I can't talk, but I can type!

Recently, the mornings are cool and crisp, where you just barely need a light jacket.   When I walk out of school at the end of the day to supervise loading buses, the sun shines brightly and I feel its warmth on my face.  The weather and changing seasons in Korea is very similar to what you are experiencing in St. Louis.  I am taking advantage of the last warm days before Fall is in full swing.

I spent the majority of Saturday outdoors.  I Skyped with my parents while enjoying a light breeze blowing through the screened-in porch outdoor room/porch.  In the afternoon, I met up with a group of ladies from school to hike a mountain. The pictures of these mountains and interesting exercise equipment we found along the way are uploaded in my Songtan Facebook Photo Album. Go check it out and 'like' it now!

Although I loved loved loved hiking and running this weekend, I felt the affects of it today: losing my voice.  Truthfully, I don't know the reason for my sore throat but it provided me (and maybe my students) entertainment in class today.   My day starts second hour, teaching Algebra 1 to freshman. The first two sentences I tried to say were barely audible.  Realizing that this is probably the beginning of a long week, I just started laughing. Soon after my students joined in my laughing too.  It was a great way to start Monday morning. Seriously.  No sarcasm.

I was not completely mute today, my voice was very quiet and very low.  The reactions and comments I got from the students kept me laughing all day.  I'm going to share some with you here.

• The freshman kept asking me why I couldn't talk. I thought that it was pretty obvious that it's because I'm probably a little sick. 
• One freshman said that my voice sounded better today than it does normally....not sure how to take that comment... I told him that my normal pitch wasn't something I could easily control. 
• In my next class, a student asked if I had went to Noerabang (sp?) this weekend.  Noerabang is private karaoke singing room. This by far was the funniest comment! 
• "What's wrong with your voice?" was said too many times to count today. 
• After I clearly put a cough drop in my mouth, one student said, "Oh yeah, now you smell like you're sick." .....Uh thanks?...
• Another girl asked me for one of my cough drops because she likes to eat them. 
• Finally, it was recommended to have plum tea and lots honey. 

Today was the worst that I have ever lost my voice in my life.  As of right now at 10 PM things aren't getting any better yet.  I'm off to bed with a cup of hot tea, honey and ginger.  Ready for another day of the unexpected tomorrow! Please pray I can talk when I wake up in the morning!