Catching up again, finally . . .

With the final month of 2010 here, and Christmas and the new year fast approaching, it's time for my first update since April. April!

I'll let pictures speak thousands of words here . . .

In my previous post, I talked about the Jeonju film festival. The films were great and the atmosphere was wonderful. Unfortunately I cut my leg on a concrete post meant to keep traffic off the sidewalk and wound up with cellulitis (not related to cellulite, thank you) that was rather dormant until June, when, of course, my first visitors from the States other than Cohen came to visit me! Thanks, Jody and Wendy! I was hospitalized for 13 days. The doctors expected me to be there between four and six weeks, and I'm of course thrilled that I wasn't.

A huge cultural difference between American and Korean hospitals is that in Korea, there are no visiting hours --- that is, it is always visiting hour! I was in an economy room with five other patients, all Korean. There are rolling beds beneath each hospital bed for family members or friends to sleep on if they want to spend the night. I received three shots in the tush each day, but the best part isn't being able to say that six pretty young Korean women saw my naked rear end during those 13 days (those gals of course being the nurses); it's that the whole hospital bill --- for treatment, medications, everything --- was just under USD $200!



Cohen came for his third visit this summer. We went to three film festivals, two soccer games, and had many other fun times together. We went for the second time together to the Pucheon International Fantastic film Festival, which specializes in horror, science fiction, and fantasy films. This year we went with two friends from New Zealand, Rich and Trees (who have moved to Taiwan to teach English --- I really miss them). The four of us also went to a sort of rideless amusement park called Ainns World, where the theme is miniaturized models of many of the world's great landmarks.

Cohen wrote a marvelous letter/essay about his experiences in Korea this summer. I'll ask him if I can post it here.

Every year in Korea, I say goodbye to good friends and meet new ones. But I know that even though I may only know some folks for a year or so here, we will be good friends for life, wherever our lives and travel may take us.