Ohhh where to start? Seems like I’ve been busy, but have I been? I don’t know. I’ll start here:

I’m in pain. *gasp* It’s my back: It’s out of whack. I don’t know when it was, maybe a week or so after Bob left, but I first sort of injured it awhile ago. I think it had something to do with the workout. Maybe I didn’t stretch properly, or maybe it’s just one of those things when something is done over and over and everything is fine and then one day, for some reason, it isn’t. I don’t know. But the deal is that I pulled something somehow in my lower right back area. It hurt whenever I bent, whenever I sat or even when I lie on that side at night. I continued to work out, but taking it real easy on anything bending and especially anything with weight that would put strain on that area.

I thought is was better as I no longer felt any discomfort at the beginning of this week so that Monday and Wednesday I worked out hard. Then yesterday I went to tea class where I ran through the whole ceremony - I mean the whole thing - and that’s when it happened. Ugh. It was like SNAP!! A good chunk of the ceremony is taken up by serving, which involves sitting with legs underneath the body, lifting the tray from the floor up to chest level, holding it there, then standing up from that position without the aid of arms for leverage or balance all the while keeping the tray and tea cups loaded with tea stationary. It’s really difficult - even for Koreans - and here I am, Great White Woman, relatively inflexible, doing this hard thing. Well, I did it. I was surprised. And everything was fine until around the 4th time I had to stand from sitting. I counted and during the ceremony the server has to stand up starting from ground zero with the tray outstretched at chest level no less than 6 times. My God. You know Mrs. Chung is in her 50’s and she totally does it with grace. Yes, the ceremony is a workout.

Now I’m in pain, people. And I’m pissed because I don’t want to fizzle out on the exercise again for another few weeks and I really don’t want to be grimacing every time I sit down or bend over. It’s so inconvenient.

So yeah, working out is going great. Three times a week Dave and I use up the evenings by lifting and then going out on the trail. The regularity of it has done wonders and we’re both really happy even though we don’t eat dinner until 9:30pm sometimes. I just hope and hope I can keep it up. It’s always the thing I say to myself, "This time I’ll keep working out forever." Obviously it never happens. There’s the boredom that comes eventually from doing the same thing over and over, the exhaustion from having a life (which we don’t have right now so that probably explains some of the success), and interruptions in schedules such as the impending trip to Seattle. Ahh! But I am planning for that and am working diligently to get my bike out of storage. I even did an inconsiderate thing and told Dave’s mom I didn’t want her to pick me up at the airport, whisk me away to her house for my first night in paradise, if she couldn’t cram my bike into her van and deposit the dos of us in Seattle the very next day. I didn’t realize it at the time and now that I’m recollecting it I think I’ll send her an email apologizing for it, even though it’s true because I don’t want to waste precious time sleeping over in Puyallup only to have to go to Seattle, find someone else with a capable vehicle and then drive all the way back down there, you know? But, I think I may have solved that anyway, in the win-win kind of way everyone says is so great. If all else fails I will appeal to my friend Jason with the truck and ask him to meet me in Puyallup where we can attack the storage mess together. That way I can stay overnight with Dave’s mom and still get my bike out too. Yes, I am brilliant. Please send me your accolades in the form of Fran’s chocolate.

Continuing on: After tea I met a woman named Linda at a little café near Ewha. She’s the one I met who is here on a Fulbright grant. We talked for 5 hours or so having a really good time connecting on a lot of issues. She just recently went to China, so I tapped her for all I could on that as we are thinking of going too. Take tours, she said, because no one speaks English. Yes, thank you very much for that very useful tip. Tours it shall be. I can’t remember everything we talked about. Mostly I listened to her as she tried to work out what direction to take next. You see, saving the world doesn’t pay well, while joining the destructive capitalist system can indeed provide a nice lifestyle. Choices, choices. But I do remember leaving there feeling really upbeat about the possibility of doing work here. I’m trying to be on the ball about it, but it’s scary to present ideas to people. I hate looking like an idiot. I’d always rather not be seen at all than be seen as someone stupid. Some kind of cliché is hidden in there, something about not being a success if you never try or if you never fail. Blah, blah. The upshot is that I felt great last night riding home on the bus at twilight, but now I’m full of doubt, fear, and other bad things. Still, I shall press on: 1. Call possible sources of info about what I want to study; 2. Call the lady who does body waxing.

Hahaha!

If I can get a hold of her I may just do it. I’ve already stopped shaving, which frightens Dave. Ooo. We’ll see. I called, she’s not answering. It’s summertime and many people abandon Korean ship during the toxic months.

Other things going on: I need to call all the doctors I have to see for check-ups while I’m home. I have to call and make an appointment for a haircut with the fabulous Ric. And it all must be done Tues - Sat before 8am - the time difference thing you know. I’m almost never up but tomorrow I will try to be. I really hate visiting doctors all at once. It’s like a mass poking and prodding, usually good news but sometimes worrisome. I’m really dreading the chunk of time it will take from my days when I’m supposed to be buried at UW. But when I really think about it, I know I’ll get bored quickly in the libraries and so it’s really not realistic to worry about that too much. But that other thing, the socializing thing, that’s what’s really gonna wreck my intentions. I’ll not think about that right now.

OK so other dilemmas:

Will Mary and I camp at the Gorge June 21 or drive home in the darkness?

Will Dave and I go to the San Juans for 3 days? If so, where will we stay?

Will the Northwest Airlines pilots strike and send all of my fantasy-turned-reality awry?

Yeah, I totally flipped when I heard that on the radio yesterday. Bus 42, happy as clam, and then WHAM! There’s still hope, so I won’t worry about that yet either.

Today, Friday, I’m working toward tying up some loose ends: catching up on email and journals, reconciling money, formulating appointment-making strategies, calling folks around town for info on everything from waxing to sexual assault among the foreign population.

I am armchair busy.