Although
overall life remains good—even very good—perchance this fall will rank as my
roughest one in Seoul. Hence, I shall
now whine:
1. It’s COLD! And way earlier than in my previous three
years in residence in Seoul. In fact,
snow has fallen on multiple days this past week. Despite not being particularly measurable,
temperatures preclude the possibility of precipitation arrayed in anything
besides white. And the dreaded truth of
wintertime in Seoul contains the reality that once the temperatures plunge, they
prevail, pretty much entrenched within the weather patterns until late in February. Seoul just does not participate in any kind
of thaw once the first serious cold arrives until the planet finally revolves its
way through the winter season.
2. Seoul American Middle School will
receive its accreditation visit in February of this year. Such visits tend to generate a flurry of
time-sucking activities to showcase all the wonders the visited school has
established within its auspices so that a visiting team can see in two and half
days what teachers do in an entire school year and what a school, as a whole,
develops over a period of years. Add to
that the fact that this fall Seoul American Middle School received national
recognition for being a Blue Ribbon School, and perhaps you can imagine the elevated
frenzy and stress accompanying the original “dog and pony show” endeavors so
that this visiting team is also cognizant of why such a status was warranted. I am very weary of all the stuff to do that
really has little impact on improving teaching and learning in a classroom.
3. One weekend early in October, a germ
established what has become a long-term habitation inside me. Blasting headaches, congestion, aching teeth,
conjunctivitis, a string of canker sores along the left side of my tongue, mucus—all
have presented themselves at least once this fall. Did I mention mucus?! Yeah, well, my body has produced unthinkable
quantities of it in the last eight weeks, and I think it may have oozed through
pretty much every facial orifice at some point.
So, the germ vs. me routine unfolded this way: I would rest up for a couple of days, and the
symptoms would abate. As soon as I added
any physical activity—I forsook any thought of running sometime in the middle
of November—or otherwise exerted myself, though, symptoms reappeared. Last week when I awoke with my right eye
stuck shut, seeming to threaten a SECOND bout of conjunctivitis, I sought
medical attention, the first time I have ever had to do this in Seoul. Forthwith I made an appointment with an
international clinic recommended to me by my friend Pam, and Dr. Kim—a physician
trained in the USA who set up a practice in Seoul geared for expats and foreign
workers—diagnosed me with a bacterial sinus infection. He prescribed a ten-day course of antibiotics
and a decongestant.
4. My digestive system seems to balk
when antibiotics enter its domain. My
last course of serious antibiotics occurred after my surgery for appendicitis
over five years ago, and I fully recall the digestive tract shudder. I have been on antibiotics for two days now
and the rumblings abdominal are truly phenomenal!
5. May car emits a funny sound when I
turn sharply to the right. SIGH.
6. And alas, I remind you that it’s
COLD here! Way too cold for the likes of
me. More and more I am convinced that I
may actually be a tropical girl merely in the guise of one with northern
European ancestry.
Meanwhile,
having purged myself of the perversity in my life—and I certainly realize how
inconsequential it all is in the scheme of things—let me confess that the list
of joys in my life this autumn outnumbers my moans and groans. Stay tuned.
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