Monday, March 18

The closest I can get to a NY bagel…

Once the cheese is all melty it’s not too bad…

I’ve been trying to study outside my room a couple times for a little change of scenery, especially since I’m just not getting out much these days because of my knee 🙁 But INSIDE the veranda convenience store is a nice seating/study area and it’s right on my way home…and has snacks, so…

Tutoring in the morning, class in the afternoon, convenience store for dinner and studying. I’m trying to study “out” a little more so I’m not just in my room every evening.

Tuesday, March 19

My tiny wardrobe is getting VERY old…

I’m trying to wait for uber-to-school in a different location every day…

Newsflash: I Slept Straight Through the Night. Woohoo. That’s a rarity these days.

After class I had plans to meet my #2 Language Exchange Partner. I had to hobble down the hill to call (and I’m not “calling,” I’m “apping.”) an Uber…but before I could even open the app, a car pulled up and I could see a man motioning me to come over. There’s a man who works in Admininstration, he facilitates students from Malaysia, Nepal, and Mongolia getting into the language program at my university. It’s interesting how often strangers (Korean people) will just strike up conversations with me, I always wonder if they see me as an opportunity to practice their English. Anyway, we’ve spoken several times when I’m waiting outside the building to go to class. And now here’s a car pulling up in front of me, and a dark face in the dark car motioning to me to come to the car. I did the 16 Candles “Who? Me?” motion, and while he did not turn into Matt Schoeffling, he did say, “Berry! Berry! It’s Me!” like we’re that familiar I should know who “me” is. ANYWHO. I walked over and saw it was, indeed, “me,” and said get in, I’ll give you a ride. He’d watched me hobbling down the whole hill, ha ha. So he dropped me at the subway station where I was meeting Yunjoon, which was lovely of him.

Just another “so many helpful people here” story 🙂

Yunjoon and I had a nice language exchange. We went to a nearby coffee shop that was pretty quiet, considering it’s near the university. That helps me a lot. I have a hard enough time understanding spoken Korean, let alone with a lot of ambient sound. While I’m speaking more than I was just a few weeks ago, there was still more English than Korean, but…I just don’t know how to avoid that. I mean, it’s fine. He’s a kind person with many interesting hobbies and interests, so he’s good to talk to. And each time I’ll try and speak a little more Korean 🙂

PS: happy first day of spring. It was gloomy, drizzly, and windy here.

Wednesday, March 20

I was exhausted from yesterday (yes, just from going to class and then to a nearby coffee shop) so I just came straight home, did homework, and rested.

This morning I called the hospital that the orthopedic clninc I went to last week referred me to after “my” hospital said they’re not currently doing orthopedic surgeries. But the people I spoke to at the front desk spoke English about as well as I speak Korean, so…it was not a very productive conversation. She was essentially telling me to just come in between 9am-5pm and I’d be able to speak with a doctor. Which seems…like not a thing to me. But…I decided to just give it a go on Thursday morning.

Thursday, March 21

Tofu stew. I think I’m pretty good about trying new things, but…I just don’t like everything.

When you’re a LITTLE drunk but the bathroom is outside the bar and you get a LITTLE lost…and you have to text your friend to come save you ha ha. “Am I in the right place??” “Wait there, I’ll come get you.” 🙂 

Yay! Thursday!

But first…I ended up NOT going to the “walk-in hospital” cuz I just felt there was a miscommunication somewhere and there was no way I was going to get to talk to a doctor without an appointment.

So instead I saved up my energy and pain for the evening…but it turns out you can’t really do that, ha ha. Still, Hyungeun found a restaurant witb an elevator and then we took an Uber to a suljib (alcohol house aka bar) cuz I really wanted some drinking relief!.

It was a new adventure in trying Korean food: tofu stew. Ehhh. I liked the soup part…but I’m not a fan of tofu.

They do a thing here…when you get your meal, you get a separate stone pot of rice with a wooden lid – the piece itself is quite charming. But you scoop out all the rice into another smaller rice bowl, leaving just the bits that stick to the side of the stone pot. Then you pour very hot water in and put the lid back on, and let that sit while you eat your actual meal and rice. I always want to just dump all my rice into the soup but that’s not what you do. Then after you’re all done eating your meal you still have this other bowl of…what I can only call hot rice water. I’m sure it has a name. And I wonder if there’s not some reason they do this, like a palate cleanser or some sort of after-meal digestive…but I am not really a fan. Ha. But I enjoy the ceremony of it.

Then onto the drinking portion of the evening, which I *do* understand and enjoy 🙂  We typically have 2 bottles of beer and 1 bottle of soju between us…which makes several someks (soju + mekju) apiece, with a few shots of soju leftover. That’s a nice amount…to just be a little relaxed and tipsy but not full-on DRUNK drunk. There was a South Korea vs Thailand soccer match going on (which I had actually wanted to go to in person, but with my knee the way it is that did not seem like a good plan), so the place was crowded and noisy for the first half of the time…but as soon as it was over almost everyone left and then it was easier to talk.

Friday, March 22

One of many rest stops on my way to class.

Tylenol comes in these tiny boxes of 8. UGH. 8 is what I take in a DAY. And I’m not current-walking-distance to a pharmacy so I’ve been relying on a friend to pick me up a couple boxes when she’s out. Still not enough.

Well, THIS day was ridiculous! A typical morning at home, homework, studying, etc. My friend from Incheon was coming here and we were going to meet for dinner. It said it might be raining around 1:00…it wasn’t raining when I left for class, but I stuck my small umbrella into my book bag. My knee was pretty painful from the walking the night before. Even being really conservative, I still walked a mile.

When I left class it was raining…a moderate amount. Not pouring but enough that I had to hold my umbrella or I would be soaked in 5 minutes…and I was trying to meet my friend at a restaurant. I walked down the hill (and let’s do some math…two hands on crutches + 1 hand on umbrella = NOT). In order to actually hold the umbrella over me I had to walk with the two crutches on my right side, so a) not so well supported for the walk down the hill, b) very awkward trying to keep them moving in perfect unison, and c) I had to hold both hand grips in my one hand which…I culd just barely do.

So I got to the pergola by the lake where there’s a LITTLE protection over head from woody vines that have grown around the wooden supports…but it’s not a roof by any stretch of the imagination. And I stood there for about 20 minutes, making request after request for a car to take me to the restaurant. No luck. And now I was pretty wet. My knee was hurting from standing there for so long…and now i had to resign myself to just walking the rest of the way home. Alone. In the rain. On one crutch. While carrying the second crutch. And my heavy book bag.

It was a real ooh poor me moment.

It took me 30 minutes to walk home from there cuz I’m slow on the knee and I had to keep stopping to realign everything.

By time I got home there was no way I was going BACK out. I was crippled and soaked and feeling VERY sorry for myself. So my friend ate dinner alone then headed back to Incheon. And I ordered food delivery which…was delivered to the wrong address…so I didn’t end up eating til almost 10:00 that night.

Stupid stupid day.

Except for: a classmate from my last class, her sister-in-law here is a nurse…and she took my MRI cd and radiologist’s report to the doctor she works for and he was like oh, she absolutely needs surgery and made me an appt for a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon at like a sports orthopedic clinic Monday morning. So at least there’s some progress on that front.

Saturday, March 23

Walking to four convenience stores on Saturday morning looking for more Tylenol (unsuccessfully).

Having a coffee in the building’s cafe. It was a beautiful day and they opened up the whole wall.

The rain stopped overnight, it was clear and sunny and mild. I sat downstairs in the cafe where the whole wall was open to the outdoors and that was very nice. I tried to get my National Health Insurance payment made but…oddly enough, you cannot make virtual payments outside of business hours or on weekends. I need to get it paid before the surgery, and the way the sister-in-law/nurse was talking, it might be as soon as this week, so I need to get that figured out on Monday (while also getting to the consultation and to class), because the 25th (Monday) is the due date, and if you miss it, then you won’t be insured til the FOLLOWING month.

Then I set out on foot (and crutches) to find some Tylenol cuz I’m going through them at a rapid pace and they only sell them in person in little 8 packs, and I’m taking 6-8 over the course of each day. I walked to four convenience stores, to the dismay of my knee, and came home empty-handed. But it was nice to be outside on such a nice day.

Sunday, March 24

Sitting on the veranda with a grapefruit-ade.

An intentionally quiet, easy day, resting my knee. Did a load of laundry…got a drink late in the afternoon and sat out on the veranda til dark. Started gathering all the things on my “hospital list,” and cleaning my room in case I have to go in this week. I’ll find out tomorrow if it’s going to be laparoscopic, or a full-on surgery (I’m hoping for a full-on knee replacement!) which will require a 3-4 day hospital stay. I don’t know how I’ll handle missing so much class, between the hospital time and then recovery at home for a bit. I’ll ask if i can “attend” via zoom so as to not fall behind. It’s the first time I’ve felt like I’m actually keeping up, I’d hate to blow that now!

Note: This is out late because WordPress would not let me upload images for two days and then I was in the throes of doctor visits and presentation preparing and other distractions.