Random

I feel like a loser when I check Logan's (my brother who's studying in Chile) blog and see all the posts he's constantly making. My creativity and inspiration has been laggggggging. But good job, bro... looks like you're having some sweet adventures. (And I'm glad to see you figured out the picture-uploading situation!)

Anyways, yes, I'm alive, though I've been wanting to die due to an eye infection I've been fighting for weeks. I guess it started as an allergy or something, but I must have rubbed my eyes a lot and just caused it to get worse (I'll save you the details...). Normally I like to stay away from doctors, but last week decided I couldn't put it off any longer. So after waking up with eyes crusted shut, I felt my way to the "hospital" (Koreans exaggerate call any medical place hospitals) across the street from my apartment. I couldn't determine what floor of the place I was supposed to go to, so I just pushed 9 and went to the reception desk there. I couldn't communicate with them, so I just pointed to my eyes and they seemed to understand, sitting me down in the waiting room. Five minutes later they called me to the doctor's office, where he (in passable English) asked me what was wrong. "My eyes, doc. I can't see!" "What else," he asked. "Ummm... lots of pain and itching and goobers all over my sinus and eyes!!! I'm blind!" "And?" he calmly replied. At this point I was starting to feel weird. "Well, I guess that's all." He laughed, and said "Floor 4." Turns out I was at the foot doctor's office.

So I went down to the 4th floor, where I was seen by the eye doctor within minutes. He didn't seem to think much of my condition, simply giving me a prescription and recommending that I buy some super-expensive contact lenses from him. I passed on the offer, but did take the prescription, for which he gave me no fewer than thirty-six instructions (all of which seemed to contradict one another) and went down to the pharmacy on the first floor. After a two-minute wait, they gave me my meds: three bottles of different eye drops, a topical ointment, and several doses of antibiotics in pill form.

Total cost for my visit to the hospital: 3,000 won for the doctor, 7,000 won for the meds. So 10,000 won (or about $7.50) and 30 minutes of my time for it all. And the medication is even working (mostly). Gotta love the national health care here... you can walk in to any clinic and be seen within minutes, and the costs are extremely minimal. So that's my doctor story.

I don't know what I'd said before about our hamsters, but holy crumbcakes they're a hassle. Our two "males" created seven new babies, which after they were weaned we were able to give away to friends and students. Two days later (three weeks ago), the mother had seven more babies. This means she got knocked up basically the day after she gave birth... we didn't separate them quickly enough. So with these seven new babies (which nobody wants now) we are thinking we might just have to add them to the circle of life and set them free in the wilderness. Either that or hamster stew.

School is fine... nothing too exciting to report. I'm getting new students constantly, which is kind of stressful as my classroom is way too small. But they seem to still like me and I have kept the death toll to a minimum.

Sunday we went to the Dongnae History Festival. Dongnae is an area of Busan very rich in culture and history. It's a place where one of the main gates of the ancient Busan wall has been preserved and refurbished (is that the right word?) I wish I would have taken more pictures, but they did a cool reenactment of when the Japanese attacked the gate in the 1500s. We have no idea what the play was about, but it ended with everyone being dead. Not quite sure about that one. A short hike up one of the mountains at Dongnae provided us with a great view of Busan (I hope the video works... EDIT: it doesn't; I still can't get the audio to sync with it, grrr). My favorite part of the festival: I was wandering around when I heard my name, and turned around to see two of my past students (sisters) from CBS run up to me and give me a hug. Little Biny (the one with the giant backpack) was my favorite student--one whom I never got to say goodbye to--so it was amazing to see her again!






Next week it will have been a year for me in Korea. Hard to believe. And as the holiday season approaches--especially knowing that, had things gone normally I'd be getting ready to go home--I'm feeling pretty homesick. I miss you guys!!! Lauren's finishing her contract and is planning on visiting home during November, and I'm very jealous. I wish I had some holiday vacation to look forward to. Christmas day is my only day off for the rest of the year. Depressing. However, I will have two weeks off sometime in January/February, and I'm going to try and find a flight back to the states to visit. The thought of being here for another 9 months without getting away for a bit is quite maddening. Not saying I'm not happy here, but I need a break; I think that's understandable.