I didn't know that Hugh Hefner has a medi center in Korea!

So, I have been sick for the past week and I have been to 2 doctor's offices. One was a whirlwind check up. He had me on a swivel chair. Swirling me around left, right... breath! Check my heart rate with the stethoscope... turn. Open your mouth! "Ahhh". Close your mouth and your eyes! Spray some stuff up my nose. In the mean time there's a nurse checking my temp through my ear and looking in my other ear to check my drum. Swivel... turn, poke, prod... breath... about 3 minutes later I was finished my check up and walking outta there with a prescription.

Next... my ear starts hurting a few days later. I walk into Hugh Hefner's medi-center! Pimped out! Purple velvet couches and throw pillows! Whoa... So I wait in this luxurious waiting room... hoping the doctor is having a busy day and I can sit in there a bit longer.

My name gets called, I enter the docs room. He is wearing a head band thing with a circular mirror at the forehead! Yeah, he was! Anyways, he checks my ears. He puts a metal knife type thing on my teeth, hits it and in my right ear (my sore ear) I can hear this crazy ringing! Then he sprays this mystery spray up my nostrils and then puts a long silver thing up there and looks off to his right. So I follow his gaze and there on these big tv screens is my nostril! He has a camera in my nostril... and the stuff he sprayed up there looks really gross when it's magnified on the big screen. So he takes a still shot and does the same with the other... the interiors of my nostrils, frozen on the big screen... nice. He tells me that if the medicine doesn't work, that the worst case scenario would be them making an incision on my ear drum to let the fluid drain out externally.... I was diagnosed with an inner ear infection that started in my throat. So, prescription in hand I am leaving the office and I am nabbed by a nurse and sat down in this chair... one more thing before you go! She puts stethoscope type ear phones on me and out pours the bass. Yes, pure bass played into my ears for 2-3 minutes, to try and loosen up the fluid to promote drainage... I finished with that, walked through Hugh's lobby and left.

Froggy Frog Humidifier

Our Friday Night

Me and my roomies just sitting here chillin' in the apartment this Friday eve. I'm sipping on the vino and they're drinkin' the beer... OB Blue, is the name. Listening to music... took a few pics...

Teaching this week was better than last... only one kid cried in my class this week. As opposed to at least a kid a day last week. The only kid who had a good reason to cry last week was the one who ran his face into the wall while we were playing a writing game that required them to get up to see the word and go back to their spot on the glass wall (which they write on with erasable markers)... yeah, he ran into a wall, nose first...bloody nose!!! YIKES!! Anyways, the rest of them were just being cry babies! I tell ya. Every time they cry I have to bring them to the receptionist... it starts looking bad when it's Thursday and I'm on my 5th kid for the week...

So, ya, this week was better! I was singing and dancing in class today... singing new words for them to learn and striking dance moves periodically... "Alligator! Alligator... bump bump chh, bump bump chh... what does it start with? A! What is it? Alligator!" dance dance!! Yeah, it was a success!

The wine is good... the music is good... the company is good...

Leah, the other roomie, says "like, seriously guys booooooo".

Free hugs? Yes, please!!!

So, we were in a trendy part of Seoul last weekend and there were 2 people on the street with signs in their hands, raised high above their heads. These people were about my age. One was a guy, the other a girl. They looked as normal as any 20 something year old person you might run into in Seoul would. They weren't normal though, they were extraordinary! Do you know what these signs said? "Free Hugs"!!! I thought that was the best idea ever!! What a peaceful gesture! So, I went in for one. I went to the guy and he opened his arms right up, grinning ear to ear. He swallowed me with his arms and gave me such a warm, heart felt hug. He was Korean and he spoke English. As he was hugging me he said, "Hi! How are you tonight? Doing good? Are you happy?". It was a great hug! I was hesitant to go hug him at first, but as soon as I did, I was so happy with my decision!

Some pics for y'all!

My Kiddies... so cute

The sounds of my neighbourhood...

I hear kids playing outside at most hours of the day. The suburb, Paju, that we live in has so many kids running and walking around, roller blading, skateboarding, biking, scootering... am i missing anything? I sit in my house and hear them play down in the courtyard below.

We have a sweet courtyard below us (we are on the 4th floor) ... I love standing at my balcony looking down on it, or up at the starts at night. That's right, I can see the stars so clearly! Orion shows up above me around 9-10 pm every night... it's one of the only things that is truly familiar to me here. Not that they don't have milk, cars and sidewalks... but it's a familiarity that is different from those types of things... it's hard to explain.

About once a week I can hear the sounds of the market in the courtyard below...

I also hear piano echoing off the building walls. It is good piano playing, mostly classical... whoever is playing it must have a window opened. I love it!!

I hear kids practicing "tae kwon do" as I walk past the building where the lessons are. Then I hear them run into the streets when the lesson is over, still in their uniforms.

And now, as of Monday, I hear kids, making kid noises, in school all the time. I'm most happy when I hear them speaking English, because they aren't supposed to speak a word of Korean while they are in school.

I hear cars and buses going by... it's not too loud, but it's there.

I hear construction sounds all around our neighbourhood... everything is so new, lots of things still being built. It isn't something that wakes me up in the morning, it's closer to the downtowny area... if you can even call it downtown. Actually it's more like, "up town".

I hear music playing loudly in the streets when certain stores are having a promotion. Sometimes they are shouting out things over the mic... I wonder what they're saying?

I heard 7 older women chanting as they walked through the streets the other night, it sounded religious.

I hear crickets all the time.

I heard about 10 tanks roll through downtown the other day! They were loud... it sounded like a bunch of tanks rolling by... heh heh, sounds redundant, but that's what it sounded like... thunderous tanks!!!

I hear Korean everywhere I go... that's an obvious one. I am trying to catch onto the language. After about 2 weeks of being here Dan and I realized that when we thought we were saying "goodbye" to people, that we were actually saying "sit down". heh heh... that was a funny realization... I still say it sometimes... I can't remember how to say goodbye... "Han io sayo"? I don't know. Dan can say it...

Sometimes I hear updates of some sort come out of these speakers of our apartment walls... some Korean person just starts talking away and Dan and I just smirk as we look from each other to the speakers in the wall...

Many many sounds I hear... these are the sounds of my neighbourhood.

I hope you are all doing well! Love Amie