A Trip to the Doctor's

After coming down with a really bad cough, I decided that I needed to go to the doctor. It was a very interesting event. On Thursday morning I went to a clinic. I handed them my alien resident card because Korea has a nationalized healthcare system and it is entirely online. After the normal blood pressure and weight check, they sent me into the doctor’s office. His office was also his exam room. It contained both his regular office stuff and an exam table too. He first tried to converse with me in Korean, but obviously we couldn’t do that, so we spoke English. He briefly asked me my medical history and what my symptoms were, printed out a piece of paper, told me I had an upper respiratory infection and to take the paper to the pharmacy. Then he sent me on my way without examining me. The visit only cost $2.83. I walked downstairs to the pharmacy where they gave me my prescriptions. I was supposed to take four different medicines and unlike the U.S. there were no prescription bottles. Each dose of four pills was separately packaged so that you could just rip open the plastic packet and take your meds. I was given nine packets with four pills in them. The largest one said Tylenol and another pill had been cut in half. My name was not on the packets, just the pharmacy’s phone number. All this medicine cost me less than $2 and was enough for three days. Normally in America I would have stayed home and rested, but in Korea you are expected to work when you are sick. It was a rough three days and my children laughed at me when my voice changed. I spent the weekend resting and now I feel a little better.

Chris’ turn:
So my week was interesting. With Jenn sick our routine was broken a little bit, but we both managed ok. I was amazed at how well she did considering how sick she was. She still managed to do a good job at work. For me, work has been a little frustrating. I have a couple classes where the kids are not really that interested in learning English and would rather goof off. I am working on countering this, but so far have not found a good solution. Otherwise things have been well at school. I have gotten to the point where I can keep up with my lesson plans and grading homework pretty much without having to come in too early. This means that I am down to working an average of 8.5 hours a day instead of the previous 10 or so.

Since Jenn was sick, I went to church alone on Sunday. It was really neat to see how much the people there cared. So many people were concerned that my wife had not come and wanted to know if she was ok. It was neat. I also realized that to a degree I am starting to think of this church as home. I don’t feel like an outsider and I feel like I belong. This is a good thing since we will be here for quite a while longer, and I often feel that I don’t really fit in. There have been few places (churches or others) where I really felt like this was a place that I belong and am cared about, so for me especially this is good.

After church, Jason and Michelle (an engaged couple, Jason is from Seattle, and Michelle is Korean) invited me out to lunch with them (and another Korean, Luke) and we went to a bulgogi restaurant. Unless I am mistaken “bulgogi” is a generic term for meat, or if specific of beef. I like bulgogi! This was not my first time having it, but this was a different style than I had had before. The only bulgogi I had before was served with rice and a few veggies (it is also a sweet meat, something in the sauce). This was served raw, put onto a skillet-like plate/pan built into the center of the table and left for us to cook. It also had some veggies and a fair amount of some kind of broth/sauce that sweetened the meat while ensuring that it did not get too dry. The food was great!

After lunch they asked Luke and I if we wanted to go to a movie. Since Jenn had been specific about me not rushing home, but taking my time I decided to go. After trying to call her (she had my cell phone) on Jason’s cell phone, we set off. We saw “The International” which oddly in Korea has been renamed “Duplicity.” None of us knew why they often rename films (this is the English name being changed, not a poor translation). The movie was pretty good, although strange. None of us knew much about it going in, but Jason and I liked it while Michelle and Luke did not. We aren’t sure if it was a culture thing, a poor translation thing (they read the Korean subtitles), or just a different taste in movies thing. After the movie was over we went our separate ways, with Jason and Michelle dropping me off at the Lotte Mart so I could buy supplies for dinner.