Teacher's Day and another spanking

Not much has happened in the past few days. Wednesday was Teacher's Day. I got a rose, a pair of socks, a bunch of candy and a really nice letter. I think the letter was the best gift.

The cramp in my butt (a result of bad posture due to my surgery back in September) has returned, I'm sure you were all dying to hear that. A month and a half ago I got a lidocaine injection which worked quite well and relaxed the cramp but it came back. I went to visit the physical therapy doctor (physical therapy in Korea is done by doctors instead of therapists.) He stuck me on a table that looks like a cross between a massage table, chiropractor's bench and a medieval torture device. He then proceeded to massage the cramp out, I swear the guy cold crush engine blocks in his bare hands. Anyway, it's feeling a bit better and he recommended some simple posture exercises that should get rid of the problem in a couple of months. Pretty good work! I also got another vitamin B shot and another spanking by a pretty nurse, all in all a good day.

Every day I go through the shijang (open-air market) and buy fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood. Unfortunately things usually come by the kilogram, some of the merchants will let you buy less but not always. I picked up 2 kilos of fresh tomatoes for about $5, so tonight I'm making tomato soup. It's quite a feat without an oven, a blender or much else in the way of kitchen conveniences. It smells great and I'm leaving it to simmer overnight. I'll post the pics and recipe (from a website) tomorrow.

I'm learning more Korean and whenever I use a new Korean word my students go nuts. This week the kindergarten class kept teaching me the words for things that I've taught them in English. A fair trade, I 'spose. One of the Korean English teachers teaches me a new phrase every day, so far I can say "I'm tired", "I'm hungry", "That's delicious", "I'm cold", "How much is that?" and "I have a headache."

My boss is a woman and we get along well, I've told her a bit about my past relationships and my dating philosophy and she has proclaimed me as an evil man who leads women to their doom. I only wish I had such power, well not really, but her opinion of my power over women is obviously overstated. She's married, so don't get any ideas. The Korean English teachers that I work with are, however, three of the prettiest single Korean women I've seen so far. Best not to go there either... :D

I'll be posting a food post this weekend. It's interesting how little cooking equipment you need to make good food. My only problem is that I have to buy enough produce to feed eight people every time I cook...

monk