It was about 6am when I woke up. I rolled over and slept another 20 minutes. Then I pulled myself out of bed and got ready for the day. I made sure I had what I needed packed in my day bag. Then I straightened my area and walked to the door. I slid my feet into my shoes and bent a little to reach down to finish pulling them on when a sudden pain spyked through my lower back holding me in a paralyzing grip. Dumbfounded, confused, and desperate for relief, I tried nonchalantly to put my bag down and basically fall onto my bed. Laying there, I learned I couldn't cough without the pain spyking and paralyzing all my abilities including breathing. The base of my spine felt like it was about to twist off. I knew what would help, but there was no one who had the ability. A massage to loosen those muscles up enough for me to function. Not happening.
After awhile I moved just a little in different directions to get those muscles used to something besides me laying on my back. After a few minutes, I realized that unless I wanted to cause a panic among the Koreans that I needed to move and do my best to hide the pain. I couldn't just sit up. The pain stopped me and my ability to breathe before I even tried. So I did the next best thing - I rolled. Getting onto my knees, I stopped to catch my breath and so learned the skills I would need to get through the rest of the day. Using my hands to brace or pull myself up or to let myself down.
I made sure I told Teacher Oh. He immediately offered to take me to the hospital. I declined. There was too much of Jeju I wanted to see that day. I know that now he was really concerned since I had two things wrong with me. The teachers at my school worry about something be wrong. Like us foreigners are delicate china or something.
9:30 - After worship and breakfast, we headed to our first destination. I don't know how to explain what the place was except to say that it was a mini world, an outside museum, and a playground. It literally had every famous building in the world built to ratio scale. In addition to that was all the fun children's figures. There was Cinderella and Snow White. Unfortunately there was also the Teletubbies. We had a lot of fun. Sadly, I forgot my camera back at the hotel. So Day Two was photographed by students and staff, whom I hope to get pictures from later. It was here that I learned, despite my back pain, I was not an invalid. I could, if I really put my mind to it, function through the pain. I knelt under some arch in Franch, posed by a big bridge, laid down beside Gulliver, and pretended to do martial arts as one of the characters from Kunfu Panda.
10:50 - We arrived at a wonderful place about this time. It was a dream come true. Horse riding! Now this particular stables was set up a certain way and they trained their horses differently than I am accustomed. You mount on a block that is high enough so that you don't use the stirrups. They get upset if you do. You sit down and they make sure your feet then and only then go into the stirrups. Then you simply hold onto this upside down shaped "U" that is the "horn" of the saddle. The horses have the reins tied to it. You don't touch the reins. They are trained to walk around this small section and then to trot around another corralled area. I was uncertain about not being able to control my horse and being in the center of the pack. It worked out great though and I felt perfectly safe and happy.
11:50 - This was the second highlight of my trip. A Mongolian Show. It was so amazing, I can't even remember half of all the incredible things that happened. It started out with 5 really hot men in their costumes coming out and doing break dancing. Some of their moves I have not seen before, and I have been through youtube. They finished and ran back to the back. Then came out on horses. I proceeded to watch a show full of awesome trick riding, mock battles, showing off of skills like none other. There were also some ladies with their own talents. Contortionists. Acrobat who used the high bar. Trick riding with their own styles. It was pretty impressive. There is just no way to get the words to explain to you the amount of mastery in several areas they needed in order to perform the show they did. Afterwards, a student borrowed Teacher Oh's camera and dragged me from the bus to a few of the guys who were sitting outside on their horses. Got a pic of me with them. I liked what I saw and could have watched all day.
Lunch - was at a traditional restuarant. Babimbap. Rice, various vegis, and hot sauce. Think of it as a form of haystacks. Only with rice and green stuck instead of beans and cheese. I ate little and they learned that I really do have a small stomach. On the up side, I discovered I like fish a little bit.
14:00 - We then went to a maze museum. Outside I took three girls through an easy maze. Then when we got to a harder maze after that, we disagree about which way to go. So we split. Two students when towards a series of dead ends while I turned the student who stayed with me around and we went another direction. It was long but I got us there quickly. We finished, rang the bell and ran to get ice cream to cool down with. The others finished later and were more tired from being in the sun. I felt proud and that was encouraged my my admiring students.
15:30 - From there we went to a strange museum. The first part was old Seoul like 50 years ago. So much has changed. It was a fairly expansive place and had many exhibits. From there we went to education, then agriculture, then the embroidery building, then through a horror house (never do that again), and finally through what life in the Korean military is like. It is rough. They are all the stronger for it I think.
17:00 - From there we went high into the mountains to a walking park. There was many paths, many places to rest or lay down, playgrounds, springs... it was a beautiful mountain retreat. The paths were made of boardwalks, some with traction mats. The places to rest were large clean platforms. I didn't see, hear, or feel a single bug. The playgrounds were diverse. Some were normal. Some were for exercise. Some I am sure are a mini bootcamp. It was fun though and the kids lost a little more energy (not that they went to sleep until after midnight though).
18:30 - Supper. We ate in the guys' room. The math teacher sat next to me. Oh happy day. I ate raw fish for the first time. Tasteless and gummy, but I didn't dare say so. This particular fish is famous in Jeju. I happily finished up and went to the shower. I had an idea. Heat relaxes muscles right? So take a hot shower with the water focused on my lower back. That didn't work and I was still coughing as I attempted to sleep. It wasn't easy, but I got some sleep. Thankfully, the following day was a little bit easier on the back though the cough has left much to be desired.
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