2006-04-21 - Bugs, Medical Dreams, and Sea Monkeys:

Hi there! I'm doing this from work today. Which goes to show how dedicated I am. Or something.

Anyway, I had another one of my health-problem dreams. Do you get those? I have a recurring series of dreams where I have various medical ailments, and no one can figure out what is wrong with me. Or,they do know what is wrong with me, and I'm dying. Or I don't even go to the doctor, I just know I'm dying for some reason.

This latest dream was about me just being bizarrely ill, not the dying part. I had a weird rash all over my hands and it was all puffy and gross. And also parts were peeling and flakey. Then I woke up.

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THE SCHOOL

So today I am at the school where I routinely dish out the push-ups. Grades 8 and 9 are mayhem, but grade 7 has excellent English and work really hard and are genuinely interested in what I bring to class, no matter what. Seriously, I could be all, "Let's study and memorize the names in this phone book!" and they would be like, "OKAY TEACHER WE LOVE YOU!" and then make their hands into heart shapes and hold it above their heads. Next time I will try to get a picture of this, it is seriously awesome.

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PHOTO LOG

I know I have been neglecting the photo log as of late, but it is not because I haven't been taking pictures. It is mostly because I am lazy. But I am getting back in the saddle and am working on updating that sucker like, tonight. So hold on to your hats, because there will be a ton of updates for you.

I'm sorry I used so many cliches just now. That was just lame of me. It is early, give me a break. And all I got to work with is instant coffee. So there. :P

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SEA MONKEYS

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but around Christmas time I got some sea monkeys from my friend. It was all well and good, but recently I noticed that they all died. I was doing everything the box told me to do, but they died anyway. That's what you get for keeping a pet that can be freeze-dried, kept in a little packet at room temperature, and hatched at will by just adding water. It is weird.

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BEONDEGI

A popular snack in Korea is beondegi. Beondegi is basically silkworm pupae boiled and sold in street vender kiosks. Have you smelled boiled silkworm pupae? It smells like boiled gym shoes. It stinks so bad. But many Koreans are shocked when foreigners say that they don't like it.

It smells! It is the odor. It is so bad that I always hold my breath because it makes me queasy. Little kids go crazy for this stuff, tho, and you can often see them walking around with a dixie cup full of them, and the kids pop them in their mouths with a toothpick, cocktail wiener style.

HELLOOOOO: YOU ARE EATING BUGS.

Most people I've met here are actually really afraid of bugs. like, really afraid. And yet they adore eating beondegi. It confuses me so much.

A friend of mine tasted them. He said that they taste "shrimpy, at first. But then they have a real bad aftertaste." I WOULD try them, but the smell is so bad, I just can't. I just want to barf.

Seriously, though, I am quite happy with most Korean foods. I just needed to vent about bug-eating for a bit.