Chilling Dreams and Grinning Like A Fool

Before I get into my mom's dream that I had posted about on Facebook last week, let me provide a little background info.

But before THAT, let me start off with, not our usual sponsor of "This Is Why I'm Here" but a new, additional sponsor called "WTF?!"

The first installment was found up the street from my school. It is purported to be a sign for a gym that may or may not still be there. Yes, that's who you think it is.

This is part of signage for a different English school. Not sure what they're teaching but here's the zoom of the text that is pictured in the poster... 

"In the course of an orgy..."

Most of you may not know this but I sold my house in Fullerton last month. I thought I'd keep it while I was here  but I realized I am just not cut out to be a homeowner....not just yet. I felt tied down the minute I bought that house. So, once my mom told me that she got into a senior residential community where some of her friends were also living, we discussed selling the house. My mom, ever practical, suggested that I keep it so that I will have a home to come back to and because becoming a homeowner again may be difficult. I understood where she was coming from but, personally, it was a burden in every way. The only reason to keep would have been so that my mom would feel more secure or always have a place to move back to if she didn't wind up liking her new apartment. My mom, ever supportive, told me to do whatever made me feel less burdened.

My mom LOVED her trees and vegetable garden at the house and it was more like her home than mine because she took care of it and felt comfortable in it. So it was with a good amount of trepidation that I pulled the trigger and sold the house. Why would anyone want to move from a spacious, three bedroom house, with a nice yard, into a single-bedroom apartment? There was that niggling in the back of my mind even though my mom insisted that her new apartment was quite spacious with a living room larger than the one my Fullerton house had. She even noted that it was a relief that she didn't have to spend the better part of her day tending to the trees and the garden. The lady doth protest too much, I thought. In a way, I felt like I was evicting my own mother just so I didn't have to deal with the responsibility of being a homeowner. I tried to compartmentalize these thoughts so I wouldn't pull my hair out.

Then, last week, my mom called to tell me that dad visited her in two dreams within one week. She likes to update me anytime dad comes to "visit" but whenever she says that, it always creeps me out. I tend to be a skeptic when it comes to paranormal events or unexplained phenomenon, even though I've had my fair share of personal experiences with it. But, to my mom, having my dad "visit" her in her dreams is so commonplace that her tone tends to be sort of nonchalant when she tells me about it; like she's recounting what she had for lunch that day. Some of you know of my mom's experiences leading up to my father's last days as well as those she had after he left. That is why I put stock in this.

So the first dream consisted of my mom being at her new apartment when a mutual friend of hers and dad's came to knock on the door. Their friend beckoned her to follow because dad was wanted her to meet him at a local restaurant/bar around the corner (dad liked a good brewskie). My mom noted it was strange that he didn't come to get her himself or just walk in as he usually did at the Fullerton house. When she arrived, my dad was sitting alone at a table. She sat across from him and asked what he was doing there. He then referred to two bundles next to him: one was a dress for my mom and another was a dress for me. He told her to SEND this dress to me. My mom described it as multi-colored, shimmery, beautiful, and in a traditional Korean style - not quite like a hanbok but still kinda old school-y. I wanted to ask her what she thought the significance of the dresses were but she continued talking. She told me she was so curious even in her dream that she asked dad why he hadn't just come to her apartment directly. He didn't answer her.

In the next dream that occurred a few nights later, she and dad went to the Fullerton house that I just sold. The new owners were there to welcome them in and set a table for them (the new owners are also Korean). My dad had no problem walking into that house and making himself at home but he still didn't say a word to my mom, even as they sat to nibble on the food that the new owners prepared for them. My mom was noting to him the new owners' furniture and what they had done with the our old  space but my dad remained silent and just ate the food set in the living room. My mom considered this very strange because he carried over the silence from the previous dream even though, typically, he would converse with her.

The first thing I thought was, "Dad doesn't like that my mom moved." From the other end of the phone came, "I don't think your dad really likes that I moved." My heart sank. Oh god, what's wrong with her place? Is it dangerous there? Why doesn't he like it?! Should she find another place? Did I screw over both my parents, one living, one deceased?

I know, guilty conscious much?

After I calmed down, my mom began to say that she thinks he just isn't used to the idea of the new place. I reminded her that when we first moved into the Fullerton house, he had no problem visiting her there from day one. From the dreams she had when we first moved into that house, he just came over, sat himself down, asked for food, watched TV, mowed the lawn, fixed anything broken, and pretty much did the things he would have done had he been alive. He never went back to the old, old house in Anaheim where we had lived for 25 years. She had no explanation after I made that point. She said she was sure he'd eventually come inside the apartment but I am sure she noticed the worry in my voice.

My dad doesn't visit me that often. When he does, we're just doing mundane things. But he frequents my mom's dreams and, when he does, is the focus of them while often telling her to convey messages, thoughts, or items to me, which she does (again, creeps me out). But he was eerily silent in his visitations with her since the move, aside from the gift of dresses. I don't know what to think nor do I want to give it any more credence than being mere manifestations of my mom's own doubts about moving and my high-anxiety about doing right by her. But, again, too many things have happened for me to think this is JUST a product of her imagination or random neurons firing. Am now waiting for my mom to call and tell me he finally stepped foot inside her apartment even if it's just to give her a hard time about it. Anything. As long as he goes inside. Am gonna be on edge about this one for a bit. Forgive the silly superstitious side of me.

On a lighter note (much lighter!), I was walking home alone from school recently and thinking about my friends back home. Joanna was heading to Cali for a visit and I knew they'd all be getting together for dinner. I then began to envision everyone's faces, individually, and imagined seeing them cracking up due to various reasons/jokes/circumstances. About halfway home, as I was going through the rolodex of laughing faces, I realized I was grinning like an idiot, for no reason than just thinking about my friends laughing. The sounds and expressions of those faces made me feel exponentially happier than any of the following things, in no particular order:

1. the first sip of vanilla mocha coffee of the day
2. puppies and corresponding puppy breath (i know, right?!)
3. rain
4. getting packages from home
5. sleeping-in (what? what? what?!)
6. finishing a good book
7. spicy bbq pork
8. getting hugs and cute notes from my students
9. reading about abused animals finding good homes
10. all the contents of cuteoverload.com, failblog.org, and highexpectationsasianfather.tumblr.com COMBINED
11. thinking about the 1997 wales choir tour (huge highlight of my life)
12. giving someone a much-deserved verbal/written beat-down
13. finishing another chapter of writing
14. brutus
15. hearing that "rurouni kenshin" was going to be made into a live-action movie
16. the legendary yaki ramen in morioka, japan
17. things that are super cute just because they are proportionally smaller than their normal-sized counterparts (glares at richard)
18. figuring things out on my own
19.  songs so good that i listen to it on repeat all day
20. cheese (usually in some burrito format)

I wore that silly, inspired grin all the way home. I wish I could be there to hear them laugh communally, in person. Better yet, to be the reason for some of that laughter in one way or another. But I hope they now know that just the memory of their faces all screwed-up in merriment makes me incredibly happy. So much so that, this past Friday night,  I took on the project of printing out some of my favorite photos and putting them up on my wall a la scrap-booking style. Here's the result. Some will recognize themselves in these:

Just keep laughing. It will only make me happy.

Falling in Love and Holy Crap, It's Cold!

Yeah, I know.

I've been totally and completely awful about updating this blog, not for lack of things to write about but for lack of time or, perhaps, utter laziness. I won't lie, I'd come home from work with a good chunk of the evening left without tests to correct or grades to input, but I'd consciously and blatantly choose mindless drivel on which to waste time because of, well, the aforementioned laziness. That AND Star Wars: The Old Republic was unleashed upon the waiting MMORPG world and I had to partake in it. This is considered cream of the crop mindless drivel. I'll have you know that I set aside World of Warcraft and the Diablo 3 beta for this. Anyway, on with the with blog...




BUT before we go on, this belated blog has once again been brought to you by our sponsor, "This Is Why I'm Here:"

(Photo credit to Ms. Rebecca Young)

Blunch?! Really?! I mean we make fun of them by turning "R" sounds into "L's" or vice-versa (i.e. the "So Ronery" song from Team America) but they do this to themselves! Feel free to move about the cabin and make fun of them all you like; they've given you license to do so without fear of being called a racist. I feel a lesson on bleakfast foods comin' on in the kids' near future.

Allrighty, let's hit it. 

So, before I left, my friend Nik did a tarot card reading for fun. Actually she did two and, strangely, they both resulted in indications that I'd find a strong love connection during my time in Korea. As fun as that idea sounds, I never had luck with Korean men in America so my chances with Korean-Korean men would be next to nil. I expected nothing. But then this Friday, I met him and fell in love immediately.

His name is Sam and he's quite boyish and charming. His mom owns the pork restaurant just around the corner from my apt. Almost every Friday, I go there for dinner with fellow teachers to support the local businesses. We have been there so often now that the owner, Gina, always gives us free items from the menu and often extra orders of meat. 

So, imagine my surprise, after having been seated for our usual dinner this past Friday and getting up to go ask for more dipping sauce, when I saw him sitting there, waiting for his mom to come back out from the kitchen. I was taken aback at first. Was I seeing what I was actually seeing? I think I must have stood there, dumbstruck and slackjawed, for at least 15 seconds before finally pitching toward him with great momentum.

He was very patient and charming with me even though I couldn't stop vying for his attention all-throughout our dinner. I couldn't even be the proper meat-cutter-turner-overer that I usually am because I was so distracted. When his mom came over to ask if we needed anything, I took that opportunity to grill her about him. She was very gracious and happy to promote his qualities. He's even into cosplay!! I promised I'd come back the next day because I learned he'd be there. I don't recall the last time I threw myself so wholeheartedly and unabashedly into such an endeavor. I had no shame. But maybe that's what love does to a person.


So, I went back to the restaurant the next afternoon, bearing small gifts for her son based on what I had learned of him the previous night. I hoped it wasn't too forward of me. Indeed he was there and my face lit up just by seeing him. His mom was nice enough to give me a picture of him. Are you guys ready to see this guy? Here's Sam:

Sam is a cute, chunky, puppy breath-having little two month old Pointer-mix. Do you like his cosplay bunny outfit? What did YOU think I was talking about? A dude? Psh.


Apparently Gina has a friend whose dog had puppies and she wanted to give one a home for fear it would be hard for him to find people who'd take them. Unfortunately, she has two other dogs at home, one of which is a Chihuahua, that won't stop harassing Sam by biting and scratching. So, Gina decided to keep and raise him at her restaurant. (Let the "They aren't going to eat him at this restaurant, are they?" jokes fly.) 

Done flying? You all know that if I did come across a restaurant that served dog, I'd go in there and turn tables over a la Wrestlemania VII, right? Okay, anyway, so she couldn't think of an immediate alternative so she opted to bring him to her work and keep him there since it was warm and he'd be around people. Thing is, some customers thought he was cute and some others didn't feel comfortable with a dog running around where there's food, puppy or no. The idea of a two month old puppy spending nights alone kinda made me feel sad as well. I mean, look at this face:

I wanted to have a dog to walk and just be in the presence of one even though I couldn't take him/her home with me when I moved back to America (Isa will be the only one accompanying me home). Gina needed someone to watch him while she worked so that he got attention and her customers didn't abandon her restaurant. So The Great Dog Deal of 2012 was struck. I would take him after school and drop him off before I went to school in the mornings. Once he gets old enough, I'll take him for walks/runs and so would Christy. In the span of one night, Sam became the adopted pup of three people instead of one. 


There's the matter of Isa, of course. Since I have Sam over the long holiday weekend, I introduced him to Isa slowly in the requisite crate-in-the-room-first style. She hissed and spat as cats would and bristled her tail to about twice its normal size. Sam didn't just take it; he growled at her, too! They calmed down after a while and I let him out. After a lot of circling about, more hissing and spitting (Sam didn't pay her any mind after he was let out), Isa got closer and closer. She'd be fine until he'd turn around and make eye-contact with her. Then she'd hiss and spit again.

Sam about to get swatted...

But, as time passed on, she showed genuine curiosity: 

Isa peeking into his make-shift house and waiting for him to wake up...

 

  These last two pictures were taken a few minutes ago as they played:

Nap buddies:

I think they'll end up friends. At the very least, Isa will be tolerant of him being around for half a day. The other half she can relax and not be so hyper-aware/sensitive of her surroundings.

In other news, it's freakin' cold here! 

I thought about ending the blog right there. Would have been funny...well, at least to me. It'll be -11°C on Tuesday night. I do have to qualify it by saying it's actually not too bad...until the wind kicks in. Then, even I, the one who happily wears a light sweater out when it's just above 0°C, will start whinging and doing the "It's COLD!" dance. Fyi, the "It's COLD!" dance highly resembles the "I gotta pee!" dance. It's so cold... (audience: how cold is it?)...that it takes several minutes for soap to start minimal lathering under running water. 

I didn't quite get around to posting pics of the first snow except for one on FB so I'll put a few here:

Ice formations on the sliding door of my patio:

View from the east side of my patio:

View from the east side of my patio during an acid-fueled stupor that has me literally missing Thomas:

(Photoshop credit to the brilliant Tony Hsu. Blow this picture up to see all the great details)

Snow started falling during one of my favorite afternoon classes so we stopped for a few minutes to revel in it so I could video it. I advise you to preemptively turn your volume way down due to the squealing children soon to appear... 

(Don't mind the bars on the windows, we are on the 5th floor)

Christy and Becca on our street. The three of us live within 200 feet of each other:

Snow message I managed to write that night:

It has snowed on and off since then but am still waiting for the big one (the big snowstorm, you pervs!)...you know, the kind that makes schools close down (that's a HUGE hint, God, *wink wink, nudge nudge). I am not even sure we get that kind of snow dumped on us but one can hope. Maybe, like Cali, I have to go to the mountains for that kind of snowage. A ski trip should be percolating in the plans pretty soon. 

There is something ethereal and magical about walking while it snows and being surrounded by the pure whiteness of it (I'm not talking about the community of Irvine) or just watching the fluff fall from the sky. When you catch one, it's soft, cold wonderment in the palm of your hand. The phenomenon is easily explained away by science but I don't want snow or rain to be explained away; I want to look up and believe it's something metaphysical and fantastical that happens to us. Then I'll blink away the precipitation from my eyes, step out of my reverie, and back into a world where "irregardless" is NOT A WORD, DAMMIT!  

Had to get that out somehow. 

Okay, next installment will actually have pics of my students and I'll talk about my school and what the feez I'm doing there. Long time coming, I think. Thanks for waiting, guys.

Parting shots... (and, no I did NOT buy the bunny suit -- you guys know how I feel about putting clothes on dogs...)

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

 _____________________________________________________

*Anime I'm currently watching: "UN-GO" and "Another" 
*Manga I'm currently reading: "Ao No Exorcist" and  "Fullmetal Alchemist"
*Book I'm currently reading: "Lord of the Rings" (the annual read starts again!) 
*Song(s) on repeat: "Fantasy" by LAMA, "From Dusk 'Til Dawn" by Abingdon Boys' School and "Tsukiakari no Michishirube" by Stereopony

Seoul Lantern Festival and Getting Nose Raped

Before we start, I'd like to post an image of something that has been a saving grace in this pagan land....

It was sitting there on the shelf of the local store as if it had always been there, waiting for me. Who knew Korea would import this?! Regardless, who has two thumbs and is doing the happy dance? Meeeeee!!

I was looking forward to going to the Jinju Lantern Festival in...well...Jinju, last month but it's about a 5 hour train ride down there and I never found the time to go during the festival time period. Bummed me out. Then I learned that Seoul was having one of their own! Being an hour away, it was much more do-able, PLUS Becca's (co-worker) parents were in town to visit from England and it was a great opportunity to take them as well.

It was nothing like I expected. When I think "Lantern Festival," I think street vendors selling their wares, lit lanterns lining the lanes (huzzah alliteration!), and the all important ceremony of lighting your own paper lanterns, making a wish, and then setting them both off onto the river or stream to watch them float into the distance. Imagine seeing hundreds or thousands of these little lit lamps floating by, representing just as many heartfelt wishes of their casters.

Yes, those elements were there, but I wasn't expecting too see rows and rows of giant, colorful, hand-made paper lanterns set on display in the stream itself. It was a sight to behold and for a good part of the night, I was held in wonder. Here are some pictures, though they don't do the lanterns justice. They get better as it gets darker, of course....

We inadvertently started kinda backwards, meaning we were at the opposite end of the stream from where the Lanterns started so the pictures are in that backwards order.

This is Cheonggyechoen Stream in Seoul...we still had to walk a bit before we got to the area where the Lanterns were displayed. But it was a lovely walk....

So here they started...a school of brightly-lit paper fish fixed into the streambed....

So this is where it got even more interesting. The following shows a procession of nobles led by a traditional folk percussion group (Samulnori). This group was kind of like the pied-pipers of their day. If you saw them or heard them in the streets, you knew there was something important going on, be it a festival, a celebration, or the procession of VIPs....

The aristrocrats...

And where were they headed....towards this giant, paper lantern palace gate! I was so floored when I saw this. And the crowd was actually able to walk through it...

Often, at palace gate, are guardian stone lions, though these were, you guessed it, paper lanterns...

On the other side of the gate, there were lanterns representing the Royal Orchestra...

...then the Royal Guards....

 ...led by the General....

Lastly, after that incredible display of the royal court, were treated to the 12 zodiacs animals. As in the Chinese zodiac, Koreans still put a lot of weight on the year you were born (and your blood type).  Some of the animals were facing the other way so I couldn't get them all.  The Tiger (my zodiac animal) was facing the other side and was blocked so I couldn't even get a decent picture of it's back. Ah well...

The Boar...

The Dog and The Rooster...

The Monkey and the Mouse....

The Horse and the Snake....

The Rabbit...

The Ox...

This was at the end (erm...the beginning)....

And here's the start....

Oh wait, you can see the Tiger there, on the bottom right corner! lol

As much as I would have liked to have looped around to the other side, by that time in the night, the line to get along the banks of the stream was already horrendous. We counted ourselves lucky to have gotten there early and to have seen everything without waiting. Pretty neat stuff.


Onto the whole being sick thing: I CAN'T believe how many times I've been sick while in Korea. Most of my friends have seen me get one cold a year and that cold lasts about 24-48 hours tops. Then I come here and get sick 3 times in as many months. And not just sick. but SICK....like cough up a vat of mucus on a daily basis, sick. It's literally oozing out my eyes, people! That's how much crap I have percolating in me.

When this last bout began to take shape, I went into work anyway, hoping it'd just go away (yeah, silly me). My boss's wife asked me if I was getting sick again, to which I answered in the affirmative. She wondered aloud why I was getting sick so often. I stated, nonchalantly, that being around kids who sneeze and cough without covering their mouths, wipe their electric green snot on their hands (which they never wash) and then proceed to grab at you all day, may have something to do with it.

She then proceeded to give me this look like I was a cute, albeit uneducated, monkey. "Adults can't get sick from children," she said, as she patted my shoulder.

I kid you not. She believes this.

"Mrs. Moon, of course we can. It's the same germs that get passed around. It doesn't matter where it starts, it can infect anyone, child or adult."

Same, sympathetic look. "No, that may happen in America but that doesn't happen here. You never hear about mothers getting sick because of their children. Adults can make their kids sick but kids illnesses are too lightweight to affect us."

The word for ignorant in Korean is very harsh. As with many words, when translated into Korean (or any other language usually), it's never a pat, equal translation. When you call someone the word for ignorant in Korean, you not only imply their being uneducated, but you call into question their competence and social status as well. The word almost escaped my lips but I managed to stop it before I got the first syllable out. I REALLY wanted to say "What kind of voodoo, country bumpkin thinking is that?!" but "ignorant" was what came to mind first. I don't even know how to say "voodoo" in Korean. Oh wait..."BooDoo."

I had to retreat back into the teacher's lounge before I said something I'd regret. Apparently, we in America are so weak-willed, we allow our children to infect us with diseases even when they wipe it all over us or practically breathe it into our lungs. But why should that even matter when children's illnesses are too mild to even affect adults? Incredible.

Anyway, my coughing became worse and I stayed home the next two days. This morning, my boss came to pick me up to take me to another doctor, since the local one's prescription didn't really seem to be helping. This one was an ENT doctor so maybe I'd fare better in terms of a diagnosis and resulting prescription. When they called me in, I noticed something similar with the local doctor: the examining room was wide open and all patients could see each other while being checked out by the doctor or nurse. It was a like a conveyor belt of patients. The doctor was sitting on a stool with wheels and he'd just talk to a patient for 5 seconds, do something to them, then send them on their merry way while he wheeled himself to the next patient. In a matter of 10 minutes, he saw and treated 6 - 7 patients. My boss told me, proudly, that Korean doctors (private) see as many as 300 patients a day while American doctors see a measly 70.


The medical sitcom "Scrubs" had illustrated that a doctor speaks to their patients for an average of 11 seconds before moving onto the next. Our dear Dr. Thomas Kim has attested that this is actually true in real life. Apparently, in Korea, if you're talking to your patient for 11 seconds, you're doing it wrong.

The doctor asked me what was wrong and before I even finished speaking, he stuck some long instruments up one of my nostrils and proceeded to suction it out. At least, that's what I assume he was doing. Initially it was fine but he kept going deeper and deeper until it seemed like he was practically poking my brain with those things. I have a pretty high threshold for pain, especially when it's unexpected, but this hurt LIKE A MOTHER. I clenched my fists and tried not to cry like a baby. It lasted only a few seconds but it felt like hours. Then I realized that he had only done one nostril. Woe is me. My nose felt so violated and it was about to be again. There was absolutely no warning about this. He just did it. He didn't tell me that it would hurt or not hurt or what exactly the procedure was for. His only comment was, "You endured that really well." My butt was still clenched, it hurt so much. He then said that, by the sound of my cough, I should really go so an internal med doctor and get a chest x-ray done. Thanks and buh-bye. At least he didn't charge me for the nose rape.

As I was bring driven to the internal medicine doctor across town, I gave the ENT doc the benefit of the doubt: Maybe he didn't tell me what he was going to do so I wouldn't stress out and clench up over it...even though every sphincter I had in my body did clench up.

After waiting about 10 minutes in the lobby, I got called in to see the doc. I sat down and told him my medical history and what I had been dealing with in the past few days. As I was leaning over the desk, talking to the doctor, the nurse, from out of nowhere, sticks a thermometer in my ear WITHOUT ANY WARNING. I nearly jumped out of the chair. Who does that?! Who just comes up and ear rapes you while you're talking?! Korean nurses, that's who.

Everyone else seemed to think it was normal. No wonder they go through so many patients a day. They don't bother wasting time in telling you the little details -- like what they're going to stick in your body or why.  After my chest x-ray, I was told I was going to get a shot. I entered a little side room next to the front desk. This is the second time I've dropped trou this week but hey, whatever it takes, right? So I closed the door and proceeded to pull my jeans down. The door then opens and another nurse comes into to get something. I tried to close the door behind her but her ass was in the way and she wasn't budging. Meanwhile, my own butt was hanging out for all to see. "What are you doing?" asked butt-in-way-of-door nurse to the one about to administer the shot. "Just administering a shot," she replied. "I see," answered b-i-w-o-d nurse. I still can't close the door. She finally left and I got the shot but damn, no respect for privacy, man! I mean, I was kind of expecting it as a whole but just keeping the door wide open as I'm standing there with my butt-cheeks to the wind was NOT anything I was prepared for. So the tally for today was nose rape, ear rape, butt cheeks on display.

The only upside to this is the cost of healthcare here. The first local doc I saw was under my boss's insurance and the visit was $3 while the prescription drugs were about $5, so $8 total. The last two doc visits were not under insurance and they cost me a whopping, get ready for this, $25 (this is including the visit, exam, x-ray, and meds). No wonder Koreans go see their doctor for every little thing...it doesn't cost them an arm and a leg.

Anyway, grateful that no other orifices had to be violated today, I went home and took a nap and tried to have more soup even though I couldn't taste anything. After two rounds of the latest meds, I do feel a little better but it may have more to do with the western medicine that Adi slipped me during our late night drug deal (she gave me some of her stash of Nyquil and Dayquil). We'll see how this play out but, man, I think my nose and ear may need to go to therapy.