Feb. almost over!

It gets really frustrating these days. I have these ideas, thoughts, and what not. However, by the time I get home ...i forget them only to remember them the next day.
In Jan. I made post about how traveling has changed me. Living overseas has really changed many things about myself. I find that I remember Philadelphia less, and less. I remember going to school, the playing around. I remember family life...I was mostly a loner, I figured I could tackle all of my woes on my own.

Now, here I am. I have lived in Europe, and in Asia. You see it is different than just going to a place, taking a few pictures, eat the local food, and going back home. In My short life I have lived in those places. Thats the difference. I feel happy about my decision. It is not easy. It is GETTING easier as time goes by.

Looking at the calender last week Yogita, and I realized...febuary is almost over! Of course it is a shorter month...but still. It has a complete four weeks. In India there will be a holiday on Monday...so for family there next week will fly by. In Alaska it will be the same for them there, as it is here (no holidays).

Time flies. Yesterday we went out for a drive. We drove, and talked. We used some of our happy point card points. Basically you have a card that when used at select stores (baskin robbins, dunking donuts, and other area bakeries) the points can be used as cash at those places.

Anyways...we had a nice drive. Talked and talked. We drove to this university and walked around..it as so nice.

Then...distaster struck! I really had to take a crapper. I am sitting in our car driving along...and suddenly I feel like I am five years old. You know..when you were a kid, and you just could not hold that brown stuff back? Well..in a 30 year old man (31 in Korea!) this happened. OH MY GOODNESS! I and Yogita were pretty stressed. Instestinal cramping nearing that point of no return. The realization that you will have to sit in a pile crap..oh...YOUR crap for about 100km's with the windows open trying not to gag. You see folks...it gets..scary as well...I dont know. But pretty darn scary.

Anyways, we finally founds a building that looked it have the western style toilet. In Asia, and parts of Europe this squat toilets are common. I mastered using the squat toilets in India. But..with this potentially explosive situation...no way jose! I do not even want to think about that.

Well back to the building, you see in Korea people build up. Not like in America were due to space people tend spread out more. In Korea...up and up we go. So imagine a building with signs on each of the floors, indicating different businesses on each floors. Hospitals, pc rooms, singing rooms, dental clinics, resturants ... I think you get the point. Well we rolled up in the Enterprise (Mazda 929 HE fully loaded...uh yeah I like my car). And we walked up to the second floor (pretty hard to this while looking "normal").

BINGO there is a bathroom.....and right across through glass doors is an internal medicine clinic. The bathroom is a not a public bathroom....@$!#! I cant just walk in and a take a much needed dump. Well...I did. Sorry I was far to desperate at that point. Yogita..who has a mutant bladder also had to take a tinkle. Well she was done real quick, and she saved the day.

Yogita knows the culture here very well, and her language skills are exceptional! Well, she goes in and right away starts using Korean. We have found that in order to get a more postive response in a country well known for xenophobia...learn the language. Right away the woman who was giving her the "eye", was smiling and was very conversational. Basically Yogita made it look like she had to get a blood test, and a Urine test done, and would it be possible to have it done that day. "Of course, no problem the doctor will be able to see you in about 15 minutes" Of Yogita realizes that once the doctor sees her (we are not in Gunsan, we are about 100km away in Nonsan...uh...perhaps 80km) our little game will be up and we will be quite embarrassed. No back to me..I was having the time of my life in the bathroom. It was filled with the earthy poo smell of my intestinal contents emptying into the toilet bowl. However, there was just one issue. It was taking its merry time going through the ascending, tranverse, descending, and finally a fast zig zag course to the rectum via the sigmoid colon. Let me tell you I could feel every bit of this...and...I enjoyed it.

Yogita on the hand had worked out a quick solution to the issue she was having. She simply told the lady "Oh no!, I forgot my medical insurance card, my husband will be upset..he drove me all the way here!" "Do you have any time on Monday? I could come back at that time when he is teaching, he is an English teacher". To this the woman expressed sympathy Yogita is petite, and I am a mean looking black man with a anal issue, so..the tension on my face must have been intimadating. Also in Korea domestic violence is not uncommon. It happens quite frequently, and if you ever come to Korea and see it....keep walking. It is against the law here to rescue a woman in such a situation. I could write a whole post about that. Anyways I digress (Yogita is cooking up a nice curry! Yummmy!) since that issue was solved all was well.

That is until smoking man came into the stall next to me. Now...remember earthy poo smell...powerfully strong......asending, transverse, descending....you get the point...alot of human waste was present, and the methaney earth like smell was very present. So when this dude walked in....DAMMM. All systems shut down! My reverie was cut short, the pleasure of getting that crap out was gone. All smooth muscle (and skeletal muscle) activity ceased! You see...I have a hard "doing it" with other people near me. Yogita does not have this effect on me. Well...it one thing to accept your own body's "no so popular" functions with ease. I had to hear another person. UGH.

All is well that ends well though.

Tata