what's next

[i'm going back in time to write this                       5.....4....3...2..1.]

there are only a few things that could have possibly made me really upset here in korea.
one) dying. obviously, i haven't died yet, there's just the constant fear of death via getting hit by insane taxi drivers, eating bad kimchi, or starvation/malnutrition.
two) would be getting terribly ill far away from anyone who actually cared that i was getting ill... well we all know how this turned out. i survived. okay so, i got sick... really sick, and i was really sad and depressed about it because it took a huge chunk of my 'getting-to-know-people' time, going out and doing things and just in general feeling more comfortable in a place that wasn't being particularly comforting.
three) hurting myself, badly. again, far away from comfort or care/help from anyone i know. wow. waddya know? i'm at a two/three... this does not sit well.

so you may be asking, how does this occur? well, let me explain. i have a simple equation you can follow:
hair rinse (conditioner) plus a clean tile floor plus water equals a crushed radius bone, detached wrist and nearly 7.5 weeks of wearing a crooked splint in the hottest and wettest part of a korean summer.
oh not to mention it happened just a few days before the ten day summer vacation for our school. and i had just bought a new bike. both of which i couldn't enjoy because of pain, heat and the stupidness of broken limbs.
i felt so restricted. so limited. it was so hot out and my arm was bound in a cast from finger tips to up and around my elbow. i felt like i was trapped in a horrible horrible nightmare.
so if you want here's a few of the details from my arm breaking experience, start to finish
oh the horrors... of horrors

- i opted out of the million won surgery, come to find out, you're then given medieval treatment of bone alignment. i had one man pulling in each direction whilst another squeezed them into place. yabba.
- the pain killer that they gave me wasn't nearly enough to even stifle the pain for the first couple weeks. every bump and accidental wiggle made me want to chop off my arm. or at least detach it and put it on a regrowth stand in some high tech hospital... wait we don't have those yet. ugh, where's the adamantium when you need it?
- insurance in korean is kinda a pain in the butt. avoid getting sick or hurt. it just makes everyone's life easier. i'm still not sure yet what or when i will get back money for my arm, but for my previous hospital bills i spent a little over a grand and received back nearly half. a good return, here's to hoping for another.
- prescription cocktails. this is probably my least favorite, but at the same time favorite part of the whole sha-bang. i didn't get proper painkillers, however i did have a regimented 4 pills three times a day with an extra pills for the morning and evening. forget getting them in english. that was hard to pull off... luckily i had a ton of help from my korean staff, otherwise i would have been completely clueless.
- i'm glad through all of this i had at least one person willing to bug me and dig me out of a depressive hole i was curling into. porter came around often... played chess with me and talked about books and things of enlightenment.
- going places for the most part was out of the question. i had every intention to go on an extravagant backpacking trip through the northeastern mountains... nope. i had plans to ride my bike to other cities... nope. i had the want to just step out of doors and enjoy blazing hot summer weather... nope. it just sucked all around. i'll never do it again.

here's the good news. (fast forward from that last sentence) it's been almost nine weeks. i'm out of my cast, and it's fall.

w.h.a.t.s.n.e.x.t.