i'm a cookie in korea

It's final exam time and the pressure is on, which essentially means more stamped excuse notes for absences. And yeah, just as I expected that one student shamelessly went for the menstruation form trifecta. You're only allowed to use your period as an excuse to not attend class three times in one semester and she sure made good use of that. Sigh. I've gotten a lot of them, but only one student was brash enough to go for more than one.

And it's also reached fantastically hot temperatures here. It's summer. I do not enjoy summer. To be all stereotypical, I'm Canadian, I don't do heat. I love the cold (as long as it doesn't involve snow), but I can't deal with humidity. And either can Abby. She's a big fluffy cat that gets matted fur when it's too humid. But in my time in Korea, I've dealt with the heat a lot more than she has. I always leave the ac on (if it's too hot out) so my apartment stays at a comfortable temperature for her. But while she's enjoyed the cool temperatures, I've gone into my old middle school where, if we were even allowed to turn the ac on, the lowest we were allowed was 28 :/ .  And only for a few hours. :/ . Schools get money if they scrimp on ac, so if you teach at that kind of school, get used to teaching and desk warming while sweating it out. At least university is different, we (me and the students) get to control the ac. But still, I hate summer.

And to balance out the disappointment:

Bibimguksu, my favourite summer food. I like making it at home so I can make it into a happy face by using a whole boiled egg for the eyes.

Margaret cookies. Ok, so they're not the most delicious cookies, actually I don't like them that much, they're kinda dry. But I am thankful that, if my name had to mean anything at all in Korea, at least it means something kinda decent. Like old fashioned cookies? I don't know, it could be worse. I'm so famous in Korea!

Well, there are some ways  to keep cool, but being in Chungbuk, the only landlocked province in all of Korea, there doesn't seem to be a lot of places to go swimming. Lots of slightly unpleasant looking river areas to hang out at though. So as long as you just want to dip your feet in, it works.

But they're all packed, even the rocky beach by the waterfall. It's time to check out the valleys and find an ideal swimming spot.