Physical therapy

Physical therapy appointments are almost over. I still need to exercise at home and still have discomfort every day, but only have to go for a real appointment once more.

Like hospitalization, physical therapy in a non-English environment has its challenges. The young woman who's been my physical therapist does speak some English, and I can usually understand her once she demonstrates something if I didn't understand her spoken explanation. The frustrating thing, though, is that we can't communicate in shades of gray. In other words, she'll ask "Half fain?" (which means "Do you have pain?") and I can say yes or no, or a little or a lot. But if I try to say "it's more like an aching discomfort when I move my arms in this direction...." she can't understand this.

I also get the feeling I'm letting her down if I say I do have pain, like it suggests she and I haven't been making progress. I may be making that up entirely in my head though. Again, because we can't communicate with any kind of subtlety, there's really no way for me to know.

I also can't figure out if her repeating what I'm doing while I'm doing it (for example, saying "scissors legs" as I move my legs in a scissors motion) means that she's simply describing what I'm doing or telling me to do it differently. Is it cheerleading or correction?

guess i'm just venting frustration at the moment....feeling a little tired of having to work to understand and be understood in addition to having to do the physical work.

Hello Kitty

as a motif for a golf club bag? really?

Bizarre advertising

Even after 3 and a half years here, I don't fully understand the Korean ideas of beauty (and, for that matter, much of Korean culture). There seems to be an inferiority/superiority mentality.

One odd manifestation is (some) Koreans' feeling that their faces are too big and round and flat. So, I saw this ad on the subway:

wanna small face?
www.small-face.com

Also, on a billboard in Apgujeong (a ritzy part of Seoul):
luxurynose.com

I wonder if luxury nose means big shnozz, like mine?

t-shirt of the week

On a t-shirt worn by a young man in the subway station:

flower sniffin
kitty pettin
baby kissin
corporate hackin
whores


Really, I am not making this stuff up.

This week's t-shirt

Worn by a student in the Starbucks by campus-

"Play the game and
f*!)$ the system."

(deletion mine because my mom will read this!)

Funny menus, or" where's the soy?"

Encouraged by my successful outing to the cat and dog venues, the next day I met two Korean friends for lunch in the same neighborhood. We chose one place because the menu included a "vegetarian burger," which I ordered. When it arrived, there was just some spinach and mushrooms inside a standard hamburger bun, but no veggie burger anywhere. My friends explained that sometimes Koreans mistakenly think that "burger" means the style of bread (i.e. a bun) rather than the patty inside.

I may be the only vegetarian in the world who doesn't like mushrooms (I maintain that the consistency is like rubber and they are, after all, fungi), so I sent it back and ordered a salad instead.

Later we went to a coffee shop that featured a "blood cappuccino" on the menu. My friends asked the waitress what made it different than a regular cappuccino (I was wondering if maybe it was red) and she explained it had something to do with the shape of the foam on top. Out of curiousity, I ordered one and it looked and tasted like a regular cappuccino. It was good, but I still have no idea why it has that peculiar, rather ghoulish, name.

As if I don't spend enough time with cats at home...

I took these pictures of some of the ones at the cafe too, just because I thought the environment was so cool.

I realize that not all of my readers are equally cat-crazy. But the few of you who are--enjoy!