Here are some random photographs and descriptions of various things I've encountered recently.
The ENTIRE stock of cereal at E-Mart (this is a disappointingly low amount of choices for me)--
This is one cereal that I have in my cupboard, notice that it has SUNFLOWER seeds in it--
Recognize this? I also eat this--
A random menu outdoors in Ilsan--
Sunset in Ilsan--
I assume this is "National Treasure 2"--
One thing I have noticed, but have failed to mention, since I've been here in Korea, is the high number of older women who are working. They are called "ajummas", which is a Korean word meaning either a married woman or an older woman. There are many of them that work here at English Village. But they don't work behind a desk, or in the restaurants; they are the groundskeepers and cleaning people. Every day they are all over the campus doing various duties. I have seen a lady in my building several times on her hands and knees cleaning the steps that lead to the second floor (on which I live). Literally, she was scrubbing the metal part of the step. Later, she was mopping the steps. I've seen them shoveling snow, I've seen them emptying trash. They do a lot of tough jobs. And they are all so nice. Some of these ladies are in their 60's. It just surprises me that they have jobs, and tough ones. I'm not used to seeing that in America. Sure, there may be a few older ladies who work at the grocery store as clerks, or at the bank, but not mopping, sweeping, and cleaning. And it doesn't just apply here at the Village. Every town I've been to, I've seen ladies working, and working hard. I don't know enough of about this culture to know exactly why that is, or even if it is necessary--but it's just something that has caught my attention.Some of the "ajummas"--
Along with that, something very interesting (and something I personally love) about Korean culture is that there is NO tipping. You do not tip at a restaurant, you do not tip when you get a haircut, you do not tip when getting out of a cab. Even at the gas station, where it is ALWAYS FULL SERVICE in Korea, YOU DO NOT TIP. It is not considered rude to not tip, it's the standard. I love that. I just love it. One of my least favorite things about living in America is the constant tipping. Here, in Korea, they do a good job no matter what. They do a good job because it's the RIGHT thing to do--not because they want to get a tip. That's a big problem with the work ethic in America. When I worked as a host at TGI Friday's in Arizona, I saw a constant and belligerent bitterness set in with the servers about their tips. It's all they were working for. They weren't serving people because it was their job, they were serving people so they could get a tip. And whenever they didn't receive the tip they thought they should--they went crazy. It was overwhelming. Now, in all fairness, in Arizona, I can somewhat understand their feelings...because they only get paid around $2.13/hour; and they really do rely on those tips to offset their salary. But in California, the servers get paid minimum wage (at least) PLUS tips. But the attitude and poor work ethic are the same. I could do a study on it. Korean work ethic vs. American work ethic. I don't think you'd be surprised at the result. But needless to say, I appreciate the fact that I get treated well in Korea, for no other reason than because it's the right thing to do.On a completely different subject, my foot is slightly fractured. I went to the doctor on Monday and had x-rays and a sonogram (like the little camera to see the baby through the mommy's stomach). It's nothing serious, but I now take 6 pills a day to keep the swelling down and the pain absent. And it works, but it's quite a story.
Every Monday, there is a free shuttle that takes us from the Village to Ilsan. I think I've spoken of it before. The shuttle is really just a van, that fits 12 people, including the driver. There have been times in the past where the driver has allowed 14 or so people to take the shuttle. But this particular Monday, we had 16 people shoved into the van, and two people waiting outside, wanting to get in. Well, the driver refused to take us. But none of this was made clear to us. In case you didn't know, I don't speak Korean. So anything the man said, I had no idea. It became more clear when he opened the driver door, removed the keys, and walked away. But we all just sat in the van still not knowing what exactly was happening. The man said nothing.
I started to get quite angry. I really have no problem is there are simply too many of us, and the driver can't legally take us. I see that. But I do have a problem with the lack of adequate communication to let us know what is happening. I could easily take a cab to Ilsan, or even take the bus.
Well, a few minutes passed as we sort of sat there in wonderment. Finally, the man came back and motioned for us to get out and get in the big bus. Oh yeah, they also have two giant buses parked right by the van shuttle. But we just figured the man was either unwilling or unqualified to drive the bus. He wasn't.
So, fortunately, we all got to go in the big bus--just this once!
Well, I had intended to go to the doctor in Seoul, because I was told the doctor's and the staff spoke English at this specific clinic in Seoul, which many Westerners visit. However, there is also a clinic in Ilsan, but the English is a bit more sketchy. The main issue was that no one was going to Seoul, and I certainly wasn't going to go by myself, because I was more than certain I'd somehow end up either underwater or serving in North Korea's army; neither of which appeal to me at present.
As I didn't want to force anyone to stay with me for my doctor's visit, I intended to go alone. They pointed out where the hospital was, and told me all they knew. "You may have a problem at the reception desk, but just say that you hurt your foot and you need to go to the 'International Clinic' on the third floor". Seemed easy enough. Oh, but no.
As the rest of my friends got into a taxi to drive away to the shopping center, I walked myself to the hospital, within sight of our drop off point. I walked to the reception desk, and did my practiced routine. "I need to go to the third (while I held up 3 fingers) floor, the International Clinic." The two kind gentlemen behind the desk looked cluelessly at each other. It's remarkable how funny this sight is, by the way. Imagine the scene. An American comes into your place of business. He starts speaking English, a language you and your buddy know nothing about. You and your buddy just look at each other, trying to figure out what this person just said. Well, maybe it's not as funny as it is hopeless. Anyway, I did what any other person would have done. I lifted up my foot, and said, "Ow". Without a pause, they immediately understood and put up 3 fingers and nodded their heads "Yes". I needed to go to the third floor. Okay. I passed the first part of the gauntlet.
I walked up to the third floor. I thought it would be clear where to go...but it wasn't. The third floor had about 10 different practices. Fortunately, there was English written on the signs, along with Korean. I saw the "Family Medicine" center, the "Obstetrics/Gynecology" section, the "Plastic Surgery" section...and finally the "Foot/Ankle Center". I figured this is where I should go. When I walked in, there was one girl behind the desk, and no one else around. No patients, no doctors, nothing. I handed the woman my passport. I had to do the foot-pick-up charades "Ow" game again, and she understood. She didn't speak much English. She motioned for me to follow her. She got up from the desk, came around, walked back outside the office, and pointed back to where I had come from. I had to first go to the counter and do something. I had no idea what. So I went to the counter, which appeared to be some sort of check out/payment place, and I took a number. When 185 was called, I approached the desk. A nice lady took my passport and asked if this was my first visit. Yes. I signed some stuff...no idea what...and then she printed some papers and tore something off and gave it to me and told me to go back to the office. So I turned around and went back to the "Foot/Ankle Center". This time I gave the nice girl behind the desk my slip of paper, and she motioned for me to sit down. I saw a magazine rack, with a GQ magazine with Tiger Woods on the cover. I thought I'd do some light reading before I was seen. Well...the GQ magazine was completely in Korean. I sat back down to watch some Korean television.
After about 10 minutes, another patient in a wheelchair wheeled in and parked next to me. It was this older gentlemen. We sat. And sat. An hour passed and nothing had been said to me. And by this time, the number of patients had gone from just me to at least 10 people. I finally saw some doctors walking around. I wondered if I'd come in at lunch time. Finally after about an hour and a half, a nurse called me into a room. There were two doctors sitting at a desk. One was at the computer, the other was seated next to him. Only one of them spoke English. The one at the computer just listened and typed things on the computer. I took off my shoes and socks (both pairs) so the doctor could examine my foot. At first he just lightly poked and prodded. After that he began pulling and pushing. Not so lightly. Where there had been no previous pain...there was now pain. He had pulled and poked pretty fiercely. I clenched the table when it was painful. He spoke pretty good English. I explained why I thought my foot was hurting and how long it had been going on, etc. He said he wanted me to get x-rays. Okay. So I put back on my shoes and socks (only one pair, because I knew I'd have to take them off again) and walked back to the main desk. I didn't know where I'd go for the x-rays, I just figured they'd be close by somewhere. Well, another doctor told me that I needed to go to floor B1 to get x-rays, but first I had to return to the counter and pay for it. Okay.
So I left the "Foot/Ankle Center" and headed back to the check out/payment desk. I paid around 115,000Won, got another slip of paper, and took the elevator down to floor B1. I thought it would be clear where the x-ray place was...but upon my arrival to B1, I realized once more, that I was hopeless. I walked down the hallway to the right. Nothing there. I walked back down the hall to the left, and saw a hospital employee. I simply asked, "X-rays?" and she pointed to where I needed to go. Very nice.
I approached another desk and handed the woman my new slip of paper. She said something very quickly in Korean...and I just sort of said...sorry. She said Room 7 and pointed to her right. I saw a door marked with the number 7 on it, and a symbol that looked familiar. I think it's the symbol that was on the case containing the plutonium in "Back to the Future" that Doc Brown had taken from the Libyans in order to make them a bomb, but which he instead used to power his flux capacitor and make time travel possible. I'm pretty sure that's the symbol that was on door number 7. Whatever. I like "Back to the Future".
I waited for another 20 minutes. There were many other patients rolling around in wheelchairs or on gurneys waiting for their x-rays. A nice doctor came out and called my name and looked right at me. I figured it was my turn. He took me into the x-ray room and asked me to remove my shoes and socks (the one pair). I did so. Then I stood up on this platform and was directed in the different positions I was to stand in order to get a proper x-ray. Never having received an x-ray on my feet before, I didn't know what to do. So, the kind doctor and his assistant had to really move me around to show me what to do. I took 3 x-rays and was done within 3 minutes. So easy. I put back on my shoes and socks (the one pair)
I was then told to return to the 3rd floor.
I went back to the elevators and returned to the 3rd floor. I almost stopped by the check out/payment desk just in case. But when I walked back into the "Foot/Ankle Center" the nice girl behind the desk clearly remembered me, and motioned for me to sit and wait. By this time, there were quite a handful of people waiting to be seen. After just a few moments, I was signalled back into another office within the center. Here, the doctor who directed me to B1 asked me to sit up on the table and lean back...after taking off my shoes and socks (one pair).
He sat down next to the table, next to a big machine with lots of gizmos. He smeared some weird jelly goop onto this thing that looked like the handheld scanner from the grocery store and applied it to my foot. I realized now what he had said earlier. He had said something about x-rays and something else. But I didn't understand him, so I just nodded. But he was saying I was going to get x-rays AND a sonogram. Ah. Now I felt like a pregnant mother catching a glimpse of her baby. I had seen enough movies to know what the jelly goop was, and that this little grocery scanner was a camera. Okay. He moved this camera thing all over my foot. Then he even went to my good foot and looked at it; I'm guessing he wanted to get a comparison. Well, he wasn't really getting to where the pain was, so I tried to point it out for him. So he'd try those areas. He kept squirting more goop onto the camera and moving it around my foot. This lasted for about 30 minutes. He took several pictures and printed them off the machine. It was pretty neato.
When we were finished, he grabbed some rags to wipe all the stuff off my feet. At first he was gentle in wiping off my foot...but then, I suppose without knowing, he sort of grabbed my toe and wiggled the rag around to get the stuff off. This caused the worst pain I'd experienced in a while. I was busy wiping off my other foot...and I may have blacked out, I don't know. Okay, so I exaggerate a little bit--but it was so painful.
After that, I sat down just outside the sonogram room and waited to see the main doctors again. It was just a few moments, and then I was asked into the main office. The two doctors were still there, one at the computer, one next to him. They reviewed my x-rays and sonogram pictures. I got to see my x-rays. The sonogram didn't really reveal anything, but one of the x-rays got a clear view of the bottom of my foot. There are two bones on the ball of your feet. They are small bones right next to each other. They should be round. One of mine was round, the other looked a little like an upside down heart...there was a small fracture on the very bottom of it. It was clear to see. There's the problem.
The doctor said it wasn't serious, and simply that I would need to be careful for 6 weeks. No dancing, no running, no jumping. Oddly, he asked me, "Can you promise me that you won't dance, run, or jump?" I'd never heard a doctor ask that before. I honestly couldn't promise him that I'd not dance, though I would never dance by choice, but that because I was in a show, I may be forced to dance. I could certainly control running and jumping. He said walking was fine, but just to be careful. He prescribed medication, to be taken 3 times a day. I take 2 pills at each meal. One pill is for pain, the other is anti-inflammatory. Needless to say, my foot has not hurt at all since I started taking the medication. Not even a little bit. Granted, I don't have a Korean doctor violently pulling or poking it.
I don't know how the foot will heal itself, but I should be okay if I just take care of it. He saw that I was wearing athletic tennis shoes, and he suggested that I wear only those all the time, because they provide good support.
Funny enough, I never saw another American (or non-Korean) my entire time at the hospital. Each time I thought I saw another American (or at least another non-Korean), I would be wrong. Some Koreans, even at a distance, clearly don't seem American. Their clothes give them away. But there are many Koreans who have a very Western style. I'd see someone walking in the distance and think, "Oh, another Westerner." But as they got closer, I was wrong. My time in the hospital was very interesting. I was so incredibly alone there. It was such a weird feeling.
After I got the prescription, it was time to leave the "Foot/Ankle Center". But I had to return to the check out/payment desk to pay for something else. I really have no idea what I was paying for. I paid around 13,000Won for something; I don't know what. I figured it was the prescription, which I figured would be filled in the hospitals pharmacy. I saw a place labeled "Pharmacy" when I first entered the hospital, on the first floor. After paying, I went down to the first floor and went to the Pharmacy window. I gave the woman at this counter my new paper, that I assumed had my prescription information on it. I could clearly see the English words "Lodine (200mg)" and "Stillen (60mg)" on it. She said something quickly in Korean, as if I understood it, and pointed towards the exit doors. Okay. I figured I was simply at the wrong pharmacy window. Perhaps it was outside and around the corner like she motioned. Well, I exited the hospital and began walking around the entire building. When I was halfway around the building, I found the main entrance. I realized I'd done something wrong. I again went to the reception desk, near the Pharmacy, to find out what I'd done wrong. The two kind gentlemen from before were gone. There were two nice ladies and one security guy. I showed them my prescription paper, and she understood that and walked with me to another counter that I hadn't been to yet. I was becoming afraid. Clearly I'd missed something. I hadn't regretted being alone in the hospital until this moment. How was I going to get my prescription?
So the nice lady took me to another desk, and a nice woman at that desk realized what I needed. I did more charades showing that I needed to get the pills somehow. She understood. This woman now walked me outside of the hospital and pointed across the street to a building. That is when it clicked. I needed to go to a regular pharmacy to have the prescription filled. It seems so obvious now, but I didn't get it before. I figured if there was a pharmacy in the hospital, why would I need to go to another pharmacy to get it? Whatever. I thanked the nice lady for walking me outside and showing me where to go.
I walked across the street to what was clearly a pharmacy. I gave the woman at the counter (what is this, like my 14th counter of the day?) my prescription paper and she gave it to the pharmacist, then rang me up for the charges. Many stores like to quote the price to me, in Korean, as if I understand how much I'm being charged. At this point, I really don't care how much I'm being charged, because I have no choice either way. I just feel awful that I don't know what they're saying. Anyway, I pay 25,400 more Won and wait for my prescription to be filled. It only takes a few minutes. Another nice lady calls me up to receive my pills. I figured they would be placed into a bottle like EVERY OTHER prescription I've ever received in my entire life. However, the woman holds out this intestine-long connection of the pills. I've never seen anything like it. She asked if I could speak Korean, and I said, "No, I'm sorry." So she spoke in nearly perfect English to me. She said I needed to take two pills at each meal, for two weeks. She put the intestine-like pill package into a bag and handed it to me. I thanked her and walked out.
The intestine-like pill package--
I was at the hospital for around 3 1/2 hours. From about 12 noon to 3:30. I hadn't eaten lunch. By this point, my stomach had began to devour its lining. I was starving, and all I could think of was Burger King. I wanted to reward myself for making it out of the hospital in one piece; and for doing it all on my own. I began walking from the pharmacy back to the main road where I was sure I could find a taxi. But would I know where to go or what to say? I had to trust that I'd had enough practice being with people who knew what to say to remember the right things to do.I found a taxi, and opened the door and said, "Burger King, Western-Dom ga joo sa yo?" I was asking to go to the Burger King at the Western-Dom shopping center, and the "ga joo sa yo" is the "go, please" part. He nodded, and we began our trip. As we neared what I knew was the Western-Dom shopping center, I began to question if I knew where the Burger King was. I realized I wasn't sure if it was at Western-Dom or at La Festa, a shopping center next to Western-Dom. We got to Western-Dom, and the driver said something like, "I don't know where Burger King is, do you?" I said to turn Left. He turned left. I was in familiar territory, because I'd been here several times before, but I couldn't remember exactly where Burger King was, and of course I didn't know street names. We came to a T, and I said to turn Right. He turned Right. Another T, another Right. When he took another Right, I realized we'd just made a perfect square. One left and 3 rights makes a square. The driver chuckled, as did I. I said, "I know. Right here is fine." I knew I just had to get out and walk until I found the Burger King. I paid for the ride, thanked the driver, and headed north. I realized that I was indeed wrong, and that I needed to head back the direction I'd come from. It was just a 5 minute walk from where I was dropped off. But now I know for sure where the Burger King is. It's in La Festa, not Western-Dom. You learn by doing, right?
And what a rewarding meal it FINALLY was.
My view from Burger King in Ilsan--
On another different subject, I was recently informed that I will not be charged utilities for the month of December on account of my move. Joyous news. I immediately turned on my heat! Now my apartment feels more like a home than a polar ice cap. It really was like a true polar ice cap, not one affected by Al Gore's version of global warming. I can live somewhat comfortably now, at least until the end of this month, when I will return to the fear of being overcharged for heat.And finally, my apartment is clean enough for me to show you pictures of what it looks like.
A 360 degree tour of my palace:
Window/Sliding door/Upper Level Balcony Entrance, and Clothes on drying rack--
The Bed and Storage Suite (the bed is retrieved by pulling the handle)--
The Entertainment Centre--
The Hallway/Main Entrance Plaza, Kitchenette on the right--
The Kitchenette area, Water Dispenser and Communication Kiosk--
Communication Kiosk, Window/Sliding Door/Upper Level Balcony Entrance--
This is the Bedroom Suite and Storage Area with my bed accessed (x2)--
The Before (I abhor doing dishes)--
The After (the smell gets to you eventually, and even the strongest crumble)--
So that's my place. It's small, relatively cold, and small. But it's home. =) I'm happy.Christmas, for me, is in three days. I'll be working that day. It's just like the good old days at Disneyland; working on holidays. And I will be getting something like 3x overtime pay for the day, as well. How fun. I'm not sure what I'll be doing. They may have special plans for that day.
The decorations at City Hall (that's real snow)--
I hope you are somewhere with loved ones and are ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the birth of GIANT over-commercialization and consumer gluttony (not to mention some literal gluttony).A lamppost shot--
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!
1 comment:
I do remember something about, oh, 16 boxes of Cereal being in the house at one time ... I'm glad to see some habits never die ;-)
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