Ouch

Today Haley and I went to the beach with my friend and her son. She and I put on our SPF 45 waterproof sunscreen at home, so it would have lots of time to soak in before we went swimming. When we got there, the weather was lovely -- nice and overcast (though still hot). Because it was a much less popular beach on a weekday, there weren't too many people :) We were there for maybe two hours total. And, like I said, it was overcast for most of that time. Alas, 45 times my natural sun protection is still zero :(

You mean that's not a bird?!

So when we first moved to Korea, I thought they had the noisiest, crappiest power lines on the face of the planet. Then I found out that that terrible, incessant noise was made by insects, not the power lines. We don't have cicadas where I'm from, but they're these big bugs, kind of like giant grasshoppers. They make a whirring, droning noise that is louder the hotter it is. They can also fly, and I've woken up a couple of times in the middle of the night because Hooligan was going nuts trying to get the cicada taunting her from the other side of the window screen.

What I didn't realize is the sheer variety of noises that cicadas make. Most of the noises I've thought were birds have, in fact, been cicadas. Here, listen for yourself to the cicada in this tree (and his friends in neighboring trees...)

Hallelujah!

The principal and owners apparently didn't know that not everybody has airconditioning. After a certain amount of debate, guess what?!

Yup, we have our very own airconditioner! I had to move the TV, and I'm not sure what to do with it now that I can't stuff it in the corner... But anyhow, woohoo! I ran it for 4 hours last night, and cooled the apartment off to 79˚ (and dried the air out too!). It was lovely :) I have no idea how much it costs to run though, so I'm going to save it for when I'm desperate.

Oddly enough, the unit comes in two parts. The upright part in the living room and the big box that lives on the back porch and blows hot air out the screen door.