Its officially summer....

And it is hot.

Let me rephrase. It is HUMID!

I consider "hot" a nice summers day in Victoria; one of those rare days where the temperature hits almost 30 degrees, the wind is blowing, and the sun literally warms all of the exposed skin of everyone littering the beaches and lakes. You literally feel the heat radiating from your skin, yet, you can find refuge in the shade or a burst of wind. Ah. Victoria.

Currently, I shower, walk to my closet and already I have perspiration drips on my upper lip. No matter how many fans or how much airconditioning, the humidity seeps into every crevice of my entire life. My body has been in a permanent state of clamminess these last couple weeks. Its not just about embarrassing stains under the armpits- oh no. Korean humidity causes unwanted lower back sweat, really unsightly neck sweat, and, if you should be so lucky, underboob sweat. I have even started seeping out of places that I didn't know even had sweat glands, and I played college softball- in Tennessee! There is no cure. You can't escape it.

Having divulged WAY to much information about the state of my clammy skin, I am happy to report that nothing and everything has happened in the last couple weeks. We are busy at school planning new lessons for our summer program, which I am absolutely thrilled about! Our theme? Wild Wild West! Oh yes, that's right. Korea is going Country! Okay, so I know "technically" Wild West isn't "Country" per say, but you better believe that I will be wearing a cowboy hat daily.

It seems that as the weather gets hotter, I find more and more things to do that make me sweat. Oh the irony.
Last weekend we climbed to a pagoda that over looks our "small town" of Ansan.

If you look really closely you can see my apartment! Okay. No. Thats not true. But I do live somewhere in the top left direction. Really. 

Aside from a great view of Ansan a few things happened on our hike/walk that make Korea fantastic.

1) I have a group of friends that not only loves show tunes and musicals, but has no problems belting selected songs out on walks. There is nothing like a medley of songs from Rent, Aladdin, and Moulin Rouge to make an average walk that much better. And hey, even if we scared away some Koreans... once you start singing "Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes..." its hard to stop, and I secretly think they like it.

2) Sometimes, but only if your really lucky, you can find giant dragon statues. And climb them. And then take pictures. 

 3) And just when you think you night can't get any better, you have handsome boys who want to put flowers in your hair- and in theirs too.

So how do you recover from a night hike? Well I go on another one, this time I bit more intense than the other. While I have said this before, and it probably will not be the last time, it is outstanding to see so many apartments in such a small amount of space.

 And, if you look really closely... you can see the sweat marks running down my chest. Hazy day. Humid life.

While most of you will not notice, for those of you who are questioning my "hiking" attire....yes, I am wearing a dress. While I was never the kind of girl to play ball with my hair down, I can hike in almost anything with the right pair of shoes. Thats right. I climbed a mountain in a dress. No big deal. 

Whats a person to do when they are not hiking? Well in Ansan they put on festivals. Ok. Let me not make that sound like they do this every weekend. But since the sun started shining more and the people started sweating more, there have been numerous "festivals".


This one was particularly bizarre, not to mention crowded.

We watched some street performers, and saw a show. At least I could stand on my tiptoes. Some of my smaller companions had to guess what was happening!

This street is about a ten minute walk from my apartment, and I could hear the noise all the way home.....

In other news I learned how to make "kimbab". The easiest way to explain kimbab? Poor mans sushi. It is like a sushi roll, but with different ingredients. It is one of those foods that has to grow on you. At first, the thought of seaweed, radish and leaves wrapped in rice doesn't sound appealing. But, then you discover chamchi Kimbab- tuna, and cheege Kimbab- cheese, and Kimbab becomes a 2 night a week meal. It is cheap- kimbab is usually 1,000 or 2,000 won, depending on the flavour.

My friend Haeho is Kimbab-maker-extraordinaire.... my first few attempts were slightly pathetic. But I got the hang of it! Most kimbab have the following:

Rice
Seaweed
Pickled radish
Ham
Fish cake
Sesame leaves
Carrots
Imitation crab

So there is my Korea "dump" as I like to call it. Nothing too exciting. Blog worthy? Well, for me... yes!!!

Last note: In my spare time I go to batting cages. They are just on the streets in between restaurants and stores. 500 won will get you 20 balls. (Thats less that 50 cents). And yes. I am batting in  a skirt.