Health Check!

Its not uncommon, in Korea, for employees to go through rigorous health checks before being hired! I, for one, went through a health check back in february of 2009 in order to work in Korea, and in order for me to sign for another year's contract, I had to do it again... This time, in a Korean hospital!

Luckily, I had Stella with me to help navigate the different areas of the hospital and steps of the health check process. It's not like going into a doctors office and having everything done in one little room! It was a bit like a rat race, to be honest!

Step 1: Check in and fill out a form with all kinds of information....
*** The form was in Korean!

Step 2: Go to a different area of the hospital to pay the fee...
*** 70,000 won (about $60)

Step 3: Go to a different area of the hospital to pee in a cup (2 cups actually -weird!)...
*** Stella and I died laughing at this point, because I sat down to get my blood taken and the nurse handed Stella my 2 cups of pee and asked her to carry them over to a counter on the other side of the room. I told Stella "Were REALLY friends now, Stella! You've carried my pee!"

Step 4: Get my blood taken.
*** I swear the needled looked like a mini screwdriver! (I am not exagerating!!)


Step 5: Walk over to the Xray area and chang into this lovely outfit and have my chest x-rayed! What you can't see here is that I'm wearing my black tights and black knee high boots with hospital shorts! It was quite the get-up! I was laughing so hard with Stella when I was changing that I completely forgot to take off my bra, which was the whole reason for me needing to change! I realized it after they had already awkwardly placed my body over the Xray machine! Luckily the doctors were really nice and laughed at me when I realized what I had done! oops!


Walk up to the 3rd floor for the hearing test!
*** My hearing was perfect!


Step 6: Go to another building of the hospital to get my teeth checked out!
*** No cavities! YEAH :)


Step 7: Go back to the check in desk and have my height checked
*** I'm 167 centimeters!

Step 8: Vision Test
*** I have 20/20!

Step 9: Color blindness check
*** They asked me to say the numbers I saw... which, being the overachiever that I am, I said them in Korean! The nurse was very impressed!


Step 10: Check out!

Step 11: Take Stella to the Kimbap restaurant for dinner to thank her for all her help!


I can't imagine not having Stella around! She calls me her Korean baby, and once in a while I call her, "Omma" which means mom, and she laughs sooooo hard! She's adorable and the greatest korean woman alive!

Dr Fish Cafe!

Last night, I went to Dr. Fish Cafe with my friend's Brian and Aaron! They had both been before, but this was my virgin journey to the much anticipated cafe!

When we arrived, I was shocked at the extravagance of the place. It was on the 3rd floor of a high rise building in the heart of Seomyeon. It boasted floor to ceiling windows which looked out onto the busy city streets below! We all walked over to the counter to order our drinks. I ordered a white hot chocolate... My first of the kind, and was given more whip cream than hot chocolate, I think, which I scooped off and gave to Aaron, who has the metabolism of a 10 year old boy!!




The guys both ordered hot tea, which was surprisingly tasty (I'm not much of a tea lover, but I tried it anyway!)



One of my favorite things about this place though, (other than the fish) was the fact that they offer waffles, bread, popcorn, and other pastries as a "service" which means they're FREE! They also had a finger nail painting bar where you could paint your nails, and a huge wall of books that you could read while you sipped on your prefered drink!



Although all of those things are wonderful and ENOUGH to bring me back to Dr. Fish Cafe again and again... the real reason why I went was for the famous dead skin eating fish pools! While I'd love to say I was brave... I REALLY wasn't! I stuck my finger in the water for the first 20 minutes, trying to get used to the feeling of hundreds of fish sucking on it!


After about a 1/2 our of being squirmy mcgee, I finally stuck my feet in and let the fish eat at my dead skin!

This was my reaction!

Aaron was much more brave than I was. He didn't care one bit about the feeling of the fish eating at his feet! OBVIOUSLY!

Only in Korea can you order a hot chocolate and stick your feet in a pool of hundreds of fish while they eat your dead skin for the equivalent of $5!!

It pays to be loyal

I am a big believer in shopping at mom and pop stores... especially ones around your home.  In Korea, I have chosen 1 grocery store, 1 corner market, 1 dry cleaner, 1 pharmacist, and 1 kimbap place to frequent as often as possible in order to get to know my neighbors and contribute to their business!  

Since I'm living here alone, it's been important for me to get to know my neighbors, and the merchants in my area.  Being able to wave to all these people in the morning on my way to work, or at night on my treck home, has made me feel part of this community!!

Tonight, I did some grocery shopping and was stopped at the door, by the clerk, who motioned for me to drop my bags.  I was confused by the gesture, but followed her directions anyway.  She asked me where I lived (in Korean) and I told her.  She explained (mostly with hand motions) that she would take my groceries to my apartment on her auto bike so I didn't have to carry them up my hill!  

Sure enough... a couple minutes after I arrived home, I had a knock on my door!  Can you believe they delivered my groceries for me?!  It pays to be a loyal customer... in more ways than one!!  

Where does this bus go?

These are the typical Bus signs in Korea... believe it or not, I can actually read and understand these signs!

The night I took this picture, I had to read this sign to figure out which bus to take home. I took bus 103, because I read that it stops in 괴 정 시 장(which means: Goejeong market), which is near my apartment! Who's impressed?! Anyone, anyone?!!

What are you guys doing?

Last friday, after lunch, I was walking up the staircase at my school and saw some of the 5th grade girls climbing all over each other. It was one of the strangest and funniest lunchtime activities I think I'd seen, to date. Stella told me it's a popular Korean game... The girls put their heads between another girl's legs, and then someone jumps on their backs! If I didn't have pictures to go with this, you'd think I was describing an adult film!!

I have no idea what the purpose is of this game, but if I have to lean over and put my head between someone elses legs and then have everyone fall on top of me to play it , I don't think I'm interested!!!