Some great advertising…

During the hot summer months here in Korea, I’ve been drinking a canned iced-tea called “Ceylon Tea”. Underneath it’s name is a little poem that just make me smile every time I drink it:

Ceylon Tea.

Now dream of Tea is distilled each pure drop

a tear of joy

A vision of paradise for men

lost in their dreams

Sailing the Indian Ocean towards new horizons

Ceylon Tea.

There, now isn’t that so much nicer than a big splash of colour declaring “NOW – with even MORE aritficial sweetners!!” or something of that ilk?

Guest List…

Hi! One more list, but this one’s not mine. My sister has started making a list of food she won’t eat. Looking it over, I’ve realized that I’ve eaten everything on it. Let me know what you refuse to eat!

Here’s what we’ve got so far

(1) Cold KD. A personal weekend breakfast favourite.

(2) kimchi. Korean pickled cabbage, usually with anchovies

(3) Bon DaeGi. Steamed silkworm larvae

(4) Haggis. You already know.

(5) Anything roasted on a stick with its body still fully intact.

In other news, we had a birthday party for a South African friend here. I love birthday parties at Daegu University ~~ we sing “Happy Birthday” in so many languages. This time we had English, Korean, Afrikaans, Polish, French and Spanish. I like the Polish one the best. Next time I’m at one of your birthday parties, you’ll get to hear it too!

So the Americans do it too…

While I was living in China, I got a big laugh out of what we called “put your longjohns on” day – becuase that particular calendar day indicated that it was now officially cold, and “take your longjohns off day” which was also a calendar holiday marking the official start of warm weather. Nevermind that it had been sunny and warm for weeks already. If it wasn’t yet the designated day, your warm woolies stayed on.

In Korea, I’ve discovered the official “Air conditioner” Day ~ which is still another 2 weeks away despite the fact that I’ve been wearing T-shirts since April, and have been dripping in 30 degree weather for over a month now.

I had always chalked it up to being a quirky Asian phenomenon. Now, however, I’ve discovered that Americans have Memorial Day to start their 110 days of summer. The American Forces TV station here had a huge number of commercials during the Memorial Day weekend urging their service men and women to take appropriate precautions while enjoying their summer activities…. activities we’ve been enjoying (apparently without taking necessary precautions) for several months now. I was instructed to give my bike a safety check “after keeping it in storage all winter” … except for 1 snowy week in January, I never stopped riding it! Anyway, all this to say that Americans also seem to use a specific calendar day giving them permission to enjoy summer – even though it feels like it’s been here for ages already. I think maybe Canadians have such short summmers, we judge our seasons by the weather, not the calendar.