Cooped up and awaiting the sands of time

I woke up this morning to the sight of what I thought was the aftermath of chicken plucking... big white tufts floated down along my window. Squinting, I sat up and realized it was snow, again! It only lasted an hour, and yet I marveled at it for what seemed like days.

The outside world was unknown to me this weekend as I laid in bed watching Lost in Translation on VHS and viewed the one channel that my TV has which happily enough shows movies in English with Korean subtitles.

After many an omelet and frog juice packets (the strange prescription my doc gave me for the gurgles in my chest), I attempted to entertain myself with the idea of getting out of the apartment- to no avail. Fevers and kodine = party of one, bed sheets and jugs of water included.






I still can't make out exactly what the doctor, who spoke little English (bless that Lonely Planet Korean/English translation booklet!!!), prescribed me but it knocks me out and I feel I'm walking and talking in a parallel universe.

Flu gone Bronchitus, is better than Bronchitus gone Pneumonia though... better to be safe than sorry.

Our conversation consisted of me pointing to the Korean translation of "I feel weak. I am sick. Fever. Lungs, bad. Headache." And when I came back the next day, I explained "worse, not better" and "very hot and dizzy." His explanation was, "side effect of medicine" and "don't worry, people move here bad for health."
O good, what a relief! So now I know I'm not alone, anyone who moves here from anywhere gets sick.
The other nifty treat that's in store? I get to wear a little gauze mask while I'm sick to avoid all the pollution and in fact, get to wear one all month long while the Gobi sands blow our way from Beijing.

Ahoy Yellow Dust, the spring phenomenon of the East! It's coming tomorrow and has already hit other parts of Korea pretty bad. What is it? The Gobi sandstorms travel across Asia, pick up the toxic pollutants in the air of Beijing and head to Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Yum!

Seoul- not so good for the lungs these days.
Over and out from under the gauze. (Don't I look thrilled?)

;-)