Monday, April 7

Got to walk past some trees on the way to/from the hospital

And I’ve been taken off the No Fly list, woohoo! I can look up again…shower…resume normal activities to my comfort level. My medical excuse is good through April 14 so I’ve got a week to decide what I’m doing. By the time I go back next week, we will be 6 weeks into a 10-week term. There’s no way I’m passing cuz I didn’t even take the mid-terms. So I’m strongly considering just cutting my losses now and not going back at all.

I’d already decided I was going to “unenroll” myself for the summer term (beginning June to mid-Aug) and just  enjoy my last three months here on a tourist visa (after a quick hop over to Japan for a couple days to start my tourist visa). I was trying to ride out the medical excuse as long as possible for the insurance.

Guess which eye is my camera lens eye? Go ahead. Guess.

It’s this insurance that’s going to be a killer. As long as I tell them before the summer term starts, I should get a 100% refund on that tuition…and I figured the insurance (now that I’d no longer be on the national insurance because I’ll no longer be on a student visa) would be covered by the refund and the rest could go towards this credit card that’s through the roof again after the trip to the US and my eye. But because (of COURSE) I have so many exceptions, the refund might JUST cover the insurance.  It’s extra because I’m insuring from already inside the country I want to insure myself for…and it’s extra cuz I have a pre-existing condition (this siliconoid is going to have to come out of my eye in a couple months)…and there will have to be an extra supplement because of the little gap between the end of Korea and when my Medicare starts on Sep 1. Cha-cha-cha-ching.

Oh (back to the dr), they’re going to make me glasses so I can SEE until the siliconoid comes out, but they need at least two more weeks.

Tuesday, April 8

I have left the building! Woohoo! I took a loonnngggg bus ride to a street I knew of that was lined with cherry trees and had sort of older shops and restaurants. I’d planned to go to a sandwich place afterwards that I’ve wanted to go to for a long time but I walked back and forth and could not figure where to get the bus from…and in the end, gave up and just called an uber to bring me home. It’s an area I’d like to explore more, though, another time.

Wednesday, April 9

Today was just a lazy day.

I think (THINK) I’ve figured out where I want to go tomorrow to take pictures. I do not know WHY the places I want to go are always COMPLICATED. Like, there’s 17 trains that go there, but not one bus. Or there are busses…with three transfers and then a 17 minute walk at the end (NAVER’S 17 minutes. Not MY 17 minutes). Or the directions are like, it’s just right across the street. But what the map doesn’t show is that you have to go up 100 steps to go on a walkway over the street to get to the other side. And I always think, oh I’ll just get off right before the actual stop, then call an uber…but I always chicken out at the last minute cuz I’m like if I CAN’T get an uber then I have to walk further than if I just got off at the right stop in the first place. OR, it’s someplace I’ve seeen on IG or TT and they’re like “oh, it’s right near Hapjeong Station Exit 5.  EAST WEST SOUTH OR NORTH, PEOPLE?!?! And define “near.”

Sometimes all this just makes me decide to not go to that particular place and I get mad at myself.

That’s what happened this morning. And why it became a lazy day.

But I did have a lovely nap mid-day.

Thursday, April 10

Got up and out early this morning. Had a little mental altercation with the bus navigation app and I got off, got on, got off, got on, going back and forth, several times…before I finally got it right (and the app cooperated) and ended up on my cherry tree street target du jour.

I always try to get to these kinds of things early cuz if there’s anything Koreans love, it’s taking pictures of one another in scenic places. My Friend Who Shall Remain Nameless used to joke that she was my personal photographer and I dragged her from photo opp to photo opp…but here – EVERYONE has a personal photographer. Boyfriend, friend, etc. And they are GOOD. They understand angles and lighting and composition and they will take (literally) HUNDREDS of pictures to get Just the Right One. People queue up and politely wait their turn to be in said photo opp spot…rather than in the US where a bunch of people would just crowd in all at the same time so you’d have a bunch of strangers in your shot.

Koreans (and I believe the Japanese as well) are very good at lining up and quietly waiting their turn. They line up outside the pop-up shops, the newly-opened cafes, photo opps, bus stops. Sometimes the bus lines are a little vague, so I just wait til everyone else has gotten on, before I go.

Anyway, I had a second destination in the plan, but a) I hadn’t felt quite right since leaving the house, and I hadn’t eaten much (a banana) before I left and I could sense a bout of hypoglycemia coming on. i don’t know why I do that. Leave the house without eating properly. It never ends well. And b) my t-money card (transportation card that pays on bus and subway – the ONLY way to pay) had been at 4,000w one of my on-again-off-again stops and I was unsure where it was now. less than 4,000w, that’s all I knew. Bus is usually 1,600w and I’m not exactly sure how transfers work. Anyway, I didn’t want to chance trying to get on a bus and my card not working, and already shaky me having everyone looking at me like STUPID AMERICAN – DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO RIDE A BUS. So, instead, I found a bench in the shade and ordered an uber and I was home in an hour and had a nice tuna sandwich.

My mother (pretty much a recluse in her later years) would always call down from her bedroom when my friends would come over “Hello Larry/Christine/Beth/Debbie, are you hungry? I can fix you a nice tuna sandwich…or some tomato soup? How about some cookies?” And they’d always say “no thank you, Mrs. Rainwater,” and she was able to stay in her room (in bed, in her nightgown) and my friend and I could hang out or play or watch tv in peace. But it was always a “nice” food. A nice tuna sandwich. A nice bowl of tomato soup. Etc.

I inherited that particular “nice” gene.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Did my remote work, watched an episode of The Office (I got rehooked on this in Florida, as Katie leaves it on all day as background sound while she works).  Edited some pictures.

A nice day.

Friday, April 11

April 11, 1971 was the day of my first horse show. I rode a miserable albino horse named Paleface and he ran away with me and I got to practice “safe falling.”

When you teach riding at hack barns (barns that have horses for hire, like for trail rides), you teach a lot of defensive techniques, because these horses are not well-schooled or mannerly (not their fault, management buys the cheapeast horses they can, cuz their main job is just to follow the horse in front of them on trail rides – and most horses will do that automatically). You’re taught circling and the pulley rein, and how to roll yourself into a ball when you fall, to lessen the chances of a limb fracture.

I got fourth place. Good times.

I met (on zoom) with my tax guy this morning. I was a little worried cuz I wasn’t sure how the remote job was going to impact everything (up to a certain dollar amount you don’t have to pay income tax at all – don’t quote me on this but I want to say it’s like $15,000?). But it went well and I’m getting a little refund which I can put towards the credit card debt that Will. Not. Die.

I walked over to the mall to use the atm and get cash to then go to the convenience store and reload my t-money card. It’s a bit of a cumbersome process. You initially buy the t-money card (it’s like $5) with a credit card, but you can only reload it with cash. And for me, there are many atms that just don’t work. And not all convenience stores here have atms like back home. I know there are machines in the subway stations where you can buy/reload, but anytime I’ve seen one it’s been out of order.

In Japan, your transportation card is on your phone, and you can reload with a credit card through the app on the phone. Japan 1, Korea 0.

However, IF YOU CAN FIND THEM IN THE WILD, Korea did come out with little plush keychain animals that have the t-money chip inside them so you just “swipe” your cute lil keychain critter to ride the bus/subway. I have only ever seen these talked about on social media, I have not seen one in a store.

Ahh…I just googled them and found the holy grail pair…Hello Kitty and Keromi (Sanrio characters)…sold for $159.19. Sigh. It didn’t even occur to me that re-sellers would be buying them but it makes sense. Sanrio characters are wildly popular here. Oh well, guess I can let that dream go.

And GAWDAMMIT if I didn’t do the same thing AGAIN. Left home at 5 to go to a nearby park with a pretty children’s carousel with a cherry tree behind it…but because I wasn’t feeling HUNGRY and cuz (in my mind) I’d “just eaten” (6 hours earlier I’d had a bowl of cereal), I didn’t think about FOOD. And by the time I got to my bus stop I was like ooh. Then the bus was crowded and I had to stand the whole time (not a long trip, maybe 12 minutes, but when you’re already feeling peckish, not good) and then the bus stops about a quarter mile past the park…by the time I got into the park I was in a bad way. But I’m an idiot so I kept going…I felt like I’d walked a million miles…but when I checked the navigation it showed I was on the wrong road, which was taking me the longer way to the amusement park and I was really only like a third of the way there and.

I gave up. I made it back to the park entrance by going from bench to bench. There’s even a convenience store right inside the entrance – I should have gotten a coke or something for some quick sugar just to get me back to the bus. I swear the low blood sugar affects my brain cuz I make BAD DECISIONS when I get this way. Then I had to walk to the bus…back the quarter of a mile, cross the street, AND WALK BACK DOWN ANOTHER QUARTER MILE.

Seriously, who thought it was okay that I move halfway around the world by myself?

I got home and immediately ordered an entire fried chicken and had half for dinner….

Saturday, April 12

…and half for breakfast/lunch when I finally dragged myself out of bed around noon.

I will look for some sort of sandwich container so I can always leave home w a PB&J…and some hard candy to keep in my bag…and maybe some glucose tablets if I can find them here.

I feel, in part, this is happening more frequently right now cuz I don’t have the structure of school. I always made sure to eat well before leaving for class and I was starving by the time I got home…and I wasn’t going out so much cuz I was tired from class and from walking to and from class. I need to get a little eating schedule in place for myself so this doesn’t keep happening.

Lazy weekend planned. It was supposed to rain all weekend, which means I don’t have to go anywhere, and I don’t have to feel guilty about not going anywhere.

Although “it’s raining” is not as good an excuse here as it was at home. Back home if you had plans and it was raining you’d be like “it’s raining,” and they’d be like “yeah. it’s raining. should we cancel?” “yeah.” “okay.” It was practically a given. Here “it’s raining,” and they’re like “yeah? when do you want to meet?” Which is weird cuz at home we had CARS, and HERE you walk everywhere…you’d think it would be the other way around.

Sunday, April 13

I had a plan. Trying to squeeze in one more cherry tree photo shoot after last night’s hard rain and the threat of more tomorrow. I got up at 7, got dressed, ate a bowl of cereal…then sat for a moment and listened to my body. And it was saying…uhm…don’t go. Stay home. Get back in bed.

So that’s what I did – after peeking out the kitchen window to the cherry trees (there should be little candies in the shape of cherry blossoms, called Cherry Treets) across the lake…and they were definitely looking less vivid than they had been. Which made me feel better about NOT riding a bus for an hour (yes, EVERYTHING is an hour away) to take some dismal pictures of bedraggled looking trees.

Plus I was cold. You ever have those days where you’re just COLD and can’t seem to get warm? Bed sounded good. So I chose a new audiobook (gave up on the meh one) and snuggled under the covers listening to a new story for hours. I did doze off a bit sometime during chapters 2-4, but…I forged ahead and think I know what little I missed.

That’s always the problem for me with audiobooks. I used to listen to them while driving, which was perfect. But now I don’t drive, so I lay down to listen (I can’t multi-task and follow the story well) and then I fall asleep.

Had soup for lunch. Did some remote work. Now it’s 4:00 and it’s raining and cold. I think I’m gonna finish this post here and get back in bed with my show…call it a day.

See ya later luv ya bye.