I Carried a Watermelon

...a famous quote from what movie? That's right, 1980s hit, Dirty Dancing. It's what Baby says as an opening line to her future lover, Patrick Swayze. Accordingly, she felt like an idiot after saying such a lame-o line. It was all that was running through my head yesterday as I was literally carrying a watermelon into my botfriend's parent's apartment for his father's b-day shindig. I was so proud that the line was applicable to my life, but alas! there was no one around to share it with. thank goodness for blogs and a good memory.

so yeah, yesterday was Hang Bin's papa's 61st b-day! Chukhahamnida! (congrats in korean) I was invited to the festivites, which was really really nice. Now, I've already met his parents (twice) and his siblings, but at this dinner I met an innumerable amount of extended family. Aunts, uncles, cousins. Besides the fact that I couldn't understand any of the conversation, the feeling of the family gathering was very much that of my own family. They are all very close and enjoy each others' company immensely.

We started off with dinner at a restaurant (Korean BBQ), then went back to his parents' apt for watermelon and chillin', then at about 9:30 we headed, all 15ish of us, to the No Rae Bang. That's right, I went singin' with Hang Bin's entire family. I wallflowered it, mostly. Of course, in my own comfortzone of foreigners, I'm likely to be in the middle of the room dancin' and singin' and hootin' n' hollerin', but in this situation I stayed on the outside for several reasons a) I am an outsider, b) I'm relatively new to most of these people, who have known each other for their entire lives and c) given my tendency towards tactlessness, I prefer not to do anything that may draw attention to myself in a Korean situation for fear that my actions may be rude in their culture. I'm pretty secure in my knowledge of dos and don'ts in Korean society, but when it comes to the boyfriend's family, I ain't takin' no risks.

Despite my wallflower status I did come out once to sing a song (the easy standby "Dancing Queen") and dance a bit, and I truly did enjoy myself watching them all have such a great time. I was flattered and really happy to be invited.
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As you may know, my stint at camp is now finished. Once I got home last Friday I pretty much melted into a puddle and for the next 3 or 4 days slept anywhere from 10-15 hours in a night. Yeah, camps take a lot out of a girl, even though I sleep well while I'm there.

The camp itself was great as usual. It was my fifth camp and for the first time I taught a subject other than "English Through Music". During the winter vacation I was asked to write a new unit it for the textbook: Presentation Skills. The point of the unit is to teach public speaking skills as well as confidence. This was a great opportunity for me because my personal philosphy after a year and a half of teaching EFL is that language ability is not the most important aspect of language learning, confidence is. You could have all the ability in the world, but without confidence, no one would ever know your ability.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that the first-ever teaching of this unit was really successful. All the trainees were happy with the information, the activities, and (perhaps most importantly :P) ME! yay!

Here's a picture of my homeroom class, the Golden Bells. The other foreigner is Jon, fun guy from Atlanta and our token Yankee at the camp. We were co-teachers for the Golden bells and got along very well. We both share a passion for word puzzles, especially crosswords, which we could be seen doing during most of our free time. I think in the two weeks there we completed about 30 puzzles and 1 game of scrabble (I won, Mom...watch out!).

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My next story is not a happy one, it's a rageful one. I've hurt my shoulder, but I don't know exactly what the problem is. It's a combo, I'm sure, of volleyball, badminton, and poor sleeping positions. Anyway, I've had back pain for most of my life from teens up, so I know what muscular back pain feels like. The pain in my shoulder is a little different which leaves me to suspect a pinched nerve or something. Anyway, at the camp my physical activity was reduced, but the pain got worse. Finally, on Monday, I decided it was enough for me to go and get it checked out by the doctor. Here is an account of my experience:

Hang Bin is a sweetheart and came with me, but also suggested that we get Mr Son to come along because Mr Son's English is a little better. After talking about it in Korean, we headed to the Boseong General hospital. This was not Hang Bin's first choice, but considering he's is korean and 50 years younger than Mr Son, Mr Son's suggestion was the one we followed.

We went to the clinic where I described my symptoms to the doctor. We were directed to a different doctor (not a GP, I guess). I got x-rayed. No problem, so far so good.

When the x-rays came in, I sat down with this other doctor whose name I didn't even get. Thankfully, the x-rays showed no joint damage, phew! I didn't have the opportunity to describe to him exactly where the pain was before he was pressing "massage therapist" hard the top of my shoulder (trapezius muscle). Let me clarify something...that's NOT where my pain is, it's actually under my shoulder blade in my upper back. Anyway, after his *ahem* firm touch, I then had TWO pains in my shoulder.

Before I knew it, Mr Son's telling me he wants to inject something into my shoulder to "untangle the sinews". Right, my muscles are tight, I get that, it's pretty much a permanent state for me, but what the HELL does he want to put directly into me via needle? It's three days later and I still don't know what it was but it certainly didn't help. The only thing it accomplished was making me irate enough to start crying (that and it's uncomfortable getting muscular injections). I think the only reason I didn't loose it completely was because Hang Bin was there and I didn't want to scare him with rageful-crying-nessie.

After that I was told to go to the second floor for physical therapy. UH-huh. Just one question...what's wrong with my shoulder in the first place?!?!? A question still unanswered. *sigh*

But wait! My tale is not finished!! Before I went to the physical therapy room I, naturally, had to get something injected into my ass. Of course!! When I realised this I snapped at Mr Son, which I regret because he was only trying to help. Poor guy. Anyway, I just wanted to know what they were giving me, but I just got shh'ed and told to trust the doc. The poor ass-needle nurse looked terrified of me with my red face and rageful eyes. She probably though she was trying to sedate a crazy, stampeding rhinocerous or something.

At least I'm not afraid of needles, eh?

I went to the physical therapy room where I laid on a heated board for about 40 minutes, then had "Digital interferential current therapy" for about 15 minutes, then something with an ultrasound machine. I'm not gonna lie, there was about 30 minutes where I was alone because Hang Bin left to pay my bills for me (again, a sweetheart), and in that time I cried silently and pitifully. I should've stayed home, no?

Finally after that I was free to go. One more thing to take care of, however - my prescription. After that experience I absolutely refused to put anymore chemicals into my body without knowing what they were so Hang Bin kindly asked the pharmacist to write the English names of the meds for me so I could look them up on the internet. It's really difficult to explain how important it is for Westerners to know what's going on. I was taught to question things and to be aware of what I put in my body. After several needles without knowing what was in them, I was weary and quite upset. I think Hang Bin understood, but he was embarrassed to ask the pharmacist. I don't doubt the competency of the doctors here, don't get me wrong. The lack of trust only comes from the inability to communicate. In Canada, the doctor can straight up tell me what's happening.

Anyway, yesterday I was quite uncomfortable because of the stretching that the doc did to me before and after the needles. Today, that pain is gone and I'm left with the exact same pain in my right upper back that the meds are doing nothing to assuage. My next attempt, perhaps, will be acupuncture I think. Or an English speaking doctor in Gwangju. Anyway, onto happier things...
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CAROL'S BIRTHDAY!!!

My dear friend Carol turned 32. Naturally, such a joyous event was reserved for the finale of this blog entry! We've been having a slew of themed parties and Carol's was no exception. Held in the port city of Mokpo, the party was 80s themed. Oh mercy.

The day started with a picnic in the park by the seashore. There was beer, frisbee, LOTS of food and good friends! There was also a children's playground which I discovered I am not too old for! Swings! Teeter-totters! and perhaps the best part...Toy back-hoes! That's right, I got to dig in the dirt!

Anyway, fast forward to the pre-bar party at Crystal's apt. We got all decked out in various outfits reminiscent of the 1980s. Carol was in seventh heaven exclaming "This is how I always wanted to dress in the 80s but my Mom would never let me!!!" Here's her outfit:

I dressed kind of like the Ally Sheady character from Breakfast club. As Mel put, we would not have been friends in high school because I would'v ebeen the misunderstood social outcast who "supposedly" gave her brother an STD. har har here's me:

Other character included: a tennis player, dude from DIVO, Andre agassi, George michael, a girl from Robert Palmer's music video, Jane Fonda, and lots of other grotesquely awesome getups!

For more pictures, go here:
Carol's 80s Party!!