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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Visiting Carlos in the Hospital!


Last night I went to visit Carlos and Jess at the hospital! Carlos had his 4th and 5th A.C.L. surgery 2 nights ago in a Korean hospital about a 35 minute subway ride from my place... But shhhh, mums the word! His mom doesn't know, and she would be terrified if she found out!





Right before the surgery, Carlos told his doctor he was having some pain in his left knee as well as his right, so his doctor asked, "Do you want me to fix both knees at the same time?" Carlos kind of laughed and said, "Sure, why not!" ... and the rest is history!!




I purposefully didn't crop this picture, because I loved how you could see Carlos's hospital room. It was disgusting! Jess came with a bottle of Clorox and scowered the place the first night they were there! There was blood splattered on the wall behind Carlos's head, etc... It looks a bit like what I would imagine a mental hospital looking like! Jess taped paintings on the wall, and tried to make it feel a little more homey, since they are both going to be staying there for about 10 days! The hospital allowed Jess to sleep overnight in the room with him and has promised not to give him a roommate!




I ended up leaving around 9:30pm, and walked to the bus stop. I had only been to this side of town once before, but was confident that I was getting on the bus going in the right direction. It didn't take long before I realized I was definitely not going the right way though! I decided to play Carmen San Diego and ride it until it eventually made a u-turn. Little did I know, it doesn't make a u-turn and it goes and goes and goes... When I noticed that I was the last one on the bus, I decided it was time to forgo my adventure, and got on a bus going the right way... I ended up getting home close to midnight! This is a picture of the subway map, and how far out of town I actually went on the bus. The red is the path I took... The blue dot is where I live!

Raised by Grandparents

In Korea, it's very very very common for grandmothers to watch their grandchildren, while the parents are busy working! It's actually quite sad, considering the long hours Koreans work at their jobs... The moms and dads are rarely around during their child's developmental years, which, from what I've been told, are some of the best years! (I'll take your word for it moms!)

Everytime I am out and about, walking through town, I see grandmothers carrying their young grandchildren on their backs, with these blanket style carriers. They lean over, while the baby is laying on the back, and wrap the blanket tightly around their stomach. It's amazing how the babies never fall!


What's more amazing though, is the immense strength shown by these "ajumas," as we call them in Korean (older women). They carry babies, and sometimes even heavy toddlers on their backs, up steep hills, 5 flights of stairs in the subways, etc, etc... and somehow always seem to have a smile on their face! I guess I would smile too if I got to spend time with an adorable Korean baby all day long!