The War on Bugs

I have declared an all-out war on bugs.

Tuesday night my family went on a trip to move my mom's mom's grave. Since I had school the next day, I stayed behind by myself. It's amazing how big and lonely that small apartment suddenly felt without the screaming boys and the busy parents.

Anyways, Tuesday night before bed I noticed a few fresh bug bites. Long story short, by the next morning I had 15 new bug bites, each of them had swelled to the size of a grape and felt like someone sewed a red hot poker inside the welt. Needless to say, I was not the most pleasant person on Wednesday. But, thankfully (I suppose), my face was spared. I don't think I would have ever lived it down if I taught English to high schoolers with a mountain on my forehead.

Well, the swelling has gone down and a few of the bites are pain-free. But, in the meantime, I have become bugs' worst enemy.

It started on Wednesday in the teachers lounge. I was sitting there, trying painstakingly hard to ignore the itchy burning all over my body, when a mosquito flew past my line of vision. I can't really explain it. Think of the Incredible Hulk when he gets really mad...minus the whole physical transformation thing. Something inside of me just snapped and I went nuts. To the surprise of my co-workers I began slapping the air in front of me. I almost had him! I stood up and slapped some more. Finally, I got him! Yes! Before sitting down, I gave my staring co-workers a sheepish look and said, "Bug." They laughed and life moved on. But now I have a very impressive reputation in the teachers lounge as the bug-killer.

I kill so many bugs at home that Oh-nee has entrusted me with the family fly swatter. I sit with them - playing cards or watching the baseball game - armed and read to kill anything that floats my way.

I'm not the only one being attacked. Poor Oh-chahn has them just as bad. So we're kind of a team, him and I. He usually spots it (then runs away screaming) while I try to swat it. We're definitely an entertaining pair. But, progress! No new bites for either of us!

On a side note, my Vice Principal is currently showing me his golf swing. All part of the normal day here at Gurye High. He also decided to post a "phrase of the day" in the teachers lounge. But it's more like a phrase of the every other day. This week we've had "Let's call it a day" (I like that one), "Let's wrap it up" and - today's - "That shirt looks good on you." My VP usually approaches me randomly and says the phrase, but it takes me a while to (a) determine what language he's speaking in and (b) figure out the words behind the accent. Then he asks me to read it. Soon, the entire teachers lounge is asking me to read it fast, then slow, then loud, then soft. God, I love my job. (BTW, I just killed a bug...haha, sucker!)

This weekend should be a lot of fun. I am heading to Gwangju (1.5 hours west by bus) to meet with some ETAs. The normal night of fun will ensue. I kindly turned down a third wedding invitation for Saturday. Yikes! Monday, Oh-nee and I are getting foot massages and/or pedicures I think. So that should be fun, or at least blog-worthy. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading, and I'll try to post some pictures soon!