Hello everyone!
Today I am writing you with 25% less wisdom than I've ever written
before; yes, as you can guess, I did have my first wisdom tooth
extracted just about 48 hours ago, but I'll save that story for a
little bit later.
So much, yet so little has happened since the end of February when I
last sent a message like this. In general, my life's pattern has been
one of work, study, sleep; work, study, sleep; work, study, play,
sleep; work, study, sleep and so on (with that play time coming mostly
on the weekends). I feel pretty pleased with my present habits,
although it can be a bit exhausting at times, and it doesn't leave me
much wiggle room, but that's ok. And in some ways, this flow feels a
bit like college life again; I teach just as many hours as I would
have been in class learning, and I study now probably just as much as
I did back then (because I never really was such a good studier ;).
Now, I'll kick off this message just by giving a quick overview of the
last few months:
looking back over that time, here's what I've got: I've gone to a
beach twice now (it's still not warm enough to really enjoy the water,
but I did at least get in the water for a few minutes the second time
around); I've visited some green tea fields and I've gone camping;
I've made my first solo trip back up to Seoul (although it was only
for an appointment, and it was only a single day, so I ended up
spending a solid 9-10 hours of that day just riding public transit);
I've met a bunch of new people (many of whom are really cool and worth
spending more time with); I've struggled with and overcome yet another
cold/strange sickness; and I've continued to feel increasingly
confident with my abilities as a teacher for my students. That's
pretty much it in a nutshell.
The camping trip I took happened just last weekend, and it was really
sweet. I went in a group of 8 people (myself included), and I really
only partially knew 2 of the other people, so it was a bit of an
adventure on multiple levels. We went south to an island off the
Korean peninsula, and this was my first time taking a really long
ferry ride (which lasted about 2.5-3 hours). We stayed on Doe-Cho-Doe
island, setting up camp close to the shoreline. We had a pretty
secluded spot, which was so nice for some relaxing and resting.
Granted, I came back more physically exhausted than I wanted (simply
from having to sleep on the ground and doing all the things that I
normally would do on a given day), but it was such a satisfying
fatigue. If you're looking for a new place to camp with a great view,
just come on over to my turf, and I'll hook you up with a sweet spot.
haha.
My health has been such a troublesome thing since January or so. Off
and on I've been getting sick (mostly with chest or nasal stuff) for
the past 4-5 months. This time around, I did to go a doctor again and
received a shot and prescription for some medication. For the last
2ish weeks now, I've been feeling much better (with no apparent
ailments), but the frequency and speed with which the past ones have
come on, makes me a little wary. I think that this has been one of
the more interesting, albeit bothersome parts of living here because
back in the States, I never had this kind of trouble. Among some
friends here, I've acquired the reputation of simply always being
sick, and for the most part, that's been true. I'm hoping that this
is the last of my sicknesses, though.
As I mentioned earlier, I did go and have a wisdom tooth pulled out
just 2 days ago. This is the first time I've had such a procedure
done, so anything I "knew" about extractions prior had come from
friends' experiences, hearsay anecdotes or media portrayals. As it
turns out, a blend of all those things proved to be true for me. The
whole experience was a little strange and quick; for the past couple
years, I've gotten mixed recommendations from dentists about whether
or not to have the wisdom teeth out. More recently, one had said I
should, so I had planned to visit this nearby dentist to get another
opinion and maybe set up a date for getting one out. Little did I
know, that I would be walking out of his clinic 2 hours later, one
tooth shy of my previously full set. haha.
This guy, Dr. Kim, has had his practice for the last 25 years, and the
feeling in his office only reinforces that notion. I would guess that
little has changed (at least) in the past few years. The office was
pretty open, such that as I sat and waited, I could see him working on
either of the clients in his two chairs. Likewise, anyone who wanted
to see how he extracted my tooth merely had to glance over to get all
the action. Additionally, just the way tools were stored and
everything was handled gave me an interesting sense. This is not the
first time I've gone to a professional who seemed really, really laid
back and confident in his abilities and not quite as uptight as some
American counterparts that I've met in the past.
As I left, I received a prescription, so I went to fill it at a nearby
pharmacy. And just for the record, I'm pretty sure I went to the most
perfect pharmacy I've ever seen before. I was helped by a wised old
man who, perhaps, had been distributing these kinds of drugs for 2-3
times my lifespan. He definitely looked the part of head pharmacist,
and when he even told me consumption directions in English, I felt
like he had single-handedly made me a cake and iced it as well. It
was great. Since then, I really haven't experienced any discomfort or
swelling or any other side effects that many complain of. At first I
wholly attributed this to my exceptional healing abilities and pain
tolerance, but upon further consideration, I would guess that my
lovely drug medley probably contains some anti-inflammatory and/or
pain-killing components as well as antibiotics.
By this point, I have now been teaching my new classes for a bit over
3 months. As is to be expected, this time around is much, much better
than it was last year. The longer I teach here, the more confident I
become in my own abilities as well as my understanding of how the kids
learn well and/or what the learn well. I've received a great group of
students across the board, and I find that the only real difficulties
I encounter these days stem from some of my oldest students not being
willing to openly engage in conversations and practice the English
that they know. The kids, as always, are cute and loving and fun to
be around, and I think that we're making some better strides this year
than I did last year with similarly-aged students (even though I
started with those students halfway through the year). I'm excited to
see where these students end up and how much they're able to reproduce
by the end of our time together.
Last but not least, as I described in my previous email to you all, I
will be making a trip back to the States come the end of July. As I
said before, I will be in Indiana from July 31-August 4 and in GR from
August 6-10. Right in between there, I'd like to hit up Cedar Point
for a day of fantastic fun on Sunday, August 5th. So mark your
calendars and keep that time open for a sweet day. And, let me know
if you'll be around and want to spend some time together. I've heard
back from some, and soon (within the next few weeks), I'm gonna try to
nail down/lay out some more specific plans for my time back.
As always, I'd love to hear about your own lives and adventures, so
hit reply and jot down a note for me if you feel so inclined.
Lots of love to you all!
pfn,
bg
