Life This Week in South Korea: Jan 8-14, 2023
Mon., Jan 8
I have a vague memory of leaving y’all with some sort of cliffhanger last week…oh…yeah…”Sun., Jan 7: My body was saying PLEASE PLEASE JUST STAY HOME but I had to run an errand and then a friend asked if we could do a little shopping, and then we got lunch…and my poor body was just POOPED. I always try to plan ONE DAY A WEEK of no (significant) walking. I really feel it on Monday when I head back to school if I haven’t given my legs, feet, hips a chance to really rest. And my body REALLY rebelled this time…but you’re going to have to wait til next week to hear about that! Ha ha STAY TUNED FOR NEXT WEEK’S EPISODE.”
WELL. So, a couple of weeks back someone from my old job in the US asked if I would send them a short video clip wishing one of my bosses happy 50th birthday to include in a birthday video they were making for her. Of course I would be happy to, and of course I will make it far more complex than it needs to be. So the day before the video was due I went to a local Paris Baguette which is a bakery chain here and got a cute little like personal sized cake and birthday candles, brought it home, held it up to video me singing Happy Birthday in Korean. It was darling if i do say so myself.
Tue., Jan 9
Today was the written part of the midterm exam- I HAD to get myself there. Technically I was no longer “sick,” but in other circumstances I would not have left the house today. And by house I mean bed. I took an Uber to class, which felt incredibly indulgent for a half mile trip but the thought of getting myself up the %*$$#@! hill just was…nope. Not gonna happen.
And it was lovely. I think I might treat myself with that once a week. It’s under $3, I’d say it’s like a coffee swap but the coffee is less than that.
Anyway. I don’t get it. I’m doing well in class. I do well on the homework. I do well on the weekly practice exams. But the midterm is like a completely different animal. The homework and practice tests are like checking to see if we understand/know the material. The midterm is OUT TO GET US. The questions are tricky and unclear. Oh, she might know the material, but let’s see if she’s also SMART! Cuz yeah no, I’m not. I’m not taking Smart Class, I’m taking KOREAN Class. Please don’t intermingle the two.
So…we’ll see how I did. I KNOW I failed the listening part – understanding spoken Korean continues to be the hardest part for me.
Wed., Jan 10
Today was Midterm Part 2: The One-on-One Dialogue with a teacher (not OUR teacher). Five minutes of prompts and answers. I was really prepared for this, thanks to my tutor (I mentally bow to him daily).
And yet…ha ha. I struggled to understand some things she asked me, plus she was wearing a mask, which makes it even more diffcuclt to discern different sounds. OH WELL.
Thur., Jan 11
I went back and forth all week whether I should keep our standing Thursday night “go out” appointment because of how poorly I’d been feeling (I was still not really eating normally). But when he texted “can we meet tomorrow,” I was…YES. YES WE CAN MEET TOMORROW. So we made a simple plan to just meet at a pajeon (vegetable pancake) place near me. But over the course of my 4-hour class I became RAVENOUS and decided I wanted MEAT BEEF STEAK 고기 – and after some texts during class break we decided on a Japanese place also close to me, but where I have had very good “steak bites” before AND a delicious sweet pumpkin soup.
In the end somehow the steak was not nearly as good as it was the first time I was there…and I spilled my pumpkin soup all over myself (ha ha can’t take me anywhere). But I gobbled it all up and felt good…so then we went to a little whiskey bar that had such a nice vibe. Small, dark, a gazillion bottles, good playlist, quiet.
We had two short glasses of whiskey each, and it was bring your own snack, so we’d stopped at the 편의점 (pyeon-eh-jeom) – convenience store – on our way there and he got a bag of his favorite traditional Korean snacks which I ended up liking as well…so will have to look for them in the future to bring home. Anyway, as usual, we just had nice conversation and laughed a lot until we realized it was almost time for his train to stop running and off we went.
Then I walked home Really Slowly cuz I was exhausted.
He has a plan already for next week but said it’s a secret. Eee.
Fri., Jan 12
School. Got our midterm grades back. Well…I didn’t quite pass. My overall grade (there are four sections graded separately) was a 60. 70 is passing. BUT. LAST term I think my overall grade was like a 42. So that’s a lot better. And I DID have a passing grade in one section (reading). So, I actually feel pretty good about it – now that I know that there’s no limit (well, there might be a limit, but…it’s not less than 5) on how many times you can repeat a class til you pass it, I don’t feel all the anxiety I did last time about failing. Which helps me IMMENSELY in the learning process. My anxious brain lets NOTHING in.
Grocery store with a friend then to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. I wasn’t feeling it so just had tortilla chips with salsa but…they tasted really weird, like chemically…or like they’d been fried in bad oil. It might just be me and my “all food is suspect” mindset right now.
Sat., Jan 13
Today was an adventure but I’m exhausted. Let’s just say first subway trip on my own, some challenges, almost changed my mind several times and went back home, but I saw it through.
Went to a different kind of Korean class, I’m looking for more opportunities (and by opportunities I mean I’m looking for someone to FORCE me to speak Korean) to speak, but this didn’t exactly turn out that way…but I can see how it might in the future…plus it’s pretty far away…we’ll see. I may or may not go back.
I walked home from the train Really Slowly cuz I was exhausted (theme of the week).
Sun., Jan 14
Lay in bed. Napped. Stared at the ceiling.
It was glorious.
Hoping for a healthier week ahead. It’s got more social events, so…I need more energy 🙂
Penny
Oh Bettye – how horrid for you – so sorry. Get well soon X
bettyewp
Thanks, Penny. I’m starting to think Korea has it in for me, seriously. I know that’s ridiculous but MAN have I had a lot of physical issues since I’ve been here! And I’m not even here six months yet!!!
Lisa
I’m glad you are on the mend!! It sounds like maybe you had food poisoning!
bettyewp
And this week…a kidney stone! I can’t catch a break here!
Em D
Seriously…another kidney stone! Man, your body is tenacious! Maybe all that stair climbing is knocking them loose. Holy moly. On the bright side, you can add them to the list of things you pass in Korea (yeah, I’m always good for a tasteless joke.)
bettyewp
Yes! That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking, that all this walking has been jostling them around more than my old sedentary life did.
I didn’t pass my class, but I did pass my kidney stone, buhdumpumb. Wow. Okay. Maybe you DO belong in Trash 🙂 Ha ha just kidding!
And to be clear, this is all One Stone. It just floats around for while, causing no harm…but then it tries to go south and gets stuck in the ureter and THAT is the cause of the pain. It will likely not pass on it’s own as it was already 8mm (picture a pearl necklace, but with jaggedy pearls) back in October and they tend to get larger overtime. And the ureter is apparently some dimension smaller than 8mm…which is why the stone gets stuck and causes the very painful spasming. Anyway, that’s my understanding of it.
Iris
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry you were so sick. I can’t imagine being ‘there’ and being so sick. I’m glad you got to feeling better and pray that will continue. I’m behind on everything. We’re snowed in here in Alabama. Not a huge amount of snow – but lots of ice and super cold. Please take care of yourself. Love you, Iris
bettyewp
Yeah, being here is not really any worse for being sick. Except I hate having to miss class, while I always welcomed any valid excuse to miss work, ha ha.
Wow, “snowed in in Alabama,” that’s something you don’t hear every day!
Hope you’re doing better, Iris!
Barbara
So sorry to hear you struggle with health issues!
Maybe that cake contained anything artificial you could’nt tolerate? And now that kidney stone.
I wish you the very best, get well soon, Bettye.
bettyewp
Thanks, Barbara. It’s weird, all my life I’ve had a concrete stomach – could eat ANYTHING. So for such a harmless thing as a CAKE to make me so sick…seems so random.
And the kidney stones continue. It’s just out of control now 🙁
MB
Oh my gosh, Bettye! What a tough time you’ve had with your health! That cake was so adorable and it’s not right for an adorable thing to wreak so much havoc! I wish the teacher had been more understanding about your health. You’re right, it sounded like you were too sick to go anywhere! I’m so sorry about the kidney stone (boulder), too! I have to say that the stairs you navigate seem super intimidating! I’m thinking about you and sending a whole bunch of healing juju your way. 🙂
bettyewp
Thanks, MB! Yeah, if I could get the health thing under control in time for the weather to warm up a bit, I would be Very Happy. It’s one thing to not plan outings when it’s 9 degrees out, cuz who really wants to go out then anyway…but once it gets nice out, I do not want to be schackled to a kidney stone.
Yeah, start doing some stair training now! You’ve got what, 8 months to go before you come to Korea?! I wish I had done more “training” before I got here. Everytime I see a staircase (subway stations are the worst) I die a little inside. And everyone’s like “oh, but they all have elevators!” Sure. They do. A mile in the other direction. So it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.
I love it here, but it for sure has some THANGS.