"Ointment for the Oral Cavity Disease"

I think I'm quite lucky to have a pharmacist that speaks English at a pharmacy near my school.  I can't even begin to imagine trying to act out or gesture medical symptoms to someone who speaks no English in hopes that they will be able to decipher my motions correctly and give me medicine that will actually help my ailment.  Nevertheless, I'm always pretty apprehensive to take Korean medicines that I've picked up at the pharmacy or gotten at a doctor's office.  More times than I can count, one of my co-workers has come back from the doctor's office with a Ziploc baggy of 40-50 unlabeled pills and instructions to take these pills together twice a day and these other 2 pills every third day or something like that.  What boggles me even more is the fact that most of my co-workers begin popping these pills without a second thought about what they might be. 

A couple of days ago, I made my way into the pharmacy.  I've had these terrible canker sores taking over my mouth for the past couple weeks, and I had reached the point where I couldn't suffer through them for one more day.  I walked in and told the pharmacist that I had 4 canker sores in my mouth that were making it really difficult to eat or talk or brush.  He nodded his head in understanding and then asked, "Pill or ointment?"  I looked at him rather puzzled.  I had it in my head that I was looking for something similar to Anbesol or Orajel; something just to soothe the pain while the canker sores healed on their own.  After all I had read pretty extensively that there isn't really any cure for canker sores.  I told him ointment.  I was, then, handed a small box with a tube of ointment in it and instructed to apply twice a day.

Now if I wasn't already skeptical about taking Korean medication, I quickly became so.  I had a real issue with squirting some unknown gel into my mouth twice a day to heal my canker sores.  I fumbled around with the box trying to see if there was any clue as to what this magic medicine was.  It was then that I ran across the description of my medicine, "Ointment for the oral cavity disease."   

I silently thought to myself, "That sounds terrible!  Oral cavity disease...surely this can't be right."  Twenty minutes later the pain in my mouth took over my skepticism and I decided to give this medicine a shot.  I applied a small bit on one of my canker sores to test it out and was more than a little surprised when the gel turned into a malleable wax that clung ever so tightly to gum.  It was not what I expected.  It was weird.  But it worked.  Here I am a couple days later, canker sore free.  I still have no idea what exactly I was applying to the inside of my mouth 2x a day, but I'm still alive.  I guess I should just trust the pharmacist when he so assuredly gives me something to take.

Well I'm off to say farewell to a teacher that is leaving tomorrow.  Enjoy your Memorial Day!!!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

Gyeongbokgung

For the most part, I consider myself quite lucky to have been blessed with the co-workers I have.  I've had the opportunity to get to know a couple of them pretty well in the last couple months, and it is really nice to work with people that I get along with, both English staff and Korean staff.  On Sunday, I spent some time with some of these co-workers.  I went to Gyeongbokgung with my friends, Nate, Maeve, Monica and Min-hee.

Gyeongbokgung is one of the royal palaces that is in Seoul.  It was the main and largest palace during the Joseon dynasty.  There are dozens of different halls, temples, and gardens.  It is beautiful!!!  We went to Gyeongbokgung in early afternoon and were able to see this ceremony that they have at the palace called the changing of the guards.  In this ceremony, they reenact what the actual changing of the guard looked like back in the day when the Joseon kings actually lived there.



  It was really interesting.  Afterwards, we spent the next couple of hours walking around the different areas of the palace, exploring the different halls, enjoying the gardens and taking pictures.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip.  I love history and was so excited to see an actual historical relic of Korea.  Seoul is so modern; there are very few traditional, historical things to see in the city.  I have plans to go to a couple of the smaller palaces in the upcoming weeks, and I can't wait!


 

I hope the weather hasn't been too terrible for all of you.  Love you and miss you.
 
It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

Children's Day

May 5th in Korea is Children's Day.  When I first ran across this holiday on my calendar, it meant absolutely nothing to me.  "I have no children of my own...what a silly holiday," I thought.  Then I found out that Children's Day is a national holiday, so I would get a day off of work.  I instantly became fond of Children's Day.  The more I think about it, it's a pretty cool holiday.  Korea is a society of hard workers.  People work a ridiculous amount of hours, and it is just the norm.  I think there are many Korean children who see their parents infrequently.  So on Children's Day, all these parents that work so many hours the rest of the year take the day off and totally spoil their kids.  I've heard it said that it is as good as or better than Christmas to Korean kids.  Lucky little children!

I didn't get loads of candy and toys from my parents, but my Children's Day was still pretty awesome!  I went to Namsan (Mt.), a famous mountain in the center of Seoul, with my friends, Monica and Nate.  I don't get to experience much nature on a daily basis, other than my bamboo plant and a half dead tree on my walk to work.  So we wanted to go somewhere full of plants and flowers and beautiful.  Namsan was just that.  At the top of Namsan is N Seoul Tower.  N Seoul Tower has an observation deck that allows you to see a panoramic view of Seoul, and I think it's the highest point in Seoul.  So once we got to the top of Namsan, we went up in the N Seoul Tower.  It was so pretty!!!  We grabbed a cup of coffee and chatted while we looked over the city that we are all growing to love. 

I think my favorite part of our day at Namsan was the "Lovers' Locks."  On the first observation deck of N Seoul Tower, there are fences all around the outside of the deck that are covered with every conceivable color, shape and type of lock.  Years ago, two lovers brought a lock with them on their visit to N Seoul Tower.  After they had spent the day there, they locked a lock onto the fence of the observation deck with a message written on it proclaiming their undying love for one another.  After they locked the lock, they threw the key over the edge of the observation deck, never to be retrieved again.  In this act, they committed themselves to each other until their lock was unlocked and removed from the fence at N Seoul Tower.  Ever since, couples have come to N Seoul Tower with locks to put on the fence, declare their love and commit to each other for as long as their lock remains on the fence.  Personally, I think the whole thing is ridiculous and funny and corny.  But the locks are beautiful.  It's breathtaking to see tens of thousands of locks covering every fence around the entire deck.  It was an all around really fun day!

Hope things are well in the States!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

Easter Away from Home

As I prepare to close the book on my Easter Sunday, many of you are probably just now rushing around getting ready to open it.  What an awesome, beautiful, hopeful day Easter is!!!  He is risen, and we are forever changed because of it...AMEN!!!!

Though I went to church this morning and was even involved in a Reader's Theater about Easter, it just didn't quite feel like Easter.  I realized this afternoon that this was my first Easter away from home, and it just felt odd.  No screaming, yelling, and chaos this morning as I got ready for church like there normally is at the Kash household on Easter morning.  No sunrise service.  No Kash family picture that normally takes about 15 minutes and ends with at least 2 unhappy children.  No lunch with my family and grandparents.   It wasn't a bad day at all.  I got to rejoice with people that I care about.  I had the opportunity to invite some co-workers to church.  The weather was beautiful.  It just didn't quite feel like Easter.  I wasn't aware how much I relish spending this holiday with my family...probably more than any other holiday.  I had a good day, but I'll be more than ready to spend next Easter as a unit of the Kash family.

That being said, today really was pretty great!  I got to spend this morning at church, which was awesome.  And then this afternoon as I was running errands, it hit me out of nowhere that I'm really kinda falling in love with Korea.  I think it was hard for me to appreciate and enjoy Korea when I first got here and during the winter, because the winter was just miserable.  It was too cold to go out.  We only had like 8 or 9 hours of sunlight, most of which I was spending at work.  But now that the weather is nicer and I'm able to get out and I've learned how to leave work at work, I see all these little beauties around, all these small splendid surprises that Seoul has for me.  When I was out this afternoon, I thought, for the very first time, how I will probably really miss Korea when my contract is up here. 

It's so funny how God turns hearts and changes perspectives.  I've been asking God to show me how to love the people around me and enjoy and appreciate this opportunity to live and work in Korea.  For weeks, I remained restless and upset due to bad interactions with Koreans; willing to put in the time and fulfill my contract, but more ready than ever to leave and never look back.  Then today, I blinked my eyes, and when they opened again, it was as if I was seeing things for the first time.  It felt like I had instantaneously fallen in love with this country and its people and its culture and all its intricacies.  It's been a good day.  I am positive that I will find myself angry about this or that in the coming months, but my entire perspective has shifted.  And it feels so nice.

I hope you all are reminded of the love of God and the hope that we have on this holy, miraculous day.  HAPPY EASTER!!!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

Miss Kendall, What's Easter?

Today at school, we "dyed" (and by dyed I mean colored brown eggs with markers...ugh...not nearly as fun as real dying) Easter eggs as a school-wide Easter craft.  Over the past couple weeks, my school has had several Easter activities.  The first week of April, we were required to do an Easter craft (mine was an origami Easter basket).  The second week we went to the park for the annual Easter egg hunt.  Now this week we dyed Easter eggs.  In the midst of all these activities, I have continuously gotten the same question from my K students. "Miss Kendall, what is Easter?"

It is odd that we have spent so much time and energy focusing on Easter.  My bosses aren't Christian.  Most of the students at my school have no affiliation with Christianity.  Basically, my school has us doing all these things because it's what they think people in the States do.  And while everything we have done is what I would consider the fluff of Easter, the Easter eggs and Easter baskets and Easter candy, I can't help but be drawn back to the heart of what Easter really is.  Every time my students ask me what Easter is, I want to sit them down and tell them how awesome of a day it is; a day on which we were redeemed and saved and bought and freed.  But how could you possibly explain that to a 5 year-old who isn't even familiar with who Jesus is?  It breaks my heart that these little children have never been introduce to God's greatness, grace, love and mercy.  And so when I hear the question, "Miss Kendall, what is Easter" I do my best to stumble through an explanation suitable for 5 year-olds who have no familiarity with Christianity.

I hope that you are all reminded of God's greatness and power and love and majesty and awesomeness as we creep ever closer to Easter morning.  I pray that you remember the sacrifice and the pain , as well as the love of Christ.  I find myself rejoicing one moment at the gift Christ gave me but then weeping in the next because of the pain and torture he endured on my behalf, for a very forgetful, selfish sinner.  He's so good and we are so unworthy.  Luckily we have been bought and redeemed and no longer have to be tied down by our sin and unworthiness and faults.  Hallelujah!!!  We are loved more deeply than we could ever possibly understand.

I am desperately wishing I was back in the States to celebrate this joyous season with you all.  You have my love from afar!

-KendallCooke

It's Nice to Have Fun

Today was a great day I am pleased to say.  This morning all the K classes at my school went on a field trip.  My school is known for taking notoriously boring and draining field trips (think 80+ 4, 5, and 6 year-olds at a Folk History Museum) so I was a little nervous as we set off this morning.  We were taking the annual Easter field trip to a park in Seoul to play games, hang out outside of the school for awhile, and have an Easter egg hunt.  To put it simply, it was an awesome morning!!!  The park we went to was huge and green and full of flowers and had a pond.  It was so nice to be experiencing nature again.  I unfortunately haven't had the opportunity to just enjoy nature since I've come to Korea.  Most of the parks I've been to have a handful of trees and concrete.  There aren't yards and flower gardens and trees to climb, which made going to this amazing park today that much more fabulous.  I'm not sure if my kids liked it more or me.  It was very enjoyable to get to hang out and play games and not have to worry about teaching curriculum or correcting every single speaking mistake.  I got to see my Kindergarten kids just be kids, and it reminded me that they aren't little robots that I'm teaching that can sit still for hours and remember everything I tell them.  They're just kids!  It's incredible how much this simple reminder lifted my spirits for the rest of the day and made teaching, though sometimes frustrating, fun and rewarding again.  I pray that this little gem of knowledge stays with me.  I hope that everyday I am able to see my students not as a collective mind that needs to soak up my teaching but as 9 individual, funny, loving, growing, malleable and impressionable children.

In other news, I went back to the Dr. about my ankle today.  He said that the fracture is practically healed, though he recommended I not exercise, run or play any sports for another 3 or 4 weeks.  I've decided that Dr. was just being overly cautious.  Hopefully sometime this weekend I'll be able to get a run in and test out the ankle.  The weather is beautiful, and I can feel myself die a little bit inside every day that I'm stuck sitting around instead of outside being active.  I can't wait to get back outdoors!!!

I love you and miss you all dearly!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

SPRING!!!

Ahhh...I haven't written in forever.  My most sincere apologies!

Spring has finally reached Seoul.  The weather is warmer.  The birds are singing.  The sun is shining.  As the weather becomes ever more beautiful and I am able to spend more time outdoors in the midst of nature's beauty, I find Seoul growing on me more and more.  The frustrations of work and the inevitable "run-ins" with Koreans seem so much more bearable when I can get outside and walk around and explore.  It is a much welcomed change!

Spring's arrival also brought the start of the baseball season in Korea.  I think Opening Day here was the same day as in the States.  One of my co-workers had a friend coming into Seoul to visit for a couple days and had asked me, along with another co-worker, if we'd like to go to a baseball game with her on Saturday.  I didn't have plans, apart from the endless LSAT studying and research on law schools that has consumed my life, so I told her I would go.  I was rather excited, honestly.  The day was beautiful, and the company was good.  It looked like it would be a good day.

I have this terrible habit of unintentionally assuming various things in Korea will be the same as they are back home.  So when I thought baseball, I had this image of Major League Baseball in the States.  As I have found, it usually happens that my assumption based on the American image is so far from reality.  We went to the game, and the tickets were sold out.  So then we bought tickets from some guy at about 4x actual price.  We got into the stadium eventually after wandering around the entire stadium trying to get into like 4 different entrances (because our tickets were only in Korea) and found out that our section of bleachers was general admission.  We were about 30 minutes early and were pleased to see there were still some seats available though not many.  However, once we began asking if the seats that we saw were really available or not, we found out that they were ALL being held for friends/family that were on their way to the game.

As it got closer and closer to game time, we began to notice that there were just mobs, hundreds of people, standing along the back fence behind the bleachers without seats.  They way, way, way oversell tickets so hundreds of people that come to the games either stand the entire time or sit on the stairs or wherever they can find a spot.  It was absolute chaos.  When the game actually began, I was standing shoulder to shoulder with Koreans with 2 rows of people standing in front of me and another row of people standing behind me.  Before the first inning was even over, we decided to leave.  It was so stressful and crowded and frustrating.

Leaving was just another issue.  We couldn't even find the stairs for a couple minutes, because people were sitting on them like they were seats.  We crawled over all these angry Koreans so we could get out of the stadium, and then we just all stood there and laughed about it together.  It was so wild!  I'm pretty used to the crowds here but this was just overkill.  I couldn't believe it.  We ended up heading to grab some food and just hang out and talk.  It was still a fun adventure to look back on, even if it was extremely frustrating at the time.  I know next time to go about 2 hours early or so in order to get an actual seat....just another lesson learned in Korea.

Well my Sunday is coming to a close just as yours is beginning.  Have a great week!!!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke