Teeth and Camp

A game, any game, involving many children moving about very quickly on a hard surface such as concrete, inevitably leads to injury. This was the case approximately 15 years ago when, as I only vaguely remember, I was the victim of such a wonderfully instructed Physical Education lesson. The details are blurred by my young age at the time and the ensuing years of subsequent memories, though it was a more important event than many others in my childhood. I remember falling, and someone falling on top of me, and my face smashing into the hard and cold concrete, and getting up to realize that my front right tooth had been broken. I remember going to the nurses office and having my mother come and take me to the dentist. I remember that within perhaps the span of only an hour I had went from having a devastated sense of self-esteem from having a chipped front tooth, to it being like nothing had ever happened. After that my mind never frequently went over the details of that event, though the memory was vivid enough for it to be saved until now.

Fast forward 15 years and a couple thousand miles across the western ocean to Seoul, South Korea. A few friends and I are in a cozy little bar, I'm fiddling with my new camera. Our friend Kitho ordered a plate of french fries to share with us. I began eating the rather soft and large french fries, never once were did it cross my mind that my teeth were in jeopardy. I thought that I'd bitten into a hard over-fried french fry, something unchewable, I spit it out. Moments later the memory of PE class in the third grade came rushing back. It wasn't in fact, an over-cooked hard piece of a french fry, but the replacement tooth that I'd never thought twice about since the 3rd grade.

There were several reasons why this was a bad time for this to happen. First, it was after midnight. Second, we had to leave the next morning to go to a sleep-away camp in an out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere town about an hour outside of Seoul. I really wasn't looking forward to having to teach a 10 day camp with a half-tooth. But unfortunately, in a city of 10 million people, apparently there is no such thing as a dentist that works on Sundays. So after visiting two emergence rooms, and explaining that waiting until Monday wasn't an option, we had to depart for the winter camp with nothing more than a paste applied to my tooth to stop the sensitivity I'd been feeling.

I really wanted this to be fixed as soon as possible. As the doctor in the second emergency room aptly stated, in rather good english, "The problem is that it doesn't look so good." (One note about the healthcare profession in Korea: nearly every doctor speaks english well and if not, someone in the hospital or office will speak english well, as they have more than likely studied abroad. So, luckily, translation isn't too troublesome to worry about.) Well, in Seoul I know I could find decent dental care, but in the rather small resort village, in the off-season, where the camp is located, I was worried that the best they would be able to muster was some magician/shaman trained in chinese medicine and traditional arts. Well, to shorten this already over-the-top narrative, I was mistaken. Though I had to wait an additional 24 hours, the next morning after we arrived they took me to a quite-modern looking and advanced dental office called, "New York Dental," (probably named after where he studied.) The dentist had prominently displayed a photograph of himself among a group of western dentists. And he spoke rather good english. I didn't even have to wait 5 min. and within maybe 45 min. total my tooth was fixed. We were back an hour or so before the students even arrived at the camp.

Now my teeth are back to normal, though the novocaine has yet to wear off, but I'm still trying to remember the details about the initial incident, who fell on top of me, for instance. And I can't help but wonder why french fries managed to pull it off, and not the sandwich that I'd eaten an hour or two before. Nevertheless, I can safely say that the dental system in Korea is at least on par with the dental system in the states 4 years ago, which was about the last time I visited a dentist.

The New Year

So back home you think the holidays have already passed... well not in Korea! We're still in the midst of the holiday season with Lunar New Year coming up at the beginning of February. It's a good thing too because the holiday lights are necessary to your emotional well-being when you're wandering around with your face freezing off in the dead of the Korean winter.






Haley came and went, sadly. We didn't do as many glamorous things as I had hoped. The cold weather put a bit of a damper on any out of the house activities. On the upside, I felt like my home life was normal again. I think I am used to having an overabundance of estrogen in my living situations. This whole 50-50 thing is just not what I'm used to. We did go out to a fancy dinner for New Years (the best Italian food I've had in a long time), did a lot of shopping, and visited the DMZ.







The DMZ is a several kilometer-wide expanse of unoccupied territory between North and South Korea. It is manned on both sides by military personnel and monitored by the United Nations. It's necessary because the Korean war is still technically not over, as a peace treaty was never signed, only a cease fire (I read in the news today that the plan is to have a peace treaty signed by 2010). While the land is still riddled with land mines and anti-tank barriers, it now harbors some of the most pristine wilderness on the Korean peninsula (including tiny deer that grow fangs instead of antlers) as a result of it being virtually untouched by mankind for over 50 years. We got to stand in North Korea for a few moments and took some bleak-looking but interesting pictures. On the way back in the bus we watched a documentary about the Korean war, and it was amazing to see footage of the city back when it was leveled by war (only 50 years ago) while driving through the giant metropolis that has sprung up since.

Richy and I have both started our in-school winter camps which are much more relaxed that our normal school days. It's nice having a small number of students to get to know and be able to have more one-on-one time with them. It's also nice getting off work early and having the rest of the day to do whatever we want. Next weekend we start our away camp, so for ten days we'll be staying at a complex outside of the city. I'm a little bit nervous about it just because I don't really know what to expect. I hope it isn't too stressful as I know other NSETs have complained about them in the past. Either way, we'll be making extra money which we will be spending on our trip to Thailand for the last two weeks of February. We are both looking forward to sand and sunshine. It will be a much needed break from all the cold weather here. I'm hoping that springtime in Seoul will be showing itself when we get back.

Richy recently invested in a fancy digital SLR camera so he's been taking a lot more pictures. So we should have more photos up soon (and of a much higher quality).



By Katie