I hate doing nothing. I hate being friends with people who say they are going to do something and not do it. It's a waste. I have never planned something with someone, gotten turned down at the last minute, went anyway, came back and had them say "Man you should have not gone! We had a blast hanging out here complaining that there is nothing to do." That was a weirdly hard sentence to write. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I like to do things but when I am on crutches I have a limit on what I can do. These last couple weeks I have tried to test that limit while letting my foot heal.
During the work week I couldn't do much. It takes me a while to get anywhere (and my arms will be superman-strong when I'm off of these things). A couple of nights I went to Traveler's downtown for a beer and veggie burgers (recommended). Brent and I went down to see a movie last weekend, which is pretty sweet here in Korea. They have nice theaters and cheap beer and popcorn combos. I have tried to spend as much time out of the house as possible. I actually spent a lot of time enjoying the nice weather outside the convenience store across the street from work.
Emma, Brent and I left for Busan after work on Saturday. Getting to the train wasn't much of a problem even though it was a bit exhausting. Brent and I loaded up on cans of Hite at the convenience store before the ride (mmm train beer). When we got to Busan we headed to meet my friend Paul from Denver at the Seomun subway junction. Once we met up with him, we ventured to the barbecue place where we had dinner. After a big meal of grilled mushrooms and kimchi (there is not much to eat for a vegetarian at a Korean BBQ), we went to an awesome German style brewery. We drank our weight in heavy beer. Then we walked/crutched to the next place where the nights festivities started. It was Paul's last night in town and this was his good-bye party.
On Sunday, we went down to the Jagalchi fish market down by the water. We ate some octopus that was still moving in our mouths and some other fresh fish (for those of you who are confused about my dietary restrictions, I am a pescetarian. That means that I eat a vegetarian diet except for seafood). It was a strange and delicious breakfast. Then we just walked (crutched) around and hung out in Busan for the day. We had an awesome dinner at a traditional style place that made their own soy sauce and kimchi. Then, completely exhausted, we came back to Daegu and I crashed out hard on my bed until this morning. It was a fun time. It was a hell of a lot more fun than just hanging out at this apartment all weekend!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Jeju Island and the Hospital
Last weekend, we made plans to head out to Jeju Island after class on Saturday, and then get back to Daegu Monday at 12:00pm (I work at 3:30). Everything worked out totally fine, and the island was awesome and weirdly dead because it was the off-season. I like trips during the off-season (look through my pictures in Nova Scotia), so it was awesome for me. Everything was really cheap and readily available with no lines or screaming children. We saw all the sights that we wanted to see (photos at this link: My Facebook), and we got to stay in a nice hotel for cheap. The next day we woke up totally refreshed and ate a huge breakfast. When we arrived at the airport, we suddenly realized the exhausting day that we were about to embark on.
We walked up to the Korean Airlines counter and their was NO one in line. It didn't really dawn on us why until the counter lady had a terrified look on her face when we asked her to check into our flight to Daegu. This was at 10:15, and our flight was to be at 11:10. She couldn't tell us that our flight was cancelled, so she typed a bunch of stuff and called her colleague over to break the news. Chuck ran to the bathroom when we heard this news. We all had to be at work at 3:30pm. We needed to get off of the island and to our town in the middle of the country in 4 hours. We checked flights to Busan (one hour train ride to Daegu)... cancelled. The next flight to Seoul (Gimpo) with Korean Air was at 12:49. That wouldn't be enough time to get to Daegu. We frantically started to check other airlines. We found one plane that was leaving for Seoul in 30 minutes (it was 10:30 now). They sold us tickets and we had to run to the gate. The departure time for the flight from the southern most part of South Korea to the northern most part of the country was at 11:00. The ticket said the arrival time was at 12:05 (this must be some kind of miracle right? No, its just that the Korean airlines don't take an hour to leave the gate and they don't take an hour taxiing to the next gate). We landed at 12:05 and we were in a taxi by 12:15 heading to the KTX train station. So far so good.
At the KTX train station they had the next two trains, 13:00 and 13:30, listed as sold out. We NEEDED to get on that 13:00 train. We were contemplating getting on and just playing dumb but Chuck talked to the ticket counter. It was 12:51 at this time. They sold us standing room tickets (we had to sit between the coach cars [inside of course]). We ran and hopped on the train. The arrival time for Daegu was 14:49 (2:49pm). "We'll make it!" At 1:00pm I called Young and asked him to grab a work shirt for me out of my apartment and bring it to work with him (we were all clean and pampered because of the fancy hotel that we stayed at the night before). We got to Dongdaegu KTX station. I ran to the subway. It was a straight shot to work on that subway line. I said "bye" to the other three. They were going to make it, too. I showed up to work at 3:30. Perfect. I was on time, and had time to make my print-outs. Except something went horribly wrong.
I showed up to a flustered mess at work. They had been stressing about me and trying to get a hold of me. "Why didn't you call?!?!" They had cancelled my class. Someone had caught wind that the Daegu Airport closed and assumed that I wasn't going to make it. My phone was dead, so they called and called. I called Young using Emma's phone at 1 to ask him to grab a shirt, but didn't think to call anyone else. Why didn't I call anyone else? Because I had spent my whole day ensuring that I was going to get there in time, and I did. If I was stuck up at the airport in Jeju, I would have had time to find a phone charger, charge it up and let them know that I was going to miss class. I didn't call because I was going to make it. I'm not going to call work to let them know that I am going to make it on time today... That leads me to the next development this week:
I ruptured the tendon that leads to my big toe on Wednesday morning. I was cooking breakfast and I dropped the bowl that I was mixing the eggs in. Somehow the bowl landed and broke into 4 pieces on my foot. One of the pieces sliced my foot, deep. I hopped to the bathroom and spent 30 minutes trying to stop the bleeding. I called Brent. He was at the hospital, so I asked him to bring me some gauze and tape. He showed up to what looked like a murder scene in my apartment. We got the bleeding stopped and cleaned the wound with alcohol. He suggested that I go to the hospital, so I did. I hobbled down to the hospital (about a 20 minute hobbling distance). When I showed up, they were closed for lunch. I had to go back at 2:00. So I staggered back home and made it back at 2:00, dressed for work (again, I had to work at 3:30). The doctor was nice and speaks decent English. He immediately said that my wound needed to be sutured. When he started the surgery, he noticed that my tendon was ruptured. After making me look at it (::shudder::), he sutured the tendon up with 13 stitches, then 26 stitches on the top of my foot. They got me in a splint and a boot and I am now on crutches.
It's been an interesting week.
We walked up to the Korean Airlines counter and their was NO one in line. It didn't really dawn on us why until the counter lady had a terrified look on her face when we asked her to check into our flight to Daegu. This was at 10:15, and our flight was to be at 11:10. She couldn't tell us that our flight was cancelled, so she typed a bunch of stuff and called her colleague over to break the news. Chuck ran to the bathroom when we heard this news. We all had to be at work at 3:30pm. We needed to get off of the island and to our town in the middle of the country in 4 hours. We checked flights to Busan (one hour train ride to Daegu)... cancelled. The next flight to Seoul (Gimpo) with Korean Air was at 12:49. That wouldn't be enough time to get to Daegu. We frantically started to check other airlines. We found one plane that was leaving for Seoul in 30 minutes (it was 10:30 now). They sold us tickets and we had to run to the gate. The departure time for the flight from the southern most part of South Korea to the northern most part of the country was at 11:00. The ticket said the arrival time was at 12:05 (this must be some kind of miracle right? No, its just that the Korean airlines don't take an hour to leave the gate and they don't take an hour taxiing to the next gate). We landed at 12:05 and we were in a taxi by 12:15 heading to the KTX train station. So far so good.
At the KTX train station they had the next two trains, 13:00 and 13:30, listed as sold out. We NEEDED to get on that 13:00 train. We were contemplating getting on and just playing dumb but Chuck talked to the ticket counter. It was 12:51 at this time. They sold us standing room tickets (we had to sit between the coach cars [inside of course]). We ran and hopped on the train. The arrival time for Daegu was 14:49 (2:49pm). "We'll make it!" At 1:00pm I called Young and asked him to grab a work shirt for me out of my apartment and bring it to work with him (we were all clean and pampered because of the fancy hotel that we stayed at the night before). We got to Dongdaegu KTX station. I ran to the subway. It was a straight shot to work on that subway line. I said "bye" to the other three. They were going to make it, too. I showed up to work at 3:30. Perfect. I was on time, and had time to make my print-outs. Except something went horribly wrong.
I showed up to a flustered mess at work. They had been stressing about me and trying to get a hold of me. "Why didn't you call?!?!" They had cancelled my class. Someone had caught wind that the Daegu Airport closed and assumed that I wasn't going to make it. My phone was dead, so they called and called. I called Young using Emma's phone at 1 to ask him to grab a shirt, but didn't think to call anyone else. Why didn't I call anyone else? Because I had spent my whole day ensuring that I was going to get there in time, and I did. If I was stuck up at the airport in Jeju, I would have had time to find a phone charger, charge it up and let them know that I was going to miss class. I didn't call because I was going to make it. I'm not going to call work to let them know that I am going to make it on time today... That leads me to the next development this week:
I ruptured the tendon that leads to my big toe on Wednesday morning. I was cooking breakfast and I dropped the bowl that I was mixing the eggs in. Somehow the bowl landed and broke into 4 pieces on my foot. One of the pieces sliced my foot, deep. I hopped to the bathroom and spent 30 minutes trying to stop the bleeding. I called Brent. He was at the hospital, so I asked him to bring me some gauze and tape. He showed up to what looked like a murder scene in my apartment. We got the bleeding stopped and cleaned the wound with alcohol. He suggested that I go to the hospital, so I did. I hobbled down to the hospital (about a 20 minute hobbling distance). When I showed up, they were closed for lunch. I had to go back at 2:00. So I staggered back home and made it back at 2:00, dressed for work (again, I had to work at 3:30). The doctor was nice and speaks decent English. He immediately said that my wound needed to be sutured. When he started the surgery, he noticed that my tendon was ruptured. After making me look at it (::shudder::), he sutured the tendon up with 13 stitches, then 26 stitches on the top of my foot. They got me in a splint and a boot and I am now on crutches.
It's been an interesting week.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Trying to not spend any money today...
We get paid tomorrow and I have been spending money like crazy lately. I want to hold on to some so that I have some room to work with when I get done here. Today and yesterday I have been going through the day trying not to spend any money at all before work. Yesterday I succeeded because my iPod was reformatted when I hooked it up to Emma's computer, so I had to spend the whole day working with my computer and my shotty external hard-drive. Today, I have had nothing to do. I went on a long run hoping that that would take up a decent amount of time, but it only took up about 40 minutes. So I have had to spend the rest of the day playing around on the computer listening to music and searching out new music. It has been an relaxing day so why do I feel like a bum?
The work schedule during the last half of last week and last weekend was totally irregular. The switch of routine made it feel like a bit of a break which was good. Travis, Emma and I hung out most of those days and nights. We went for a hike, we played a lot of darts, ate about 8 octopuses total and went for another trip to Gyeongju (on Sunday). I got to hit a huge prayer bell. That was fun.
This weekend (Saturday night, Sunday and Monday morning), Chuck, Travis, Emma and I are flying to Jeju Island. Everyone who I have told has said to wait until it gets warmer, but I really like seeing places on the off-season. I'm looking forward to this one!
Here are some pictures that I hijacked from Emma from last weekend:
The work schedule during the last half of last week and last weekend was totally irregular. The switch of routine made it feel like a bit of a break which was good. Travis, Emma and I hung out most of those days and nights. We went for a hike, we played a lot of darts, ate about 8 octopuses total and went for another trip to Gyeongju (on Sunday). I got to hit a huge prayer bell. That was fun.
This weekend (Saturday night, Sunday and Monday morning), Chuck, Travis, Emma and I are flying to Jeju Island. Everyone who I have told has said to wait until it gets warmer, but I really like seeing places on the off-season. I'm looking forward to this one!
Here are some pictures that I hijacked from Emma from last weekend:
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| Anyone want "itarian" tonight? |
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| Wish I didn't have that goofball smile in this picture... |
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| Bulguksa: A temple built in 550 AD and renovated ever since. |
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| Bulguksa |
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| Ringing a huge bell on top of a mountain that looks over the sea. |
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| Dongdongju: Traditional creamy rice wine |
Friday, February 4, 2011
Catching Up
I didn't do much last weekend. Everyone went out to celebrate the end of intensives on Saturday night. I slept until noon on Sunday, which I hate doing. I told Emma that we needed to get out and do something, so we ended up heading down to Busan to see the aquarium and to get fresh sea food. The sun had just gone down by the time we got down there. We went to the beach and walked around for a bit, then went into the aquarium. Which is pretty similar to Denver's Ocean Journey (or whatever its called now). They actually had a lot of awesome exhibits, like the worlds most toxic fishes, penguins, otters, sun fish and a huge shark and ray tank/tunnel. Oh and jelly fish. That was awesome! I really want to get a jelly fish tank when I get rich. Then we went for sea food on the ocean. That was obviously good.
The first half of the week was typical, just teaching/babysitting, but yesterday (Thursday) was Lunar New Year. Everyone in the country had the day off and nothing was open. It was seriously like walking around in a zombie (pronounced "jomby" to Korean kids) movie. I went for a hike with Emma and Travis over on their side of town. It was warm and sunny out. We then went downtown to try to find something to do. We found some Seafood, some coffee and some bar games. Now, to teach two more days before the real weekend. I think I may be doing a quick trip to Gyeongju to check out some of the major stuff that we missed a month ago.
The first half of the week was typical, just teaching/babysitting, but yesterday (Thursday) was Lunar New Year. Everyone in the country had the day off and nothing was open. It was seriously like walking around in a zombie (pronounced "jomby" to Korean kids) movie. I went for a hike with Emma and Travis over on their side of town. It was warm and sunny out. We then went downtown to try to find something to do. We found some Seafood, some coffee and some bar games. Now, to teach two more days before the real weekend. I think I may be doing a quick trip to Gyeongju to check out some of the major stuff that we missed a month ago.
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