Dangerous Toxins Removed

Watch our show! Lol.

 

 So I forgot to pick a vegetable up from the grocery store one evening. When I went back out to the grocery store, I hurried to get out of the cold. I looked down suddenly and I noticed a creature heading towards me, yapping. There were three of them. One was a little shorter than my knee. The first one growled but I leaped onto the hood of the nearest car when it came too close. I waited for fifteen seconds when suddenly I heard a whistle. At that, the dogs scrammed. Later my friend Zach said, “They’re intimidating at first, but if you keep walking they won’t bite.” I didn’t see the dogs until they were up on me. They were almost invisible, and that I was startling.

Acupuncture

my foot and the needles

It’s been a while since I mentioned my foot sprain. I tripped back in May and was left with a mid-foot sprain. The doctor said there was no need for a bandage, and I believed him. For two weeks I believed him until it wasn’t getting better. The doctor said there was no problem. He had taken an x-ray, and I was icing it nightly. “What? What doctor would tell you not to wrap it?” Mom said on a video chat. I went to buy some wrap after she insisted, I researched ankle sprains, and after another friend’s mother (who happened to be in Korea) told me to go to get my foot wrapped, too. Each week I started to buy wrap, but the area had already begun to swell more. So about two weeks ago the English Director Mr. Do (pronounced Doe) mentioned a visit he made to the local acupuncturist. Mom thought accupuncture might help the pain in my foot and that I should try it. I didn’t see anything wrong with trying it, so later I asked Mr. Do if he could take me there. I went with him, and Zach came along, too. The process wasn’t too painful. “Whew, that’s swollen,” Zach said when he saw my foot. Needles pierced my skin but they were only short stings.

the doctor holding burning mugwort, tightly bound 'moxibustion'

The doctor also used an electrical stimulation wrap to help relax the muscles in my foot and send electrodes through my joints. I had experienced electrical stimulation once before when I visited a chiropractor in Atlanta.

The next day I walked fine. I went back for 'muxa' as Mr. Do calls it or moxibustion two days later and that also helped. Today I had my third treatment. “After this week,” the doctor said, “if you don’t feel pain you’ve completely healed.” I’m so shocked I don’t know what to say. The stiff nag in my foot is gone. Now the only thing I feel is a small bruise from where the needles were stuck.

 

 

My foot undergoing moxibustion

Meeting Up

A few weeks ago there was an education meeting. After the meeting the education officials treated themselves and us foreign teachers to dinner. We had both fried and stewed Blowfish.

Delicious Blowfish

 

Blowfish is a delicacy and actually can be quite dangerous if not handled properly in the kitchen. “Domestic preparation leads to an occasional death,” according to Wikipedia. Lucky for us the dangerous parts were removed by seasoned cooks, and it was really delicious. It tasted like a hybrid between chicken and fish, chewy and tender.

Then a little later (this past Saturday actually) I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner in Seoul. The food was cooked fresh at a place in Itaewon (the foreign district) called Suji’s. We drank a lot of champagne, wine, and everyone enjoyed each other’s company. It had been so long since any of us had had turkey with cranberry sauce or mashed potatoes for that matter. We stuffed our mouths with food. As my Dad used to say, “Nobody’s talkin’ so the food must be good.”

A Saturday Thanksgiving at Suji's!

It was 50,000 Korean won, about 50 bucks for one plate, including one glass of wine and pumpkin pie. It made all the difference being with great people and eating this food. I still missed out on my Mom’s candied yams, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and sweet potato pie. Tori mentioned one of her family’s recipes, and Zach did, too. We went around the table exchanging family traditions.

I sat at the head of the table. I said the prayer, and everyone said one thing they were thankful for. I said thanks for my health. It’s been a long year. After that, the turkey and tryptophan brought us back home for a moment.

Snow

First snow of the year

We had our first snow two days before Thanksgiving. It was unusual to witness this early. Maybe it was a bad omen. Or good luck. Even my co-teachers said it’s too early for winter. Most people are sick of snow here. It snows and ruins the conditions for driving because it freezes overnight. Inside the teacher’s lounge it’s always warm (quite different from my previous school). There’s a big gas-powered heater that really gets it feeling like an oven in there. . . Now, a week later, it’s December. It’s not too early anymore, but it is still too damn cold!

 

 

 

Do as others do. Especially when it's cold! Sticking my hands in front of the heater like all the other teachers

 

 

But I will go to Koh Samui, Thailand for an education course in January. So I'll escape the cold later! Until then, I’m trying and stir up something to do for Christmas. I’m thinking of trying my hand at Egg Nog—and mixing it with bourbon or dark rum (not sure which to choose).

 

Yours truly,

          Evan