This week has been a pretty productive week. I got my Chinese visa, fixed my bike, transferred money (all by myself), made homemade pasta (a bit of a disaster but good tip - a bottle of vodka is a good substitute for a rolling pin!), been to the gym at 7am a few times (despite not starting work until 1pm).

Then, today I received a phone call saying not to go into work until 3pm, so I decided to plonk myself down and write a post.

Teaching this week has been pretty quiet because a lot of swine flu cases. One of my student's sister had it but she is fine. However KM would not go near him, or touch his textbook as result. She was saying how scared she was and how I had to 'put the gas on at home' so I didn't 'get cold' as it is 'dangerous'. Some of my friends have had to wear masks at school, and people are continuously using hand sanitiser left right and centre.

I don't know if I am being completely blase about it all. I am washing my hands etc, but as I always do. I am not going to panic and stay at home and not live my life though. The majority of Koreans seem to be pretty hysterical about it all though.

It is being suggested that schools should close as written in the Korean Times.

Next week all the students take College Scholastic Ability Test and people are worried that students will be ill and unable to take the exam. This test is a huuuuuge deal here. Businesses open later and planes are not allowed to fly during listening sections of the test. Read this article here about it, it is pretty insane.

This also leads me to think about the pressure the kids are under here. My students will go to school, come to my academy, go to math academy, Taekwondo, science club and not get home until 8 or 9 at night. The children are under so much pressure to achieve high grades and study, that they don't have any time to play and be kids.

Korean culture is definitely in a league of it own! I am excited to go to China and see what other parts of Asia are like - 3 weeks to go!