Here are some photos from the mountain trail just outside my town.
The first picture is a cemetery. I've been told they don't bury people in caskets, which is why they make tall mounds on the graves. I didn't totally understand the explanation. The second picture is of the low mountains that are in the distance any direction you look from town. The third picture is the trail with the mountains in the distance. I took these pictures on a very cold day a few weeks ago.

I've been sick today, so I stayed home and pretty much did nothing at all. Dr. Kim brought some medicine over for me. I have no idea what it is. You know how you get prescriptions with labels on them and a little information sheet in the States? Not so here. They put all the pills you take at one time in a little envelope, no labels. So I have seven little envelopes, each with five pills, and a bottle of red syrup. I wonder what exactly I'm taking.

Dr. Kim is one of our volunteer interpreters for the worship services. He and his wife take the five missionary teachers out for lunch every other Sunday after church. Dr. Kim's English is pretty good, and the man loves idioms, proverbs, and other figures of speech. He uses them every chance he gets. Sometimes I think he throws them into the sermon interpretation just for the fun of it, not because that's what the pastor was actually trying to communicate.

When I called him this morning to tell him I am still sick, he said, "Oh, poor Ellen. Are you feeling UNDER THE WEATHER?" I could just picture his eyes lighting up when he realized he could use an idiom with me. I felt miserable, but I had to laugh.

"Yes, Dr. Kim, I'm feeling under the weather."

"Have you CAUGHT A COLD?" Short pause. "Is that right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"The COMMON COLD!"

He was very pleased with himself. I could tell. A short time later, he showed up at my door with his little envelopes of mystery medicine.

"You stay inside all day," he said. "Tomorrow, you PLAY IT BY EAR."