She has swine flu

Today was a lovely day. The sky was blue, the temperatures in the high 70's--signs that Fall is soon coming. After spending the morning inside, I decided to take the subway to Jeongja to enjoy a cup of tea on the rooftop patio at Mosaic Cafe. They serve traditional English tea--it's so delicious.

For the past couple of days I've had a dry cough. Nothing serious, just annoying. It feels like I have this constant tickle in my throat.

As I step on the subway, the tickle in my throat starts bothering me and I began coughing. I continue coughing to the point that my eyes began to water and everyone in the subway car is nervously looking at me. I don't think they were worried that I was chocking, I think they were worried that I might have swine flu.

I don't have swine flu. Just in case you're worried.

I was trying so hard to stop coughing but I just couldn't. I was so glad that my ride was going to be short. I raced off the subway and headed straight for the vending machine to get some water.

I coughed most of the walk between the sub station and Mosaic. Thankfully, when I arrived I had finally overcome the tickle, wiped away my tears and ordered my tea.

My time at Mosaic was good. I enjoyed reading and writing in my journal and then had some great conversations with two missionaries who are heading to Nepal in a few days and a pastor who has lived with his family in Korea for the past 5 years. Both conversations were encouraging on so many levels--family, living cross-culturally, community and parenting. Grateful.

Another bright spot of the day. Zach had a good day. The past two days have been good. A boy at school even asked if he could come over to play--that's huge for Zach.

Today was also a day of progress: we have a new toilet, we received our resident cards so now when Todd gets paid we can get a bank account and lastly but so important, we should have cell phones by Friday.

Today was a good day in Korea. Today I really liked Korea. :-)