Crazy with boredom Monday

I had a nice enough weekend, but didn't do much. I'm still sick. Just the swollen throat has turned into one mother of a cough. It's not making me feel super awful, but it is so tiring coughing all the time! I went to the park to see the cherry blossoms, though I think I'll try again next weekend because they were only sort of out on Saturday. Saturday night was snacks at Courtney's house, which was fun. On Sunday I went for a big walk in the sunshine and played the computer.

Today, because of the excessive coughing, Mr B. wouldn't let me teach again, so I had to sit at my desk all day and just read, surf the internet, and cough. To top it off, lunch sucked. It was the horrible fish thing with bones in again, and salad. Yuck. Horrible day, really. 

And we still didn't have that super urgent 'you must come to work' effing meeting.

Some days I'm really not sure how much more of this I can take. I'm convinced that if I can just start seeing things in the right way, I'll be as happy as Larry, but right now I'm stumped.

To make myself feel better I bought some steak for dinner. It was expensive, so hopefully it's nice. If it's no good, then the next time I have a bad day, I'm just going to shell out $20-30 at the steak restaurant along the block. With bacon.

Here's some flower photo's to counteract my shit-tastic mood:

These yellow one and the purple ones seem to grow wild all ove r the place.

Very bright!

I cheated, there were in a hot house.

I'm not an expert photographer. I point and shoot with my camera on automatic mode.

Blossoms!

Add caption

Technically nothing to do with spring, but orchids are amazing.

Ok, I'm off to cook my steak. With butter. With garlic butter. And bacon. Mmmmmmm.....

Arrrrrrg! Friday.

That's a sound of frustration, not a pirate :D

After being so good to me yesterday about being sick, my co-teacher has once again turned dumb-ass. Yesterday he taught all my classes, and then when I attempted to teach my after school class, he cancelled it halfway through because he was 'concerned about my health'.. That was really nice of him (though it would have been a lot nicer if he'd cancelled it beforehand and just let me go home early). Anyway, I woke up this morning in a really bad way. My throat was so, so swollen, I could barely swallow, and my voice was wall weird. So, I texted Mr Baek and told him I was going to the doctors, and wouldn't be at school.. He rang me and told me I had to come to school so we could have a meeting about the open class (a class that parents can come and watch) that's happening in two weeks. He could hear my voice, and knew it was bad, but insisted I had to come for this meeting. So I asked if I could go to the doctor first, then come in. After he sorted that out in his head, that's what I did.

So, the doctor's given me some more medicine. Because the last stuff didn't 'cure my virus' he's now given me antibiotics to take for three days. I'm a bit wary of taking them. I know I'm no doctor, but I don't feel very confident I have a bacterial infection to cure (Doc was like "Hmmmm, maybe this will help?"), and if I take the antibiotics they're going to cause me other problems :( So, I've got my three days worth of pills, but I'm not going to start taking them until Monday, just in case things improve on their own. Nurofen knocks the symptoms down to totally bearable, so that's ok.

Back to Mr Baek. So, I'm pretty sick, he insists I come in for some meeting that's just me and him. The class isn't for two weeks, and I don't have to work on it over the weekend or anything. What I'm getting at is that it could certainly wait until Monday. I've been at work since 11, he said we'd have the meeting after lunch, and it's now nearly 3pm. He keeps asking me if I'm ok, because I look bad, and sound bad. I've tried all kinds of variations, and just get sympathetic non-committal noises in response. "I'm O.K", "Well, I'm not dying", "No, not really" - I don't think he's actually listening to me at all. And when I got in this morning he wanted to see my note from the doctor, and for me to go and say hello to the vice principle with him, So I went, VP asked me in Korean if I was ok, I said "Yes", and I was dismissed. 

Soooo, now I've just been sitting at my desk since 11am. Luckily I've actually had some work to do! I've had some exam questions to write for all the grades, but I'm all done now. I'm going to have to proofread it all next week when I'm not so sick to make sure there's not spelling errors all over the show. And now I've run out of work, feel crappy because I ate a chocolate muffin after going to the doctor (it wasn't even very good and made me feel kinda sick), and am waiting to see if this Very Important Meeting is even going to happen. My bet is it will, in maybe an hour, and will be a total waste of time and he probably could have just emailed me what he wants or waited until freakin' Monday.

What makes me so frustrated (I nearly cried in frustration at the water cooler!) is that Mr B will come over to talk to me, and hear my voice. My voice sounds like you'd expect a person with an innertube instead of a throat to sound (Ew, just freaked myself out with thoughts of 'The Stand'). Anywho, he can hear my discomfort, so he say - EVERY TIME - "Oh, are you ok? Are you sure you're ok?". NO YOU RETARD! I TOLD YOU, I'M REALLY SICK. I WANTED THE DAY OFF WORK. NO, I'M *NOT* OK!!!.. And then, I'll stab him with my jumbo-sized ballpoint pen, just to make my point.

Ahhh, cathartic. 

FYI: Crappy chocolate muffins are not cathartic. I made a conscious choice to eat them, but it was the wrong decision. Ah well, BBQ with Courtney tonight. I'mma order that fatty meat and make it alllll better.

Today's five things:

1) Imagining stabbing Mr B with my pen.

2) Imagining stabbing Mr B with my collection of flower shaped push-pins.

3) Imaging clipping bulldog clips to Mr B's nose.

4) Rubbing kimchi in all his tiny stab wounds.

5) Then ask, "Ooooh, are you Ok, Mr B?".

Mwahahahahahahaha.


*                    *                     *
I'd just like to add to this, now that the day is over. There was no meeting.

I'm Tired Thursday

Strangest thing, ever since I stopped eating grains and sugars, like the very day after, I've been waking up between 6 and 6.30am every day. I'd been having a lot of trouble waking up, especially when it was very dark during winter. I'd adjusted my mornings to let me wakeup with as much light as I could. This helped, but I was still waking up very groggy and unwilling to get out of bed. Which is really unlike me. I used to just wakeup, spend a minute or two coming two, and then be up and at 'em. Now, it's light much earlier, I'm waking up earlier, and feeling better about it. Not sure if it's the food, or the light, or both, or neither, but it's good.

I'm at work today, but my co-teacher offered to do all the teaching. I think I probably look and sound like total crap, so that was really nice of him. I am very tired. I've been having a lot of trouble getting to sleep in the last few days - maybe the medicine the doctor gave me? Not sure, but last night I was semi-awake for hours. Poo.

I'm going to try and go out ti dinner tonight. Hopefully I don't feel too sick. It'll be a nice distraction :)

Five things for today:

1) This is actually from Tuesday, but I only remembered just now: Mr Baek texted me in the evening saying "Are you ok? I've been worried about you all day", which was really nice and thoughtful of him.

2) He also did all the teaching today, though I am going to try and do my after school class.

3) It was so sunny this morning! I opened the window on the bus and looked at all the fields starting to turn green.

4) I can see buds on all the trees, just ready to burst into flower.

5) We had roast pork for lunch at school today - yum! No cracking, but the meat was nice. Plus lots of fat, which is keeping me nice and full. Normally I'm starving by now.

Signs of Spring Wednesday

Today was election day in Korea, which is great because it means those damn annoying trucks won't be at the bus stop any more. Seriously, I'm pretty sure it's a good way to get people *not* to vote for you - park in the busy bus area, where there's only just enough space for all the buses and people, and blare loud, obnoxious noise at the at 7am. Not cool! 

I didn't feel well at all this morning, so I stayed home most of the day and didn't go to the park as planned. I did go on a big walk around Osan, though, and found a few signs of spring! Also, I only wore a normal jumper, no down jacket required - woohoo!

Yeah, so a nice day. I feel like whatever this virus I have is, it's about to turn into a world class cough, so I'll probably be taking cough pills FOREVER. Back to school tomorrow, hopefully it is an easy day!

Today's five things:

1) Sunshine

2) Flowers

3) I ate a really yummy hard-boiled egg

4) I saw a cute puppy

5) I did one or two for real-almost-got-my-nose-to-the-ground girl push up. 

Getting Better Tuesday

My myriad magic mystery pills seem to be doing the trick. My throat is still swollen, but doesn't hurt much, and the fluttering and body aches have stopped as of this morning. Which is awesome, because that was seriously weird! Tentative +1 for the Korean doctor :)

Not much to report today. Just stayed at home apart from a half hour walk around the block in the rain. I'm going to the park tomorrow (assuming I'm better), for a nice stroll. Also, today, managed to skype mum for the first time in a whole month! Last time we talked was March 10th. So, that was fantastic! I got caught up on home happenings :)

And because I don't have much to say today, here's some (random) photos:

My bunny (official name: Kyle, but I just call her Bun-bun or hop-along)

Entrance to Lotte World

Part of the inside section of the theme park.

Disneyland rip-off much?

Looked awesome in the evening.

I made pork-belly and roasted beetroot in my toaster oven for Easter dinner.

I promise to try and take some more photos of stuff!

Also, just to compare to my meal examples below, here's the type of thing I've been eating for the last week and a half:

Breakfast: None, or a seafood omelette.
Lunch: School lunch, but I take my own vegetables and swap out the rice.
Dinner: Beef patty (home made), egg, lettuce, tomato, cheese, eggplant, and some mayonnaise.
Snacks: Almonds (oh, they are so delicious!), fruit.

Today:
Breakfast: Boiled egg and left-over roast pork, and a banana.
Lunch: Tuna and pumpkin hash with tomatoes, almonds, and beetroot.
Dinner: Not sure yet. Not very hungry. Maybe just some of my coconut jelly.
Snacks: an orange, small amount of dark chocolate (and I mean really small).

Much better!!

Sick Monday

Saturday night was heaps of fun. I was invited by Coutney's boyfriend, Mike, to go to a Cameroon gathering. Sadly, there were apparently way fewer people that unusual, and also much less food, but I still enjoyed it. They had a really formal meeting before hand, and I felt totally anthropologist-y for being there and watching. I felt like I was sitting in a chapter of 'Mama Lola', only with no Voudou. I honestly did find it interesting, but it did only add to my ideas that one of the major things wrong with the world today is poorly functioning committees and overly democratic leadership. Nothing every gets done and everything gets nit-picked to death. And this meeting was no different, which meant we didn't get to eat until 10.30 at night.

When we were able to eat dinner, it was delicious! It was rice and a chicken dish in a creamy, spicy sauce. It actually tasted very much like a spicier version of my mum's baked cream tarragon chicken. I enjoyed it a lot. However, I though there were going to be vegetable options, so I could avoid eating grains, but there weren't so I just ate the rice. Not the end of the world, and I enjoyed the food a lot!

However, I started to develop a sore throat over the evening, and a funny, mild chest flutter. It got worse over Sunday. I was so sore and achy (even my skin hurt) that I had trouble sleeping last night. I woke up this morning and I thought it was getting better, but once I got off the bus at school, I could barely walk up the hill, and my chest flutter came back quite persistently. I gave it over an hour to clear up, but it didn't, so I left school to go to the doctor. Mr B wanted to know if I'd come back to work after I'd seen the doctor. I said I didn't know, it's depend on what the doc said. Mr B said ok, I could have four hours leave, and to text him if I wasn't coming back. That's fine, but it was 11am, four hours would mean I'd get back to school at 3pm. Classes are over at 3pm, and I'm obviously sick and going to the doctor... why would I go back to work for two hours for no reason? 

Anywho, because of all his fussing, I missed the bus and had to wait over half an hour for the next one. Then I got to the doctors, waited a while, and got in. I told the doctor my symptoms and he goes "Oh, that's really not good". Haha, things you DON'T say to a patient who's worried about a fluttery chest, right? Anyway, he checked me out, and took one look at my throat and decided that it was so swollen it was causing a heap of my symptoms. He said I've got a bad virus, and that my throat swelling was making my lower oesophagus spasm lightly and giving me a stiff neck. He wrote me a note to get off work tomorrow and a prescription for some mystery drugs (though no antibiotics, I checked this time). 

So, I am very sore, achy, and swallowing is a bit uncomfortable, but at least I'm fairly confident I'm not about to have a heart attack or stroke. Also, it cost me under $4 to see the doctor and just over $2 for three days of assorted pills. No wonder everyone goes to the doctor for everything over here.

Luckily, I have a whole lot of food pre-cooked sitting in the fridge, so I don't have to try and convince myself to cook something healthy, it's all just there :) I am totally not exercising though!!!

Long time no see Saturday

I know, I know, a whole week with no update. Shame on me.

Well, all I can say in my defence is that nothing really happened. The week was a bit of a struggle in its overall blandness, hit a hight point on Thursday, and then hit rock bottom on Friday, and today, Saturday, is very nice, so far.

Last Sunday I went into Seoul and got a cute pair of handmade earrings from the craft market and some lunch from Taco Bell. I also had a nice browse through the book store, but didn't buy anything.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were so same-same I don't even remember them. Mr Beak seems to have totally thrown my teaching schedule out the window and now just tells me right before he wants me to teach that I'm on. Or he'll come into the classroom when I'm five minutes into a lesson and tell me to 'take a break', he'll teach it alone. So, because I have next to no schedule, and no was to know what they're up to in class, and no real way to plan for all that uncertainty, I've stopped caring a little bit. Last week was full of 'get in there and teach from the book and somehow get through 45 minutes. It is not the teacher I want to be, but I can't see too much choice.

Thursday was a good day because all my classes (all two of them plus after school class) were enjoyable and there weren't any major mess-up, interruptions, or discipline issues.

Friday sucked because it was the exact opposite. And then there was some kind of sports afternoon for the kids, which no one told me about, and I was left alone in the teacher's room with nothing to do all afternoon. To make matters worse, lunch wasn't very good that day, so I hadn't eaten much, so I was tired, bored, and hungry. Sucked all round!!

Today, Saturday is a really nice day, though. It's chilly, but the sun is shining, and the sky is blue. I spring cleaned the whole house this morning, including totally scrubbing down my rabbit's living area and washing all her towels. Then I went for a walk, window shopped, and then stopped in at LotteMart to see if they sold gelatin. Score! They do! So no I have some home made pineapple-coconut jelly setting in the fridge.

Why have I made jelly, you ask? Well, I had a bit of a life revolution last weekend. Possibly why my week has seemed so non-existent - I've been concentrating so hard on other things.

Well, it all started with my friend Jenni (I blame her entirely). She's a qualified personal trainer, and she wrote me an awesome indoor fitness plan that I can do in my apartment. It's been so cold outside, I've been pretty inactive these last few months. So, I started exercising. Then I though, why not keep track of how much of stuff you can do? I've always been awful at push-ups and whatnot (I actually can't even do one). So, on Sunday I got a notebook to write it down. So, that was healthier me, step one.

Now for step two, and it's a biggie. My diet in Korea has been downright awful. Like seriously appalling. One days food might be: 

Breakfast: Sugary cereal with strawberries and milk.

Lunch: School lunch with tonnes of rice.

Dinner: Two slices of combination pizza.

Snacks: Chocolate, chips, biscuits (often the whole box).

Or:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with lots of sugar and milk.

Lunch: School lunch with tonnes of rice.

Dinner: 2 minute noodles made with packet cheese and processed fish cake.

Snacks: choco-pie biscuits, marshmallow-fluff mixed with peanut butter.

Notice the almost total lack of vegetables or meat (or any actual 'food' for that matter). I'd never eat like this at home! I realised something had to change when I reached my highest weight in 3 years on Saturday. It's not the most I've ever weighed, and I'm still a totally healthy weight, but that'd change pretty quickly if I kept going. In the middle of the night on Saturday I woke up starving and ate a big chocolate mellow-puff type thing. I'd been eating them all week, and I realised that they were horrible, and that eating them in the middle of the night was definitely NOT healthy behaviour.

By pure coincidence at some point on Saturday or Sunday I stumble upon this website. I wasn't even looking for anything health related, I followed a link at Zen Habits, one of the blogs on my sidebar. It's about eating 'primally'. Now, I am super totally completely not a fan of labelling like this, and I'm also not keen on following one guy's word on a subject (like this Mark Sisson guy, or Atkins, or Jesus). But... what he says (Mark, not Atkins or Jesus) makes sense to me. In fact, I believe my whole family believes in much of what he says, I'd just never really thought about it and how it affected me. I've always been a healthy weight, and have just assumed that meant more or less 'healthy'.

I think I've been kinda wrong, though. I've read Pollan's work, seen Food Inc., and lots more through my Masters research, and always agreed wholeheartedly with their 'eat real food not this processed shit' philosophy. I'd just never thought to try. Plus there was a ton of stuff mixed up in there about vegetarianism (which I disagree with), corporate blah-blah-blah (I don't really want to mix business and food), and the fact that I actually like/love ice-cream, cake, and home made pizza. So, I agreed with the philosophy, but in no real way felt motivated to pursue it with any real intent to change.

So, not sure what changed. Maybe it's that I live alone for now, so changes seem less daunting. Maybe it's that I've dedicated the next few years of my life to myself and doing whatever makes me happy. Maybe it's because I have no way to make a home made pizza in my tiny kitchen. But, the stars have aligned, I'm most of the way through Mark Sisson's book 'The Primal Blueprint', and I haven't eaten a grain or sugar in six days. And I'm exercising like a caveman :D

Now, I am notoriously flaky about some things. Hobbies, food, and exercise are the top three things I always (seriously, without fail) never stick to. At least I'm consistent in my inconsistency. But I don't really intend to stick to this 100% FOREVER. I want to do it as much as I can, as often as I can, and return to it whenever I want to. It'd be great if I could just commit, but I think that trying to do that might create more of an urge to rebel. I've thought about it, and yeah, I'd actually prefer to die a bit earlier and eat pizza and ice cream sometimes.

It's all very new and shiny, and we'll see if I can actually feel any of the benefits that this 'blueprint' is supposed to help  me achieve. They are all things that are wrong right now and that I need to fix anyway, so I figure, give it at least 30 days to see if it's going to help.

What I want to achieve:

Lose the 5kg I've put on in the last 6 months.

Maintain weight.

Sleep better.

Have more, and more consistent, energy levels throughout the day.

Be stronger/fitter.

What I'm doing to achieve this:

All kinds of exercise.

Not watching TV right before bed.

Eating no sugar or grains.

Yeah, so, my current goal is to make it to Wednesday without deviating. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.