Kimmers’ Neighborhood

my female co teacher and I (jenny) have become very close friends and for that i am grateful. in the earlier months of my sojourn here, she did a few things that seemed to undermine me and i was pissed off and sat down with her to talk about them.  that talk was a very good thing because out of it came an understanding of one another, respective intentions and a flourishing friendship. 

we often will dine together and sometimes we bring lunch for one another and sit around her's or my desk and laugh and talk about random things.  she took me to a restaurant that serves the spiciest chicken available and also 'nasty' (my opinion only) chicken feet.  we made a pact that i would try the feet just once before i depart korea, but she seemed not to want to wait until then. she had been pumping me to go back to the restaurant, which is now a favorite of mine as well, except for the feet, and also to try the feet.  i consented last week to going but NOT feet...needless to say, i, with much coercion, tried those horrid, creepy looking things and was thoroughly grossed out. she however eats them quite voraciously.

the curious thing is those feet don't have any meat on them!! so what does she think she's eating?  just sucking on those nasty fingers for toes with long witch-poo nails and then she spits them into a tin dish the server gives us.

the chicken is so spicy there, and the feet even spicer, that we have to eat them with plastic gloves, and i could even feel a little burn through the plastic when i tried the nasty feet.

i was telling some foreigners about it and now they want to try it, so tonight after work, jenny and i are taking them to have nasty feet.  jenny has been begging me all week to do it one more time. i absolutely unequivocably refuse!  i'm still plagued by the memory of the claws touching the side of my face as i tried to taste one.  i did however consent to holding one and faining to eat it.  tonite i will be taking pictures of the dinner so ya'll can see the foregners and jenny grubbing down on those nasty feet.  lol

tomorrow, i am going hiking all day at ChilGapSan mountain with my teachers and a few students from my korean language class, to take in the scenery of the Fall leaves.  it hear it is beautiful. of that i also will take pictures to share.  there will be a 1.5 hour bus ride to get there. i'm looking forward to it, and i like the folks that are going.

jenny teacher got the okay from corporate officers to help me find another apartment.  my toilet has broken 5 times in 7 months!  jenny tells me that i should be in a much better place and that she herself would like to help me find it vs. helen who originally selected this one.  Helen has been kind in many ways, especially in the beginning after my arrival here, but over time i have watched and experienced high levels of professional irresponsibility.  on friendship requests or events she is 'tip top', but not on the business managerial side.  sadly, even the korean teachers are frustrated with her, but they say they cannot complain and they want us foreigners to do it. i refuse to speak for the masses. whenever i have a problem with helen, i go directly to her and tell her, and i do eventually get results. however now, i defer to a male manager in Seoul (2 hours away), because he's most effective, and helen gave me his number when my refrigerator (that she bought) broke for the 2nd time! 

well well well, it's been a while since i updated everyone in mass editorial format.  i've been busy doing what??

i recovered from my banana boat leg injury and have been busy exploring korea more, studying the language and of course working.

yesterday morning SoKo time (south korea time) i heard that my best first cousin died the day before.  this was a shock and i didn't know how to 'place' the emotion and/or lack there of. what i knew though was that it was a very important day for the school i work for, and i had 3 presentations to make not only for the school personnel but the big wigs from the department of education, principals and other teachers from all around the city.  and this city i live in is large, so there was a crowd here at the school all day.

anyway, i tried to express to my male korean teacher that i had lost a family member and the news fell on deaf ears, so i packed in my sorrow to get through the morning presentation at least.  however helen the coordinator came to the school for the event and sought me out and when she saw that i was not ok, she embraced me and offered support and kind words. she sought my female co-teacher to tell her, and she came rushing to give her condolences. that helped much for the moment, but it did bring a stream of tears that i was trying to pack away until later. Helen helped wipe them away with her own fingertips. a surprisingly sweet gesture.

a couple of other korean co workers found out and were kind to offer embraces and food and saying, "cheer up. you are strong."  and then it's back to work as usual, even for me. they are real 'drivers' here. everything is work work work and push ahead. i'm curious the behavior when they themselves lose a precious life...

never the less, i got through the morning's event and escaped to my empty classroom for about an hour and let loose a bit of my sorrow, packed it back in and managed through the remaining two afternoon presentations and 3 classes. on my walk home i let loose entirely, and was thankful it was dusk so my sadness and tears could not be easily seen on the streets, or at least that's what i think.

i had texted two foreigners in my neighborhood (yes! there are two others now!) and i asked them to join me for dinner. i needed company and comfort food. i was exhausted from the emotional blockage and dam break, but grateful for the diversion. 

today, i didnt' feel like being around the school so i sent messages to my co workers that i would not be in until my afternoon classes.  i needed that time this morning. what i did in those hours are things that i often do when i am other than my cheerful self...i cleaned, did my laundry and gave myself a boost by coloring my hair. i didn't even want coffee, and i enjoy having coffee in the mornings...but not today...just feeling very tired and numb.

all in all, i've always been convicted to embrace this life, taking it by its rings and living it zealously, and my cousin's freak, unexpected departure has forcefully reinforced my intentions. i've never been content with the mundane, and even less so now.

i'll be okay. i'll isolate and lick my wounds and come out when i can, because the masses of people who know me only seem comfortable when i am full of glee. my sorrow is seldom, but just as seldom do i have loving support around me at those times, so i've learned to cope alone.

for any and all reading this update, thanks.

Live! Live! Live!

K

Glen Greenwald:

What’s really happening with these protests is that the genuine rage and not unreasonable economic insecurity of these citizens is being stoked, exploited, distorted and manipulated by movement leaders for entirely different ends. The people who are leading them—Rush Limbaugh, the Murdoch-owned Fox News, Glenn Beck, business-dominated organizations of the type led by Dick Armey—are cultural warriors above everything else. They’re all in a far different socioeconomic position than the “middle-income Americans” whose anger they’re ostensibly representing. Their principal preoccupation is their cultural contempt for various groups (illegal immigrants, the “undeserving” poor, liberals) and their desire to preserve the status quo whereby the prime beneficiaries of government policies remain themselves: the super rich and the interests that control Washington. It’s certainly true that many of these protesters are driven by the standard right-wing cultural issues which have long shaped that movement—social issues, religious fears, cultural and racial divisions, and hatred for “liberals” as Communist-Muslim-Terrorist-lovers. For many, all of that is intensified by the humiliation of being completely thrown out of power, at the hands of the first black President. But much of it is fueled by the pillaging of the corporations and Wall St. interests which own their government.

Matt Taibbi:

Actual rich people can’t ever be the target. It’s a classic peasant mentality: going into fits of groveling and bowing whenever the master’s carriage rides by, then fuming against the Turks in Crimea or the Jews in the Pale or whoever after spending fifteen hard hours in the fields. You know you’re a peasant when you worship the very people who are right now, this minute, conning you and taking your shit. Whatever the master does, you’re on board. When you get frisky, he sticks a big cross in the middle of your village, and you spend the rest of your life praying to it with big googly eyes. Or he puts out newspapers full of innuendo about this or that faraway group and you immediately salute and rush off to join the hate squad. A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger. And that’s what we’ve got now, a lot of misdirected anger searching around for a non-target to mis-punish . . . can’t be mad at AIG, can’t be mad at Citi or Goldman Sachs. The real villains have to be the anti-AIG protesters! After all, those people earned those bonuses! If ever there was a textbook case of peasant thinking, it’s struggling middle-class Americans burned up in defense of taxpayer-funded bonuses to millionaires. It’s really weird stuff.

Hi there,

I need to get a cellphone. I don't want a two-year plan, which is what many of the major carriers want. A family plan would be great, so we can get the father-in-law a phone. Also a plus would be a phone that could run Android. The cost of the phone is not my main concern, it's the monthly - I'd like to get something pretty low since I hardly make any calls, maybe two or three a day (less than ten minutes).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

let me just say, since the outbreak of the virus here in korea, the kids at school have been taught to wash their hands and with SOAP! they are even walking through the halls carrying hand sanitizer!

yahoo!! this is a great comfort to me, returning from a long vacation and dreading to see the former dirt and lack of proper hygiene!

the kids were thrilled washing and playiing in the soap making bubbles.....splash splash and splash some more kids!!!  i say.

splash all you want with that soap! 

 i was happy to accept their sweet offerings of food from their precious little hands today.  :-)

well, i must say i had a great week of 'quarantine' last week (banned from school to ensure i am not infected with H1NI1 since my return from Vietnam)  frollicking around the city here (daejeon), and i ended it with a big bang~literally in Busan (south coastal region) this past weekend where i went for a wedding.
 
here's the haps in abridged format~
 
sunday evening i was on a banana boat (for those who have not ridden them, they are a blast of fun), and upon one quick turn i and one other person were whipped right off and into the ocean.  it was funny, but i did get hurt.
 
the only problem was, i didn't let go of the handle on the boat. Had i done so, i probably would have just sustained sore muscles and not injury.
 
my injury and ciircumstance ironically are similar to those on a white water rafting trip of 13-14 years ago.
 
Overall, i am blessed and healing.
 
I couldn't walk at all yesterday (monday); until i had my leg splinted and was doped up on pain killers. 
 
praise God, no bones are broken just 'jacked up' ligament--hyper extended to be medically correct.  all that milk i've been drinking since i was a babe is paying off.  (my foot surgeon in america told me my bones are hard...she could scarcely cut through them to remove the bunions). haha.  that's good thing since i like to play so hard.  :-)
 
at 2am i was frantically dialing koreans who speak english, on my phone trying to get some  help. i had awakened to go to the bathroom and i could not move without excruciating pain. walking wasn't even an option.  i was trembling with fear and started praying fervently. after much struggle and pain, i was able to eventually drag myself to my phone  which was across the room. needless to say, the phone will from now on be within arms reach.
 
after 3 attempts to reach any korean that speaks english, i was able to talk to my good friend Lucy (Duck Shin). she came right over and at 2:45 am i was carted off to the hospital via ambulance (my first time ever riding in one!) because Lucy could not help me alone to get down two flights of stairs in my apartment building (korea doesn't seem to favor elevators unless their are more than 7 to 8 floors it seems (and every floor requires 2 flights of stairs). 
 
HaHa.  you should have seen the look on the paramedics' faces (the two combined male and female may have weighed 200 lbs. if that) when they got a look at me and saw i couldn't even stand on the leg.  after much contemplation the male (surprisingly strong for such a tiny man) was able to help me help myself down the stairs and onto a stretcher.  it took a looooooooong time.  haha. seriously, i was in excruciating pain, but in retrospect it is funny.
 
anyhoo, i and duck shin spent 5 hours in emergency yesterday, the leg was xrayed, hand examined by two specialists were called in on emergency (out of their beds) to check my leg.  after all that, my leg was splinted and pain killers administered (koreans really like to give shots in the butt).
 
the pain killers were so potent that duck shin and i were able to get me into her truck and up my two flights of stairs with slowness but no issues or unbearable pain.   haha
 
i visited an orthopedic specialist today, and began 3 weeks of physical therapy. it will remain splinted ( i don't know how long) and lifted until next monday, but i am going to try to go to work on thursday and friday (my school is accommodating me by sending someone to drive me back and forth and i will sitdown in my classrooms) that should be entertaining for my 'kids'---- they have had substitute teachers (two of my friends) since i left for vacation 3 weeks ago, and i hear they are really missing 'kimberly teacher"-- i'm sure they are since my friend covering yesterday and today told me she walked into the room and glared at them to warn them to behave.   i laughed but told her to go easy on my babies b/c they are really good kids.  i absolutely adore them.

i have stopped taking the pain killers because i need to be fully aware of how much progress i am making. if the pain is masked, i will be easily tricked into thinking i can do more than i should. and ya'll know i don't like chemical drugs in my body anyway. i have a high tolerance for pain, and believe me, if i felt even the slightest sensations felt pre-pain killers, i would be eating those little tablets like M&Ms.  Ha ha.  thus far, i have been 'added' pain medication free for 18 hours.  now for some portion of this time i'm sure all the dosages of pain killers from yesterday (4) are still in my system.  but please don't fret....i'll take them if i absolutely can't endure the discomfort.

ciao for now!
 

I went boating this past Sunday. It was so fun!

Bay 09

Unsettling Sign 09

Sunset 09