Six Months Down, Six to Go

And is the soju bottle half-full or half-empty? I guess that depends on which day of the week the question is asked, its been drunk and re-filled innumerable times since I've been here. There's the anticipation of the first sip, alot of fun to be had half-way through and sense of regret, and a terribly heavy head, once the bottle is polished off. So, yeah, at this half-way mark, I'm having fun, and surely there'll be no regrets once the year comes to a close, though can't be sure about the heavy head, especially considering the amount of freaking walls its been banged against.

Vacation came to an end this last weekend and, to be honest, I am looking forward to getting back to work. The students are what make being here so much fun, they are so adorable and cheering

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I find Mondays particularly amusing....I spend the day at a country school called Gusan, in Sujeong-ri, which is about 25minutes bus ride from Masan. At this school my office is actually the school nurse's office, as she has Mondays off, and all day long I have visits from little cherubs with splinters, headaches, tummy aches, and various other diversion tactics from their regular class. Little do they know that I am completely ignorant about the creams and lotions I am using on their wounds, as its all in Korean (ha!), but with a swab here and a bandage there and a sticker on their hand they are good to go. I dread the day a student's mamma removes the bandage only to find their soft little skin festering away, but, HA, that'll teach the f'ers to preserve their beer with FORMALDEHYDE.

Yes, I believe it is true. A Korean (and some South-East Asian beers, as I've been reading) brewing company seems to believe that formaldehyde is the most efficient and economic preservative to use in the brewing process of their most popular drop, Hite, hence hangovers verging on hallucinatory since drinking the shite here in Korea. A recent move to the peninsula's next finest drop, Cass, has seen my hangovers improve 100%, if that makes sense for a hangover to 'improve', ifyknowatimean. Perhaps its all balderdash, really, I'm only getting this theory from the www and that doesn't mean anything. It kind of wouldn't make sense for a country so obsessed with well-being to choose formic acid as their poison, 'scuse the slang, but then they smoke like trains. I guess its good to combat the bad with good, and those who know me well will agree I can hardly point a finger at hypocrites (; .