Ouchy Stabby

Last week I had a bit of a health scare.

The short version of it is that I coughed one day and it hurt.  Really hurt.  Like, stabby pain in the area where my appendix likes to hang out.  When the pain didn't go away after a few days I took myself to the only English speaking doctor I know of in Gwangju (he's in the university backgate area - email me if you need the info) to see if I was going to die from a ruptured appendix needed to worry.  I ended up getting a sonogram of my entire torso and the happy news that my appendix was totally not trying to kill me.

As of now I still don't have an official diagnosis of the stabby pain.  But Ryan (being the sporty guy he is) had me do some stretches and we are both pretty sure that I just pulled a muscle.

 Fact:  When you are an expat in Korea you will drink.  You will drink like you have never drunk (drank?) before since university. 

Fact:  Drinking like you are still at university won't do much for your girlish figure.

Bonus fact:  You will also start calling college university because no one from outside the US will know what you are talking about if you don't.

I decided that I didn't like the direction my waist was going (out and over the top of my pants) so a couple of weeks ago I decided that I would join a bootcamp.  I'm pretty sure that the super intense ab workouts we did were the cause of my stabby pain.

The best part of all of this?  The doctor declared that my liver function is normal.  Which I wasn't worried about but is always reassuring to hear from a medical professional.  Especially when you live in Korea.

AND I now have a foot long print out of crappy sonogram pictures of my insides!  I'm thinking I might frame them - but I'm open to suggestions.

The Day After

Wake up. 

Take asprin. 

Consider getting in the shower.  Decide that going back to bed is the better idea.

Wake up later.

Remember last night.

Get in the shower.


Think about last night.

Worry about that one thing.

Make coffee.

Think about it some more.

Become convinced your friends hate you.

Freak out quitely.

Continue to think about last night.

Berate yourself for being stupid.

Continue to think about last night.

Berate yourself for drinking more than you should have.

Try to convince yourself you had a good time in an effort to make yourself stop freaking out.

Freak out more, less quitely.

Swear to never drink again.

Ignore friends who tell you it was FINE stop WORRYING (because they are your friends and clearly biased to you and your crazy behavior).

Think about that one thing some more. 

Continue freaking out.

Write vaguely worded blog post about last night.

Worry about not having friends anymore. 

Realize that you are being ridiculous.

Feel better.

Move on.

Thoughts on a Thrusday

This is my actual journal entry from yesterday:

December 9, 2010

I hate this day.

- Caroline

Pretty much sums it up.

Bombs over Yeonpyeong Island or HOLY CRAP WE'RE GETTING BOMBED.

First I would like to take this opportunity to point out the obvious fact that I was not blown up by North Korea. Second, I would like to let you know that there was no kind of military activity of any kind going on in my city.

In fact, I didn't even know that mortars had been fired until a fellow expat teacher wrote about it on Facebook because her students had come to her class yelling about bombs and going to war. None of my co-workers have mentioned it to me or asked me if I will have to leave the country, so I'm guessing from their general lack of alarm interest there is nothing to worry about right now.

That didn't stop me from registering with the embassy though. And also after reading this, I think I am going to make myself a SHTF bag. But beyond that, I really haven't given this latest North Korean temper tantrum any thought.