Can I dance with you? Baby, baby is there no chance I can take you for the last dance?

Warm ginseng drinks taste like a pumpkin spiced pie. The after taste mixed with strawberry yogurt is not so pleasant.

Today I took off of work because I am sick. First time I have felt this way here and it isn't pleasant. Ben (head teacher at Espirit) was nice enough to bring some Korean style medicine to me. I'm not too sure how it is going to affect me. I guess we'll see in an hour.

Yesterday (or today) is Teacher's Day in Korea. One of my students surprised me with a small bouquet of purple and pink carnations. Another one of my students gave a nice set of oriental spiced soaps. The most outrageous present I got from a student of mine was a $100 gift certificate from Shinsegae Department Store. Wow! They were nice tokens of appreciation and it made me feel a lot better yesterday.

A friend of mine from home, aka Ducky, has inspired me to write more about the everyday smells and sights I experience in Seoul.

"The smells are not very pleasant. When the subway is packed, the heat radiating from the people seem to "broil" the smells in the air making me gag. Yes, gag. The mix of soju, garlic, and kimchi is not pleasant. AT ALL. (Ok, so there was only one time when I gagged...) Other days, you are walking along the streets of Seoul and you get a whiff of something that has been decaying and rotting. The summer shall be interesting. In the spring, the weather is perfect. Some days, just walking outside feeling the breeze and the sun on my skin puts an extra pep in my step. The summers are going to broiling and the winter will be frigid. The joys of all four seasons!"(Memo: NOT trying to say that it smells bad all the time, just at certain moments)

On a typical day I Walk through the "Red Light District" of my area, Seocho, to get to work. It's not as bad as what a person would usually see at other areas (glass boxes with the girls on show, ready to be picked off). Usually cards or advertisements litter the streets from the night before. Large printed phone numbers and scantily clad girls appear on matted paper. There are a number of large barber shop poles that spin. We've all seen them, the ones that are red, white and blue. In an odd way, they look like candy shop signs to me. Those poles are everywhere and can't be avoided.

My mouth tastes like burnt rubber.