Well it is another "run of the mill" type week for me at work, but I seemed to have neglected all blogging responsibilities for the weekend. I was justified in the fact that I was sent to the hospital by my employer to endure urine and blood tests, in addition to a wonderful EKG scan and chest x-rays. As exciting as that sounds, I was able to check out the healthcare industry in South Korea from a consumer standpoint.
Last week, I arrived to work and saw a map with a Post-it strategically placed to where my eyes would immediately notice on my desk. It was a map to the medical establishment I was to have my examination. For this examination, I needed $92, my passport and a passport photo. This examination is preliminary to all people living in Korea in order to obtain resident-status documentation. The clinic opened at 8:30 a.m. so we got a move on at about 8:00 a.m. to avoid the waiting that I presumed would take place in a less than privatized atmosphere. Of course I didn't have a passport photo so I utilized a photo booth in the metro station near my house. I was a bit unkept(it was a Saturday morning). The photo turned out a notch below "attractive."
Anyway, after my photo was out of the way, Maria and I were on the train to the clinic. After dealing with the language barrier and finally finding the correct desk to deal with our business, I had to change into a cotton candy-pink robe and navy blue sandals. I Hate public shoes. After a bit of hesitation and then a deep inhale, I sunk my toes into the public sandals and went to urinate into two tubes. I hated the public shoes and the cotton candy robe, but I was totally prepared to pee on command. No problem.
I tossed my samples into the basket of everyone else's samples and went to wait in line to have my sight and other measurements taken. In this setting, each patient carried their own information folder to each station and individuals were called accordingly. This system was very efficient, much more than I am used to in the states. In the states, each patient receives his or her own medical examination room, but it seems like I always wait about 20 minutes just for the doctor. After my vision test, I was shuffled over to blood pressure and blood extraction. I waited on a nicely upholstered bench for my chest x-ray to be taken [in my robe and shoes that everyone and his brother have worn]. The doctor was a small and humorous character. I entered the x-ray room and he told me to inhale, hold it and then he took the x-ray before I exhaled. We seemed to have some issues with my hair and so he brought in an obnoxious white and gold trimmed scrunchii to keep my hair out of the x-ray (to all medical professionals: since when do hair cells get in the way of x-rays?!?!). After the x-ray, I was strapped up to an EKG machine and when it was all over, I ran like hell.
Three hours later:
I met my "Language Exchange" partner at the metro station closest to my humble abode. Needless to say, I joined www.mylangaugeexchange.com per the advice of friends and had really no idea as to who I would be meeting on the site. I meandered to the station and I met my friend, Won. Won is in his thirties and is hilarious. It was raining and Won drove, so I went to get in what I thought was the passenger seat of his car and I think he is the only Korean who opts to drive on the right hand side. So after the logistics of his car became clear to me, we went to get a cup of coffee and engage ourselves in conversation. I do hope to learn a bit of Korean in time, but I was more interested in the societal infrastructure, culture and politics of Korea so we talked a lot about those issues. Won wanted to meet with an English speaker to practice speaking and he particularly expressed a desire to maintain it for business purposes. After coffee, we had dinner at a Korean restaurant in Itaewon (the predominantly international area of Seoul). Dinner was interesting for it entailed excellent Korean BBQ, some Merlot and a very old and drunk Korean man who was later taken out by the police. Every town has one of those, regardless, it's good entertainment.
After dinner with my new language exchange friend,Won, he dropped me by my house and of course I had to get ready to go out with my friends. Meredith T., Darcie and I met up with the teachers from our other school branch in our neighborhood. Later in the evening, we ended up at a really great hookah bar called Brickx. It is in the basement and lit all over with mainly candles. It has a great South East Asian feel and very good music ranging from Indian with an electronica twist to downtempo/chill. After such a long day and hookah, we called it a rather early evening and headed home.
All in all, it was a very nice weekend and topped of by a dinner on Sunday night with my dear friend Nam Wang. Nam and I went to Yeti, an Indian and Nepali restaurant. They played Bollywood on a large screen, so it was very difficult for me to concentrate on dining with well-endowed Indian men shaking it on the big screen... Anyway the Tandoori chicken was tremendous and I plan to return.
I hope everyone is having a great week and I will try to update more often!
Last week, I arrived to work and saw a map with a Post-it strategically placed to where my eyes would immediately notice on my desk. It was a map to the medical establishment I was to have my examination. For this examination, I needed $92, my passport and a passport photo. This examination is preliminary to all people living in Korea in order to obtain resident-status documentation. The clinic opened at 8:30 a.m. so we got a move on at about 8:00 a.m. to avoid the waiting that I presumed would take place in a less than privatized atmosphere. Of course I didn't have a passport photo so I utilized a photo booth in the metro station near my house. I was a bit unkept(it was a Saturday morning). The photo turned out a notch below "attractive."
Anyway, after my photo was out of the way, Maria and I were on the train to the clinic. After dealing with the language barrier and finally finding the correct desk to deal with our business, I had to change into a cotton candy-pink robe and navy blue sandals. I Hate public shoes. After a bit of hesitation and then a deep inhale, I sunk my toes into the public sandals and went to urinate into two tubes. I hated the public shoes and the cotton candy robe, but I was totally prepared to pee on command. No problem.
I tossed my samples into the basket of everyone else's samples and went to wait in line to have my sight and other measurements taken. In this setting, each patient carried their own information folder to each station and individuals were called accordingly. This system was very efficient, much more than I am used to in the states. In the states, each patient receives his or her own medical examination room, but it seems like I always wait about 20 minutes just for the doctor. After my vision test, I was shuffled over to blood pressure and blood extraction. I waited on a nicely upholstered bench for my chest x-ray to be taken [in my robe and shoes that everyone and his brother have worn]. The doctor was a small and humorous character. I entered the x-ray room and he told me to inhale, hold it and then he took the x-ray before I exhaled. We seemed to have some issues with my hair and so he brought in an obnoxious white and gold trimmed scrunchii to keep my hair out of the x-ray (to all medical professionals: since when do hair cells get in the way of x-rays?!?!). After the x-ray, I was strapped up to an EKG machine and when it was all over, I ran like hell.
Three hours later:
I met my "Language Exchange" partner at the metro station closest to my humble abode. Needless to say, I joined www.mylangaugeexchange.com per the advice of friends and had really no idea as to who I would be meeting on the site. I meandered to the station and I met my friend, Won. Won is in his thirties and is hilarious. It was raining and Won drove, so I went to get in what I thought was the passenger seat of his car and I think he is the only Korean who opts to drive on the right hand side. So after the logistics of his car became clear to me, we went to get a cup of coffee and engage ourselves in conversation. I do hope to learn a bit of Korean in time, but I was more interested in the societal infrastructure, culture and politics of Korea so we talked a lot about those issues. Won wanted to meet with an English speaker to practice speaking and he particularly expressed a desire to maintain it for business purposes. After coffee, we had dinner at a Korean restaurant in Itaewon (the predominantly international area of Seoul). Dinner was interesting for it entailed excellent Korean BBQ, some Merlot and a very old and drunk Korean man who was later taken out by the police. Every town has one of those, regardless, it's good entertainment.
After dinner with my new language exchange friend,Won, he dropped me by my house and of course I had to get ready to go out with my friends. Meredith T., Darcie and I met up with the teachers from our other school branch in our neighborhood. Later in the evening, we ended up at a really great hookah bar called Brickx. It is in the basement and lit all over with mainly candles. It has a great South East Asian feel and very good music ranging from Indian with an electronica twist to downtempo/chill. After such a long day and hookah, we called it a rather early evening and headed home.
All in all, it was a very nice weekend and topped of by a dinner on Sunday night with my dear friend Nam Wang. Nam and I went to Yeti, an Indian and Nepali restaurant. They played Bollywood on a large screen, so it was very difficult for me to concentrate on dining with well-endowed Indian men shaking it on the big screen... Anyway the Tandoori chicken was tremendous and I plan to return.
I hope everyone is having a great week and I will try to update more often!
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