OF SQUID AND MEN

Every so often I’ll ask Saeyoon what I can get for her to eat when I go shopping. She always has nachos when she’s here and although she says she’s not sick of them, I think she could use a little change. She always says that I shouldn’t get her anything but when I asked her Friday night, she caved. She said I should get her some Korean food but we decided that since I know nothing about Korean food we should go together. She did however mention squid.

I don’t know what it is but I love to watch her eat. She has terrible table manners (she licks the plate) and the things she eats could make you ill. However, she loves her food and I enjoy watching her enjoy eating. I don’t think they’ve invented the food she won’t eat. Of course I’m leaving out meat as she doesn’t eat that but she is not a vegetarian.

Squid smells. She ate some in my car in the summer and the smell was deadly. But in my kindness on Saturday I bought her a package of squid. There were 2 in the package and when she came over Saturday she was quite excited to see the squid. She told me I bought the “expensive” squid but I told her she was worth it. (The cost was about $5). I just assumed that you take it out of the package and munch on it but I was wrong. She took out one of the squids and then heated it on the burner. No frying pan, just sat it on the burner. Oh, the smell of squid is quite a joy!

She loved her squid and you can see her excitement as she sat down to her meal of squid, nachos (of course), salsa and thousand island dressing combined to dip the nachos in, and bagel chips. When I came back to my apartment after taking her home that night, the smell of squid nearly knocked me over when I walked in the door. It’s now Monday night and the smell is almost, but not quite, gone. Here is a picture of Saeyoon and her meal, and a closer look at the tasty delight called squid.





We watched “Thank You For Smoking” on Saturday night and I loved it. I laughed and laughed. Some people may have found it offensive, but I usually enjoy offensive humor. Saeyoon had trouble following it even with the Korean subtitles. The talking is very fast so the subtitles were fast. Also, it’s a very American film so a lot of the things they make fun of (lobbyists, etc.) are lost on non-Americans.

I had my follow-up appointment with the stomach doctor today. I hadn’t given my tumor much thought since the test because they told me it was nothing to worry about. However, the peace of mind that came with that statement is now gone. My stomach doctor wants me to have another test to see the seriousness of the tumor. I’m sure (ha ha) that it’s benign and nothing to worry about, but just the fact of having to take the test makes me nervous. The test is on Thursday so I only have a few days to worry about it. I get the results of my heart arteries CT scan on Wednesday and my tumor test on Thursday. Some people have all the luck. But as Elana says, I’m invincible.

My problem (small problem) is that I used to think I was immortal. Or that’s what Laura would tell me I thought I was. But guess what? I don’t think I’m immortal. Where before I would laugh at disease and just see it as something to go through and get better, now disease scares me a bit. I believe I can be strong in the face of any disease but where there was no fear before, now there is a little fear.

You say to yourself and to others, “I’m sure it’s nothing”, and that’s probably true. It most likely is nothing. But that doesn’t stop your head from imagining a bunch of horrible scenarios. And where would I go if I was really sick? Am I still covered by the Canadian health insurance? Would I have to wait forever and a day for the proper care in Canada? Do I let the Koreans deal with it since I’m insured here? Saeyoon told me that if I was seriously ill then she would move me in to her apartment and look after me. I guess that is one way to be sure and meet her mother. But it is a nice thought. But I will be fine. And there are a lot of but’s in this paragraph.

I had 4 classes of pre-school students today (4 years old and younger). One of the kindergartens (they don’t call them pre-schools or day-care) has a Korean teacher in there with me when I teach. I have no trouble and I play around with the kids. I doubt I teach them anything. But at least they aren’t animals. This other kindergarten I was at today leaves me in the classroom alone with the animal kingdom. This is the same kindergarten where the video from the previous post was taken.

Today in my first class at this kindergarten the teacher got them all seated and then left. Many of the kids would come up to me and hit me. I don’t like that. They rub my bald spot and I can handle that, but violence is a no-no. There was this one creature who kept coming up to me and hitting me and I would tell him not to. I wasn’t getting anywhere. He then kicked me. I got up, threw him over my shoulder, and took him to his teacher. The kid was crying when I grabbed him. Good. The teacher doesn’t speak English but I mimed this kid’s actions. She kept him for about 10 minutes and when he came back in, he stayed far away from me.

I just let that class run wild. The class after them actually paid attention for about 20 minutes. Having a 40 minute English class with 4 year olds is absurd so I was pleased with the 20 minutes. Why were these kids “good” while the other class was “bad”? I don’t know. These kids would come and sit on my lap or kiss my head or kiss my hand. I fell in love with one girl. She stayed with me all class and was talking to me and whispering to me (I have no idea what) and we bonded. I asked her if she’d be my girlfriend but perhaps 4 is too young for me. But in all seriousness when I left that school today I felt I had made 1 friend. So what if it’s only a 4 year old. I just felt we connected and it felt good and changed what would have been just a totally bad experience into an experience with a good feeling. Thank you young Korean girl, whatever your name is.