Summer Begins

This week should bring my sword to me finally. Well, technically it's my wife's sword according to the paperwork but I'll be the principal borrower. I'm scared someone will question why she needs such a long sword as sword length is based on your reach...if you can actually draw the sword. The sword company already knows it's for me and not her but they don't seem to care even though they need police authorization before sending it to me.

The weather was cooking hot about 2 weeks ago and now monsoon season has begun so it rains almost every day. The rain doesn't make it a whole lot cooler, just more humid. Unfortunately we have a leak in the ceiling right above our toilet so when it rains, it's not a very pleasant place to be. We also had a huge puddle outside our apartment last time we had a big downpour.

Last week was exam week for our students, which means all the Korean teachers were working about 10 hours per day, 6 days per week for the past month. Fortunately for me, my classes have nothing to do with the exams so I actually work less during this time as students prefer to study other subjects rather than come to my class.

We were recently told our summer holidays would be August 4th - 7th. Many of the teachers are angry as it's too hot, too expensive, and too short notice to actually go anywhere out of the country at that time. From my understanding, the boss makes his holiday plans as they suit him, then he tells his 50 or so employees that those are the holidays. Anyway, we're thinking of going to Seorak Mountain and Sokcho which are in the Northeastern part of the country. I've never been there but apparently there are beautiful mountains and beaches in the area and I'm hoping being in the north is cooler than here. One of the teachers at my school told me that Jeonju is now the hottest city in Korea. Apparently it used to be Daejeon but they've countered the heat by planting many trees in that city over the past several years.