My new plant garden: begonia, calathea majestica, croton (with the yellow leaves), tradiscantia albiflora, hypoestes (pink and white ones in the big clay pot) and the ficus in the foreground is a ficus elastica (rubber tree plant). There is also an Asiatic jasmine (last photo on the post).
This week was a little bit hectic in the beginning, but it ended in a nice relaxing fashion.
I gave my first AP Chemistry exam on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. That was stressful for me and for the students, but it turned out well. I was just working late at school all week to prep the various versions and grade them.
We also had military exercises at the airbase across the big road from the school. There were lots of helicopter flyovers, and they are loud (one included in the video) so it was a disruption in class a few times this week.
On top of that, we were all trying to get our bank accounts set up online (we have our alien registration cards, so we needed to get permanent phone numbers, then apps for banking and ordering things). This was stressful because every app or institution wanted to verify your identity by sending you texts. In Korean. I had to sit down (several times) with Korean speakers this week to get all set up. Fortunately, we have generous kind people working at the school and they were very accommodating. I can now order things on Coupang (the Korean version of Amazon) and I can have dinner delivered. Saturday night I had pizza and chicken nuggets delivered and it was lightning fast. And delicious. Next week I should be able to order a cab (have to get two more apps cleared up).
On Thursday night I had dinner with three colleagues who are all women in their 40s/50s. We met and took the bus a few stops to Suwon Jib, a barbecue place with table braziers and those chimneys that sweep the smoke away. Ally, who has lived here the longest (she is married to a Korean man and they have 2 kids) did the honors of ordering and cooking the pork for us. She is the youngest of the four of us. I paid the bill since I am the oldest. It came out to $52 for 4 people so I feel like it was a bargain.
On Friday I picked up Peanut after school and brought her home with me. Peanut is the fur baby of a colleague I have mentioned on here before, Sarah. Peanut came to Korea (with Sarah) from Turkey. Sarah went out of town for the weekend so I watched the kitty, and she was a lovely companion. We enjoyed the weekend.
Early on Saturday morning I went with several faculty members (new and returning) to a fantastic plant market called the Yangjae Flower Market. The school gave us the use of a bus and a driver, so we were able to buy all kinds of things and then bring them home without having to haul them on public transportation. It was so nice!
Imagine an area the size of the LA Convention Center, and instead of meeting rooms or halls, there are long quonset huts with plastic sheeting for the ceiling, filled to overflowing with plants. In every direction. I tried to capture it in the video but I really could not do it justice.
I bought a lot.
But I left most of the plants there.
We all bought a lot. I also got soil and pots there. And some cut flowers. The cut flower market was in the back of the quonset huts. It was much bigger than the Los Angeles flower market.
It took most of the rest of the day on Saturday to repot the plants, get them settled, and then to unpack all of the stuff I bought from Coupang on Friday (and found in front of my door upon returning from the plant market). I had been putting stuff into my online cart for a week (in anticipation). It was a lot to unpack.
Peanut and I enjoyed the plants on the balcony, played with packing materials, and cooked chilorio in my new crock pot!
Next week I plan to find the post office, make lentil soup (it takes awhile for cilantro to arrive, it has to be shipped in from another country) and go to Costco again. The school does a monthly trip. We have our next one on Thursday.
BUT we have a 6-day weekend at the end of the month. Museums are in my future!!!
Here is the link to this week's video! It is only 3 minutes long.
If you are needing a little improvement in your mood, your air quality, or your stress level, I recommend a good visit to a nursery. My color garden is very happifying.
All the best to all of you!
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