Medical Advice Needed Please!!!

Hello everyone,

I've just returned from the shower that I thought would never end.  It seems that I had my sixth, maybe seventh, nosebleed in the last week tonight -- this one seemed to have lasted forever though.  I'll try to get in to a doctor tomorrow if I can, but I was just wondering if someone could let me know what may be my problem.  It only happens in the shower, and it seems to happen around the time I blow my nose as well (I really wouldn't call it blowing my nose though).  The one tonight, started right away, and just kept going, and going -- I didn't think I lose that much blood through my nose (except for a time or two when I've been punched).

Anyway, ya'll have a good day or a good night wherever you are.

The Last Few Days

So I've kind of kept you all out of the loop recently -- it happens.  I went to Daegu, and visited my Korean family once again for the weekend -- this time I made sure to go on Saturday night though.  I went to the hagwon (academy) where Wooyeup works once I got off the bus and met his boss for kind of a short interview.  She wouldn't budge on a six month contract like I am wanting, but said I could still possibly get in on a nine month gig.  Then I was told dinner was being prepared at the house so I went on and talked with the mother and grandmother for a little bit, and then the father came in as well.  Wooyeup got off work  a little later than expected, but we all had at least part of the meal together. The mom, sis, and dad were going to E-Mart, so they even stocked up on milk for me when they want.

I went to visit one of my heroes as I like to call him.  He's the owner of the health club where I spent quite a bit of my free time in Daegu.  He's a very respectful man, who can still be laid back at times.  He is one of those men who just doesn't respect you right away.  One night I walked into the gym, and he waved me over and put me through one of his treacherous workouts -- or so he thought it would be.  We ended up being close buddies ever since then.  People were shocked at seeing the two of us beat up on one another on occasion. The man is an 8th degree black belt in Taekwondo, which is pretty big stuff.  His daughter is also a pretty good cook as well.

I got to visit some of the English Club folks as well, for a drink or two and some good social time.  The club has some new and friendly Americans in the group, that I got to spend some time getting to know Saturday evening, before heading home and going to bed.  When I come to Daegu, I have to sleep on the floor in one of the downstairs rooms, which I don't mind, because it's much, much warmer than this hole I'm in called a dorm at Pohang University.

Wooyeup came in sometime in the early morning, and his mom woke up and covered us both up in huge blankets as well.  Grandma opened the door after 9 am, and announced that we needed to get up and eat breakfast, which I was smelling for a while anyway.  Breakfast was one of my favorite spicy stews, along with some chicken salad (gotta Westernize the meal somehow).  After breakfast was bathhouse time -- which meant sitting in the sauna and getting that head of mine shaved again.  Wooyeup and I kicked at the house for a bit, before I departed to meet my friend from Memphis, Greer Parker, for a movie and late lunch.  Greer and I went to the same high school together, and didn't know until last year that we were both living in the same area of South Korea ten years later.  We saw Season of the Witch, which we both enjoyed a bit, and ate some good pizza (out of one of them old school lookin' ovens).  We enjoyed almost two hours of good conversation, before I headed back to the house for some more "family time".

I had a nice little meal of pork (called Mock-chang), and a few other things for dinner with the mother, brother and sister.  Their uncle's birthday was coming up so he treated us to dinner.  In Korea, if it's your birthday, you treat everyone (kind of sucks, but it's alright).

I had to wake up at 5:30 am and get cleaned up, so I could make the 6:30 bus to Pohang.  From there I could do some more bus hoppin', get to the dorm, change clothes, and be ready for work just live everyone else.  I'll do a camp update in the morning on a different post.

Because when you are eating pizza in South Korea, you should feel like this guy

My text is missing -- so what. . . 

A few new pictures

Hi There Folks,

I'll have to post about my weekend later.  I enjoyed a nice deep sleep, and now there's no freakin' hot water in the dorm showers (glad I got one at the gym last night).

My week 1 Progress Report

Week 2 (forgot to rotate sorry)

Julia telling Teacher she loves him

Yes Julia, I see you again

Not sure about this one

Give me about 10 (hours that is)

I'll have ya updated soon.  I just took went to the other side of town for a 9 pm meeting with a gentleman about working at his place temporarily -- he treated me to a nice meal and a drink as well.  I've been up since 5:30 am (had to leave the house to come back to the dorm and work of course), so I'm crashing.  It's 10:45 pm.  Have a good MLK day and do something good for your community or I hope you already have in some way over the weekend.

The 24th Busan Polar Bear Swimming Contest

So next weekend, I will be braving the cold water in Haeundae, a section of Busan, Korea. I participated in this event last year and had a blast (though the water was FREEZING).  Anyway, this year, my friend Robin (super tall guy that I met there last year), and I will be embarking on our fun times in the water again.  Robin got quite the media attention last year with the sweater on his back (I will explain later). Anyway, here is the link, if you want to read about it.  The Koreans that participate have a blast, and they fed us pretty well last year too.

Busan Polar Bear Swim

Fun Times in USA Class (MWF version)

It kind of sucks to think these kids are all growing on me so fast, and yet, I only get 12 days of one month to teach them.  This class was really good today, though they wear me out almost every class period with chants of "Teacher, swing. Teacher, swing. "  It's all my fault to begin with, so I did my best to "swing" the kids around over my head at various times throughout the day.

The girls really love being swung around with the exception of Grace (who's pretty darn close to perfect).  Today, I finally picked her up for a moment or two.  She and Holly, are my two best ones in the class --  they even waited for me so we could leave the lunch room together.  I try to keep the group together at all times - whether it is for lunch time, leaving lunch time, or going down the stairs or elevator to go get on the buses.  Suri and Julia stay close by as well.  My boys obey me when they want to, but they know they'll get some red stickers (way of punishment) if they don't behave well enough to a certain extent.

I have this one kid, Alex -- super smart kid, who tries and tries really hard.  Once he found out he could be lifted above my head, he wouldn't leave my side.  He's not a bad kid at all, he just has trouble sitting still no matter where we are.  He will even find a way to get on a desk or chair, and somehow climb upon my shoulders.  I think he was even trying some Jiu-Jitsu moves on me today.  All I know is that I could feel my neck being squeezed, and squeezed, as we were trying to snap some pictures with my little Ipod camera from a short distance.  Please be entertained at our attempts to take these shots.

We did work on our play today and that went well.  I have this girl named Kelly -- she went home Wednesday, and worked, and worked on her lines.  She was so excited about reading her lines, that she got upset with me, for not starting on our reading of the script on time.  I loved her enthusiasm.  Everyone seemed to do a great job with their complicated parts, but Kelly almost had all of her lines down.  We are doing a version of Kung Fu Panda with a twist -- Kung Fu Panda and friends go to English camp to better their English, and also help them achieve their dreams.  Yes, yours truly wrote the script for this -- I took the characters the kids wanted to be, asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, and I worked my script from there.

"I think it's cool to make Teacher's neck hurt really bad

The kids were supposed to be power-napping for five

"let's see how many rabbit ears we can make

Let's see how many faces we can get with this little camera thing

A little difficult

"Yeah, you remember me -- I'm the best thing to happen to my teacher in a LONG time"

"Peace and love to our friends in the North" (courtesy of USA class)

reading the scripts, and look it's Grace again

Holly showing her script with such enthusiasm

"Teacher just gave me a red sticker, I forgot it was my line, so I even lost my line"

Enjoy these pics and Happy Friday (because I forgot it was for most of the day).

Student Profile -- Lillian

This kid is amazing.  I don't know many people period that put as much effort into their daily lives as this kid does.  I am sure her parents are very successful people.  She plays the harmonica, violin, and piano  She's not a bad singer either.  We're singing two songs as part of our end of camp performance in USA class and she was disappointed because we weren't singing all of one song (due to the fast pace of it).  She was determined to do the whole song, even if her other classmates weren't going to do it.  Lillian is a quiet one and doesn't volunteer to do as much as I wish she would, but her effort otherwise is great.  If she doesn't understand something she'll take notes -- I don't ever remembering taking notes at that age lie she does.  Anyway, I took this picture on my Ipod of her today wearing my little toboggan.