Smell the Kimchi

I went to a different doctor today. I've been sick for the past month, started to get a bit better, and now I'm starting to get a bit worse. I walk into the doctor's office/hospital, hand my Alien Card over with a piece of paper explaining in Korean what my symptoms are (coughing, stuffy nose, tired, ect.) and answer a couple of questions that are purely in Korean.. with a couple of yes's and nods (having no idea what she's asking). I hear my name called, 퍼거슨 (Pa-ga-sun), stand, walk to the door, sit, hand my note over, the doctor looks at my throat, listens to my heart, write something down on a piece of paper, hands it to me, I stand, walk out the door, hand it to the receptionist, hand over money, and then she points me in the direction of the injection room. Of course, I ask no questions, a.) because I can't, b.) because I'm in Korea so it is inevitable for me to get an injection when sick (but I'm not complaining right now because I feel like poo).

The lady motions me to sit, inserts the needle, I begin to feel funny immediately (mainly because I'm a baby when it comes to needles) begin to hum a little, tap my foot, act like I'm totally not getting injected with something at the moment... and then my mouth starts to taste funny, my heart starts to feel warm, the lady turns my head to her and motions to breathe! So I do, I thought I had been breathing the whole time... but paying more attention to the way my body was reacting so fast!

And I am babbling on about this because it made me realize, I am going through the motions. I am living an absolute dream here in Korea, but I am simply living up in the clouds somewhere. As a lady I met in Beijing said to me one time after I said, oh yeah I got my nose piereced today.. she said "Hahaha, I can't believe it! Well yes I can, Little Panda Paula roaming around Beijing (flapping her arms and looking up in the sky)"... and it really made me realize, I am so random! I need to stop floating in the sky and come back to earth. I need to pay more attention to what's around me! I normally ride my bike on the same side of the road to work everyday..but the other day I was walking on the opposite side of the road, and noticed a super cool building, only two blocks from where I live!!! And I had NEVER noticed it before! How?! It really weirded me out, how had I been so obvlivious?! It makes me wonder what else I have missed out on because I had my mind on other things or was too busy to notice?!

I am so busy in Korea, but not from work necessarily, from fun. There is ALWAYS something going on, and I need to stop and smell the Kimchi!