It's the little things that sometimes matter most
Since being in Korea, I've discovered that I end up taking great pleasure in findng little things that bring me a sense of finding a sense of home.
For example, I went to a blackmarket shop (not really as evil as it sounds) and found Diet Dr Pepper. I used to drink Diet Dr Pepper by the caseload with more per day than anyone ever should. I bought probably 18 cans of it (at an insane profit to the seller), and this was weeks ago. About 3 or so. I still have 4 left. I find myself happy that I have them, and that I found them. I drink one every now and then. Okay, doing the math, that's almost one a day, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I guess a few days in the beginning I had an absurd amount of them, having missed them, but it's been few really since then.
The same goes for computer games. Fallout 3 is out, and I really, really, really want to play it cause I love the Fallout franchise. But I have my laptop here instead of my desktop (who knows if I'll ever see that computer again...), so I can't really play Fallout 3 without problems. Therefore, I have to find my pleasure in other things. So, I've managed to search the web to find copies of some of the older games that used to be the greatest games ever created. Last week, I was spending my idle time playing Millennium: Return to Earth, which was one of the first great space strategy games back in the 1980s. Still a great game today. Sure, it doesn't have the graphics of today, but the game was well designed and there's a reason it took the game world by storm. Right now, I'm playing a game I remember from 20 years ago called Phantasie 3, a typical "find the evil wizard and kill him before he kills you" kind of game. I loved it way back then. I'm now loving it way back now. It's campy, mainly because it set the stage for so many other roleplaying games to come, so you can see the genius in this game because you realize so many others copied what they tried to do in this little, simple game. Peole tend to forget that some of the greatest innovations are much as Newton claimed in his accomplishments: "On the backs of giants".
My medical status has been a trial of trials. I don't even want to get into how much this has been costing me because my boss can't figure out I'm trying to tell him he needs to supply me with national insurance (which is the law). It's costing me a fortune every time I have to go see a doctor, and I'm getting so frustrated with the whole process. The woman he hired to be the office manager (and translator) speaks about as much English as he does, and neither one of them understands my attempts at Korean (because they really don't listen anyway), so I keep getting into crappy situations with this here. I had a recent scare (which isn't really completely over) with my blood sugar going through the roof because I was lacking a medication. I have it now, but the doctor didn't understand and prescribed only half the dosage necessary, which means I need this fixed soon or things are just going to be really bad. Essentially, for the last three weeks I've been living with the immediate threat of a heart attack because of my situation. I don't know if it's solved because I have no way of gauging it, although I'm doing everything I can to fix it. My vision has been really screwed up lately as a result, meaning I can barely read anything (although I can see normally elsewise. The vision appears to be coming back slowly (since I received the half dosage of the medication I was lacking), but I'm not completely confident all is well yet.
If it's any consolation, I've lost a ton of weight since I've been here. I was weighing about 170 lbs (which was way too much). I'm coming in around 154-7 these days. It probably has something to do with the fact that I walk everywhere here in Korea. Some of the walks really suck, because there are hills here that hill giants would frown upon having to walk, and they're everywhere. Also, there are no elevators that people take in the subways, so you go way down into the ground and then you walk up TONS of stairs to get back to the surface again. There are a few times where I'm completely winded and feel embarrassed because I just don't have enough energy to get out to the top of the stairs of the subway after I reach my destination. One habit I got rid of immediately after arriving here was eating at McDonalds and Burger King. Yeah, they have those places here, but you can't survive on that stuff as food. I find myself a lot happier with frozen chicken meals or Healthy Choice soups that I have discovered at Costco (which I recently discovered are sold at a local market for about the same price).
As for work, well, it's better than when I started, but it's usually chaos most days of the week. Classes start up brand new and then get cancelled later that week. And no one tells you the class was cancelled until you've finished preparing that day's lesson and are about to walk upstairs to the classroom where everyone has already been informed a day ago that the class was cancelled. That gets old really fast, and no matter how many times you complain, they stare at you as if it's not a problem (BECAUSE THEY KNEW).
As for relationships, not even thinking about that because I'm trying to fix my life first. Too many Maslow needs are necessary to accomplish before I can even think about taking care of any social aspects of my life. But I'm working on it. We'll see how things work out.
Stumble It!
For example, I went to a blackmarket shop (not really as evil as it sounds) and found Diet Dr Pepper. I used to drink Diet Dr Pepper by the caseload with more per day than anyone ever should. I bought probably 18 cans of it (at an insane profit to the seller), and this was weeks ago. About 3 or so. I still have 4 left. I find myself happy that I have them, and that I found them. I drink one every now and then. Okay, doing the math, that's almost one a day, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I guess a few days in the beginning I had an absurd amount of them, having missed them, but it's been few really since then.
The same goes for computer games. Fallout 3 is out, and I really, really, really want to play it cause I love the Fallout franchise. But I have my laptop here instead of my desktop (who knows if I'll ever see that computer again...), so I can't really play Fallout 3 without problems. Therefore, I have to find my pleasure in other things. So, I've managed to search the web to find copies of some of the older games that used to be the greatest games ever created. Last week, I was spending my idle time playing Millennium: Return to Earth, which was one of the first great space strategy games back in the 1980s. Still a great game today. Sure, it doesn't have the graphics of today, but the game was well designed and there's a reason it took the game world by storm. Right now, I'm playing a game I remember from 20 years ago called Phantasie 3, a typical "find the evil wizard and kill him before he kills you" kind of game. I loved it way back then. I'm now loving it way back now. It's campy, mainly because it set the stage for so many other roleplaying games to come, so you can see the genius in this game because you realize so many others copied what they tried to do in this little, simple game. Peole tend to forget that some of the greatest innovations are much as Newton claimed in his accomplishments: "On the backs of giants".
My medical status has been a trial of trials. I don't even want to get into how much this has been costing me because my boss can't figure out I'm trying to tell him he needs to supply me with national insurance (which is the law). It's costing me a fortune every time I have to go see a doctor, and I'm getting so frustrated with the whole process. The woman he hired to be the office manager (and translator) speaks about as much English as he does, and neither one of them understands my attempts at Korean (because they really don't listen anyway), so I keep getting into crappy situations with this here. I had a recent scare (which isn't really completely over) with my blood sugar going through the roof because I was lacking a medication. I have it now, but the doctor didn't understand and prescribed only half the dosage necessary, which means I need this fixed soon or things are just going to be really bad. Essentially, for the last three weeks I've been living with the immediate threat of a heart attack because of my situation. I don't know if it's solved because I have no way of gauging it, although I'm doing everything I can to fix it. My vision has been really screwed up lately as a result, meaning I can barely read anything (although I can see normally elsewise. The vision appears to be coming back slowly (since I received the half dosage of the medication I was lacking), but I'm not completely confident all is well yet.
If it's any consolation, I've lost a ton of weight since I've been here. I was weighing about 170 lbs (which was way too much). I'm coming in around 154-7 these days. It probably has something to do with the fact that I walk everywhere here in Korea. Some of the walks really suck, because there are hills here that hill giants would frown upon having to walk, and they're everywhere. Also, there are no elevators that people take in the subways, so you go way down into the ground and then you walk up TONS of stairs to get back to the surface again. There are a few times where I'm completely winded and feel embarrassed because I just don't have enough energy to get out to the top of the stairs of the subway after I reach my destination. One habit I got rid of immediately after arriving here was eating at McDonalds and Burger King. Yeah, they have those places here, but you can't survive on that stuff as food. I find myself a lot happier with frozen chicken meals or Healthy Choice soups that I have discovered at Costco (which I recently discovered are sold at a local market for about the same price).
As for work, well, it's better than when I started, but it's usually chaos most days of the week. Classes start up brand new and then get cancelled later that week. And no one tells you the class was cancelled until you've finished preparing that day's lesson and are about to walk upstairs to the classroom where everyone has already been informed a day ago that the class was cancelled. That gets old really fast, and no matter how many times you complain, they stare at you as if it's not a problem (BECAUSE THEY KNEW).
As for relationships, not even thinking about that because I'm trying to fix my life first. Too many Maslow needs are necessary to accomplish before I can even think about taking care of any social aspects of my life. But I'm working on it. We'll see how things work out.
Labels: Korea
Stumble It!
posted by Duane @ 9:01 PM
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