Get this thing out of me!

So, I went back to the dentist near my apartment yesterday and instead of pulling my tooth, he took a laser to it and cut off a bunch of the gum around it and said to come back tomorrow for the same procedure!  WHAT?!  I don't want the gum cut, I want this stupid painful tooth out!

So, when I got to school this morning, I told Okk and NaRae (another teacher) what happened and that I was in more pain this morning than ever.  Luckily, NaRae speaks English perfectly AND is related to a dentist that specializes in wisdom teeth extraction!  So, she immediately called and made me an appointment for this afternoon! Talk about an answer to prayer!

So, after classes were finished, Okk and I jumped in NaRae's car and drove the 45 minutes to the PNU area, where the dentist is!   THANK YOU NA RAE!

We arrived in the area while the dental staff was at lunch, so we stopped in at Mr. Donut to grab something to eat!  They both said, you should eat a lot, because you'll be really hungry after the surgery and won't be able to eat anything!  So, with their excellent advice (wink, wink) I ordered myself two yummy glazed donuts and a berry smoothie!

Then, when 2:20pm came around, we packed up and walked over to the dentist office nextdoor!  The girls both came back with me to talk to the dentist about my condition and what had happened at the previous dentist!  This was so nice, and so much better than me trying to explain it on my own!  The language barrier seems to feel much larger when the topic at hand is medically related!  I don't know all those big fancy words, you know?!  Luckily I have two wonderful bi-lingual friends who could translate for me!  Once everything was worked out and the dentist agreed to take out my wisdom tooth, the girls headed over to the waiting room, and chatted till I was done! (All of these pics were taken with my iphone, hence the less than great quality!)

Within about 2 minutes of sitting down, he gave me 6 shots into my gums!  I may or may not have cried during that part!  I'm 30... I'm a big girl... but ouch!  6 shots into my gums!  NO THANK YOU!  At this point, I was clawing at the arms of my chair in excruciating pain! 

After the shots were given, my face quickly numbed up and my smile became crooked!  This, of course, made me laugh, and in turn, everyone else laugh!  I was taken to the Xray room, where they took 1 Xray, and then sent me back to my chair.  Within a minute, this image popped up on my individual TV (attached to the chair) and he explained what was happening with my teeth!  Don't mind the multiple fillings... I ate Jolly Ranchers like it was my job as a kid!

The tooth on the far right is my wisdom tooth!  I hate that tooth!

While the shots were definitely painful, the actual tooth extraction was PAIN FREE!  Thank goodness!  Something I thought was kind of funny was they set this green cloth over my face, with a little hole over my mouth and nose, so I could breath... but everything else was covered up.   Maybe they don't like making eye contact with their patients, so they cover us up!  haha.  The dentist yanked and chisled, and yanked and chisled some more, for about 10 minutes, until it was all extracted! 

Then he stitched me up, threw some gauz on the hole, told me to bite down and not talk for 1 hour, said farewell with a smile, and sent me home!

Stubborn little tooth!

I think it's worth noting that for 6 shots, an X ray, and a wisdom tooth extraction, my total dentist bill, without dental insurance, was 21,100 won ($20.04)!!  And, my prescription pain medicine and antibiotics were 1,300 won ($1.23)!

I was told that the worst pain will be tomorrow... but, for now: my aching wisdom tooth is GONE... The pain meds are currently in full effect... I'm comfy in my bed about to watch a movie... and I'm about to eat ice cream and mashed potatoes for dinner... !

What more could I ask for?!   

I'm teething... at 30!

For the past couple days I've been in some of the most intense pain I've ever experienced, as 1 of my stupid wisdom teeth has decided to rear it's nasty little head in my 30 year old mouth!  A little late, don't ya think little guy?! 

After lunch with Okk and Monica at a fantastic Japanese restaurant and gelato on the beach afterwards (that's a story for another day and time!) I went to Okk's dentist to have him take a look at my tooth.  The office was a surprisingly gorgeous, state of the art place, right near my apartment.  Bad news was, I went alone, and NO ONE spoke a lick of English!   The nurse literally just stood over me, staring at my face and hair, until the dentist came.  Awkward a bit?! For some Koreans, it's their first time ever seeing a foreigner up close! 
Apparently I was the lucky first for her!

So, there I was, laying comfortably in my padded chair, watching my own personal TV,

while the dentist was looking around in my mouth, when all of a sudden I was unpleasantly disturbed by a gigantic needle entering my mouth!  Hello, can I get a warning, please?! Luckily I made it though the whole ordeal, and for the astoundingly low price of $4.00!  And yes, that's the price without insurance!  Such a deal, eh?!  Bad news was, he said my tooth needs to come out!  Uuuuggghhhh!  Here I was thinking I was free and clear of the dreaded wisdom teeth extraction fiasco, but now I have to get it done in a foreign country! Lovely!

So, Thursday is my big day!  Good news is, I asked today, and the total price for pulling my wisdom tooth will be $19!  I'll be going to work and then meeting Aaron at 4:00pm to go to the dentist's office.  He's my support, and will hopefully wipe the drool from my mouth when I can't swallow, and feed me ice cream in bed all day!  Aaron, I hope you're reading this!  My favorite flavor is vanilla!

Then, Friday I'll be heading back to work!  There's NO rest for the weary in Korea!  If you're not dying, you come to work, regardless of the 11 days you're given of sick leave each year!  Luckily, Okk and I had scheduled to show an English movie on Friday, so I'll just lay in the back of the room with gozz in my mouth and motion with my hands when I need something!  haha! Wish me luck! 

Summer camp!

This is my 5th English camp since working in Korea! That's right, my FIFTH!  Summer English camp is a lot different than regular everyday teaching in Korea, where you teach from a text book, and have classes full of 25-30 students!  In English camp, I can create my own lesson plans, play games, read storybooks, cook, do art projects, or whatever else I can think of... and I only have 10-14 students at a time!  SCORE!  So, I'm gonna give you a run down of a typical English camp day (for beginners) in my classroom! 

Here's how it went down today!

We started with the Phonics Song!  My kids love this song and always sing along!  I, on the other hand, could do without the darn song getting stuck in my head all day long!  Suffer for the kiddos!

Then, we talked about numbers and how to spell them! These kiddos are still learning to read English. So, I made this handout for them to see the #, the English spelling, and then how to read it phonetically in their own language!  It also says "O'clock" because I'm going to use it later in the week when I teach how to tell time!

Then, I gave them this math worksheet and asked them to add the numbers and spell them in English.  This is one of my 3rd graders papers.  You might think this looks boring, but my kids LOVE stuff like this! 

How funny is 0 + 0 = "oclock"?!

 Then, we played numbers Jenga!  I found this on http://www.gmarket.com/, a Korean shopping website, and thought it would be a great way to incorporate learning numbers with a game!  After each students pulled out a Jenga piece, they would say the number AND spell it.  Most of them used their cheat sheet (above), which was okay because my goal wasn't to get them to memorize the spelling, but rather just to learn how to say the letters.

 They had no idea they were studying while playing! :)  I'm tricksy like that!

After numbers Jenga, I taught colors.  There's a great website called www.BarryFunEnglish.com that I pay $12.00 a year to be a member of.  They have games, power points, flashcards, tools, etc, that are perfect for ESL English camps, and since my classroom's computer is connected to a projector, it's a piece of cake to project the computer screen onto the wall so everyone can see.  So, today, we reviewed colors and then played the Speed Game!  One student said a color in Korean, and the other student (with his/her back to the board) said it in English.  Whichever team said the most colors in a minute, won!

 

Then, we did a color by number picture of Mickey Mouse!  I used to love color by numbers as a kid!  So, I printed a picture of Mickey off the internet, wrote different numbers all over it and made copies!  Then, I wrote the numbers 1-8 on the board and asked them what color they wanted to color that number.  Then I wrote the color next to the number, so later they would have to read the color to figure out what it should be!

Quietly and diligently coloring! :)

Ta Da!  After they were finished, I did a verbal quiz, asking "What color is Mickey's hat?"  "What color is Mickey's basket" etc, and gave a lolipop to the students who answered it right!

Then, I gave them this paper with pigs.  I told them to "Color 1 pig pink."  "Color 2 pigs tan." etc.  When we were finished coloring all of the pigs, we played BINGO!  I wrote each color, one by one, on the board, so they had to read it in English and then find that color pig!

The first student to have 3 lines (vertically or horizontally) was the winner!

Then, we topped off the day with a fun game of UNO! But not just your average UNO.  I had them say the color of the card, and the number, and if I heard them speaking Korean during the game, I hit the bell and they had to pick up an extra card!  haha! 

Then, I had them present their All About Me worksheet that they did yesterday!  Whoever could read a section of theirs would get a sticker on their nametag (an incentive program that they love!)  This is Kenny's!

Last but not least, we ended the camp by eating mini chocolate cakes and cleaning the room before saying goodbye for the day!  So, there you go!  That's what I'm up to over here on this side of the world!

So You Think You Can Dance?!

S.Y.T.Y.C.D. is one of my favorite shows on TV right now, and Twitch (one of the former season's B-Boys) is one of my favorite dancers to ever grace the stage!  There's something about the way B-boy's dance that's exciting, funny, and creative... and I'm a fan!  So, today, when Aaron and I were walking through Nampodong and ran into the beginnings of a Killa Monkeyz B-Boy show, I was so excited! 

Remember when I went to their B-Boy studio back in September to check out their practice?! 

Click here for that blog!  I love these guys!

Best part about it was, because we got there early, we beat the crowds and got a front row seat!  And yes, that's 3 fingers instead of my usual 2!  I'm starting a new trend! :)

As great as these kids were, it was this old Korean man who completely stole the show!

Work it old man, work it!

Can't beat a surprise show in the middle of Nampo, during a shopping spree!  I love Busan!

Joining the Team!

Aaron and I just recently joined a Busan gaelic football team!  Random, yes?!  Fun, definitely!! What is gaelic football, you ask?!  Well, it's bascially a mix of football, soccer, volleyball, and basketball, all rolled into one crazy fun Irish game!  Aaron went to practice last Saturday while I was with Okk in Ulsan, so he had at least one practice to figure it all out before our match yesterday against Daegu! 

The boys team played 3 games, and the girls team played 3. 

Each game was 20 minutes long and pretty darn intense! 

Aaron was a stud out there!  He played soccer in college, but this was my first time ever seeing his athleticism in full gear!  I was a proud girlfriend!

We rented out an artificial turf field at a middle school campus in Da Daepo.  Schools NEVER have grass fields in Korea.  It's either artificial turf or dirt!

I'd say at least 80 percent of the guys on the Busan team are from Ireland, and had played back home for years! 

Aaron played goalie for one of the games!  Check out that save! :)

Save # 2!

In the 3rd game, Aaron went up to catch the ball while the other teams goalie (the big guy in the green shirt on his knee) went up at the same time and knocked Aaron in the face!  Ouch!  He was down for a couple seconds, but was tough and got right back up and kept playing! 

Meagan is on the girls team with me!  It was actually her idea to join!  She's friends with some of the Irish guys on the guys team! 

 The girls teams from Busan and Daegu all together!  Everyone was so friendly!  And no, I didn't wear my flipflops for the game! 

Believe it or not, this was my first time ever playing and I made 2 goals!!