Radioactive rain!

Hi everyone! Well, this week has certainly been a week full of surprises.

The first one came on Monday, when I was ready to start my new reading and b-ball after-school activity class and then I found it will not start now until the next week. This wasn't surprising news, since things are always changed around. Actually, I was also supposed to start a new writing program for next week but now it will be postponed as well. Therefore, I am spending part of today trying to figure out my lesson for next week. I think I've improved my flexibility skills since living in Korea:)

The next surprise came on Thursday, the morning after I did a late run in the rain.

Let me first tell you that on Wednesday, I had special visitors from KIS (the new international school) come visit my middle school. Although I was quite nervous and hoping that I would make a first good impression of my teaching, as well as a good first impression of the schools in Korea (since it was their first school that they visited in Jeju), I ended up rocking it all! My students behaved wonderful...I was very proud of them! And ALL (and by this I literally mean all!) the students in the entire school gave so much attention to the 3 guests. They actually all first thought they were my family, since I had mentioned before in my classes that my family might come and visit Jeju in the summer. Well, the students spoke as much English as they could and tried to flatter them by giving them many compliments!

I felt a little worried because as soon as the guests left my classroom (which they said they were impressed with my class/lesson! yah!), they were bombarded by hundreds of students in the small hallway. They did tell me they enjoyed the interaction with them though so they could learn more about the culture/ age group. Then, after they enjoyed some lunch in the cafeteria, I showed them the gym and schoolyard outside. While we were out there, since it was the students' lunch time, students were following us around and yelling out of classrooms. The guests were especially amused when the 3rd grade boys yelled from the top floor..."I love you Tina!!" "You're my best friend!" :)

Anyways, back to the surprises...

So that Wednesday night, to celebrate the successful school visit and to get to know our new co-workers better, we went out for sushi with the dean of students, the curriculum planner and her husband. We had a great time and afterward stopped at a brewery for one tasty beer. By the time we got home, it was already 10pm! Yet, I still had to go for an hour run. I've been very very good with being consistent with my marathon training and haven't missed a day, so I made sure to still go out for my run, even after the few beers that I had. However, midway through my run it started raining. Luckily, I was wearing my new Nike running jacket that I had bought while in Malaysia, so that helped the situation. But the next day I was pretty concerned.

When I got to my first class I asked my students "What's the weather like today?". They answered..."It's rainy". I then said "and..." and they replied with worried looks on their face..."and radioactivity teacher".

That caught me off guard! By my wide-open mouth and confused look on my face, the students then said..."dangerous teacher" "japan air conmes to jeju".

I then looked around for my co-teacher and discussed the situation shortly with her. By the end of the day, I had heard the story many times through my students and by reading some news articles online. Koreans, especially in Jeju, were worried about the radiation from Japan. They had found small amounts of radioactivity in the air and supposedly the rain would bring more and could bring radioactivity into the body, causing harm.

I was so scared at first knowing that I had ran in the rain for an hour yesterday. However, after reading the articles online and talking to other westerners, I think the amount is so small that it wouldn't affect someone unless they had direct contact with the radiation for LARGE amounts of time. I read somewhere that you would have to drink about 2 liters a day for a year to have it really affect you. So I THINK I'm safe.

I will keep you updated if I hear otherwise, but just know that the Koreans here are being very cautious. I even heard how they were questioning whether to take off of school because of the rain. Now that wouldn't be a bad idea:) haha



Another surprise came last night for our friend Mona. Her boyfriend Josh threw a surprise party for her at Baghdad (an Indian restaurant) in city hall. She's leaving the island tonight so we all had one last nice dinner with her before she headed back to Canada. Another great friend I will miss, but who I will definitely still in contact with.


When we left the restaurant to head back to our apartment, it was still raining. I used my umbrella but Keith insisted to not try to keep it over his head because his crutches made it too difficult. Well, since his head was getting pretty wet a few Koreans were staring at Keith with concerned looks on their face. They quickly ran over to me and expressed their worry about the danger with the radioactive rain. They told me to take care of him and make sure he doesn't get wet. :) ha I don't know whether to take their concern seriously or think how silly it is for everyone to be out on such a "dangerous" night.

We will know soon enough. Hopefully Keith and I won't get sick within the next few days.


Another surprise was today when, after studying for Korean throughout the week, I was able to text my friend, Eun Mi, in Korean!! Yes, it was difficult at first but I think I'm getting the hang of it. It's so nice to be able to read, write and have success in communicating in Korean! I felt very proud of myself and now will have to start working on my speaking. Eun Mi was very excited too when she received the message in Korean. We had a nice time chatting and practicing some Korean today when we met up at lunchtime at the Paris Baguette cafe near my school. Next week, we will begin trying to have a Korean conversation. This means next week I will have to really try to learn some useful phrases and prepare them for next Friday's meeting. Although, Eun Mi is due any week now! She will be having her baby boy very very soon! Each week I see her she is looking more round and ready for that baby to pop out! I cannot wait to meet him. I already know her 4 year old daughter, Hey Ji, who is so sweet and cute. She is also beginning to learn English, so hopefully we will both be able to communicate together.

Well, besides the surprises, the radioactive rain, and improving my Korean, I am doing excellent with my marathon training. It's actually going smoother than I had imagined it would go. I haven't had much soreness, only some knee pains for a short time during my long runs. It always seems to go away though. I am proud to say I ran 14 miles last week, which is a lil longer than half a marathon! Tonight my goal is to run 16 miles, which should take me about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Wish me luck! y goals next week are to do more yoga, weightlifting and boot-camp on top of my running. On Mondays I run hills for my cross-training and I am on 10 hills. This weekend and next I will be practicing ultimate frisbee for the big tourney that's on April 23rd and 24th. I hope to quickly improve because I haven't had much practice yet.

Well, that seems to be it right now for updates on the week. Oh and one more thing....the cherry blossoms are beautiful right now! My school and Sarabong are surrounded by this pretty pink flower. I will try to remember to take pictures to upload on here next week.

Cheers~