What do you get when you put 1H and 1N together??

...SWINE FLU!!

Unfortunately, this past week's events have thrown a curve ball into this school year. Swine flu has come to Korea and has hit pretty hard. So hard, in fact, that last week our school had 8 confirmed cases from random swab tests,and before we knew it we were shut down, news people flooded the school, and we, the staff, were given a nice, week long quarantine to our apartments.

You'd think it would be nice.. all that time with no responsibility? Well, I think I might have been indoors a BIT too long, cause I'm noticing my fish staring at me ALL THE TIME! I'm not even making this up.. I'll look up and my two fish are just floating there looking DIRECTLY at me and then all of sudden they look away awkwardly as if they're thinking "oh. uhh. I wasn't staring."

Seriously... I blame the quarantine.

However, it's brought about some pretty good things, in fact. Like, the beginning of re-watching ALL seasons of LOST. (I haven't gotten TOO far.. but I'm working on it.) Also, there's a heightened sense of cleanliness around these parts. My inbox has been FLOODED with do and don'ts and H1N1 preparation. There's anti bacterial gel in literally every nook and cranny. (We even got some antibac machines installed.. that spray.. MIST!! ..yeah.. sweet, I know.) We're taking temperatures nonstop. (This morning.. I woke up early and took all students temps as they arrived back on campus after the long "break." Those ear thermometers.. *shudder* for some reason I have a problem with sharing anything that goes in my ear..) And finally a new appreciation of mask wearing. Like the one in this picture.



That's me on the bus ride taking dorm students to their hometowns.. all over Korea.

It's been an interesting week for sure. Our school handled it really well and thankfully all students and faculty are recovering and gearing back up for the rest of the year. It's scary.. the germs and sickness and all.. but we serve a God who's bigger than sickness and who is CONSTANTLY attentive to our prayers. How awesome!

Please be in prayer for those still recovering, protection against future outbreaks, and a smooth transition back into a somewhat different kind of year.

Hugs, blessings, and DIAL soap,

Sarah

CARIBBEAN BAY!

WOW.

That is all I have to say. Craziness ensued, as I expected. However, it wasn't all smooth sailing.

We arrived at Everland/Caribbean bay around noon and soon realized what we had gotten ourselves into. Saturday was August 15... which also happened to be Korea's Liberation Day... which means EVERYONE picked up and traveled somewhere.. and seeing that it was nearly 95 degrees out.. I think nearly 1/2 of Korea's population decided to venture to the water park. We found this out due to the masses of people waiting to actually get inside. We had to pick up a "waiting card" which would let us inside at 5pm. Sooo... what to do til then?

Lucky for us, there were foreigners standing near us who said that if we just bought the full day pass for the water park, they would let us go into Everland for the beginning of the day! EUREKA! Everland is the greatest! They have a wooden ride called the T-Express. I didn't have a camera this time, but if you want to see the ride, look back at my blog entries. I think there's one titled "A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE" and I recorded the entire experience. It's seriously a great ride. And I love coasters. I wish my roller coaster buff family could experience this with me.



So we sweated the ENTIRE afternoon and once it hit 5pm we booked on over to the water park and were herded through 2 lines and finally entered the wonderland of fun called Caribbean Bay. Finding a locker was a pretty big task and once Steph and I actually found one.. well.. I'm not going to go much into detail.. but trying to change into a swim suit in an EXTREMELY overcrowded lockeroom with hundreds of sweaty bodies...is NOT the greatest... oh goodness...

The wave pool was ENORMOUS and was actually quite creepy due to the HUGE waves. (err... wave. They wouldn't actually have tons of waves all at once, the siren would sound and a HUGE tidal wave would come flying towards you. But because it was so crowded the wave was just a sea of life-jacket-wearing Koreans sporting swim caps! haha...) I didn't have a camera.. but this video will give you an idea of what we encountered..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVGPTWuq3J4

Just. Plain. Awesome.

We rode a water slide that was more like a roller coaster too.. haha.. and then you can't forget the lazy river! :D

I'm glad to be back.. but BOY was that fun!

Hugs, Blessings, and swimmers ear!

Sarah

Where in the world is Erds???

This summer has been seriously one of THE best summers I've had in a long while.

I lost my toenail.. FINALLY!

haha.. Just kidding.. that was NOT the highlight (however, I'm quite glad to be rid of that thing.) I flew home at the beginning of June and for almost every weekend following, up until the end of August, I traveled and visited traveled and caught up with so many people... It was just plain awesome! If I wasn't able to see you, I'm sorry. I visited Grandparents in Muskegon, the bean in Chicago, discovered lost lakes in Knoxville, biked the San Francisco bridge, visited Egypt in the children's museum in Indianapolis, Cedar point in Sandusky, was a bridesmaid for an amazing friend's wedding (the DAY before I flew out), and I even caught up with a couple ridiculous college buddies in the airport in Atlanta. And when I wasn't on the road, I got to spend quality time with those crazy Erdmann's. :D I love them.

And now I'm back in Korea.

It's strange how fast time seems to be flying by. Did I mention I spent my 24th birthday at home this summer?? (The package is on it's way, right? ha..) But things just haven't even seemed to slow down even after arriving here. (Or cool off, for that matter. I stepped off the plane with my swollen feet into very the THICK of a hot and EXTREMELY humid Korean summer. Not to mention the damage that was inflicted upon my lungs, due to the man who continually farted for the ENTIRE flight!! No joke. At least HE got sleep.)

I was allotted roughly 2 days to get over jet-lag and then the students arrived and we had the new student orientation for that first weekend. It was an amazing time of games, sweating, getting to know the new students and staff, completely taking over a movie theatre (to watch GI Joe), and slip n slides! (I was a bit weary about this one, due to a previous experience with a twig sticking up out of the tarp.) But it was awesome! And even a somewhat soft padded landing! :D

So now we're just about finished with the first week of school and I'm adjusted and settled into my newly rearranged apartment. WOOHOO! Oh, and yesterday I made a Korean friend... in the taxi. Haha.. he asked if I had many Korean friends (chingu), and I said, well, "outside of our school, no." so he gestured to himself and said "chingu." :D My first taxi driver friend. Life is good. Oh, and this weekend we may venture to Caribbean Bay. (The water park attached to Everland.. like a Korean Disneyworld. :D) I'm sure there will be MUCH to update after this! Until then...

Hugs, Blessings, and missing toenails,

Sarah