This is the town I live in, as seen from a hill at the edge of town. There is a nice trail that goes around the hill (a.k.a. "The Mountain") and up to the top. I try to walk it a few times a week. It's very hazy here these days. You can see it in the picture. The haze is caused in part by yellow dust in the air which is blown in from the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia. It's a huge health and environmental problem in Korea this time of year. The brown fields in the picture are some of the many rice fields around here. You can see the steeple of the Methodist Church almost right in the center of the photo, with Wesley Mission School next to it. You can't see my apartment building in the photo, but my roommate and I live directly across the street from the church. The other two teachers and the director live in the tall apartment building.

The kids were pretty excited today to discover that I had completely lost my voice. Not a good thing for a language teacher. About a week ago I came down with a cold which has turned into an awful upper respiratory tract infection. So far it's staying clear of my lungs, so I'm thankful. I have asthma that has been very severe in the past when it has been aggravated. On Tuesday, Dr. Kim gave me some medicine for it. I took it Tuesday night and it kept me up all night and made me jittery on Wednesday, so he told me only to take it once a day, rather than twice as he originally said. I woke up this morning and had no voice whatsoever. One of the other teachers taught my morning preschool and kindergarten classes for me. Another did the talking for me in my first elementary class this afternoon since she didn't have a class at that time, but for four of my classes, I was on my own, whispering, sometimes in vain, to a classroom full of talkative children. I had a pretty sore throat by the time my last class was finished.

The pastor and the director are still in the Philippines. It's been my best week since I got here, despite the fact that I'm sick. It makes such a difference to know that I can go to school and not face constant criticism from the director.