Monday, May 05, 2008

One-Legged Musings

It's been a little over two weeks since I got the ankle operated on, and I'm supposed to be on crutches for a little less than two more weeks. Here are some random musings about hobbling around in Korea and such.

--While the left leg is whithering away, the right leg is getting buff. I teach both sixth grade and third grade, which are both on the top floor, the forth floor, of my school. Also, my school doesn't have elevators as it is very old. They are building a new school as we speak. Even so, Korea is definitely not up on its citizens with disabilities act, then again I'm not a citizen so I don't even know if I have the right to complain. Everyday the kids get to watch me hop up three flights of stairs. They think it's kind of amazing. They clap when I get to the top. I don't know if that's encouraging or humiliating.

--I've found a use for all those single socks without a partner.

--I'm a little concerned I'm wearing out my right shoe more than my left. I wonder if this will leave me lop-sided when I am two legged again.

--My Korean vocabulary skills have gotten better concerning medical language. I just learned how to say, "Please change my bandage." It's funny what they teach in phrase books and what I actually use.

--Being laid up at home has given me the perfect opportunity to catch up on all the movies I've wanted to watch and re-watch. I've once again become convinced that the Bourne Trilogy is without a doubt the best group of spy movies out there. James Bond wishes he could be Jason Bourne. I've also become convinced that documentaries are the scariest movies. Screw horror flicks; check out Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room; Who Killed the Electric Car; and Jesus Camp. What actually happens in this world is more terrifying than what we can imagine.

--I got a blister on my hand from walking around all day yesterday. That's a first.

--The last three movies I've taken Kat to are Beowulf, Cloverfield, and Iron Man. I think I owe her a chick flick.

--It has become rather difficult to explain to people what happened to me. They want to hear a tale of bravery or at least that I rolled my ankle playing soccer. The truth is the ankle is in the condition its in because of genetics and a build up of sports related bloopers over the years. If I could show people a montage of all my sports accidents over the years, I'm sure it would be extremely entertaining, but as it all I can say is, "Many sport, many sports have caused this." That's not even the truth though because I leave a lot of sports alone. The only big ones I do regularly are hiking, snowboarding, mountain biking and occasionally basketball--and my participation in these activities has dwindled in the last few years.

--A forth grade girl, who I taught last semester, asked me what happened to my ankle. This girl is very sweet and has some sort of mental handicap that leaves her struggling for words and a little too trusting of people. I told her that I played too many sports. She then informed me that I should not play anymore sports. I told her that I liked sports. That was the wrong answer as she began to cry and begged me to say I would not play any more sports. It was without a doubt one of the saddest things I have ever seen and I promised with all my heart that I would leave all sports related activities alone. I figured out how we can get world leaders to agree to world peace; get a bunch of forth grade girls to sniffle and cry and implore these leaders to promise not to start any wars. That ought to do the trick.

2 comments:

Kat-tron! said...

i dont know, maybe you owe me two chick flicks...

(do zombie movies count as chick flicks)

Clint Gardner said...

I agree with your assessment of movies: Bourne is what James Bond is supposed to be (they totally ruined Bond in the movies) and documentaries are far more frightening than any drama. Speaking of spy movies: there were some good ones from the soviet era; mostly they were British and TV movies. What is it about communists that makes for such compelling spy dramas in the West?