"A Murder Most Foul!"

Okay, so there was never actually a REAL murder, but we did hold a muder mystery party at the house over the weekend, which I'll get to in a moment. First though, a frozen-finger update:

When last I checked in, there was some serious concerns with regards to the frozen wasteland my classroom was quickly becoming. Fears of frostbite and digits devoid of feeling were quickly becoming a major problem of mine, and my teaching was beginning to suffer from it. However, finally, on the coldest day yet in Korea, I was given a portable heater for my classroom. But wait, that's not all!

In a constant effort to improve safety records, and I suppose out of modest fear of the school burning down, I was also granted 1.) a fire-extinguisher, and 2.) a big bucket of sand. It seems my portable heater, a rather cumbersome monolith of metal and warmth, is occassionally prone to bouts of spontaneous combustion. It's an oil heater, I think, so putting it out can be quite a challenge, and my principal (Kyo-Jang Soen Sang Nim) has actually phoned me to make sure I properly turned it off at the end of the day.

I'm mid-way through my first round of the Korean plague, which is really nothing more than a nasty flu, yet it seems so much more draining and impressive to finally get sick overseas. Skipping work in Korea is a big no-no, and doing so will ellicit numerous phone calls of concern and worry from the teachers here. If you're not careful, they'll even come to your house and take you to the hospital, which inevitably results in a shot of antibiotics in the bum, regardless of symptoms, condition or frantic protest. While I hold (some) traditional eastern medicines in high regard, the recent infusion of eastern traditional with unrefined and dated western medicine to be a bit questionable at times.

Ah yes, the Murder Mystery Party. This turned out to be quite a fun, involving evening. It was one of the English teacher's birthdays, so we put this on for her at Shannon and my place. Our apartment, by Korean standards, is massive, and we were able to have 30 or so guests dressed up as a variety of 1920's characters, complete with a bar, coat room and murder scene. My character, Pete Pinkerton, was given the charge of solving the murder and at all times was never a real suspect - too bad, seeing as I was a poor detective and spent most of my evening hurling terrible 1920's insults at most of the guests ("There ain't no two ways about this Mac: You're a bad-nut givin' this two-bit town an even worse name! I'm tightenin' the screws on you mister, that's for sure!") Below's a shot of me interrogating one of the suspects as he drinks another swig of giggle-juice.

An open bar will work wonders at ensuring everyone has a great time, however it will cause a problem or two when it comes to organizing the actual mystery-party. The main organizer, wonderful as she was, misplaced a few of the key items, forgot to get the evidence out, and neglected to inform the murder that they were indeed the murderer (chasing yourself without knowing you're doing it is hilarious).

A big thanks to everyone in the family who's managed to keep up with reading my blog these past few months. I'm told even Grandma might have someone bring her a printed copy to glance over. Feel free to leave a comment or two, their always appreciated. Till next week...