Lasek Eye Surgery

Over a week ago, Jayson and I got Lasek Eye Surgery. This is something we always wanted to do. Especially on the days when our contacts didn't go in right, or my hairstyle didn't fit my glasses, or having to take out contacts before swimming or sleeping. These were our main reasons for choosing the surgery. Jayson had worn glasses since he was 2 years old, although there were some cute pictures of him as a kid, he is ready to throw the 25 year old eye style in the trash. I have only worn glasses since high school, but my eyesight got worse over time. So, the decision was easy.

We heard our friends talk about Lasek eye surgery in Korea and at first thought it was crazy, but we quickly proved ourselves wrong when we looked into it. Every friend we talked to went to the same doctor, Dr. Yun. Dr. Yun (at I Yun Eye Hospital) is a reputable surgeon who has performed more than 40,000 surgeries. He’s had 11 years of experience and graduated from the top university in Korea, Seoul University for his doctorate. So, we decided to go check this guy out.

OK, the truth is I was scared out of my wits to get the surgery done. Just going to the hospital to get some information had my stomach in knots. All I could think about was laying there and watching them operate on my eyes. Was I able to do that? Well, I was and I did. So, yay for me. haha. Ok, what helped the most was the hospital. They made us feel so comfortable and with the amount of pretests they did on our eyes, I knew they were going to be very thorough. So, on Aug 14th we had our first appointment and scheduled our surgery for the next week Aug. 21st.

Surgery day I was freaking out. Our appointment was at 2pm, which left me with the whole day to worry. Well, I got the apartment all clean and I cooked about 3 meals to last us for a week. Once we arrived to the hospital, I had to focus on my breathing. They did a few more tests to make sure they were going to correct our eyes correctly. Good idea. Then we had to wait. Once I put my head between my legs, was when the nurse came with my happy pill. Oh, that was the magic pill I was waiting for all day. I demanded that I was first, so I wouldn't chicken out.

So, I was first..... I was in la la land now and just going through the motions. They didn't speak very much English so I just followed their hands. Set your purse here, put on this robe, put on this hair net, and now follow me into the operating room. Now, lie down on this table and hold this pink, stuffed hippo (right like that was gonna calm me down). Finally, the doctor came in and spoke English to me. He talked me though the whole process. He put anesthesia drops in my eye, picked at my eye for a few minutes and the then I stared at the laser for 9 seconds. They did one eye at a time. My hands were gripping that hippo and my feet were going crazy. But, they said the most important thing to remember was look at the red light. And I did. I'm pretty sure they all thought I was crazy for freaking out so much. I could hear them say something in Korean and then they all laughed. This happened several times during the procedure. But, looking back I would have laughed at me too because there was nothing to worry about. There was no pain.....until after.

Jayson and I had Lasek not Lasik. Our eyes had hyperopia, so we needed the Lasek procedure. With Lasek, the procedure is painless, but the recovery is longer and more painful. We knew that, they warned us. Oh man, was that first day and night a nightmare. Jayson and I both couldn't open our eyes, nor did we want to talk or eat. This is where the idea of us both getting the surgery done at the same time seemed like a bad idea. Oh well, you live and you learn. During day 2 I could open my eyes a little. Jayson's laser was 27 seconds (triple mine) so he had more recovery then me. It took about 5 days to go outside with sunglasses on comfortably. Now, I can see pretty well. It will take a few weeks for our eyes to reach 100% of their potential. The doctor is very good with us. We have frequent appointments, which makes feel really comfortable.

So, after all the worrying and the pain, I would do this again in a heartbeat. So, anybody considering it should do it if they have the money. We saved $3000 each doing it in Korea. I think this experience has made me stronger :) haha we'll see

Summer Camp PinishE

Wow, summer has gone by fast. As you know we went to China for 1 week, taught summer camp for 3 weeks and got lasek and recovered for a week. For this blog post I am going to talk about summer camp and next post I will talk about our Lasek eye surgery.

Ok, summer camp. The schedule was one group of students come to school from 9am to 12pm and the next group of students came to school 1:30 to 5:30. There are six classes of students and they rotate through each native teacher, which means I had other native English speaking people at my school. It was a nice treat to be able have a regular conversation with someone everyday. I volunteered to teach Drama in the morning and then I taught the text book to the afternoon kids.

Drama was a lot of work and responsibility, but still a lot of fun. I went into it thinking I had to teach each class of students a play and after 3 weeks they would perform in front of all of their family and friends. After one week I realized the difficulty of teaching each class a different play, so I had some classes perform the same play. The class that was the least motivated (class 5) just learned songs. These kids were out to get me, but I won and stuck to songs instead of torturing them with memorizing lines of English they did not understand. BUT, my most proud teaching moment was when the lowest class (class 6) decided to take on the task of memorizing a play. The did “Jack and the Beanstalk.” They worked so hard and actually had fun. They made teaching Drama an easy choice for me.

Afternoon classes I taught 3 lessons out of the book and 3 lessons of my own. The book was way over their head and I had to alter the lessons anyway. It seems similar to the states. I guess it’s true, no matter where you are it is difficult to choose a textbook program that fits all teachers/students needs. But, through experience I have learned just pull from it what you need and go from there (but stick to the standards haha). I felt my own creation of lessons were more effective because I stuck to one English concept and ventured from there. I also taught a lot of games. Everyday the kids would walk in and say, “teacher game?” I caved and realized it was English CAMP and was meant to be fun. Can you believe a parent actually called and complained that their child was not completing their text book? So, the last day of school the kids had to just finish pages out of their workbook. One parent and every camp in the area had to finish workbook pages. Come on parents, you need to trust us teachers. UHG! I guess that’s another similarity to the states. There will always be parents who think they know better then the teacher:)

All in all, Summer Camp was a good experience. The kids were cute and I met some new English teachers. We had a sports day, a market day and a performance day. The performances were not perfect, but pretty good for 3 weeks of work.

China

Wow China! We had an amazing time. I have to admit I am a bit naive. Since we are living in an Asian country, I didn’t think visiting China would have be much different. It even sounds wrong witting that and I can’t believe I thought that at first. I think it was due to exhaustion. I was so ready for a vacation and I got so much more. First was Beijing. We met up with our friend Melvin and our first stop was the Temple of Heaven. The Temple was closed, but we were able to cruise the park. It was a beautiful shaded park filled with ancient architecture, people and fresh cut grass. Ya, I haven’t seen fresh cut grass for a few months. First Shocker: Beggars. They will ask you to buy anything and you name your price. They follow you, complement you, lie to you. Anything for some yuan. In the hot sun filled with hundreds of people, it gets annoying, but if you want to name your price on a souvenir, it’s helpful. We also were asked to take our first picture with locals. I was being followed by these two girls. I smiled and said Hello and walked away. Jayson told me they looked so sad and he thought they wanted to take a picture with me. I couldn't believe it. Sure enough, he was right. Their eyes let up when I posed with them to take a picture. This happened all over China. It made us feel like movie stars.

The next day we joined a tour that took us to the Great Wall, Ming Tomb, Jade Factory and Tea House. On our 2 hour ride to the Great Wall we learned how over populated China is. Our tour guide explained to us that every hour is rush hour. There are only designated days that people can drive their cars. And, it’s true you can only have one child if you live in the city. If you live out of the city and your first child is a girl then you can have one more child. This policy has helped their growing population and they have seen no population growth for a consistent amount of time. Second Shocker: Population. Third shocker: Heat. Once we reached the Great Wall my eyes grew big by the amount of people I saw. It was packed from top to bottom and side to side. And the umbrellas, oh the umbrellas. We hiked thousands of stairs to reach the top. I was hit by umbrellas, shared sweat with some shoulders and locals still wanted to take pictures with my drenched self. This Great Wall experience was not as enchanting as I thought it would be. The rest of the tour was great, but I was left a little disappointed. So, a few days lated Jayson and I got a private driver and he took us to another part of the Great Wall. We got there early before the crowed and heat. We took a ski lift up, danced on the Great Wall and took a toboggan down. That was the magical, enchanting experience I was looking for. I still get chills thinking about it.

In Beijing, we also visited the Forbidden City and Olympic Park. Of course, the Forbidden City was filled with crowds of people and their umbrellas and the scorching sun. But, we were able to skip away to the quiet and serene side rooms. We took beautiful pictures and was able to take in the history and feel like we were there hundreds of years ago. Once again....magical. Olympic park was amazing too. I love watching a location on TV and then actually being able to go there. The Aquatic Cube was closed, so we were only able to go inside the “Birds Nest,” but we walked around the whole park and took pictures. Our nights in Beijing were filled with Beer Gardens in downtown and along the river. Live music was always playing and good people watching too.

Our next stop Shanghai. Shocker number 4: Shanghai is truly Paris of the East (like they say). This city is beautiful, the temperature was bearable and there were less beggars. Our first night we found a fabulous mexican restaurant. I know Mexican in China, but we have been living without it for several months and it was a real treat. The next day World Expo. Oh, wow was this place filled with people. They said 500,000 people visit the World Expo each day. There were so many people that we only went in 3 pavilions: China, USA, and Africa. But, we took a bus around and saw every country’s pavilion. I didn’t expect the Expo to be so big. Each country builds a pavilion to represent their county and their view of the future. China used a lot of technology and also had replicas of famous architecture of China. Africa was pretty much the same. But, USA a little disappointing. The building structure was your typical square and inside we watched 2 videos. The videos did focus on the future and explain how a little goes a long way. The message was nice, but the structure wasn’t that impressive. After a long day at the Expo we decided to visit that wonderful Mexican restaurant for some margaritas and a delicious bite. Bad idea, the next day we were both stuck in bed with food poisoning. We should of just kept to one day of Mexican. We are still recovering to this day.

We did make the best of our last day. We took the double decker tour bus around Shanghai. We visited the Jade Buddhist Temple, Yu Garden, and completed our shopping. In he evening we took a river cruise and tried to enjoy our last “real” Chinese dinner. 10 days was a long time and I wouldn’t of changed anything. Our experience was amazing. I hope we can go back someday.