#60. Old Korean women (Ajummas) wear visors. Everywhere. Think of the visors your mom wore to your athletic events when you were younger only bigger. Much bigger.
Ajummas are notorious for their visors. While the visors do help shield the face from the sun it also results in the wearer looking as ridiculous as humanly possible. Almost Darth Vader-ish. Koreans don't like the sun because of the effect it has on their skin. Here in Korea light skin is desired by all. Pretty much the opposite of America. If someone has dark skin they are thought to be poor and have a job that requires them to be outside laboring. If someone has light skin they are thought to be wealthy. Just one of the little quirks of Koreans.
#61. Koreans love whitening masks. They want their skin to look as white as possible because white is considered a sign of beauty. It is very similar to the masks Americans use to make their skin firmer or without acne. Theirs supposedly will make their skin white. Who knows.
Well my weekend in Korea definitely could have been better. It started off great on Friday with pizza (my first since landing) and drinks with friends downtown but ended horribly with my cold coming back with a vengence Saturday morning. It is now Sunday afternoon and with exception of a 3 hot showers (mistakely thought the hot water would help) and a quick walk outside for cough drops I have been confined to my bed.
Remember the medicine I had to take 3x a day to get rid of this nasty thing? All gone. Still have the cold. If anything it's gotten worse. Big thank you to the Korean pharmacy. Your tiny pills are just not enough to kick this.
Due to my sickness I was unable to attend the cherry blossom festival in Kyongju Saturday. Thankfully my friends took plenty of pictures. The below pictures are from my friend Darin Novak. This is what I would have seen if I would have NOT gotten the plague.
Beautiful aren't they?
Sorry for the debbie downer post. Being sick sucks. Being sick in a foreign country without the comforts of certain things to make you feel better sucks even more. My paticular comforts are hot baths and mom's homemade chicken noodle soup.
Right now I would pay an obscene amount of money for one bowl of that soup.
