School haze

UPDATED PICS!

It's fiendishly hot, hazy and so, so very humid that the earthworms are jumping on the asphalt, I kid you not. I think they think it's raining. Wait, worms can't think, they lack brains, right??

(This recalls a highschool freshman Honors Biology project for which I attempted to train earthworms to follow a maze for food. The worms were intractable, and I received an F on that project...)

Well, at least I missed the monsoons, by a close shave, by only one week! Last week it was raining buckets, I'm told (so much so that major damage to roads and rails leading to Soraksan, a notable national park, will prevent me from visiting it -- on this trip.)

So far I've been taking Korean class and bumming around the EWHA/Yonsei University area of Seoul and seeing my cousins a bit.

The school, EWHA, is situated on a very hilly part of Seoul. The hills are as steep or worse than the most treacherous parts of San Francisco (!) I don't yet know the alternate walkways which avoid the hills which I know must exist as I rarely see people walking on the roads as myself, drenched in sweat, close to sun stroke (not really, but you get the picture). My little cousin Mi Hyun promises to show me those secrety byways -- she finished her undergraduate degree at this one of the most prestigious schools in Korea, and she will begin her graduate studies in Social Work here in the autumn.

The campus is lush and well-maintained.

I know you want pictures, but at this point I've been too hot while outside to think about anything else other than getting up or down that damn mountain (dorm room is at the top of the hill, class is at the bottom). So this might be a little disconcerting but, I'm including a picture that I took in April when I visited with my family (taken on a relatively flat road):

UPDATED PICS HERE! The campus has a mix of modern buildings...

and traditional structures:

The residence of the university president:

This is the final hill of 4 major ones to the dorm:

At least the Korean cuisine is equipped for the summer heat and discomfort! There is nothing better (and nothing else one can stand to eat on a day so hot and humid one can barely breathe) -- than nang myun, which is cold, buckwheat noodle soup. Sour and sweet, cold and chewy, sharp and fruity, it is the perfect Asian food (variegated due to its trimmings -- like kim chee and asian pear-- and balanced in colors and flavors). Slurping is allowed and encouraged. Did I mention its health aspects -- it's buckwheat after all!

(Yes, that's ice in the broth!)

Korean class is mostly Japanese students. I have to say, it is already coming in handy. On my first day upon contacting one of my elder cousins, I couldn't even tell her my phone number. That next day in class, I learned the numbers, called her back with no problem communicating, so she could then disseminate the number to my other cousins.

On the other hand, it is not without certain frustrations and hilarities. For a homework assignment, I was looking up words in my (academic, most reputable) Korean-English dictionary, basic words I later learned upon a 911 call to my mother for help with my homework (geez I felt like a kid)...which confirmed that I could not find words like bird and chair (and yes I know the dictionary order of the Korean alphabet!)... oh, but I did find the words for "penis of a giant sea bear" and "doll bride" -- very important words I suppose...