see Dr. Kim, my gastroenterologist, and get my prescription renewed for my colon medicine. He is such a kind doctor and so accommodating. He changed my medicine dosage a little bit and told me to come back in November. I was feeling good, and still am, praise the Lord! It is such a relief for my colon to be "under control" right now. What an answer to prayer! We spent the rest of the day in Seoul, shopping, and even made a trip to Costco to pick up a few things.

We wanted to plan a trip to go somewhere in Korea that we hadn’t been before, but Michael started to come down with a cold, so he basically spent the next 2 days in bed, while I spent time unpacking, organizing, and shopping! I got to take care of a lot of things at home and spent some time around Suwon getting things to decorate our new place and make it feel more like home. It was a much needed week of resting.

At the end of the week, we decided to take a day to go to Seoul and see some of the things that we hadn’t seen yet, even after living here for a year! A couple of our co-workers joined us, Sarah and Lauren, and one of Sarah’s friends from her old school, Anna. We went first to the largest palace in Seoul, Gyeongbukgong Palace. In English this means "Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven." This was the main palace from the Chosun/Joseon Dynasty, when Korea was ruled by kings. It was first constructed in 1394 and reconstructed in 1867, but then was heavily destroyed by the Japanese in the early 1900s when they occupied Korea, and now they are working on rebuilding it. It is huge and has some really pretty places. When we first got there they were doing the changing of the guards. Then we walked around for a while and took some photos. I really want to go back when the leaves are changing colors and take some photos there.


























We then were walking to go eat lunch, and on the side of the road, there was an ajumma selling bondaeggi. This is silkworm larvae, and it smells horribly disgusting. Michael, Anna, and Sarah were brave enough to try it, while Lauren and I stood back and gagged the whole time. I think Michael actually liked it because he just kept eating it as we were walking.




We also went to an area of Seoul where an arts school, Honggik University is located, called Hongdae. Every Saturday they have an Art Free Market at a local playground where artists of all kinds bring their wares to sell. It was a really cool place to go and I would like to go back sometime.














Then we went to Seoul Tower, also called Namsan Tower. This is a tower in the middle of Seoul, near Myeongdong, that overlooks the city of Seoul. We took a cable car up to the tower and then walked around. You can take a hiking path up to the top, but it was humid and we were tired and sweaty and decided we'd rather just ride. There were some amazing views of the city from up there!











They also have locks all over the fences, and the tradition is that a couple puts a lock on the fence and throws away the key to signify their everlasting love. This is one example of how cheesy Korean culture is! :)







Here are a few other random sightings around Seoul that amused me.





So, we ended up having a great time experiencing some new things. I'm glad we still have at least 2 more years here, because there are so many places and things I want to see before we leave!

One more thing...when we came back to school the following Monday, we had to begin a new procedure of "fever screening" for all students. We now do this every morning before the kids are allowed to go to class, they must check in at their assigned station and have their temperature taken. If their temperature is higher than 37 degrees, they are re-screened and sometimes sent home. Here are some photos of us on our first day of fever screening. I got to wear a face mask because I was taking temps. I have since ditched the mask.