Continuing On

Well, it appears that the worst is over and I am, metaphorically speaking, over the threshold of death. While I am not completely cured, the ability to sit at the computer without going into migraine-style symptoms allows me this note of optimism I so desperately need at the moment!

I have been questioning many things lately, which I often do when I am sick (perhaps this is why I get sick, to remind myself I need to do this), and I have decided that it may be best, though not financially the wisest, to return to my nearly empty apartment that is anxiously awaiting me in the cold confines of northern Michigan. At a time such as this, it is definitely good to have people around that can support you, or give you that kick if you so need it. I will attempt to get things worked out to this end as soon as I can. We shall see what happens.

SICK!!

I have discovered that if I sit propped up like an ancient Roman aristocrat, my nasal passages are clear, and I can actually BREATH!! Now if I could only find someone to feed me, I would be all set. I haven't really left my room in 2 or 3 days. I can't sleep, and I am having a difficult time even typing this as my eyes are burning and my head is pounding!! I think I may have been put under a curse of some ancient Korean who saw the pictures of those ridiculous white men being fed grapes and decided that every so often one should be subject to "needing" to sit that way, just for a change of perspective. Now, how did I become the lucky one?

I am down to one meal a day as I mean to get up for breakfast, but just can't bring myself to move. Dinner is a little easier because I have had all day to try and limber up enough to go eat. The heat from the food cools me down, so it is a comfort that I really don't want to miss!

I may have to come back soon, just for some wonderfully made chicken soup! There is just something about the goodness of homemade soup that makes everything better (funny that it doesn't quite work the same for the soup I am getting here. Delicious, but not as satisfying at the moment). If I can ever bring myself to get out of the room, I may go get some samgaetang: a small chicken sitting in broth with ginseng and other stuff I can't remember.. it tastes good, and it is healthy.

Enough complaining for now. I have taken a lot of time to write this short bit as I have to keep stopping, but I felt I needed to let everyone know that I was still alive, even if not in the best of health.

How do kids stand it?

It seems like I learn a new way that I am "supposed" to eat every time I eat with someone new. While these are always wonderful forays into the various adventures of culinary delight and education, I can't help but wonder how I could ever take in such complex ideas when I was growing up. Sure, it may not seem too complex when you look at it (hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills aside), but that simple motion of bringing a spoon or fork to one's mouth with food still in place takes much more conceptualizing than one may think!


Of course here, it is spoon and chopsticks! You may think that this would be a problem for me, but it is really quite easy once you get used to it, and I seem to have gotten the hang of it quite quickly. The problem comes when you have to decide when you should use the spoon, when the chopsticks, and when your hands. Is it alright to lift the bowl or not? Sure, please do...if it's soup.. lifting the bowl of rice may lead to a ban on eating rice for you (probably not that serious, but still considered quite rude). This is why Koreans generally eat their rice with spoons!!

When I do have the rare occasion to use a fork, I find that I would rather not. They have become more troublesome than chopsticks for the most part. It is difficult to relearn how to negotiate the fork so that the food doesn't fall all over the place; chopsticks are much more efficient! I may have to start carrying around my own set again when I get back home or wherever I happen to end up next. The metal Korean chopsticks are apparently the most difficult to learn how to use, but still my favorite overall....

I should be back in the US come December: I hope I don't have to learn how to eat all over again!!

Wasting time in a productive way!

My first question is: Is this still procrastination? I usually call it productive procrastination as it really is beneficial, just not necessarily what "should" be done... though who makes those decisions anyway?

Yesterday, I left off with my coming home to sleep, I think. Somewhere in all of this, I lost a day, so I am getting a little confused. I left the airport, found the people to show me my new "home", took a nap, had dinner, went to bed...that was the first day ;) The following day I woke up sore, tired, and weak... decided breakfast was out of the question, and I went back to sleep planing on not getting up for the whole day. Then what happens? I get a phone call from a person who says she has tried texting me two or three times. I didn't get these texts for some reason. I have to go for the second half of a test she is conducting for her PhD research in Linguistics at Georgetown University on learning honorifics in the past tense in Korean (or something very close to that). I thought it was going to take about a half an hour; it took about two! The test material was all in Korean, and I didn't always know what it meant (which I guess was part of the plan). I thought my head was going to explode, but I did learn the word for "just now", the changing endings on some of the exception verbs, and had a brief reminder into the past tense. I think it would have been safer to just go to class!!

As part of all this, I also learned that right across the street from where I now live (as this is where it ended up being...though I had to walk 10 minutes out of my way to find this out), there is a coffee/tea shop where you can rent rooms on the upper floor. You can order food and study there... it is even better than the place where you can rent miniature classrooms! I am not so sure of the price, but I think it is a place that will be useful in the future.

Tomorrow I have a vocabulary test over chapter 3, and I may know half of the terms. The grammar is really easy at the moment, but vocab is always difficult for me. I hope I can manage to absorb enough to at least pass. If not, who knows what will happen!

There and back again! ;)

Yet another long journey has been made by this unsuspecting wanderer. I went back to Denver, Colorado last week for the residential portion of my current classes. This is quite the trip from Seoul, but it wasn't too bad. Sure, I was a little tired for the first day or so (that seems to happen when you don't sleep for a couple of days), but getting to see everyone there was well worth it!

After a week of classes, a rather light schedule comparatively speaking, and a trip back to Korea, I found myself in a hotel in Inchon near the airport. I stayed out of the city because I needed the quiet, the sleep, and the place to keep my luggage! I had found a place to move into after returning to Korea, but it would not be available until the following day. Then I find out that it will not be available until the afternoon of the following day (i.e. today)!! This meant that I would have no place to put my luggage while I went to class, so I decided that I would just go to the airport and wait there until I could go move in.


While I was waiting and trying to study my Korean, a person approached me and told me that they needed more foreigners for the shooting they were doing at the airport. So, I agreed to be an extra in this Korean drama! So, most of the morning I spend rolling my luggage to and from the doors leading to the customs area of Seoul International Airport while they shot an airport scene...This is another reason I like to pack light! I didn't this time and rolling that stupid thing around all morning was exhausting! Surprisingly there were 4 or 5 Russians working with them as well. One was a student at my university doing her Masters in Political Science and Korean. As she put it "I am a Russian studying political science at a Korean university in English, which I have to translate." It sounds like her life is quite similar to my own. I never did get her number, but she lives in this same area as me, so maybe I will run into her again sometime. The person who hired me to be an extra took my phone number and said he would call me again if something came up where they could use me! Now that would be AWESOME!

I left a little early ($30 richer) arriving at the designated meeting place at the designated time. I ended up waiting half an hour for the person to show up to take me to my new room. As it coincidentally turns out, a couple days or so before I left, I was sitting behind a restaurant off the main road with a classmate of mine. I had pointed out a sign on a nearby building and mentioned that they were renting rooms, and that it would be an even better location than where I was presently living at the time. Now I find out that I am living in that very building! I guess it is ok that I didn't take the phone number and try to call! Such a wonderful example of happenstance in my life!!

This place is closer to school than where I was staying before, costs less, and provides wonderful meals at breakfast and dinner! There is not much more one can ask for. I do have to ask about laundry, but I believe there is a washing machine here as well. I do have to share the bathroom and shower with about 8 other people, but I guess I can handle that. There is one person here who lives on my floor who speaks English. She is a very friendly Korean student at a local university here. It is good to know that if I have any problems, there is someone who can help, if I actually attempt to ask!

Troubles on the Horizon

I went out a couple nights ago and have subsequently been sick. I would say that I drank too much had I had anything, but this wasn't the case. I have been sore, and I slept for 16 hours the night after. I was ok enough for school on Tuesday, but today I stayed home and slept even more. In the midst of this, I missed a test that I thought was scheduled for Saturday! And because I missed it, I will have to pay $50!

I ran into some unexpected expenses, so now I have to figure out a way to make some money! I am really unsure of what I have gotten myself into this time. There are many things I want to do, and I am not so sure I can do any of them. I feel like I am falling behind in everything now that I had to take a day or two off. I am not sure if I can catch up, and I am not sure that I really care! I think that is what worries me the most: my lack of caring.