2003-08-31 - 4:59 a.m.

Saturday, August 30, 2003 Happy Birthday, Brother Jim!

I've developed a sore throat, 2 earaches and a low-grade fever; not sure what's going on. Maybe all the humidity the past couple weeks has given me "swimmer's ears," eh? Somehow it feels that way.

I slept on-and-off till noon, then got up and read the paper I'd picked up at the 7 Eleven on Friday night. Around 4 p.m., I started feeling hungry. It was raining, so I wasn't going far. Two doors from my pad is a restaurant that specialises in Sahm Gyay Tang. It's maybe 18 meters.

Now, Sahm Gyay Tang is one of the top Korean folk medicines,- chicken soup. The name is literally "Three Healings Stew" and the three herbs are garlic, ginseng and jujube (Chinese dates). A whole "fryer" chicken is stuffed with rice and the 3 herbs, then cooked to a fare-thee-well in chicken broth. It comes to the table still boiling in a stone bowl. Then, I get to play with my food, deboning the chicken, while it cools enough to eat.

The four side-dishes with it vary somewhat, but they offer spicy, bland, sweet and sour flavours. Today's offerings were: Kim Chi made with nappa cabbage, jalapeno flakes and green onions; Small dandelion plants (roots and all) marinated in sesame oil and vinegar; Peanuts stewed in a faintly sweet sauce; Lemongrass mixed with red bean paste. The idea is to eat what appeals to you to bring your body back into a healthy balance.

I went back and laid down for a while, got a 90 minute nap. Then I hied me to the PC bang for 4 hours. E-mailed back and forth with an early bird in Florida and a night owl in Hawaii. Researched some time zone info for an Arizona friend who was probably sleeping,- at least she wasn't on-line. It seemed cold in the air-conditioned PC bang.

When I got home, I found that the upstairs neighbours had turned on the floor heat, since it was only 24 degrees C (75 F) outside. I couldn't get to sleep, so after three unproductive hours, I figured I'd best get some good out of the remaining time,... so here I am, at 6 a.m.

Dawn's early light glimmers through a heavy cloud cover. I just walked over by the coffee urn to my right and took a good look out the picture window, after catching a glimpse in my peripheral vision.

No, I haven't been hitting the coffee. I brought a half-liter of vaguely sweet "Aloe juice" with me from home. Been swigging that to soothe my throat. It includes gelatinous "floaters" which are kinda fun to chew on; they're probably the internal cell walls of the aloe leaf. Aloe juice is one of the popular non-carbonated soft drinks here; it's sold in all the convenience stores, along with "Rice Milk" and "Pine Bud Drink." (Those are literal translations.) They are really tasty; I like them. The pine drink reminds me of "spruce tea," a good winter source of Vitamin C in Maine.

Ho hum, guess I'd better wind this up and go get some breakfast. I can hear that new box of Cheerios calling me, in my mind's ear. Better stop at the Mini-Mart and pick up some milk to keep it company.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Trails!

~ Sil in Corea

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