I had heard horror stories of foreigners visiting gynecologists in Korea and have been terrified to book my yearly exam! Did you know they only make you take your undies off, and you're not given a gown? So, if you're wearing jeans, pants, shorts (you get the idea) the doctor will walk into the room and you'll be naked from the waist down! haha In Korea, you're always supposed to wear a skirt or a dress to the gyno! Who knew?!
I did a little research online and stumbled upon a medical tourism agency called Medina, who offers a completely free service to English speakers! They set up a doctors appointment for you, meet you at the appointment, and translate everything the doctor says! All for FREE! How awesome is that?!
So, I e-mailed the company and received a response from Shinji, their company translator, within about 5 minutes! (Free and quick! I like it!) 15 minutes later, my gyno appointment had been booked for the following day, and she was telling me where to meet her! We ended up totally hitting it off! She's a native Korean, 26 years old, cute as a button, and speaks english more fluently than any other Korean I've met to date! I felt completely at ease at my first ever Korean gyno appointment because of her!
For anyone living in Busan who would like an english translator to help you with a visit to the doctor (any kind of doctor), contact Medina!
Thank you Shinji!
thank you so much for your lovely posting, jill! it was so great to meet you and give you a hand yesterday ;) do you mind my using a capture file of your post for the promotion of my company? xx shinji
ReplyDeleteof course! Capture away!
ReplyDeleteoh my word, I was just asking my co-teacher about making an appointment for my yearly checkup yesterday, and she didn't know how to help me... so I just now called Shinji and she's making an appt for me now! Thanks for posting this Jill!
ReplyDeleteWell, sounds like perfect timing! You'll love her! :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously dude, I need to make an appointment as well! Thanks for the tip, I would have had to go it alone otherwise!
ReplyDeleteWow! This is so much better than my first trip to the gyno here! I was having pain, and I went in for an internal ultrasound. I saw a spot on the screen and the doctor said this is a "blah blah complicated medical term" and I said "Cancer?" She said "ah" (Korean noise for yes). And again, I said "I have cancer?", She said "ah" and my heart stopped beating. And then she said "cancer!?" "No". And giggled. I was not amused.
ReplyDeleteMeg! I can't imagine! That's horrible! Please call Shinji if you ever have to go back!
ReplyDelete