What I've Been Doing Lately

(1)  Abiding in a perpetual preparatory state for rain.  Tuesday marked the third typhoon to find Seoul since school started the last week of August:  The prevailing weather patterns seem to spin them upwards from Okinawa along the coast of western Japan and then up through the Yellow Sea to Korea.  First Typhoon Bolaven showed up on the second day of school—Tuesday, August 28.  In anticipation, those so empowered actually chose to close all the schools on military bases in South Korea.   In Seoul Bolaven rather fitfully howled and gusted but never really dumped rain in amounts to even cause gutters to flow high.  Two days later, though, Typhoon Tembin arrived with negligible wind but rain galore.  (School remained in session.)   Then Typhoon Sanba, in a drenching sort of rage, rolled in this week.  (Only the schools on Seoul military bases were open.) 

And in between typhoons?  Well, mostly it rains.  Summer is Korea’s “monsoon” season, but these past four weeks mark the rainiest start of school I’ve ever experienced.   Although summer 2012 began with a mini-drought lasting through the month of June, it apparently shifted into overachiever mode in July and then retained said modus operandi.  Seoul has had over a meter of rain fall since July, and that was before Typhoon Sanba . . . which, I’m sure added 4-6 inches to the total.

I personally have quite an affinity for rain.  It calms me; it restores me.  I love the sound and the smell and the wet . . . not to mention the green and lush beauty it brings to the planet.  Still, there was a moment there in the midst of Sanba when dire need mandated that I leave the building housing my classroom to head to the nearest building housing a restroom, and the only word I could think as I scampered through what had become a never-ending puddle at a depth to cover my ankles, all the while struggling to maintain my grip on an umbrella—generally useless, by the way, because the wind drove the rain to an angle surely approaching horizontal—was REALLY?!!!!

 

 

(2)  New in sustenance.  Although I have little desire to ever actually prepare food myself, I am interested in nutrition and, strangely, I do enjoy reading recipes.  In fact, I talk food and food preparation with my brother Phil every summer.  Before I returned to Seoul, we somehow broached the topic of Sriracha hot chili sauce, a condiment I actually have in my fridge—thanks to my friend Beth’s suggestion.  Phil mentioned that I could make a good and easy dip for vegetables or chips by adding it to plain yogurt or sour cream.  I opted to try it with plain yogurt since I am not a fan of cream in any form—sweet or sour.  (Okay, okay, I confess, I do like a baked potato with sour cream.)  And-man-oh-man, is the dip GOOD!  And easy, too.  But mostly GOOD!  I like the dip with vegetables a lot, and, to my chagrin, I really like it with Ruffles Have Ridges . . . only the ones with reduced fat, though . . . which means 25% less fat than regular Ruffles . . . which, in the long run, I know in my heart of hearts is not nearly enough . . . especially when I have already purchased two separate bags of Ruffles Have Ridges in a month . . . dispensing with my long practice of not buying chips for my home unless I am entertaining.  Alas and alack!

 

 

(3)  Still running.  On week days—two to three of them, anyway— I run in the mornings during Yongsan Garrison’s dedicated PT time:  6:00-7:00.  On Saturday mornings I usually head out a wee bit later.  Last Saturday, though, along with a small group of fellow middle school teachers—some with family members in tow as well— I ran an official 5K event, one sponsored on post.  Yongsan Garrison is hilly but this course wended its way through the areas with gentler “clines”—up and down.   With probably less than 100 participating, the atmosphere was definitely convivial and supportive.  Several of the first ones finished with the race returned to positions on the final stretch to cheer on those coming in behind them.  The overall winner finished in just over sixteen minutes.  I took almost twice as long, just under 33 minutes, but I know I placed first in my gender/age category . . . because I was the only one in my gender/age category who actually ran!  (There were a few walkers in my gender/age category.)   The garrison has another 5K scheduled for the second Saturday in October, and I’m planning to run—and to actually run ALL of it, as in no walking moments whatsoever.

 

 

(4)  School.  When I signed out of school last June, my pending teaching assignment for school year 2012-2013 read 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts.  To help relieve issues elsewhere in the general schedule, my assignment changed on the Thursday before students returned to school:  only 8th grade English Language Arts.  I was happy with my original assignment, and I am still happy.  Eighth grade is my favorite of all the grade levels I have ever taught.

Due to school bus funding issues, school start times were staggered on Yongsan Garrison this year:  Fewer buses/drivers employed overall, but they run the routes twice in succession for the starts and the finishes.  Actually heeding the conclusions drawn from research*, the district decided that the elementary school would start first at 7:55 a.m.   The middle and high school begin at 8:40. 

Later mornings definitely aid the morning-run schedule for me, but I have noticed that it often seems late when I finally return home, especially if I have errands to run after school.

 

*Research shows that teenage sleep patterns make a later –in-the morning school start time a better option for teenagers.  Their performance at school improves.

 

The Summer Vacation Recap

I lapsed and, for a summer at least, scuttled all goals and commitments with regard to posting on my blog.  In this first attempt to redress my breached blogger status, I shall synopsize—how’s that for a verb form generated from a noun—my summer, a summer very much structured by my job description for ten months of the year:  teacher who works overseas!

Bangkok, Thailand, and round about:  It began the weekend after the teachers’ last contracted day of the school year.  I traveled to Bangkok with my friend Lori and spent a week there, largely in the city itself.  Although in two previous summer trips to Thailand, each about six weeks long, I connected travels through Bangkok on multiple occasions, I never spent more than two days in a row in the city itself.  This time I repeated the experiences of three of my favorite Bangkok memories—Wat Pho and The Reclining Buddha, the floating market at Damnoen Saduak, and daily consumption of pomelo—but I added quite a range of new Bangkok adventures and enterprises…perhaps enterprises being the operative word because Lori is a shopper!    I visited a whole lot of markets, and there are actually several I would revisit with any future travel buddy because they fully cater to entertaining and memorable travel moments whether one is a serious shopper or not.  (As one who has a diminished shopping gene, I can attest to this fact.)

 

Medical Appointments in the USA:  Unless something arises during the school year that requires medical attention or intervention, I have my medical check-ups, tune-ups, and screenings taken care of in the USA.  Certain summers—like this one—they wield a heavy hand in shaping my overall summer schedule.  All of this summer’s appointments evolved in generally conjectured ways except that I had one more crown inserted in my mouth—for a grand total of TWO—than originally anticipated.  (I broke a tooth on a miniscule fragment of walnut shell lurking amongst actual walnuts.) 

 

10K:  I ran a 10Kfor the first time in over ten years—okay, I did walk a bit of it.  My brother Dan and his son Justin ran several 10K races this summer and invited me to join them in the 10K held in conjunction with other events during Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Day celebration on July 24.   Although I had undertrained for the race, I did finish.   Not with Dan and Justin, of course!  I told them—we can start together and then maybe you can wait for me at the finish line.  And that’s what they did.  All three of us finished the event with times in the mid-section of our gender/age group, Dan at the highest position in that middle range.  My sister Diane played photographer at the starting line and at the finish line.

EPILOGUE:  Even before the race, I had extended my morning runs to farther than I had ever run during previous summer stays at my father's place since he moved there over ten years ago.  When I returned to Seoul in August, I ran farther on my first run than I have ever before run in Seoul.   Now I’m wondering if I have another 10K left in me.

 

DG Hatch Family Reunion:  At the end of July, I drove to Spokane, Washington, with my dad, his wife Clarine, and my sister Diane to a reunion of all the descendants of my dad’s father, Daniel George Hatch.  Organized by my cousin Dana and sister Diane, the reunion was a grand affair, and I saw cousins I had not seen in over twenty years and met some of their posterity!  Our route to Washington included a piece of western Montana, and I fell fast in love once more with the lay of the land in that part of the country.  (In fact, one night after returning to Seoul, I plundered my box of DVDs in search of A River Runs Through It, found it, and settled into an evening of western Montana landscape schlepping characters and a story.  The next morning I located the book on my personal shelves and reread it.)  We spent one night in Deer Lodge, Montana, the location of an old prison now established as a historial site.  I found its aura intriguing.

 

 

Water Park with the “Grands”:  The week before I returned to Seoul, my nieces Kimberly and Ashley (Justin’s wife) invited Diane and me to a waterpark afternoon with their families.  (The men, Justin and Chris--both definitely responsible sorts--showed up after work in time for a pizza supper.)  Since I’m not a grandma, being a grandaunt must be the next best kind of magical designation.

Love these kids !

(Thanks to Kimberly and Ashley for the photos.)