OK Maybe Seeing The Doc Is A Good Idea

Aug 23-29

With my leg still swollen from my crash last week, work was a bit of a chore this week. Not so much from the classes, which I didn't have, but from the having to sit in the office for 8 hours with no real good place to put my leg up to keep the swelling down. That coupled with the fact that we don't have a fridge/freezer so I also didn't have ice to put on it made sitting around pretty crappy. The bruising however was starting to come out nicely and my leg was beginning to look jaundiced from the knee down, except for around the initial injury site which was a little red.
Not being one to let an injury slow him down. After work Monday I headed down to Yatap for my Eddy Izzard education hour. For those of you know don't know, Eddy Izzard is a British comedian who many find hilarious. Lauren and some of her friends were getting together to have a Izzard marathon, so I thought I should give him a try. Turns out that he is kind of funny, but a lot of the British style humour is lost on North Americans so some of it I found humourous but not comical. Not a bad night either way, but a little more activity than I needed for my leg. I woke up Tuesday and my leg was the sorest it had been yet and the redness was spreading as well as the bruising. I came home and limped back to work for another day of sitting around, though the pain was evident and my coworkers were really persistent about me going to the doctors. I told them I would go Wednesday morning if it was still bad.
Waking up Wednesday morning after having come home from work and put my leg up with some ice, the swelling and soreness was much better. It was still sore however, and I thought a visit to the docs couldn't hurt. I called Jean who had said he would help me translate if needed and we went down to a local clinic just a few minutes from where we live. It turned out that the doc spoke perfect English and had studied in the U.S. Right away he took a look at my leg and was pretty sure I was going to die. That's the thing about Koreans, they always give over the top diagnoses. For the littlest thing they won't hesitate to put you in a splint or a cast and give you wicked strong meds. So after his initial freak out to which I had to tell him to relax or I was going to leave, he checked me out using a sonogram, saw that nothing was broken, and that it was just a bunch of mashed up tissue in my leg. He was quite worried about infection so he aspirated my leg to see what was in the lump, seeing it was just blood he gave me some antibiotics and pain killers, then asked me to come back in a couple days for a check up.
After work Wednesday I came home again and took it easy trying to get the swelling down and pain to subside. It was strange though, because most of the pain and tightness wasn't around the main injury but around my calf where the swelling was probably pulling the most, and from the limping I'm sure; and was spreading to the ankle. By the time I got up Thursday and had made a call home to dad I was feeling much better and things were looking much better, so I got ready and headed off to work. After work Thursday I headed back down to Yatap to hang out with Lauren and some of her friends for a few drinks in Seohyun. It was the day of the week when the bar offers good deals so it was quite full, mostly of foreigners, and was a pretty good time.
Friday was just another day at the office, though I did have a few classes to teach and that helped relieve my boredom. After work I had planned on meeting up with Blake, because his brother Grant and his girlfriend Michelle had flown in to finish up a 5 week Asian vacation. However, very last minute a group of teachers decided they wanted to go out to have drinks as a teachers only good-bye party for Rebecca, who is leaving the school at the end of the semester to go to Ireland. I couldn't very well say no, so I had to cancel on Blake and go out with the school. It was still a great time. We started at SeoulDae (Seoul National University) with some drinks and food for a couple hours before moving to Ho Bar in Sillim for a few more drinks. We called it a night around 2am, and I shared a cab back to my area with a couple teachers then came in and went to bed.
Getting up Saturday around 10am, my leg was feeling much better but the meds I was on were making me sleepy, I'm sure mixing them with alcohol wasn't helping but whatever. I got up and cleaned up a bit then had a nap then got up again around 1 to head to Itaewon for a hair appointment. I was given the name of a hair shop that did dreads and had finally gotten around to making a much needed appointment for 2pm. I got on the subway and made my way there, trying to be a little early so that I could find the place, which backfired when I walked the wrong way and ended up having to back track and was 15 minutes late anyways. I went in and they sat me down and a lady started working on my dreads, twisting and hooking and putting wax in them. I didn't particularly want wax, because it gets all over your clothes, so I asked her to not wax it and just hook them. This was very opposite of what they were used to doing and it took a little explaining on how I liked it done, but in the end it worked out. It's not as good a job as when I go to Creative Trends back home, but for the situation I'm in it's not bad. After getting my hair done for a reasonable $60, I went and put money on my phone, grabbed some kebabs and headed home on the subway for another nap.
Waking up from another 2 hour nap I had another shower and got ready for Saturday nights going away party for Dave and Kate. The plan was to meet at 9pm in Gangnam for diner, then have a few drinks there before heading to the inevitable Gold Bar. We gathered around exit 6 in Gangnam while we waited for the group to come together (Dave & Kate, Alex & Louise, Thomas & Jeanne, Frank, myself, James, Blake, and Grant & Michelle), then walked down to a Korean BBQ place under Woodstock Bar for dinner. After dinner we stopped at Castle Praha for a few beers, and Brady and SoHyun showed up. We stayed until about 1230 then got going to Gold Bar. Before we left though, there was a guy in a shirt that said 'Free Hugs', so we Rock/Scissors/Paper'ed for who had to hug him and I lost, so I walked up behind him and hugged which totally freaked him out until he realized what his shirt said. Getting in cabs, we all got to Gold Bar quickly and tried to stay out of the rain that had been plaguing us all week. Once in, it became a typical night at Gold Bar, but this time I was not the one getting out of control. In fact, I was trying to watch my consumption because of the medication I was on, so was not drinking too much at first. It was inevitable that someone would cross the line between sober and too drunk sooner or later, and Thomas became the first casualty of the night. He was hanging out with Brady, but I quickly stepped in and took him outside where he got some of it our of his system. I hung out with him outside while he drank some water, then helped Jeanne get him into a cab and on their way home. Before I knew it I was back at Gold Bar helping Blake's brother Grant up the stairs for the same reason. He was in a bit better shape than Thomas, but still needed to be outside for a while. Michelle and I forced him to drink some water after puking on the street while Blake went to find him a motel to stay in instead of trying to get him home. Blake returned after several minutes and we helped Grant to the motel, but en route we lost Michelle to a convenience store and Blake had to go find her before we all got too separated. Getting them into the room and having Grant puking in the garbage can was our cue to head out and get some McDonald's. Blake and I got some breakfast which we ate in the cab back to his place, and then I continued on to my place, where I met Lauren who had been out with Candace and had come to crash at my place. By now it was 730 in the morning and I was in much need of sleep.
I didn't get up until 3 in the afternoon on Sunday, and then spent the entire day laying around in bed watching movies. I had thought about going out with Blake and company for some dinner but decided that I didn't really want to leave my place.

Another week down and another lesson unlearned :)