Dental Visits

Well, a while ago I asked you all what I should do about my oral problems, so I thought I'd write and tell you what I did about them.

We visited another dentist who spoke better English and actually had a really nice looking office (the other guy had a kinda-nice office). He told me that my wisdom teeth have most likely stopped growing, so if they're not causing pain there's no reason to do anything about them. He told me that I would probably need two inlays (where the other dentist wanted to canal the root) and a couple cavities filled (where previous cavities were starting to erode). He said he could do the whole process for $500. The gold alone for one root canal would have cost that much at the first dentist's office. So my mouth is fixed. It feels a lot better now than it did, and it looks pretty good too. I was pretty impressed by his work. He showed me a picture of the work he did and asked me to find the inlay, but I couldn't find it. It's exactly the same color as my teeth and blends in perfectly. It was an uncomfortable process, but I think that will only encourage me to visit dentists more regularly in the future. Thanks for your opinions, but I'm glad I didn't get the root canal.

We decided to take care of my (more urgent) issues first and then Jen's after (to defer the costs). So she's up this month and then we'll both be done with it for a while. We'll let you know how it goes for her.

You Have to Check This Out

This is an article taken directly from The Korea Times - just the title says it all!

Seoul Categorizing Dogs as Livestock

By Kim Tae-jong Staff Reporter Seoul will propose to the central government that dogs should be categorized as livestock in order to properly regulate the trade of dog meat and strengthen sanitation inspections. The proposal aims to solve the ironic situation where many Koreans enjoy eating dog meat despite the absence of regulations on the sale of dog meat amid ambiguous categorization of the animal, a city official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) said. ``The real problem is, we cannot regulate the sanitation process of how dog meat is served due to the lack of regulations,'' the official said. ``We will have a series of public hearings to discuss the issue as it's a necessary step.'' Under the current law, dogs are categorized in the same group as donkeys, rabbits, horses and deer, not as livestock such as beef and chicken. The categorization allows for the mass breeding and butchering of dogs and serving of their meat at restaurants, but does not let the authorities apply regulations for livestock to the trade of dog meat. According to the Korea Food and Drug Administration, dog meat is also categorized as a natural product because it is not included in livestock. It means that unlike ordinary stock products such as beef or chicken, dog meat does not undergo sanitation inspections. For now, the authorities can only take a legal action against those who butcher dogs in a brutal way or cause pollution to the environment during the slaughter process, according to the Law on Animal Protection and the Law on Pollution, respectively. There were previous attempts to categorize dogs as livestock, but they were scrapped due to strong criticism from animal rights groups inside and outside of the country. In 2001, 20 lawmakers proposed a bill to revise the Law on Stock Product Process, aimed at setting up proper regulations on dog meat. But the bill was scrapped without being properly dealt after meeting criticism from animal rights groups and dog lovers. e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr

Working in Korea

Well, Cory mentioned in the last post that I'm busy . . . and so I am! I got to thinking - what is it that I do all day that keeps me so busy at school! I can't seem to find enough hours in my day to get it all done, though I can't complain. It could be so much worse . . . and is nothing like the schedules we tried to keep in Guam.

Here's a pic of my school . . . Nangmin Elementary. Other wise known as 낙민초등학교. Yeah, that's what we try to read around here - quite the challenge for me, but Cory has picked it up quickly! What it says, syllable by syllable, is nak-min-cho-dun-hak-kyo.
One of the "extra" things I'm responsible for at my school is the facilitating of an English webzine called "The Nangmin Times." The native teacher before me started it up and it's been growing like a weed lately. It keeps me busy and as our new school year just started I am trying to keep everyone aware and interested in our school English programs. Do me a favor . . . check it out for yourself! (It'll boost our numbers - although last week our high for one day was 68! Amazing!) http://nangmin.wordpress.com.

Here are a couple of other pics I thought you might like to see . . .
Me and my co-teacher, Mrs. Yoo.

How Exciting!

...would it be if I had something interesting to say right now? haha!

Things here are going pretty well. The dog is a good adventure for us. My co-teacher asked what we were gonna do with her when it's time for us to leave. When I said, "We're gonna eat her," she immediately replied, "That's what Koreans do!" We DID name her Snickers though just to ease her eventual....uh.....passing.

She's growing pretty fast. She no longer gets scared every time we move; she has started climbing stairs all by herself; she has learned to NOT walk over storm drains; she has EVEN learned how to sit before we give her dinner! Most importantly, she holds her business until we get home from school. She might groan all the way down the elevator, but she never springs a leak. It's amazing how much she has changed since last week. We are SO happy that she understands English instead of Korean. What a difference THAT makes! She'll understand more than some of our students will by the end of this school year. :)

In other news, I played guitar at church yesterday, and Jen and I are attending a Growth Group every other Wednesday. We're working through the book "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. It's a "MUST READ." School for me has not quite gotten into full swing yet. My advanced classes haven't started yet, and my other extra class is starting pretty slowly. So right now it's just the normal class. Jen, on the other hand, is busy already and it shows no signs of letting up. But, she's an amazing woman and will somehow find a way to make sure it all gets done.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for browsing this way. I'll try to find something interesting to put on here next time.

P.S. Thanks for your opinions in the poll recently. We ended up seeing a different dentist and he gave us a much better diagnosis. I started the work on my worst tooth two days ago, and he's gonna try to finish it on Thursday. He's gonna try to fix the tooth without doing a root canal if it's possible. (I like that attitude.) He also told both of us that we probably don't need to have our wisdom teeth out! Woohoo!

Adding to the family . . .

We fully intended to wait a few years before adding to our family, especially considering we are in a foreign country right now. However, in just 3 days our plans changed! Here's how it happened . . .

We were walking home late one night after meeting some friends in Seoul and just a block from our apartment there were puppies wandering around on the street corner. One was so cute and wrinkly, we had to stop. They ranged from about $80 - $200, which is definitely more than we wanted to pay on the spot - but it got us thinking. Just how much would it cost us to have a puppy?

Tonight we were on our way home from church and on the same corner, lo and behold - the same guy had probably 2 dozen puppies - so Cory pulled me across the street and we took another look. There was an adorable husky puppy but we figured she'd get too big for our little apartment . . . poodles which I don't care for . . . and then we found this little one.



So, we are now the happy owners of a new puppy. I don't think either one of us has any experience training a dog - so if you do, please send us your suggestions! She's still quite scared, and currently playing xbox w/Cory. What a dog!

A Blessing or A Curse?

This was so funny to me I couldn't resist sharing it -

I was on my way home from work and had to use the bathroom so badly. I avoid the school bathrooms because they are like refrigerators . . . On the other hand, going to a public restroom you have maybe a 50/50 chance of the provision of toilet paper. Take your pick.

I decided to risk it and this is what I found . . .



Blessing, right?! An electric heater IN the stall! I was a little concerned - the cords ran up behind the toilet to the electrical outlet, but I was enamored with the fact that the stall was WARM! Until . . .

I squatted (sorry for the graphic nature) and my blessing almost became a curse. I just about burnt my butt!