Back from the Hospital

This was my hospital bed, my trusty wheelchair with one flat tire, I am off the IV for the night, hence the capped taped needle in my right hand.

Well, I had about a half an hour to get ready for the surgery, there's no wait time here really for anything. So we did all the fun tests before surgery, etc, and I got into the ever flattering hospital pjs. They took me to the operating room, which is NOTHING like I would have expected. There were two, and both doors (sliding) were left open the whole time as the nurses were going between two operations, andthere is a small two person wash stand for the doctors. I had an epidural which is not the most comfiest thing every, frick. So I was awake, and watching it on a little screen (they were using a scope for some of it, so thats what I was watching. I was in there for 2 hours.

I paid an extra 100$ for some good pain killers that went through my IV, and when I came out of surgery, and the numbness was going away I needed it. I couldn't breathe well becuase of the pain from the epidural (had to lie flat, couldn't move anything, not even my head), and the pain in my knee. I had to use a bedpan, which is so humiliating I might add. I was told to press the button when I needed the pain killer, and I did that, but it wasn't doing anything. I wasn't until over 12 hours later that they realized that it wasn't on properly, so I had just done that time with no pain killers. Frick again. After that, it was okay. I couldn't move, wasn't hungry, just laid in bed, uncomfortable, until the next day when my butt was super sore from the bed. But Icouldn't turn on my side or anything because of the whole knee issue.

After a couple days, they took away my pain medicine and my IV. I was so happy to be rid of the IV so I actually use the bathroom in my room rather than the wheelchair bathroom (I had to use a wheelchair to get around, I have a new respect for wheelchair bathrooms). But the next morning, they came in the give me my IV again becuase of the antibiotics, so i had the damned needle stuck in my arm again. First time, before the surgery, they put it on the side of my wrist, which is an awesome place because I could my my hand and wrist fairly freely. This time, my veins were hard to find, and so he put it on the underside of my wrist (like where you would cut yourself if trying to end your life), and it hurt, I couldn't move my hand, or fingers, or anything, after a couple hours, i asked them to move it. so he put it on the back of my hand. This was after several tries. Not cool. Then at the end of the night, when they were taking the IV again, he capped it so it wouldn't have to happen again. The next morning though, it wouldn't work, so we had to go through the whole ordeal again, putting it on the other hand, with the IV cord going across my body. GRR. I have a nice big bruise on my my hips from intermuscular injections too.

5 days in the hospital was bad. The food, nasty becuase it was mostly seaweed soup and fish. awesome. Thank god lucas was around to bring my fried chicken, muffins and kiwi juice (sooo good). I was discharged today at 2 and went to work at 4, though I shouldn't have, because im feeling pain and exhaustion. Back atter tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who came to see me at the hospital. Saturday was a right hospital party! You have no idea how much it meant to me!! I have received all the well wishes from my blog and email too, and it's helping me. Thank you again, everyone.

Even worse...

So, some of you have already read your emails. I have to have surgery on my knee now, here in Korea. Excellent. I will be in the hospital for five days, one month with a cast, and then physiotherapy. My emotions are in complete turmoil. I have been pretty upbeat about all of this so far, until I was told I was going to need surgery. I asked when, and the doctor said this week or next. So soon! I'm freaking out. I'm in a strange country when I don't know the language, and will be in hospital for so long. I didn't tear my ACL or major ligaments, which is good. I broke my kneecap and there is a piece floating around in there. There is a big bone bruise, and bleeding around the bones. I had an MRI, which is such a creepy machine, and so loud!!! but I almost fell asleep. The ridiculous loud banging and vibrations started to lull me, but then i would open my eyes and be so disoriented. Then I had a CT scan, and more Xrays. Frick.

I am teaching summer session, but it doesn't look like that is going to be happening any more becuase of this little shindig. That's money that I needed flying out of my hands. This sucks. My ankle looks like something out of a zombie movie, even my toes are bruised and crazy looking. Very scary.

I'm glad Luc is here to be with me, but still, this is not the ideal place to have this happen.

Bad bad bad....

So I have hurt myself pretty bad. Last night I went out with some people from my branch to say goodbye to one of the korean teachers. We had some cocktails, I will not lie. We ended up going to the noraebang (singing room) and busting out some tunes and dancing. I was dancing with my old Korean partner, and she dipped me, but I went down the wrong way. I heard some popping sounds and then I couldn't move my knee. Not good at all. I thought I was going to get sick from the pain. Then when I was trying to prevent putting weight on my left knee I ended up rolling my right ankle and tearing some ligaments. So now, I cannot walk. I cannot bend my knee. I'm a complete mess as you can see from the picture. I was at the hospital today, spent 60$ there. I have to go back tomorrow to get an MRI done, and that's going to cost me $350. Good thing I have a Visa because I sent home money this month, and don't have the funds in the Korean account.

Lucas and I are also going to be teaching summer session starting on Monday, so this injury came at a bad time. I am teaching drama (who thought that was a good idea?). I have to teach the kids a play which they will them perform at the end of summer session. So there is a lot of pressure on the drama teachers becuase of the parents watching. Summer session is one month long (the kids are on summer vacation) and it's from 9am to 1pm, then I have regular work at 4pm. It's going to be very tiring. I just hope that my knee heals enough for me to walk over the weekend.

Mud...Glorious Mud!

This weekend was the 11th annual Boryeong Mud Festival, and according to one of the most cheesy promotional videos I have seen, it is Korea's most popular. I don't think I have seen so many foreigners in Korea in one place. There were people left and right covered in Mud. The point of the festival is to show how good Boryeong Mud is for your skin. So they have vats of mud everywhere and mud body painting stations. The festival took place on Daecheon Beach, a 3.5 km beach in west central Korea. The beach was beautiful and the water lovely. Apparently, a couple years ago, people couldn't go in the water because of a surge in Jellyfish, but they weren't a problem this year.

Tyler had a thing for burying my feet and Luc's feet. This was the second time he did it. See that lovely straw hat? I was DYING because the heat was so intense, so I bought this lovely four thousand won treasure. When I woke up this morning to pack, it had somehow disappeared though. The two mountains on our feet turned into a mountain range, which then turned into one big mountain on top of Lucas.

Near to the end of the day, randomly, these women dressed in white walked down the beach with the white lotus lanterns. And then they started to throw something into the water that was attached by white fabric. No one knew what they were doing. After throwing the white things into the water and pulling them back in a couple times, the ladies left. Everyone just stood around wondering.

To top off the day, laying in the ridiculously hot sun, we had a wonderful barbeque and then there were fireworks. Man, these fireworks were incredible!! Way better than anything in Canada. We also went to an amusement park, but it was 3,ooo won per ride, so we just went on one. Unfortunately, we were staying in a Pension. That is like a suite in a way, but there are no beds. We basically had a mattress pad and a pillow and slept right on the floor. Not particularly comfortable. At least it was only one night. Lucas didn't even get a pillow becuase there were a lot more people sleeping in the boys room than there was supposed to be. Next door was a bunch of rowdy army guys, and in the middle of the night, one of them came into the girls room. Liz, quickly told him to get out, and he sauntered away drunkenly. Apparently, some of the army guys crashed with the boys upstairs (hence why Lucas didn't get a pillow).

Boryeong was an interesting experience. I had a lot of fun minus the intense sunburn I aquired on the back of my knees, thighs and bum. We accidently left our towel behind though. Didn't realize it until we were halfway home, and unfortunately, no one picked it up (even though it was with everyone else things, wouldn't someone have noticed that there was one thing left behind?). To top it off, I bought myself some mud masks, just because I had to.

Friendly Fun

So here is Lucas at our baseball tourney. He's looking particularly happy as we had just lost our one and only game. We were good sports though and stayed for the entire day, we only missed the first game. It was great to have this softball league. Many Koreans came out to see the crazy waegookins and were surprised by how far we hit the ball. We would have random kids, soccer practices, and old people on motorcycles come into the field (that we had paid for) and do their thing with no regard for us telling them to get off the field because they would get hit with the ball or get in the way.

This is my new haircut. Got a colour, trim, and a relax for 65$. Not too bad. We went to this place that is apparently the best for foreigners. Luc got a cut too, but the lady didn't want to cut too much off. One of the stylists thought that he looked like a model (he likes to tell people this). After we got this done we had our baseball banquet and then headed to a friend's birthday party. We were fashionably late for the party, a little too late, as we missed the "motel party" of it. Everyone was leaving the motel as we were arriving.

I love this picture. Luc looking particularly nerdy. We went to Brielle's for a potluck dinner (where she made the most amazing food), and Dave had just bought this hat. Brie had the glasses laying around so we were all taking turns trying them off.

I am super, duper, over the moon excited. Lucas and I just signed up to go to CHINA!! Yay! On September 12, we're going to head to Beijing for four days. OH man oh man oh man! We're going to see the Great Wall, Tianamen Square, Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace as well as see an acrobatic show and go to a market. All meals and hotel are paid for. We're staying at a Holiday Inn, but apparently, it's absolutely swanky. WOO!

Humidity Woes

Are we crazy for being here in the summer?

Daegu is experiencing a heat wave. It's incredible. I can remember wishing for summer to arrive in the winter. I was looking forward to the heat and sunshine. I'm somewhat regretting it, wishing for spring to come back.

Another teacher and I have made a pact to go walking everyday in an attempt to lose some weight. We meet each other at noon, and walk for two or so hours, just around the area, talking. We started this on Thursday. But I don't know if I can continue this in this heat!

The weather has been hot, as I have been saying. Today reached a high of 37 degrees, with a humidity of 79%. It's the humidity that is kicking my butt. The second we go outside, we are coated in a layer of sweat (so attractive). It's hard to breathe because the air is so thick.

To top things off, the air conditioner sucks. We have it on all night, and it isn't that cool. It throws out a half cool breeze, but nothing that I would consider air conditioning really. It make a grinding noise, and drips. Not only does it leak when it is raining (the fan is on the roof, and water goes down the pipe into the apartment), but it also leaks probably from condensation. We have a rown of buckets on the floor, but it is not long enough.

We shower, but we never dry. It's insane, I've never been in such humidity before, and I don't particularly like it. I say I am going to be hom during the summer sitting under my air conditioner, but since it doesn't work so well, I'm going to have to find another hang out.

We did buy freezies though - Korean style.

Happy Canada Day!

Yesterday, it was Canada Day in Korea, though you folks back home are celebrating it today. I had a great time. In the morning, before work, I baked cupcakes, and decorated them with white frosting, red sprinkles, and mini flags (Thank you Kenna and Chris!). I brought them to work and shared them with all my coworkers. I had on my Canada socks and Canada glitter tattoo (Thank you Mom and Dad!). I put a flag through my hair as well. The kids absolutely loved it. I made a mini Canada quiz that I gave all the students. If they got 10/10 I was going to give them Jaeshi Myun Jae (detention free). I asked them:

What country am I from? America, Canada, or Zimbabwe.

What picture is on a penny? Maple leaf, the President, or flowers.

Where is Canada? South America, North America or Europe.

What are Canada's colours? Red White and Blue, Purple and Orange, or Red and White.

What is Canada's national animal? Polar bear, elephant, or beaver.

What are Canada's sports? Soccer and Tennis, Wrestling and Hapkido, or Hockey and Lacrosse.

Name the three oceans around Canada. Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic.

What 2 languages do Canadians speak? Korean and Canadian, Canadian and English, English and French

Does Canada have provinces or states?

and I can't remember the other one. Most students got 6/10, though I did have many 8's and even one 9. The kids tried really hard though because they wanted that Jaeshi Myun Jae. I gave out soooo many prizes too. very student got a flag and a pencil, and we playd games from bigger prizes of balls, bigger flags, and many other delights. I think I just have some stickers left over, and those will be used up quickly. Thank you everyone who sent things for this Day! I hope you all enjoy the fireworks back home. There weren't any here, but apparently, the American Base - Camp Walker - has fireworks on Independence Day (Friday). Maybe I can coax people into going to those?

At the end of the day, Lucas and I kicked back with some Molson Canadian (ha ha, thank you again Kenna and Chris!)