Busan, Korea, July 25, 2011
So, I had my first real experience with socialized medicine today. Let me tell you how it went.
First, I gotta go back. Back in time to… last week. I noticed about last Wednesday that I was having trouble hearing out of my left ear. For a couple of days, it really bothered me. I kept pinching my nose and trying to blow out the whatever--it-was that was clogging up my ear. By Friday, I thought it was getting better. I could kind of hear alright. By Sunday morning, however, I knew something was wrong.
About two summers ago I got an ear infection. I know where it came from. I was swimming under the waterfall (okay, I know it's just a spillway from the Spring Lake dam, but it's effing beautiful, and I like to call it a waterfall) in San Marcos. Cool, clear water comes flowing over that spillway night and day, and I used to love diving under the waterfall, looking at the fish, and holding my breath as long as I could.
Anyway, this one day I came up right underneath the spillway, and got sprayed with some high pressure water. The same thing happened then that happened last week: I got some water in my ear, and I couldn't get it out. After about a week, I had a serious ear infection on my hands, and I actually ended up driving down to the Audie Murphy VA hospital in San Antonio and sitting in the emergency room for 5 or 6 hours just to see the doctor for 5 minutes and get some antibiotics.
This time, I didn't really notice what caused my ear to get clogged. I guess it was at the gym. I briefly dunked my head under water in the hot tub before I got out to take a shower one day. That must have been it.
When I woke up Sunday morning and my jaw hurt, I was concerned. I tugged at my ear. That hurt too. I was pretty sure, at this point, that I had an ear infection. I wasn't sure what to do about it. Here in Korea, anyone who is slightly ill is told to "go to the hospital". I think that they don't distinguish between the hospital, emergency room, and doctor's office/clinic the way we do. So I called my co-teacher and my supervisor (who speaks very limited English) to try to figure it out. I eventually decided that the best thing for me to do was get up Monday morning and go to the clinic that's in the same building as our school.
I got there this morning at about 11:05. Coincidentally, one of my students (June, a 3rd grader) was walking into the building at the same time as me. I talked to him for a minute, we got on the elevator together, and we both got off on the second floor… then both walked into the clinic. It turns out that his mother works at the clinic, and she was at the front desk. That made my life a little easier, as he took on the task of translating. I showed them my Alien Registration Card (that's what it's really called), they entered my information into the system, and my student showed me in to see the doctor, about 5 minutes after I walked into the clinic with no appointment. The doctor apologized for his limited English, (which wasn't that bad, he definitely knew the word "infected") put the microscope-thingy in both of my ears, typed something in the computer, and then sent me back to the front desk.
The woman working the front desk had me sit down to a machine that was like an infrared heat lamp for my ear, I did that for 3 minutes, then they handed me my prescription and charged me my copay, w12,000 (about $10 US). So far, so good. My student then walked me down to the pharmacy on the first floor, where they gave us each a candy and filled my prescription in another five minutes. By 11:30 I was at my desk, drinking a bottle of water and taking my first round of antibiotics.
Socialized medicine: not too bad. Now I wonder if Rush Limbaugh was lying to me all those years that he said it was a back door to communism.
Feels good, man.
Busan, Korea, July 11, 2011.
EDIT: I bought this bike, fell in love with it, and then left it chained outside the train station overnight. Someone stole it. I was heartbroken, but I'm over it now. I actually saw a high school boy riding this bike in my neighborhood almost a year later! I started running, tried to chase him down... but he was faster.
Oh, man. What a night. Forgive me for not posting anything recently. I decided to give myself a little time to settle in here. I've been working on post ideas as well as some ideas that might turn into short essays.
One of the thoughts I have been working on over the last month is the idea that "the best way to experience a big city is as a pedestrian with easy access to a subway". I became more and more frustrated with my life as a car owner over the last couple of years--who knows how many hours I have spent in traffic in Dallas and Austin?--and eventually decided that I don't want to own a car again, ever. I think there is still a lot of truth to the pedestrian mindset, but after tonight I can say without a doubt that the best way to experience a big city is on the back of a fixed-gear bicycle.
I found this bicycle through an ad on KoreaBridge (an English-language website). I met the guy who is selling it last week (he's leaving Korea after 2 years to go mountain climbing in Nepal, move back to Minnesota, and get married? Or something like that.) and the bike was a really good deal, so I had to buy it. But my only access to cash has been through the ATM, w300,000 at a time (about $275). Anyway, after three transactions this weekend, I had enough cash, so he met me at the subway stop by my apartment tonight at 8:45pm and gave me the bike.
After a quick trip to the apartment to change clothes, I was ready for a ride. I decided to take the subway to Gwangalli beach (about a 15 minute ride). I had texted a friend of mine, Sung, who has a fixie, that I was going to the beach. I saw him there and we talked for a few minutes. He gave me directions for how to ride to Haeundae beach, and he went home to sleep (he works at 7AM).
I rode out to Haeundae Beach by myself, a nice little ride, and at a decent pace. I went to this bar I know, Drunken Shrimp, and the owner made me her specialty, called.... that's right, drunken shrimp. With a late dinner under my belt, I decided to go to for a relaxing ride on the boardwalk. I saw a couple of guys with their fixed gear bikes, and they said something as I rode past them. After a few minutes I went down to the subway station.
And got there about 3 minutes after the last subway left. Burn. Not knowing what else to do, I bought a bottle of Makkali (Korean rice wine) and went back to the beach. I spent about a half hour listening to a group of guys with guitars and drums playing what I think was traditional Korean music. It definitely got a great response from the crowd, especially when an old man gave them each a can of Hite beer when they finished a song everyone seemed to know.
I decided to have a look around, and I saw the two guys on fixies from before, looking like they were getting ready to go. "Where are you going?" "Uhh..." The universal response of a Korean who doesn't speak English very well. We figured out that they were going back to Gwangalli Beach, so I said, "I ride with you."
These dudes are fast. On the boardwalk, on the bike trails, and on the road, we rode as fast as we could from there to the other beach. We were whooping and hollering, it was so much fun! Then we stopped to catch our breath. I drank a bottle of water. They each drank an OP beer. Their names are Moon and Hyun. Moon is a graphic designer, and lives in Muncheon (on the way to my apartment). Hyun is a barber and lives in Danggam-Dong, which is actually the same neighborhood where my school is! Really great guys. We talked for a few minutes, took these pictures, and then rode the rest of the way back. Moon found out I was from Texas so he started shouting "Yee-Haw" when he was riding really fast. He pointed at his bicycle and said, "It is a horse!"
Hyun rode me all the way back to my apartment. There's no way I would have found my way home tonight without him. I was prepared to pay for a motel room. Something better than that happened, though. It was a great time. I have never had this much fun on a bicycle before. I plan to do it again really soon, hopefully Friday, if the weather is nice. I'm not even sure how many kilometers I rode tonight... 20? 30? Dunno. I got on the bike around 10pm and got back to the house a little after 2am. Feels good, man.
EDIT: I bought this bike, fell in love with it, and then left it chained outside the train station overnight. Someone stole it. I was heartbroken, but I'm over it now. I actually saw a high school boy riding this bike in my neighborhood almost a year later! I started running, tried to chase him down... but he was faster.
Oh, man. What a night. Forgive me for not posting anything recently. I decided to give myself a little time to settle in here. I've been working on post ideas as well as some ideas that might turn into short essays.
One of the thoughts I have been working on over the last month is the idea that "the best way to experience a big city is as a pedestrian with easy access to a subway". I became more and more frustrated with my life as a car owner over the last couple of years--who knows how many hours I have spent in traffic in Dallas and Austin?--and eventually decided that I don't want to own a car again, ever. I think there is still a lot of truth to the pedestrian mindset, but after tonight I can say without a doubt that the best way to experience a big city is on the back of a fixed-gear bicycle.
I found this bicycle through an ad on KoreaBridge (an English-language website). I met the guy who is selling it last week (he's leaving Korea after 2 years to go mountain climbing in Nepal, move back to Minnesota, and get married? Or something like that.) and the bike was a really good deal, so I had to buy it. But my only access to cash has been through the ATM, w300,000 at a time (about $275). Anyway, after three transactions this weekend, I had enough cash, so he met me at the subway stop by my apartment tonight at 8:45pm and gave me the bike.
After a quick trip to the apartment to change clothes, I was ready for a ride. I decided to take the subway to Gwangalli beach (about a 15 minute ride). I had texted a friend of mine, Sung, who has a fixie, that I was going to the beach. I saw him there and we talked for a few minutes. He gave me directions for how to ride to Haeundae beach, and he went home to sleep (he works at 7AM).
I rode out to Haeundae Beach by myself, a nice little ride, and at a decent pace. I went to this bar I know, Drunken Shrimp, and the owner made me her specialty, called.... that's right, drunken shrimp. With a late dinner under my belt, I decided to go to for a relaxing ride on the boardwalk. I saw a couple of guys with their fixed gear bikes, and they said something as I rode past them. After a few minutes I went down to the subway station.
And got there about 3 minutes after the last subway left. Burn. Not knowing what else to do, I bought a bottle of Makkali (Korean rice wine) and went back to the beach. I spent about a half hour listening to a group of guys with guitars and drums playing what I think was traditional Korean music. It definitely got a great response from the crowd, especially when an old man gave them each a can of Hite beer when they finished a song everyone seemed to know.
I decided to have a look around, and I saw the two guys on fixies from before, looking like they were getting ready to go. "Where are you going?" "Uhh..." The universal response of a Korean who doesn't speak English very well. We figured out that they were going back to Gwangalli Beach, so I said, "I ride with you."
These dudes are fast. On the boardwalk, on the bike trails, and on the road, we rode as fast as we could from there to the other beach. We were whooping and hollering, it was so much fun! Then we stopped to catch our breath. I drank a bottle of water. They each drank an OP beer. Their names are Moon and Hyun. Moon is a graphic designer, and lives in Muncheon (on the way to my apartment). Hyun is a barber and lives in Danggam-Dong, which is actually the same neighborhood where my school is! Really great guys. We talked for a few minutes, took these pictures, and then rode the rest of the way back. Moon found out I was from Texas so he started shouting "Yee-Haw" when he was riding really fast. He pointed at his bicycle and said, "It is a horse!"
Hyun rode me all the way back to my apartment. There's no way I would have found my way home tonight without him. I was prepared to pay for a motel room. Something better than that happened, though. It was a great time. I have never had this much fun on a bicycle before. I plan to do it again really soon, hopefully Friday, if the weather is nice. I'm not even sure how many kilometers I rode tonight... 20? 30? Dunno. I got on the bike around 10pm and got back to the house a little after 2am. Feels good, man.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)