Looooong Post!

Whew! Finally some time to sit and catch a breath! And, no we have not caught our rodent in the kitchen yet. We're hoping it will venture back out tonight. However, after internet searching with John's description, it sounds like a "vole." Ever heard of such a thing? I've been wanting to tell you about our weekend, but the busy days just keep on piling up! The events all started on ~

Saturday...

John had been having a significant decrease in hearing ability (he did not want to call it hearing loss) accompanied with other symptoms for the past 2 weeks. He was unable to go to the doctor because he was working. So on Saturday we went into SeoSan so I could take him to the doctor there. He was given medication and told to return in 3 days if symptoms persisted.

Then from SeoSan we went directly past DaeSan to MyeongJi to visit some new friends we'd recently met who are new teachers in the area. They are from New Zealand and have invited us to spend Christmas Day with them. We are very excited to have someone to be with! We had a wonderful time with them. Lorette made us feel right as home the moment we stepped in the door. And Dave and the kids just had a blast together. I hadn't realized how much we've been missing that kind of interaction.

We spent all afternoon with them, having lunch, taking a walk around their apartments, playing at the playground, and talking, talking, talking. When we got home, the water was not working at our house. Did the pipes freeze again??? Oh, well, it was the weekend and nothing to do about it anyway except no showers and limited water.

Sunday...

Not a day of rest this week! I had agreed to go with some friends to a town about an hour away. It got later than I anticipated though, since they insisted on going out to supper afterwards and supper lasted over 2 hours. However, John and the kids had a nice relaxing day. Well, maybe not so relaxing for John...according to the kids, he spent a lot of time sleeping. The meds had knocked him out. Still no water in the house...

Monday...

My third day in a row going to SeoSan. John was not feeling better and they sent him home from school to rest. He again spent the day in bed. I wanted to, too, since I was not feeling well either. But I already had scheduled to meet a friend (Kyeong Sook) in SeoSan and could not get ahold of her cell phone. I did not want to stand her up, so I packed up the kids and off I went again. I intended to go right in, meet for lunch, and then leave right away. That is not what happened. As we ate lunch at a soup restaurant (with table & chairs!), Kyeong Sook convinced me that I should go into the doctor to get checked out. Especially just having gotten reamed by the doctor on Saturday with John. He'd told me, "One of you family gets sick, do not wait. Go to doctor. Longer bad, longer to be better."

Kyeong Sook offered to watch the kids while I went in to the doctor. It didn't take long, but on the way out, an very old woman (who I will call 'grandma') knocked into me trying to reach the door. She was unsteady on her feet, had a cane but poor balance and strength. I opened the door for her, and watched warily as she wobbled to the 6 steps. I offered my arm and she made a grab for me, tossing her cane to the bottom of the steps. I helped her down the steps, then handed her back her cane and prepared to leave. But before I could, she had a death grip on my hand. I figured she needed help getting to the bus nearby, so I obliged her. However, as we turned to head in that direction, I saw the bus was not there. Puzzling. What did she need me for, then? If I hadn't happened by, what would she have done? I began to motion to ask where she needed to go and she gestured to just down the street. I knew enough Korean words to get her to understand what I was asking. The problem was I didn't know enough to understand her answers! Except "Ko-mah-wa," thankful that I was with her. So I was still strapped. I guessed it wouldn't hurt to help her to where she needed to go and then hurry back to get the kids from my friend. I figured she must have a car in the parking lot nearby or her house was near and I didn't think she'd last long with the shape she was in. Wrong.

As we passed the parking lot...and continued down the block, and then the next block, I began to feel uneasy. We had several cars honking at us since she walked right down the middle of the street and they had to wait each time for me to coax her to the side. I had no idea what she was trying to find...she had an obvious goal in mind...but I could not, in good conscience, leave her until I saw her safely home. At this point I began to look for someone who could understand enough English to translate for us. But this was easier thought than done. It took 4 more blocks before finding a highschool girl who knew enough English to help us. But my heart sank as I listened to her exchange with 'grandma.' It became apparent that she was a bit confused. She was looking for a certain highschool (why, I know not-unless to meet someone there), but the girl didn't know where it was. 'Grandma' kept pointing like it had to be just around in this area somewhere. I knew I was close to the library I go to every Wednesday, so I thought if I could just get her to the library, they could help me find where she was wanting to go. The girl translated this to the woman and very thankfully she turned so we could start in that direction. But the poor thing was nearly exhausted by now. She was becoming short of breath and leaning on me pretty heavily. I just hoped we could make it to the library where she could sit. Another 2 blocks later, we made it...only to have her become agitated and refuse to go into the library. She was obsessed about getting to where she was going. Before I could get help from them, she started to take off again. Another block down, I was becoming quite concerned for her and decided the best thing would be if I could get her a taxi and pay for her fare. I began to pray that I could find a cab, but this was a side street. It took awhile and quite a bit of indecision on her part before she allowed me to turn her around again and head back toward the library again. But we'd only gone a few paces before she wilted up against a parked car - with the driver inside! I didn't know what to do. We'd been walking for over 40 minutes, and I knew she couldn't go much further. I hoped she wasn't about to have a heart attack on me. Just then, a taxi drove by and stopped 10 feet ahead of us! Praise God!!! He was dropping off someone at the apartments across the street. I began waving my arm at him as I slowly propelled "Grandma" over to the taxi. She collapsed inside as I indicated to the driver that I wanted him to take her where she wanted to go. Just at that moment, Kyeong Sook spotted me and came running. She translated for me and I paid for 'grandma's' fare. The place she was wanting to go would have been a brisk 45 minute walk normally! Then, 'grandma' repeated her thanks as I told her good-bye and the taxi drove off. I was so relieved she was finally taken care of!

Then I turned to find 3 very worried children and a very concerned friend! They had been waiting and waiting and finally went back to the doctor. The nurse told them I'd already left and taken the bus home! So they'd gone back out and started searching. There were no tears yet, but definite visible relief! Kyeong Sook took us back to the bus terminal, and then...Home!!! Hours after I'd planned. Some things can never be forseen... except possibly continued water problems?

Tuesday...

John got sent home from school again. He was still not feeling better and it had been 3 days since his doctor visit. So....you guessed it! In to SeoSan again! I admit I went in rather unwillingly at first. I had been hoping for a chance to stay home and get some rest myself. This time, the doctor referred John to a specialist. Needless to say, it was quite the kafaffle getting registered and to the right spot. Once there we were told that the doctor was in surgery. Wonderful! How long would that take? As it turned out, it was only 20 more minutes. John wanted me to go in with him, but then the ENT Doctor spoke very good English. I got to watch the procedings anyway. It was similiar to Joy's visit when they used a video type thing to see into her ear. The doc takes a very long (14-inch) scope and pokes it into John's ear. Not all the way. Although I had a lot of fun telling telling the kids quite seriously that the doctor poked the long scope into one of Daddy's ears and wiggled it through to the other ear, and now everything is cleaned out. Their eyes went very wide until James thought about that for a few moments. Bad me!! But it's so fun to tease them! Anyway - and this is the truth! - the doctor pulled out some amazingly huge chunks of wax out of John's ears. One he peeled right off the eardrum and John said he could feel it. When he could finally see into the ears, he said John had fluid & infection in the middle ear. He also had a sinus infection. So, off to the yak-guk (pharmacy) again. Guess how much the damages were? About $7 for the specialist and another $7 for the meds.

Oh, yes - we had a few spurts of water, but nothing to shower of shave with. Talk about feeling grungy!!!

Wednesday (today)...

New record-breaker! Five consecutive trips into SeoSan! :( (many of these trips have been 45 min. 1-way, standing up on the bus - tiring to say the least) Today was the weekly trip for the library English classes. If nothing else comes up, I should be able to stay home tomorrow, thank goodness! But Friday again, the kids and I will be going back in for the Christmas program at the library. Whew! I will be glad when this week is over!!!

Oh, yes! We had water this morning! And this morning was when I was awakened at 4:30 with the rodent episode. It is getting quite late now, but I am determined to get this blog entry finished! The kids and I disinfected the floors and began to wash everything on the counters until the water gave out again, leaving us high and dry. :( Apparently they are working on the school's water line. I was so busy cleaning that I didn't get my shower right away. You know, there's only so long one can go before the only thing that can be said is "I stinketh!" The good news is that we now have a trap beautifully set with an apple slice and peanut butter. When he walks in - BAM! The kids made me demonstrate that several times before they could keep their hands off it. So we are all praying we can awaken to a new 'pet' tomorrow. haha! When the kids asked what I would do with it, I told them I'd chop-chop it's head off! Then they wanted to know if they could play with it first. Those poor deprived kids!

Wow! I think this post rivals the first ones back in March! Well, don't say I didn't warn you. I told you it's been busy around here! I don't think I can label our life here as "boring"!!!

Have a good week, everyone! I'm sure it's probably just as hectic for those of you juggling the holiday schedules.

Oh, yes - I decided I'd had enough of hearing those poor cats mewling out Silent Night, so I edited the song list with the kids' help. There's an interesting rendition of the 12 days of Christmas. Enjoy!