Drop the Needle

Typically when someone is coming at me with a needle, I pant a bit, whimper and never fail to whine out loud "is it going to hurt?!" I've survived 2 tattoos, a nose piercing and countless medical needles, but always felt near panic about it. Why then I wondered, have people been turning to acupuncture since 200 BCE to relax and promote good health. What is it about having a needle jammed into numerous points on your body that brings a positive sensation - and does it really? When I saw the Team Buy coupon for a $30 acupuncture session in my inbox one morning, despite my anxiety about needles, I had to check it out. So, last week, for the first time, I surrendered my delicate self to 10 piercing needles for 25 minutes...and lived to tell the tale!

My chest was a drum circle of a thousand angry hippies. My hands were clammy as I meticulously answered each of the 50 life/health questions and told myself I wasn't stalling, I was just being thorough. By the time I finally got into the treatment room, the practitioner had figured out that I was a newbie, and that I was scared. She was wonderful. She briefed me on the process, explained that acupuncture activates meridian lines in the body through stimulation points and promised that she had never witnessed anyone pass out or vomit; as per the release form I had just hesitated to sign. She went on to say that everyone has a different experience and that it's important to allow any feelings, during and after (whether positive or negative) to just be had. Great, so if I wanted to yelp and run, I could. Sweet. I like open benchmarks, anything is normal.

First, the belly. Our body's core and my stress centre, apparently. It was fast and painless. Within minutes she was done the full installation including one right between the eyes! "So, now I just lay here and try to rationalize this?" Yep, that was it. "Enjoy" she said as she left the room.
I'm not sure if it was my nerves, but something definitely felt different throughout my body. It was subtle, but I felt...heavy. A bit like having 3 glasses of wine, but not the headiness of it. At moments I would feel a bit like being on a slow wave and others, sleepy. I was sure not to move and at one point felt some pain in a specific spot on my leg. Later I learned that there hadn't even been a needle there, it was ghost pain. weird. When it was all over, I felt calm. It wasn't anything drastic, just nice.

So, there you have it. With regular sessions at $100 a pop, I won't be retuning, so unfortunately will never know if acupuncture could cure my smoking addition, but I did enjoy the experience. I do hope that the next time I get a needle, I'll be able to channel the feeling of acupuncture and just let the doctor drop the needle in. Doubtful.

You Better Belize-it!

I am a proud member of a group of people, who at one point or another, lived a very peculiar, unnaturally irresponsible and debauched lifestyle in a world that (it seems) we were never meant to know. A place that we wanted to escape, yet could never resist. Because of this experience, members share an unparalleled connection. We are: Korean Expats.

Some of the most amazing people I know, I met in Korea. Each year (there abouts) 4 of us meet up in a different part of the world to travel, reminisce and revive the feeling of K-style freedom. This year, we (minus one member) met and toured Belize by way of South Beach, Miami. During the trip, I was able to visit 6 different cities for the first time.

After a one night layover in South Beach, which was beautiful, but tacky and offensively expensive (Margaritas were $18.99!), we landed in Belize City where I experienced another first: sweating while standing - I mean it - not moving at all and dripping! BC is no where to spend time, so we water-taxied 1.5 hours east to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye (island) for 4 nights of lazy, sandy days to drink, eat and laugh about the fact that we still cheap out on accommodations to the point of bunking with a colony of cockroaches. We did all the usual snorkeling, diving, squatting on luxury hotel beach chairs pretending we were guests. We spent a day on Caye Caulker jumping off an abandoned boat and driving a golf cart up and down the strip - you know, typical stuff.

Wrapping up the island part of the trip with a crazy night at the Tackle Box and Big Daddy's dancing with locals until 3am, we made the LONG boat to bus journey inland to San Ignacio near the Guatemalan border to see some ruins. Perhaps only as a K-Expat would, we were able to see the humour in discovering that the ruins were closed when we finally arrived the next day. Yes, closed. So, back on the unairconditioned, 3 to a seat, stop-at-every-corner bus we went. In two days, we spent nearly 10 hours on buses and boats!

The finale of the trip was just as amazing as the beginning and middle. Near Orange Walk, we went on a jungle river tour, saw some incredible ruins (finally), listened to monkeys howl in the trees and spent every last BZ$ on drinks and unnecessary (but cherished) souvenirs. As always, it was a fantastic time! One that we never quite feel sad leaving because in 12 months, we'll be in some other new country doing it all again.

I read a cheesy, but fitting FB news feed recently that said: "I can't wait to have the memory of this moment". I feel that a lot when I travel with the gals from the KO!