Tooth Extraction in Korea
I had my first surgical procedure today (technically yesterday since it’s after midnight.) I wanted my bottom left wisdom tooth removed. It wasn’t hurting me or anything. It had grown in wrong and I just didn’t like it. The staff at Bestian Medical Center’s Oral Surgery department were very nice. My surgeon spoke English which was super comforting. He was familiar with my home state of North Carolina. We talked about UNC Chapel Hill’s top rated School of Dentistry and pretty soon we were like best friends. He looked over my shoulder and read my texts, and even asked for details about one text. I have nothing to hide. If you don’t have trust you don’t have anything. The procedure went well. Once the anesthesia kicked in my tooth was out in about 20 minutes. The root was anchored pretty tightly in the mandible so it took longer than expected.…
Last Day of Dochang Summer English Camp
So long Dochang Yesterday was my last visit to Dochang Elementary School. I’m going to miss my kids. They’re a class of only three boys and so much fun. I wish all three of them had shown up for the last day. I guess they had more important things to do. Easy Peazy It was nice to have a proper co-teaching experience. Kathryn, another American teacher living in Wasu, and I taught TOGETHER like the term suggests. She’s an awesome teacher and an all-around awesome person. Mr. Lee came to check out our ice cream project. He’s always cool. We only had five students. One of my boys, and three students from another class. Camp was a breeze. I learned the Cups Song along with the kids. It was fun battling them once we got the hang of it (or at least we thought we did). Mr. Lee, after watching…
The End is Near
In two weeks my five month ESL adventure in South Korea will come to an end. All resignation paperwork has been turned in. My luggage is packed. I’m ready and waiting. I never did experience the honeymoon phase of coming here and it still hasn’t quite settled with me that I’m actually in South Korea. Things started out on the downside within a week of my arrival, so it’s more of an eking out an existence. I’m just…here. Which sucks because I waited several years for this! I plan to make up for this disappointment though, once I decide on my next international destination. Thankfully, these last few weeks are during the school’s summer vacation. There are no lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations holding me captive on the weekends, so I’m able to get out and do a bit of exploring. Since my coteacher is on vacation, I can venture about town before five in…
Making The Goal in Half The Time
I set my mind on a financial goal before arriving in Korea, and I’ve been true to reaching it. I’m thankful for the financial discipline I have. I came here on a one year contract not aware of the bear trap I was stepping into. But you know what? It doesn’t matter! In 83 days, I will have reached my goal, in half the time anticipated, and will be headed to wherever I want to go that’s not Korea! Just imagine if I could stomach staying til I completed the year…Oh, well… I can get the same result putting simple principles to use. So no worries. I started on a new book a few days ago. Here’s one of my favorite passages thus far from The Richest Man in Babylon: “….Thereupon they agreed that it was so. “Then,” continued Arkad, “if each of you desireth to build for himself a…
Co-teacher
Where’s my co-teacher? Ok. So I go in for work at about 8:55 this morning. My co-teacher isn’t in the classroom. So, I do my normal whipping out of my laptop and start typing away on lesson plans, etc. There’s no 1st period on Mondays, so I think nothing of it when 9:20 rolls around and my Co-teacher still hasn’t shown up. Second period starts at 10:10, so when 10:00 rolls around, I start thinking, Hmm… Maybe she’s downstairs talking to the principal or office staff? I run downstairs to the office. I ask where she is and the office ladies tell me that she isn’t coming in today because she’s sick. They proceed to apologize. I respond with a resounding, “Oh no! It’s OK! Kenchanayo!” Oh, happy day! I left out of that room with a pep in my step! Not that I was happy about her being sick… But,…