Christmas. Brought to you by the friendly people at my neighborhood 7-11 store.
This week has been a bad back week. After a great weekend of being nearly pain-free (except for that embarrassing incident that involved reaching for a pretty purse while shopping), I returned to work and found that by mid-week, I was waking up with pounding headaches that originated in my upper back. During my daily session of acupuncture with my doctor on Wednesday, he placed his hand on my back and in broken English said, "This side (left), smooth. Good. This side (right) rough. Bad. Today traction." What?!? Did you ever take a test back in grade 12 that was supposed to assess your skills and interests and tell you what career best suited you? Even though that was 12 years ago, I still clearly remember receiving my results, cursing and swearing while my friends looked on and tried to be supportive while suppressing their laughter. The careers best suited for me at the time were: This woman was performing a temporary version of upper eye-lid surgery. Upper eye-lid surgery is the most requested and controversial plastic surgery procedure in Korea, especially among women. It's a procedure that widens the eyes and adds a tiny fold in the skin of her upper eyelid, a feature most East Asians lack naturally. Some people say it's a cultural obsession with being "westernized" while others say it's a "girl thing" and has nothing to do with a repudiation of a persons heritage. I just got back from paying the equivalent of $4 to have an hour-long nap under a heat lamp in the doctor's office. The only time I woke up during this hour, was when the nurse came to change the 4 vibrating suction cups on my back for 20 acupuncture needles, and then again to change the acupuncture needles to a heating pad. What a way to spend the morning. I was as snug as a pin-cushioned-bug-in-a-rug. When nap time was over, the nurses all smiled and giggled at me as I roused from my slumber, rubbing my eyes and feeling dopey as if coming out of a hibernation. I think I may be the only foreigner who frequents the clinic. My visit was clearly both my and their entertainment for the day. Two weeks of this is supposed to clear up my mess of a trapezius and supraspinatus that are apparently knotted like a bad macramé project. This week, I received an email from a friend. They had just finished looking at my recently posted pictures and had the following to say about them: It snowed AGAIN last night. They don't salt/sand the roads here, so consequently the sidewalks are an absolute deathtrap. And yet, Korean women are still trying to totter around in stiletto heels. I've broken out my North Face hikers to make the trek to school. I am now officially a teacher with "indoor shoes". I just received a text from Sara: IT'S SNOWING!!! Every experience in life leaves a mark on you, changing you in some way. This could be in the physical sense like the time I tripped down a ridge in Nova Scotia, ending up flat on my back in a puddle of mud with my shin split open (ironically the area I was hiking is called Cape Split) or the emotional sense like when your grade 1 EFL student who never talks in class finally whispers something barely audible and you realize it's, "You beautiful". Even in the short three months I have spent in Korea, I can say there's been a lot of change and growth from this adventure: It's 9:26am on a Thursday and I'm sitting at my computer lazily drinking my second cup of coffee, typing away, listening to the noise of my washing machine that sounds like it may take flight any second. Home on a Thursday morning, you ask? No, I'm not sick. It's KSAT Day! Friendship is... |
Recently Updated...03.25 - Two posts! About Me...Out and about in the world, teaching others and educating myself. Stuff I Like...Traveling. Cuddling a cat. New toothbrushes. Friends. Socks of the Joanne Younes variety. The smell of sun-dried laundry. Baking. Archives
March 2008
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