Graduation
February 17, 2006
Today Eric (Jin's & Eric Sr.'s son) graduated from
Elementary School. I was kindly asked to attend and I was very
pleased to go. The graduation ceremony was very nice but a
hair long. They were also speaking in Korean, so I didn't know
what the heck they were saying. Perhaps it was because there
were about 500 or so parents there and only one giant American white
man. I should get one of those people that stand on the side
of the stage that does sign language at shows to follow me to every
performance I go to. But then, of course, I'd have to learn
sign language and I'm already having enough trouble learning Korean!
After the ceremony, we went back to his classroom
where the teacher spoke to the children and then each of the
children stood up and said something about their experience or to
thank their parents, etc. A lot of tears flowed and one girl
stood up & just cried profusely and then sat back down. It was
hard for me to hold back the tears and it wasn't even my graduation!
I was feeling pretty crappy today, but I wanted to go
the graduation ceremony anyway. Jin's family was very kind and
took me to see a Doctor friend of theirs. On the way, I took a
few shots of a gateway sign and the World Cup Stadium. The
World Cup was held in Daegu in 2002. It's a pretty big deal
here.
I told the doctor that my back was hurting and that I
have a minor cold a brewing. He prescribed some pills for me
and suggested certain foods/drinks to avoid and also said I needed
exercise to relieve pressure on my back. I knew that! I
should have mentioned that I'm too lazy to exercise to see if he had
any non-lazy pills.
They took me to a pharmacy and were way too kind and
paid for the doctor visit and the pills. I've received more
care from these guys than I can recall ever receiving from my own
family! The only problem was, they made me drink a small
bottle of some concoction that tasted like trees, roots, dirt, and
leaves. Jin's husband took a few pictures
while I was writhing in pain after drinking a forest.
What I learned
today about Korea: 1)
I think Jin's family is trying to
kill me by getting me to drink tree/leaf/root/dirt drinks!