When Life Gives you Lemons… Squeeze ’em in your Eye

During the summer break I sprained an ankle. I was out of town, and hosting an old friend visiting from abroad, so I thought I’d just walk it off. This apparently led to further damage to my anterior something-or-other ligament. Apparently middle-age doesn’t readily accommodate such remedies.

I’d been catching up earlier with another close friend, an old mate visiting from Canada. After a decade, we’d joined forces once more to partake, and partake again, of the world’s best Korean food. This was easy. We were in Jeonju. Rod knows this town, and I was along for the ride. Of course, where there is Korean food, there are also drinks. My forthcoming minor injury could be described as a freak accident. It could more accurately be described as an alcohol-fueled statistical probability. All in all, it was worth it.

Back at home, my doctor explained slowly that, in scientific terms, I’d fucked my ankle. I nodded thoughtfully in agreement and postulated that my own sweeping medical knowledge had led me to concur with his diagnosis that my ankle was indeed fucked.

I got some pills, strapped on an ankle brace and set about starting the new semester. I’ve been fortunate to live and work on some beautiful campuses (campi?), and this one is stunning. After a four-year stint in the middle east, the greenery of WonKwang University is all the more beautiful.

The campus is also, by Korean standards, enormous. It’s a kilometer on foot from my place to the university hospital (also on campus), to where the doctor periodically summons me to remind me to stay off my feet.

Apparently, I’m looking at at least 12 weeks to repair the ankle, assuming I’m not walking 30 kilometers a week on it and climbing 50-odd flights of stairs, which my phone says is exactly what I’m doing in the interest of delivering my classes (and in the loosely related interest of receiving a paycheck, of which I’m also fond). I’ve left the university grounds once in the last three weeks… across the street to get phone credit. It is a beautiful place to hobble around though.