I am aware that we are not at the end of the year. However, it has been a year since I uprooted my life in the States and landed in Korea. When I first came here, I had all these grand ideas of updating my blog religiously and taking pictures of everything I saw. But the reality is far from my original goal. The first three months, or as they call it the "honeymoon" phase, are filled with pictures and trips. Everything was new and exciting...as it should be. But here ends my blog entry.
As I rolled along my month 4, I was settling into my life pretty comfortably. So here is a abridge version of my life in Korea thus far.
Christmas Eve, Eve in Seoul as we ice skated near City Hall, the snow fell. Then off to Jinbu, Gangwondo: a beautiful snow covered village, about 3 hours east of Seoul. Sledding, eating, and opening Secret Santa presents filled our short stay. Those of you who know me may be asking, "Who is this girl? Ice skating, sledding?" Yup, apparently I do all those things in Korea. Who knew!
New Years in Daeju- everybody needs a drink in a bag. By bag, I mean an IV bag with a straw! "Yes, make it stronger!"
Winter vacation with Kim and Mysti:
1) Ulsan- Ilsan beach
2) Busan- fortress and accidental 3 hour hike, temple, English pub
3) Gyeongju- Astrological tower, burial mounds, and museum that was closed
4) Samcheok- Penis Park, no that's not a typo!
5) Seoul- Palaces, Seoul Tower, and shopping
End of February-the dreaded orientation and lock down. So this is what being in prison feel like. Since I missed my orientation, as I got here the day it ended, I was sent off for a 7 day training...to learn everything I knew (because I had been here for 6 months). To be fair, it had a lot of informative stuff that would have been helpful...in the beginning. And did I mention that it was a lock down?!?!? Meaning, we were not allowed to leave the facility (similar to a very small college campus) even to buy laundry detergent or toothpaste. Usually in these events, one would have some drinks to relieve the stress and boredom. But there were no alcoholic drinks to speak of. The only relief people found were cigarettes in between breaks. Too bad I don't smoke.
May to June-Terri, Kelly, and Katie's visit
1) Seoul Hanok Village, Yeuoido Park as we walked along several famous kdrama filming spots!
2) Seoul Lantern festival in honor of Buddha's birthday
3) Cheongju- an attempt to rediscover out maternal lineage
4) Yongjin Folk village where they film many historical kdramas
5) Gongju- the site of an old Baekje capital
Girls' Wicked Weekend: There is nothing better than a girls' weekend in which we get dressed up with our pretty, pretty hats and head for the races. Then we get to the race track to find out that rather than Kentucky Derby, it was more like middle-age men's convention with bare-footed men sitting on the floor with the newspapers spread out all over. After which, we headed for dinner and to watch the Australian cast of "Wicked". I will say that this was one of my favorite musical! There are not enough words to describe the emotions that poured out of me.
August-finally my vacation
1) Lasek eye surgery- I did a ton of research. Who are we kidding. This is me. I make a PROS/CONS list before embarking on any new venture. And they were going to shoot lasers into my eyes. I thought this may be one of the most important research of my life. So after carefully research and weighing the costs to the benefits, I made an appointment for the surgery. It is the best money I have ever spent and I am so happy not only with my vision, but that I had the opportunity to get such a state-of-the-art surgery for the fraction of the cost back in the States.
2) Off to Ulsan to hang with Mysti and friends: Mostly consist of eating, drinking, multi-bang, and the Love Push!
3) to Seoul to spend the last few days with my soul sister, Mysti, before she left for the States. Again, mostly eating and drinking with a little museum to throw in for some culture. Finally, 90 minutes of ass-kicking disguised as a Sports message. I'm pretty sure my back was covered in bruises. Lesson learned-NO MORE SPORTS MESSAGES!
To top it all off, I have been studying to retake my GREs and looking into graduate schools. I even bought a guitar because I apparently cannot be left alone to do nothing. During this time, I have managed to pick up enough Korean to get by on a day to day basis without embarrassing myself or getting into trouble. I still haven't learned enough Korean to converse with people beyond the very basic. But I have felt comfortable enough to want to stay another year. And I have also realized that Korea is not for me long-term. I love the people, the food, and the culture. But I do feel like an outsider, who is here temporarily. That isn't to say that I will definitely leave here next year. Although that is the plan, life has a funny way of changing any plans I make. So stay tuned to see what happens...
Friday, September 14, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
I Want New Eyes-Part II
Here is my one month review:
I nervously walked into the Dream Eye Center in Gangnam on a hot Saturday afternoon. After a grueling 2.5 hours of exams, I scheduled my surgery for Lasek, the previously mentioned safer but more painful procedure. The exam contained every eye test imaginable. I will not go into the details, but they checked for everything, the size and thickness of my corneas, detailed mapping, and they even stuck a giant blobby looking "contact" into my eyes (which is the most uncomfortable part of the exam. At the end of the consultation, they recommended the Lasek due to my severe nearsightedness.
I should mention here that the most painful part of the process for me was wearing my glasses for 4 weeks. I had to wear them for 2 weeks before the consultation and 2 more weeks before my surgery. As I said before, I get really bad headaches when I wear glasses.
We scheduled my surgery for late as possible in the afternoon, since my tech said that I would not be able to do much or see much. It is a good idea to bring a friend to surgery as your vision is pretty bad and getting home might be tricky. As always, my best friend was there for me! The surgery was delayed because it was an exceptionally busy Saturday, which only increased my anxiety. When the time finally came, it was over very quickly. They prep me and laid me on the table. The instructions were very clear; keep looking at the green light even if it disappears. My surgeon, who spoke excellent English, explained everything he was doing in great detail so that I would be prepared. Nothing came as a surprise and the surgery flew by. After less than 10 minutes on the table, I was out in the waiting room. The first thing I noticed was how much my sight had improved, which just goes to show you how bad my eyes really were.
As Mysti and I made our way through the busy subways of Seoul, it was a great relief that she was there to help me. After this, I had another check up the next day to take the badges off and made sure that there were no infections. Then I made my way back to Dangjin alone and hoped that the pain would not kick in until I was safely home. The next few days were very boring. I could barely keep my eyes open and tears seemed to flow nonstop. On Monday, 2 days after surgery, the pain kicked in. Although pain medicine doesn't help in this situation, I took some Tylenol ER and I slept through most of the pain. When people asked about the level of pain, I said 7 out of 10. Annoying, but definitely manageable. And trust the doctors when they tell you, it only last for a day. Day 5 post surgery, I had another check up. My left eye was already at 20/16! The right eye had some catching up. So for the next few weeks, my right eye continued to improve and now my eyes are both at 20/16 without any complications. In case you're wondering about mobility, I was fine after 5 days and I left for my vacation.
On a side note: The people at the Dream Eye Center are fabulous. They were incredible knowledgeable, helpful, and understanding. I was blown away by their customer service.
I nervously walked into the Dream Eye Center in Gangnam on a hot Saturday afternoon. After a grueling 2.5 hours of exams, I scheduled my surgery for Lasek, the previously mentioned safer but more painful procedure. The exam contained every eye test imaginable. I will not go into the details, but they checked for everything, the size and thickness of my corneas, detailed mapping, and they even stuck a giant blobby looking "contact" into my eyes (which is the most uncomfortable part of the exam. At the end of the consultation, they recommended the Lasek due to my severe nearsightedness.
I should mention here that the most painful part of the process for me was wearing my glasses for 4 weeks. I had to wear them for 2 weeks before the consultation and 2 more weeks before my surgery. As I said before, I get really bad headaches when I wear glasses.
We scheduled my surgery for late as possible in the afternoon, since my tech said that I would not be able to do much or see much. It is a good idea to bring a friend to surgery as your vision is pretty bad and getting home might be tricky. As always, my best friend was there for me! The surgery was delayed because it was an exceptionally busy Saturday, which only increased my anxiety. When the time finally came, it was over very quickly. They prep me and laid me on the table. The instructions were very clear; keep looking at the green light even if it disappears. My surgeon, who spoke excellent English, explained everything he was doing in great detail so that I would be prepared. Nothing came as a surprise and the surgery flew by. After less than 10 minutes on the table, I was out in the waiting room. The first thing I noticed was how much my sight had improved, which just goes to show you how bad my eyes really were.
As Mysti and I made our way through the busy subways of Seoul, it was a great relief that she was there to help me. After this, I had another check up the next day to take the badges off and made sure that there were no infections. Then I made my way back to Dangjin alone and hoped that the pain would not kick in until I was safely home. The next few days were very boring. I could barely keep my eyes open and tears seemed to flow nonstop. On Monday, 2 days after surgery, the pain kicked in. Although pain medicine doesn't help in this situation, I took some Tylenol ER and I slept through most of the pain. When people asked about the level of pain, I said 7 out of 10. Annoying, but definitely manageable. And trust the doctors when they tell you, it only last for a day. Day 5 post surgery, I had another check up. My left eye was already at 20/16! The right eye had some catching up. So for the next few weeks, my right eye continued to improve and now my eyes are both at 20/16 without any complications. In case you're wondering about mobility, I was fine after 5 days and I left for my vacation.
On a side note: The people at the Dream Eye Center are fabulous. They were incredible knowledgeable, helpful, and understanding. I was blown away by their customer service.
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