The weather

The weather in Korea has dominated my thoughts for the past week or so. Its dry and hot or rainy and hot or thunderstorms, rainy and hot. To give you an idea of the sticky feeling I have most of the time think about the Oregon Zoo.

When you go to visit the alligators and the crocodiles and the jungle animals in that building that is sticky and hot and hard to breathe in. Think about living in that building. That is what it is like to live here, only I don't see any alligators or crocodiles... I saw four frogs today though.

Don't get me wrong. I really really like it. It is weird to feel stuck between the feeling of just taking a shower and being warm and clean and needing to take a shower because the moisture on my skin has not turned to sweat. But Its pretty nice to never be cold... Of course, I am currently freezing, because air conditioners are about as common as rice for dinner. I try not to use mine. I have a fan which works well... but the air conditioner keeps the mosquitoes at bay, which is fantastic since they LOVE my skin.

This week we had some lighting and thunder shows. They are always accompanied by thundering rain, so its quite a sight to hear. Usually too dark to see anything. But the lightning comes in bursts of 3 or 4 and the way that Changwon is shaped means that the thunder bounces around for awhile. It is pretty great.

Oh... I also use an umbrella now... well, I did for the first time today. A few reasons for the sudden switch. Its hot. Wearing a sweatshirt over my office clothes looks funny. It is really hot. Koreans will tell you that if you walk around in the rain your hair will fall out because its acid rain. Its also too hot to wear a jacket. I work about two blocks from home, so it is really not THAT big of a deal, but I felt weird about the whole ranting about umbrellas thing and then using one.... so I admit it. Please do not take away my Oregonian 4 Life card.