Monday, June 9

Morning message in the cafe downstairs

After a morning ticking boxes off my To Do list (which is like sweeping against the tide), I had a stupid dr’s appointment in the stupid afternoon. Usually I’m able to schedule for first thing in the morning, but Ms Doc is going on vacation and only had this one day available and everyone piled in before I got there.

I was hoping for the green light on Go, Be Free, Be Out in the World, but…not quite yet. Couple more days of prone-ness and away from the eye dangers that are out there just waiting for me. Though apparently, my body is my own worst enemy when it comes to eye issues. Don’t need no help from people running with scissors or partaking in urban warfare.

But she said it’s looking good…and cuz some people back home have been concerned, I specifically asked about flying to the US in August and she said it should be fine.

I go back in two weeks.

I worked the kiosks like a master today. Go, Me.

Tuesday, June 10

Sunset over the campus lake

So, this morning (at 2am ha ha) I was scrolling through WordPress reader, lookingfor more international blogs to read…and I went deep deep…and found my old Bettye Rainwater Photography blog. I’d been thinking that was on Blogger.com (aka Dinosaur.com) and lost to the present day. I started looking through old posts from 2012-2016…I didn’t realize (or, remember) that I went straight from that blog (in January 2016) to this one (in February 2016). For some reason I thought there’d been a several year gap. Anyway, I was sort of impressed by my photography, ha ha. Like, it was pretty good! Like *I* even thought it was pretty good…and no one’s a harsher critic of things I do than ME. And it made me a little sad that it’s just out there in neverland…and I thought…maybe I’ll share some of them here (if I can figure that out). They’re pretty unrelated to anything here, except it’s my pictures and my blah blah blah. Would that be interesting or stupid?? I miss photographing people.

So, there’s a share button…and I can select this blog to share them to…but I don’t really know what happens then – if it goes into drafts and I can share when I want…or if it just…goes live when I click share, I don’t know.  Where are those pictures stored? Will they carry over? These are things I really know nothing about – for two years I’ve been trying to just figure out how to change “Fashion Schlub” to “Bettye’s Big Adventure,” and it’s just been beyond me.

Anyway, so if you see a totally random post pop-up, it’s not as random as it seems.

Today was a very quiet at home today. For one thing, my eye was really bothering me. It’s interesting how it seems to be a very every-other-day thing, which seems weird. Am I “seeing” too much on the good days? Who knows. Anyway. I just lay down a lot with my eyes closed listening to my audiobook. And when I was “up,” I worked my way through my To Do list. I also felt slightly hypoglycemic all day…even though I made sure to eat protein in the morning and then even had a soda with lunch just for a punch of sugar.

Wednesday, June 11

Cute packaging for Lychee Jellies

In brighter news, I’m FREE! I’m released from “face down,” and I get to discontinue one eye-drop, so I’m down to “only” five, ha ha. My eye is really irritated however, so, while I can go out there, I’m going to keep my outings brief for a bit.

I intended to go out today, to a nearby mall to look for a Labubu for my great-niece. If you don’t know, Labubus are pretty much the Cabbage Patch Kid/Beany Babies of 2025. Cute little monsterish figures, plush bodies, vinyl face…highly  in demand these days, so they sell out immediately wherever they’re in stock. And my great-niece would like one for her upcoming birthday, so that’s my quest.

Labubus

However, I was feeling pretty hypoglycemic all day…so just stayed home and lay down and tried eating things to make myself feel better.

Thursday, June 12

Pork cutlets, some filled with mozzarella cheese, with cabbage slaw salad with black sesame dressing and rice. And a million sides (banchan).

Another day of trying to get up and out…but my eye was so irritated, I just kept laying down with my eyes closed, listening to my audiobook, falling asleep, waking up, trying to find the spot in the book where I fell asleep, hitting play, falling BACK to sleep…Lather Rinse Repeat.

I did manage to get myself up late in the afternoon for some actual plans with actual people I’d made earlier in the week…just to have dinner at a restaurant in the alleyway behind our house…with some school/building friends. It was fine. It was nice to be out. My eye was really uncomfortable.

I looked back in my camera roll and see now (ha ha, no pun intended) that last time it was a full month before my eye was open on its own – and less irritated all the time. It’s been only nine days since the second surgery and yet I feel like its taking So Long to get over it, already! I have a little more pressure on myself this time cuz I only have 8 weeks left in Korea and I don’t want to spend them in my room!

Plus I’d forgotten about the whole like 2-week period I had post-surgery when I was just So Tired and I was just napping a big part of every day.So I’m trying to cut myself some slack…but I also want to Do Stuff!!! 

So I’m feeling a bit frustrated.

Friday, June 13

More cute packaging

Stayed in all day…then headed out at 6pm for the market with building friend, G. I REALLY hate having to walk to the market and lug things back…and G even carried my bag most of the way for me. It wouldn’t have been so heavy except in the market (which is sort of like a cross between Costco and a regular large grocery store) I was sweating, hot, and thirsty…and there was a lady on an end-cap with Budweiser samples! So random! Don’t think I’ve ever seen – nope, wait, I had a prosecco sample at Costco (and then bought a bottle) here in Korea. Anyway, I did one, and at her twisting my arm, two little shots of beer…then I always feel like I have to buy and I just wanted two cans (they’re tall boys) but the special was for FOUR cans. Arm twisted again, and she put four cans, a Budweiswer branded drinking glass, and a little snack bag of popcorn. Ha ha. Anyway, now my bag was heavy!

The 15th is supposed to be my Korean phone number shut-off date and then it remains to be seen if I can use online shopping and food delivery. Cuz I don’t wannnnaaaa have to go to the market!!!

I don’t even remember what I went for…but I was sad to see they no longer have the giant bags of sugar wafer cookies 🙁

Saturday, June 14

Nothing is Sounds! Korean for “Nothing is as it seems.”

It was supposed to rain, so I was mentally prepared to stay in…and then it didn’t, but it waa too late. I was however very productive with work, planning, etc. I’m (with the help of ChatGPT) creating a Notion to help with my daily/weekly itinerary that I’ve been expanding and fine tuning. It’s a fine line between wanting to stay productive and not feeling like I have a ton of obligations again.

I’ve tried to use Notion before and it was just beyond me. But now I have more time to spend figuring things out, so…giving it another try. If you’re unfamiliar, “Notion is a versatile, all-in-one workspace that blends note-taking, project management, and data organization into a single platform. It allows users to create customized spaces for everything from personal productivity to team collaboration and even run an entire company. Essentially, it’s a digital notebook where you can write, plan, and organize your thoughts, projects, and information.” 

I did place a GIANT Coupang grocery order tonight…just in case my Korean phone # does go away tomorrow…and/or I can no longer use any grocery shopping or food delivery apps.

Sunday, June 15

Breakfast of champions.

Well, it’s almost 11pm on the 15th…and I keep sending test text messages from my US # to my Korean # and so far it’s still working. And I got delivery food for dinner in case it was the last time…and that worked. I will be using the “It Might Be The Last Time” excuse…until it’s really the last time.

I spent most of the day working on my Notion. Does anyone here use it?? If so, can you receommend a good web or YouTube tutorial for Notion for Dummies? I did google it, and watched a few minutes of several different things but they were as confusing as the app itself.

But it IS really nice to have All the Time In the World to learn and figure things out.

When I went to my camera roll to get the pictures from this week for this post, I was surprised. I sorta thought I did more this week than I did. Oh well. Maybe next week. I have PLANS. I’m also looking at a weather report showing rain for like the next 17 days (minus 2 days). 90% of the plans are for outdoor things.

This was definitely a “I just live here” week vs a “I’m traveling in Korea” week.

7.5 weeks left. Sadface.