Sprained Ankle

Yesterday, I was in the bedroom, changing my clothes, when Ken came home. I immediately jumped up from the bed to see him and tripped on one of my pant legs. (Remember the “Spaghetti Incident”...Yes, I am that clumsy). I was so excited to see him, that the energy from my fall was enough to sprain my ankle. When I told Ken what had happened, he just laughed. I guess that spurred my ‘I’ll show you!’ attitude. Overcoming the pain, I decided to continue with my evening duties…writing blogs, updating my computer, and cleaning.

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The next day, I realized that the pain had gotten worse. I could slowly hobble around the house, but teaching that day would be excruciating. I would have to walk at a snail-pace to get ANYWHERE at all. As I was leaving the house and walking down the driveway, I bowed to the people passing-by, one of whom, was this old ajumma. She had many questions for me and was too stubborn to listen to me say in Korean, “I really need to catch the bus to get to Hyeonseo School.”

She responded, “But the school is just around your house. You don’t need to walk this way.” Of course, she was referring to Andeok School.

Luckily, for the five minutes I had to talk to her, I had a little relief, because she was walking at a turtle-pace while pushing an empty shopping cart. She asked more questions… “Are you living alone? You shouldn’t live alone.”

“No, I’m living with my nam-pyun (Ken).”

“You shouldn’t live alone.”

Geez…. I kept on saying, “I’m sorry, but I really need to go catch the bus.”

She finally let me go, and I had to run – yes run – on my sprained ankle. It’s funny, because I saw the bus slowly cross the end of the street (which made me run faster), and I waved my arms frantically, hoping the driver would see me in the mirror. He did (whew!), waited for me, and I boarded the bus.

I hobbled to Hyeonseo school which took me 3 times as long as usual, but thanks to my Korean blood, I made it. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger…am I right?

Oh dear.

- Jess