I thought I only had a head cold...

...but if you don't take care of that quickly enough it turns into bronchitis. Which is really just a terrible segway into my next little story.

Friday night was not good. While we had some fun hanging out with the other teachers and enjoying good company, as I tried to go to bed that night, I was coughing almost uncontrollable. When I got up to use the restroom, I could not stop shaking. This little fact I have withheld from my wife till this point as she tends to worry about such minor things.

Saturday though, enough was enough and with Mylinda's help we went to the doctor. Wouldn't you know it, that was an experience too! It was basically a walk-in clinic, not too different from the urgent care clinics in the States. The receptionist could hardly communicate with me and had me write down ALL the pertinent information-date of birth and name-on a little slip of paper which she gave to the doctor. The doctor was very kind and attempted in his only somewhat broken English to explain procedure and diagnosis. I wish I had the capacity to explain the entirety of the the experience, I will simply say that it is a very fast and efficient system. I was given a prescription that was also filled in less than 5 minutes.

The cost was probably the most amazing part. The office visit for me was only 14,800₩ and the medicine was only 9,600₩ and that was without any insurance! (If you would like to have some idea of how much that is, check the converter at the top of the page! I like using it to compare different items and even salaries. If you make more than $1,000.00USD a year, you are a Millionaire in ₩).

Also on Saturday we went to iPark. It is basically building after building, shop after shop of electronics. There is literally everything that could possibly be attributed to use with electronics. From appliances to small cell phones and everything in between. Charity and I both found cords to use with our laptops that allow us to plug into the Korean outlets. In fact that should be tip #1. Most electronics, especially laptops, are made to handle both the US standard of 110 volts and the standard in many foreign countries of 240 volts. In most cases you can simply buy an adapter and a transformer is not necessary.

While we were at iPark I also bought a wireless hub so that both Charity and I could get onto the Internet at the same time. YEAH!

On a final note, I think one of the things that is the hardest to get used to is the smells. Everything from the smells of cooking (esp. silkworm larva) to the perfumes (some used a little too liberally in the malls) come as a bit of shock to the Western nose.

Goodbye for now,
Daniel and Charity