I can still hear my dad, singing those words at me I hated them. They usually popped up when I had dome something especially stupid, like knocking over my glass of milk or something (or wrote the word dome instead of done... See what I did there?). Today, I feel like someone needs to come to my house and ask me that question. Except don't, because today's Buddha's birthday, so we don't have school, and I'm celebrating by not wearing pants today.
So, after my three cups of coffee that I had yesterday afternoon at Kris' apartment (no creme, no sugar, so it was almost healthy... it probably would have been in a smaller amount), and the midnight trip to the animal hospital, I was wired, and stayed up until the moon went to bed, waking up just now. No, I don't feel great, but it's not too bad. I'm loopy enough to take the bun into my bathroom and actually encourage her to pee in the shower, though. I'm glad I did. I'm pleased to announce:
The pee is normal again!!!
Yeah, you probably didn't need to see that, but it fits with the theme of what I learned in this excursion. Speaking of which, all together now:
Okay, so what have we learned?
We learned that Korea has 24 hour vets.
We learned that you that class syllabi are actually helpful.
We learned that certain TESOL professor's wives are very self-sacrificing.
We learned that bunnies may or may not have blood-colored pee from time-to-time... (I would have taken her to the vet whether I looked that up first or not. The guinea pig died of tumors which were indicated by the blood in her urine.)
We learned that I'm gonna be one of those crazy mommas that takes their babies to the doctor for every little thing. (And one of those crazy mommas that posts pictures of every little thing here babies do: "Look! Johnny made a poop in the potty! Yayyyy!" Prepare yourself.)
We learned that I should probably just go ahead and set up a weekly appointment with a pediatrician, scheduled to start eight years from now or so.
Okay. That's what I learned. What did you learn? (Yes, I was only dumb enough to say that to my father once.)
Oh, yeah... aside from the fact that my rabbit started peeing blood, so I called and woke up one of my TESOL profs and his wife to beg them to take me to the 24 hour animal hospital and translate for me. Unbeknownst to me, I was waking up a woman who was terrified of animals.
OTL.
Bunny did NOT like the ultrasound procedure, but seemed to realize at some point that we were trying to help her, because she chilled out.
She REALLY did not like the X-ray, since we had to stretch her legs out.
But she was very good for her shots.
Let's see if she behaves when I have to give her her meds two times a day.
She could have an infection or a bladder inflammation, but the vet wasn't totally sure. He referred me to a bunny specialist in Seoul, though. A bunny specialist. I don't even go to see human specialists.
Picture me throwing my hands up into the air here. Now, look at this video of my bun being healthy.
Oh yeah... I busted up my $10/day budget for today. Just an FYI.
Today, I graduated from the TESOL program at KNU. I must say, I did not enjoy the class, overall. But, now I'm certified, and I have my certificate, which should be good globally.
Me, my professors, and Dr. Im (and my certificate and plant).
I also appreciated the class, because it gave me the opportunity to re-bond with the people who came in the same time as me, as well as some of the new people. I really do feel a lot closer to them now. I hope it sticks!
The whole group, professors, Dr. Im, and all.
What is it that you dislike in the moment, but are grateful for in the end?
***Don't forget to sign the petition to save refugees from North Korea!***
Blessing #5 - A roof over my head
Today was my last teaching practice for TESOL. All I had to do was prepare and act out a story, equipped with props and strong characterizations. I picked a story I drilled into myself (and everyone around me) when I was little: The Three Little Pigs. This is a story I could tell in my sleep, if I wanted. For props, I collected a bundle of sticks, some hay - straw - from my rabbit's stash, and a bag of rocks that I wedged out of the frozen earth this morning. Except, I never meant to have rocks at all.
Yesterday, on the way to church, I found some broken bricks at the construction site across the street from my apartment. I grabbed them, but realized that I was making a trip to Seoul right after church, and I didn't want to be lugging around bricks all day - although I finally could have answered "yes" when someone asked me if I had bricks in my purse, which may have been extremely gratifying. But I digress. My solution was to leave my broken bricks with a whole one that I found a few meters later. I figured that no one would mess with a couple stray bricks. I was wrong.
When I went to retrieve the bricks this morning, there was no sign of them. Confused, I panned out and began to radiate from the spot I thought I'd left them, figuring I'd just remembered wrong. Something about a bottle to my left caught my eye, and I went to get a better look. Upon closer examination, I realized that the juice bottle was tucked neatly under a black plastic bag, almost as if it was a doll, snuggled into a made up bed. Then I noticed an interesting layering of rocks nearby. But black seemed like such an odd color for rocks. Then my eyes landed on the distinctly circular hole in one of the rocks, and I registered it as a fragment of broken brick. Finally, I began to put it all together.
The juice bottle was, in fact, marking a bed, the train bridge overhead serving as a decent roof. The black rocks were not rocks at all, but rather the remains of a fire from last night, serving as a substitute for walls. My bricks had gone to protect the bed's occupant from being burned to death. I shivered. My bricks had certainly been put to a better use than some silly story telling.
Today's Lenten Calendar entry (click on the title) suggests that today we give away something that is adding to the clutter in our lives. I think I just found a good home for some blankets that have been slowly overtaking my couch.
When was a time that G-d reminded you that everything here belongs to Him, and we are simply stewards, waiting for Him to claim it back?
Recently, a good friend of mine and I have been up, talking late into the night about everything from coffee to the ugliest scars on our hearts. Maybe it's been a little irresponsible of us, as we're supposed to be adults now, going to our 9-5's (okay, 8:30-4:30 on his part, 9:30-4:30 on mine [for now], but you get the idea), and not staying up until 3am every night, but, as I'm trying to teach The Girls, sometimes, what society tells you to do isn't the most right option. Let me explain why I think that is for this specific case.
I don't know if you've ever stayed up past the point of the second wind, past the point of delirium, all the way until the point of utter openness, but I'm going to work from the assumption that you haven't, as my high school English teachers taught me to do on my essays, so scroll on down if you already know what I'm talking about. Everyone else, this is for you. Anymore, my friend shows up around 8:30 or 9:30 at night, and, usually, neither of us have eaten (because we both apparently picked up European eating habits during our stints in Germany), so I'll start making some food; he'll generally start cleaning. Neither of these tasks require too much brain power, so it really lends itself to opening a conversation. So we talk. And we eat. And we laugh. Maybe we'll watch a movie. Maybe he'll help answer some of my questions about TESOL. Then, one of us will do something that's not funny at all, but it will get the other one (okay... me) laughing uncontrollably, which will get the other laughing uncontrollably, until we're both laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, contemplating how to get the dust out of my overhead light.
Unavoidably, at this point, something will sneak up out of nowhere - this force I can't explain - and one of us will say, "Can I ask you a weird question?" And then the openness has arrived. So, the other will say, "Sure," and the conversation proceeds as if we're not baring our souls to each other, telling the other things that we're not even sure we've told ourselves yet. Our most recent encounter with this stage has left my mind reeling for the past couple of days. I've churned it over and over, knowing that he's Biblically correct, but unable to get any kind of firm grip on the topic, because, as our eyes met, and the word "Sure" tumbled over my lips, he asked me,
"Do you think you're beautiful?"
I didn't even need to hesitate, since I'd actually just been thinking of the answer, as I recalled my reflection in the elevator mirror from earlier that day.
"No; not at all."
"I thought so. It shows in the way you relate to everyone around you. I'm sure it won't mean much, coming from me, but I want you to know, I think you're a beautiful person."
I was stunned. Absolutely stunned. There was so much to contemplate there in the possible literal meanings of the phrase that it really just took me this long to make linguistic sense of it all. But, as I listened to Matt Maher's Empty and Beautiful album tonight (the title track, specifically), it all seemed to click into place. I could handle admitting that the areas of G-d in me are beautiful. This is no problem for me to say. What else would they be? As I returned to these thoughts, while wrapping down for the night, the opening lines to the song caught me:
My past won't stop haunting me.
In this prison there's a fight between
Who I am and who I used to be.
And then I remembered: For me, it's very much who IUSED TO BE. Because, like I've said, If not for G-d, I am dead. It follows that those things within me that are separate from G-d must be dead. All that is in me and makes me must be held extremely close to G-d, and, being that close, it cannot fail to reflect Him. Just look at the story of Moses on Mount Sinai. Therefore, I MUST be beautiful.
I'm not sure how this conclusion does much for me, other than clearing my head of one more lie that I've been sucked into, but I feel secure in knowing it, which seems like a good enough reason for me. There are a lot of implications that I could go into about it, but, at this point, it is 2:06am, and I have my first TESOL presentation tomorrow, so I really should get some sleep.
Again, it's been a while. I know. I've had good reason, though.
I've started my TESOL class (which is my first graduate-level class) and moved up to the next level in my Korean class, so I've really had to step up my level of work. I have two presentations in TESOL this week and one in Korean. I'm not going to lie... I'm starting to get nervous. On top of that, this past weekend, I moved into my new apartment. The heat and hot water had been out in my old one for about a week, so I opted to push up my move-in date. I'm so glad I did. My apartment isn't much - a room, a bath, and a loft - but I am a big fan of it. I don't have any good pictures of it, as I'm still unpacking and storing some boxes in it for its old occupant, a friend of mine, until she comes back for them in about a month. I do, however, have a picture of my roommate, the occupant of the loft. It's not a great one, but I think you'll get the gist:
Yup! The same friend also left me her rabbit, Manila. Manila's pretty easy-going, although she's a bit territorial right now. I just need to out-alpha-rabbit her. I think I can do it. She needs a lot of attention, but we're working on the balance. I'm enjoying having her around. I think we're going to be great friends.
Tonight, I also began the first in my series of new initiatives to get together with my graduated 6th graders. I want to be able to give them a break from the pressures they're about to face and show them that there's more to life than getting a perfect score. I want to push the G-d aspect and that he's more important than making good money or gaining social status. I'm not sure how I'm going to convey all of this, but, right now, I'll settle for an age-appropriate movie and some food that's good for your soul. I hope you will join me in keeping these kids in prayer - yes, all of them, but especially these three: Emma, Irin (sounds like Irene), and Cleo. I've given you their English names, not their Korean ones (yes, I finally learned them), because there are a lot of sick-os that use the Internet. Their names are pretty common in the Korean world, but I'm not taking any chances. Also, if you have any suggestions of fun things to do with middle school girls, let me know, because I can't always luck out and find a movie (Happy Feet 2) that I know I'll feel comfortable taking them to see. I know... I can't believe that I'm volunteering to hang out with middle schoolers either.
Anyway, that's what I've been up to. I've had some people re-connecting with me via Facebook, and I've really been enjoying that. I'd be incredibly interested in knowing what's new with you too, so leave me a comment!
