It is freezing this morning but also ridiculously clear-skied. My view from my room was particularly nice today. Can you find Kennedy`s profile?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Seollal
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| Spinning a top |
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| Our wishes are listed here |
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| Welcome black dragon! |
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| Kimchi jars? |
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| I love this thing! |
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Hwacheon Fish Festival
Who would have thought ice fishing could be fun? I am from Minnesota, but I never had the desire or the opportunity. This festival in Hwacheon, Gyeongi Do is all about the trout. About two and a half hours from Seoul I was lucky enough to go by car. However, we didn't have reservations so it was almost impossible to find a place to stay. Luckily we found a jjimjilbang to spend the first night:
After a loud sauna night we went off fishing. It was slow going at first, but by the end of the day I had three trout on my line. We ate some raw, had some bbqed and gave some to a hungry Korean couple looking at our large catch. It was easier for foreigners because we had our own specially designated area for fishing. Could you imagine how that would go down in the states?
돌 (First Birthday)
Andrew Ahn, a Korean-American, had his short film selected for the Sundance Film Festival and it looks more than interesting. The story of why he made the film is even more so; apparently, he used the film as a way to come out to his parents. They didn't get it. He explained it though, and they are coming around to the fact that he is gay. Check out this preview of Dol:
Dol Trailer from Andrew Ahn on Vimeo.
Happy New Year!
Since I live in Korea, I'm allowed to use the Chinese New Year system. It is now the year of the Black Dragon! Supposedly, that means a lot of good luck for everyone this year. He only comes along every sixty years.
This year may be the last one on earth, so I'm gonna try to bea little a lot more consistent with my blog. In an ever not so original blog, I'm going to post my ten goals for the New Year:
1) Write a blog entry at least once a week. I want to be able to remember what I've been doing in Korea! However, I know I'm lazy, so in order to facilitate this process, I'm going to use my smart phone to do on the spot blogs. Hurray!
2) Try at least twenty new cuisines. BH and I try to go to a new restaurant once a week, but that often fails because of other things coming up. Plus, Korean food is so delicious. However, Seoul has so many great international restaurants, that we really need to explore what there is to offer.
3) Get into an advanced Korean class. I am currently in an intermediate Korean language class, but I really want to be at a higher level. I have a test this coming Wednesday, so wish me luck!
4) Keep in touch with my family and friends back home more often. It isn't that hard to call my family or friends, nor is it expensive, so I might as well be calling someone everyday! Then again, they could be calling me...
5) Watch more Korean dramas. I've been stuck in a rut watching American television programs, but I really should be watching Korean dramas. I have Life is Beautiful on my computer, and still haven't finished the Coffee Shop Prince. I also should just turn on my television in the evening and practice my listening skills with Korean TV shows
6) Take a Korean cooking class. BH is an amazing chef, but I need to be able to cook some Korean food myself. I have one dish that I make really well, tuna fried rice, but I need to expand my repertoire. Seoul offers a bunch of cooking classes that I'm looking into...
7) Study my vocab! I have to take the GRE soon to apply for graduate school in the fall of 2013, so I really need to study vocabulary everyday. Living in Korea I forget some English words just because I dumb down my English for class. I can't let this happen!
8) Learn more ASL. I get lazy sometime with my studies, but I need to communicate better in sign language to improve my communication with BH. Need to learn more signs!
9) Exercise more. Duh.
10) Travel to at least three new countries. I'm in Asia! I need to see some more countries. I think I'll be heading to Hong Kong in February and then I'll have another week in summer. Hopefully I can take a long weekend to Taiwan or Japan.
This year may be the last one on earth, so I'm gonna try to be
1) Write a blog entry at least once a week. I want to be able to remember what I've been doing in Korea! However, I know I'm lazy, so in order to facilitate this process, I'm going to use my smart phone to do on the spot blogs. Hurray!
2) Try at least twenty new cuisines. BH and I try to go to a new restaurant once a week, but that often fails because of other things coming up. Plus, Korean food is so delicious. However, Seoul has so many great international restaurants, that we really need to explore what there is to offer.
3) Get into an advanced Korean class. I am currently in an intermediate Korean language class, but I really want to be at a higher level. I have a test this coming Wednesday, so wish me luck!
4) Keep in touch with my family and friends back home more often. It isn't that hard to call my family or friends, nor is it expensive, so I might as well be calling someone everyday! Then again, they could be calling me...
5) Watch more Korean dramas. I've been stuck in a rut watching American television programs, but I really should be watching Korean dramas. I have Life is Beautiful on my computer, and still haven't finished the Coffee Shop Prince. I also should just turn on my television in the evening and practice my listening skills with Korean TV shows
6) Take a Korean cooking class. BH is an amazing chef, but I need to be able to cook some Korean food myself. I have one dish that I make really well, tuna fried rice, but I need to expand my repertoire. Seoul offers a bunch of cooking classes that I'm looking into...
7) Study my vocab! I have to take the GRE soon to apply for graduate school in the fall of 2013, so I really need to study vocabulary everyday. Living in Korea I forget some English words just because I dumb down my English for class. I can't let this happen!
8) Learn more ASL. I get lazy sometime with my studies, but I need to communicate better in sign language to improve my communication with BH. Need to learn more signs!
9) Exercise more. Duh.
10) Travel to at least three new countries. I'm in Asia! I need to see some more countries. I think I'll be heading to Hong Kong in February and then I'll have another week in summer. Hopefully I can take a long weekend to Taiwan or Japan.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Daegu Nallari!
A couple of us went to Daegu (in central Korea) for a weekend. It was a blast. Went to a couple of clubs, saw the beautiful Haeinsa temple, enjoyed an amazing market and made this music video. Hope you enjoy.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Eye trouble in Seoul
Last Wednesday I was sitting at my computer when I noticed my left eye seemed a little dimmer than my right. I could see out of it fine, but everything was a little darker, as if you had turned the lights slightly down in the room. I decided to sleep it off, but on Friday, my vision was still somewhat off kilter.
Back in the mid 1990s, I had a similar problem. The vision in my right eye rapidly changed from normal to practically blind. I remember seeing a bunch of eye doctors, test after test, a day off of school to get an MRI and my mom fretting over the possibility that I might have MS. It turned out to be optic neuritis with an unknown trigger, perhaps viral in origin.
Fifteen years later and I am in the same situation. I headed to an ophthalmologist on Friday and had a bunch of tests done, but nothing showed up. They recommended that I go to the emergency room, so I headed over to Seoul National University Hospital (which is apparently the second best in the country). The emergency room was freaky; a lot of people in the waiting room were on drips and stretcher after stretcher passed with people in a much more severe situation than me. When I finally was admitted, I was asked questions while surrounded by people that looked like they were dying. Although everything was efficient, there was no sense of personal space. Quite different than the United States.
At about 1 am, I was able to see an eye specialist. She was really young, and must have just been a resident. She didn't speak much English, so I struggled to convey my past medical history and current condition in Korean. After doing the same tests that the doctor did in the ophthalmologist, she told me to come back the next day.
Saturday morning, I get up and head back to SNUH. As there is an international clinic, a translator was available to help me. Luckily, the doctor spoke fluent English, but was not able to be 100% sure on what was going on with my eye. After about ten more tests (with all of these eye machines I had never seen before in my life) he told me that it was plausible that I had a posterior optic neuritis, but without an MRI he couldn't be sure. I have health insurance, but the MRI is super expensive. We talked it out, and decided that I should give my eye some time to rest and if it gets worse, to come back to the clinic.
On one hand, I was really impressed by the Korean system. Everything was really efficient and computer based, so once they did an eye test, they could send me quickly to the next room for another test. When I was finished with all of these tests, I met with the doctor who analyzed the results and informed me of what he was seeing. It also was cheap; ten dollars for the initial ophthalmologist, seventy dollars for the emergency room, and then thirty dollars for the visit to the specialist on Saturday.
Then again, it seems like the insurance is only really helpful for primary care. While basic services are practically free, the MRI would be around eight hundred dollars and, apparently, the insurance stops covering you if you have any really serious illness (like cancer). People buy secondary insurance to pay for these costs, but it seems like something that should be part of the national health care plan when the highest cause of death in Korea is stomach cancer.
If you need to get sick in Korea, try not to get too sick. There are plenty of services for English speakers as well, especially in Seoul, but don't expect to receive these services unless you have an appointment and go during normal hours.
Back in the mid 1990s, I had a similar problem. The vision in my right eye rapidly changed from normal to practically blind. I remember seeing a bunch of eye doctors, test after test, a day off of school to get an MRI and my mom fretting over the possibility that I might have MS. It turned out to be optic neuritis with an unknown trigger, perhaps viral in origin.
Fifteen years later and I am in the same situation. I headed to an ophthalmologist on Friday and had a bunch of tests done, but nothing showed up. They recommended that I go to the emergency room, so I headed over to Seoul National University Hospital (which is apparently the second best in the country). The emergency room was freaky; a lot of people in the waiting room were on drips and stretcher after stretcher passed with people in a much more severe situation than me. When I finally was admitted, I was asked questions while surrounded by people that looked like they were dying. Although everything was efficient, there was no sense of personal space. Quite different than the United States.
At about 1 am, I was able to see an eye specialist. She was really young, and must have just been a resident. She didn't speak much English, so I struggled to convey my past medical history and current condition in Korean. After doing the same tests that the doctor did in the ophthalmologist, she told me to come back the next day.
Saturday morning, I get up and head back to SNUH. As there is an international clinic, a translator was available to help me. Luckily, the doctor spoke fluent English, but was not able to be 100% sure on what was going on with my eye. After about ten more tests (with all of these eye machines I had never seen before in my life) he told me that it was plausible that I had a posterior optic neuritis, but without an MRI he couldn't be sure. I have health insurance, but the MRI is super expensive. We talked it out, and decided that I should give my eye some time to rest and if it gets worse, to come back to the clinic.
On one hand, I was really impressed by the Korean system. Everything was really efficient and computer based, so once they did an eye test, they could send me quickly to the next room for another test. When I was finished with all of these tests, I met with the doctor who analyzed the results and informed me of what he was seeing. It also was cheap; ten dollars for the initial ophthalmologist, seventy dollars for the emergency room, and then thirty dollars for the visit to the specialist on Saturday.
Then again, it seems like the insurance is only really helpful for primary care. While basic services are practically free, the MRI would be around eight hundred dollars and, apparently, the insurance stops covering you if you have any really serious illness (like cancer). People buy secondary insurance to pay for these costs, but it seems like something that should be part of the national health care plan when the highest cause of death in Korea is stomach cancer.
If you need to get sick in Korea, try not to get too sick. There are plenty of services for English speakers as well, especially in Seoul, but don't expect to receive these services unless you have an appointment and go during normal hours.
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