Way Back When Wednesday - Sheets

We had an interesting first couple of days in Korea. Our plane didn't land until late in the evening, and then we still had to go through baggage claim and customs, find our boss Mr. Kim, and then get out of the airport. Then we had a 3.5 hour bus ride to Sokcho, where we'd be living. We arrived in Sokcho at 2am. A co-worker named Hyo-Jin met the three of us at the station and we all went out to eat. Yes, out to eat. I really didn't expect to be going out at that late of an hour, but I guess we were all hungry and there were restaurants open.

After eating, we finally got to our apartment. Mr. Kim told us to get some rest and that Hyo-Jin would call us later that day and take us to buy the things we needed for our apartment. We didn't end up resting at all because the apartment was a mess (the girl who lived there before left us "treasures").

Later that morning, Hyo-Jin called us to say he'd be there in about 15 minutes and he'd take us to E-Mart (the Korean equivalent to Wal-mart or Target) to go shopping.  I was relieved because there were no sheets on the bed, and we hadn't brought any with us.  We were told that the apartment would come with everything we needed (ha!).

So on our way to E-Mart, I explained to Hyo-Jin that we needed to buy some sheets for our bed.  He looked concerned, but seemed to know what we were talking about.  He took us all around E-Mart showing us where everything was.  It seemed so big to us at first!  Two stories with an escalator ramp!

After we had found most of what we needed, Hyo-Jin took us to the bedding section to help us find the sheets.  We couldn't find any anywhere!  He kept apologizing saying, "I'm sorry, I am a man.  I don't know anything about sheets," and "I'm sorry, I am not a housewife.  I don't know about sheets," and "I am not married, I don't know about things like sheets." 

Except he wasn't exactly saying "sheets."  Unfortunately, he was mispronouncing the long "E" sound.  He was pronouncing it with a short "I" sound, making it a completely different and completely inappropriate word.  After about the second or third apology it was getting really hard not to laugh.

And we had no idea what to do.  We didn't want to insult him and correct his English (he was also an English teacher at our academy), and we didn't want to have to explain what he was saying.   But then again, we didn't want him going around saying a bad word in the place of a completely harmless one.

So we delicately corrected him, telling him about the vowel change he made.  He was a little embarrassed, but grateful that we helped him avoid swearing unintentionally. 

Way Back When Wednesday - Teacher, Do You Like...

It's taken me two weeks to figure out exactly how to write this Way Back When story. There's so much background information you have to know (it's another Korea story), and the subject is a little, um... sensitive? Well, sort of. You'll see what I mean as you read.

Learning to talk to children in English in Korea was an interesting experience.  Learning to talk to anyone in English in Korea was interesting.  You'd think it would be easy, the conversation being in English and all, but it wasn't.  There was the lack of vocabulary (it seemed like some students learned one word and vaguely used it for everything), accent (P.S. I hate Konglish!  It comes into this story, but it's also bad enough for another post), and the cultural differences that always sneak into language.  But I learned some tricks to make it easier to figure out what people were trying to say.

With children--which were the majority of my students--I usually tried to expect child specific conversations.  Things like stationary, school, video games, comic books, and popular TV and movies were common conversation topics.  If I expected topics such as those, usually I caught on.  If they varied to something other than what I thought was normal conversation material for children, we would all become very confused and frustrated.  But like I said, usually I was right on.

But not in this story.  My first class of the day was a class of six very bright 9-year-old girls who all spoke English very well.  Actually, some of them sounded quite American!  They were very comfortable speaking English and really enjoyed talking to me about all kinds of 9-year-old girl things.

Knowing that, it shouldn't surprise you that it surprised--or more like shocked--me when one of the girls came up to me before class and with a flawless American accent asked me, "Teacher, do you like (insert correct name of male reproductive organ here)?"

See?  This is where the subject gets a little sensitive...

I was shocked!  I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped and I had to pick it up quickly before this student noticed she had said something inappropriate.  When most students learned they had said something inappropriate, they wanted to know what it was and what it meant.  Then they would tell all their friends and I'd never hear the end of it.  Plus she was 9 years old!  She didn't need to be using that word at all!

My mind started racing to figure out what she was talking about.  Maybe I had just misheard her?

"Say that again?"  I asked, trying to sound like nothing was odd, inappropriate or shocking.

"Teacher, do you like (same correct name for male reproductive organ)?" she replied adding emphasis to both "teacher" and the word I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she was saying.

Hmm.  My next thought illogically was, well of course I do; I'm a woman.  But I was smart enough not to say that out loud; although she probably wouldn't have figured out what I meant.  So I decided to continue asking her to repeat herself, thinking that maybe I would figure out what she was saying if I heard it over and over.  "What?  I don't understand what you mean."

"You know, (same correct name for male reproductive organ), Aphrodite!"  Then it hit me.  She meant to say, Venus.  Konglish, and cultural differences struck again.

"Oh, you mean Venus." I said, immediately relieved and putting quite a bit of stress on the V.  "Venus, with a V."  I even held up my index and middle finger in a V shape to add to the emphasis on the V.  "Sure, I guess I like Venus."

"Okay!" She said and skipped back over to her classmates.  Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice how awkward the conversation had been going.

Koreans have trouble with Vs, and quite a few other letters of the English alphabet.  There just isn't a sound or combination of sounds in Korean that is anything like a V.  So they make due by pronouncing Vs like Ps, which they do have in Korean.

Usually, this and other substitutions cause little or no confusion on my part because I'm expecting it.  Unless the substituted sound makes a completely different word and almost makes sense in the sentence, as it did in this conversation.  Most of the reason why I was so confused and couldn't figure out "Venus" rather than, well... you know... was because every word she said was pronounced perfectly.  Her grammar was off, but the pronunciation was perfect.

Also, what kid comes up to you and asks if you like Venus.  It just doesn't make sense.  Like she's someone I know or something?  I had no context to go by.  What I found out recently is that's only odd for an American kid.  In Korea, they use Venus to advertise for just about everything.  She's everywhere.  I guess for a Korean kid, she's something like Harry Potter.  Not really a real person, but so ubiquitous and familiar that it's like you do know them as a real person.  It's not weird to ask someone in America if they like Harry Potter, so I guess with as familiar as Venus is in Korea, it's not odd for a Korean to ask an American if they like Venus.

Unless, of course, they pronounce Venus with a P.

Way Back When Wednesday - Being Musical in Korea

While we lived in Korea, the members of our church tried some clever ways of keeping us involved in what was going on without using language.  Most of the members didn't speak enough English to be able to translate for us, and we didn't speak enough Korean to participate on our own.  The missionaries were excellent at translating, but in a small branch, they were really busy.  Since music doesn't really depend on a common language--just it's own--that's how they got my participation.

When we first got there, I thought that since they were a small branch that maybe they would need a pianist.  But they didn't.  One of the teenage girls played beautifully.  But that didn't stop them from asking me to play for baptisms and relief society.  The only problem was I wasn't able to read the Korean at the speed they were singing while I was playing, and I have this bad habit of not paying attention to how many verses there are in a song.  I usually wait until the last measure or two and figure out what verse they are on by what they are singing.  Couldn't do that in Korean.  And they didn't have a chorister so I usually had to have someone give me a signal to stop. 

Then they gave me a calling (or assignment), branch chorister.  No problem, that was easy... or so I thought.  First of all, I wasn't super familiar with how to lead.  Plus, I had to sing in Korean while leading.  Hard!  I had to concentrate on two very different and equally brain power consuming things at once! 

Good thing nobody ever looked at me during the song.  Except one really cute little girl.  She was probably 3 or 4 years old.  She'd sit there and try to copy me, giggling and waving her arms all around.  I had a hard time keeping a straight face!

Way Back When Wednesday - The Blessings of Scripture Study

When we first got to Korea to teach English and realized that most of my classes were full of kids, my first thought was, "What was I thinking?!  This has the potential to be a great experience for me, but I don't really like kids!  I don't know what to do!"  That coupled with the stress of being in a new country with a foreign language caused a lot of anxiety for me.

I felt like no matter what I did, I wasn't able to get a handle on teaching my students because of the fact that we spoke different languages and the fact that they were children.  I felt really overwhelmed and lost.

So I thought of ways to do better.  Since I felt like I was doing everything I knew to do as a teacher, I thought of ways to turn to Heavenly Father for help.  The thing that stuck out the most to me was personal scripture study.  I knew that I could receive many blessings from reading, and I thought that just maybe it could help in my situation.

I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me have better days teaching as I read the scriptures daily.   I had a good feeling about my plan, and knew it was something I should be doing anyway, so I started.  Reading everyday wasn't very easy for me.  Scripture study has always been my weak point, but I found a good time in the morning to do it.

I think I read the scriptures just about everyday that we were in Korea, and as I read I noticed that teaching English was getting easier!  I wasn't dreading going to work each day!  My students seemed easier to manage and I felt like I was really improving my communication skills.  I didn't have any more disaster days.  What a huge blessing in my life!

I know that feeling like and being a better teacher was directly related to my faith in daily personal scripture study and I'm really glad that I took the time to do it!!

Way Back When Wednesday - Don't Waste Waste!

I've posted about the trash woes we had in Korea before. This is just one specific story that we think is just hilarious!

One evening, Derek was taking out the trash.  We were at the point in our stay in Korea that we knew that we weren't disposing our trash correctly, but didn't quite know the right way.  We were still putting everything together in one bag.  As Derek was walking down the street to the trash pile (our apartment building didn't have enough space around it to have an area for trash nearby), he noticed a couple of men standing near the trash, pointing and talking.

He knew immediately they were trash inspectors.  They were there either because someone had complained about the "organization" of trash, or because they were trying to figure out a better place for the trash.  Either way, it was a problem because Derek was carrying two bags of overflowing, "unorganized" trash.  They had seen him so he couldn't turn back or try and walk past nonchalantly.  So he decided the best thing to do was walk right up, throw the bags on the pile and hope they wouldn't notice anything.

It didn't work.  Being foreigners, we were always scrutinized in everything we did.  Throwing away trash was no different.  The two men saw at once that Derek was throwing out bags that had food, paper, plastic, glass, AND cans (all of which should be separted)!  The two men being older Koreans, didn't quite know what to do with a foreigner.  Their English wasn't that great, and they had no idea that Derek was pretty proficient in Korean.  They started gesturing and mouthing words convinced that Derek would eventually understand them and fix the problem.

After a confusing minute or two, Derek had enough of the weird game of charades, so he turned to them and in Korean said something like, "do you have no sound?"  The English translation sounds pretty weird, but the two shocked Korean men understood immediately that Derek spoke at least some Korean so they tried to tell him what the problem was in Korean. 

The problem with talking to many Koreans in Korean is that they don't simplify the language for foreigners.  At least, they didn't for us.  Derek did pretty well with Korean, but there's a lot he didn't understand. 

Pretty soon, the three of them realized that they weren't really getting anywhere with gestures or Korean, so the two trash inspectors tried some English.  What they came out with was "Don't waste, waste!  Don't waste waste!" as they pointed to the trash bags Derek had just thrown.  He took it to mean what he already suspected, separate your trash so that you don't waste the recyclable goods by contaminating them with the old food.

He smiled and said something like, "Ok, I'll do that next time."  I guess the trash inspectors were pleased with that answer because the conversation ended there and we weren't fined for our trash violation! :D



PS: Here's another English teacher's experience with the Korean trash system.

Way Back When Wednesday - The guy who fell asleep on me

Derek and I took the subway many times when we visited Seoul.  We loved it!  It was cheap, easy and convenient; three things necessary for a foreigner!

And usually riding the subway wasn't uncomfortable.  Most of the time we didn't happen to ride during "rush hour" (I did that once with two HUGE bags, not fun!), and we often took the routes less traveled so we usually weren't smushed in and usually had plenty of room.

But one time I happened to sit in between Derek and a middle-aged businessman.  Not a huge problem, but he was very sleepy.  After a few minutes, his head started bobbing.  And then, all of a sudden, he flopped over onto my shoulder!  I had no idea what to do!  I couldn't push him off because of the angle, and Derek couldn't push him off because he was too far away.

I tried to shrug him off with my shoulders, but he was out!  It seemed like nothing short of a good, hard shake or a glass of water was going to wake him up!  Eventually Derek and I got him off my shoulder.  But only after a few seconds, he was back on my shoulder. 

By that time, people around me were noticing, pointing and laughing.  Especially the two young women across the way.  They thought it was the funniest thing!  And it was.  I just didn't see it as funny at the time.  I wanted that man to go far away!!!

Seeing my increasing discomfort, Derek again tried to get him off with renewed efforts.  He reached around me and poked, pushed and shook the guy.  He even tried blowing in his ear!  And of course, all our efforts were making the young women laugh even harder. 

Finally, just before our stop, we got him off me.  I don't remember what it was that worked.  I just remember being so relieved that I no longer had a sleeping Korean businessman on my shoulder!

Way Back Wednesday - Exit Korea This Way

We had quite the time moving back to the States from Korea.  We had way too much stuff, and didn't want to part with any of it.  Eventually we got it paired down to four suitcases and four carry-ons (the maximum limit of two of each for each of us).

The next question was how we were going to get all eight bags and the two of us three and a half hours from our place in Sokcho, on the East coast, to the airport in Incheon, on the West Coast.  In the past, we got a ride to a nearby town, Gangneung, to take a bus directly to the airport.  Very convenient!

This time was different.  Our flight was scheduled to leave around 10 am.  The earliest bus left the Gangneung station at 6 am.  Since the bus ride would take at least 4 hours, we didn't think we'd be able to get to the airport and through check-in and security on time for our flight.  We figured that we would need to get to Seoul the night before, and then travel on to the airport the next morning.  That leg of the trip was only an hour so we'd have plenty of time.

So how were we going to get us and all of our stuff on the three legs of the trip: From our house to the local bus station, from the bus station in Seoul to a nearby motel, from the motel back to the bus station, and then from the bus to the check-in desk at the airport.  Remember, we had the four suitcases and four carry-ons.

We arranged with our boss's wife, Mrs. Jung to take us to the local bus station the afternoon before our flight.  She came and we loaded everything up.  Or at least we thought we had.  Once we got to the bus station and had bought our tickets, we realized that we had left one bag at our apartment, Derek's lap-top bag.  Something we really didn't want to leave!

So we immediately called Mr. Kim, our boss, and asked him or his wife to get it for us.  He told us that since our bus would be leaving in about 10 minutes, we should change our ticket to a later time because his wife was running errands and probably wouldn't be able to get the bag to us in time.

I asked Derek what I should say to the ticket seller.  He basically told me to show her the tickets we had, then say the new time in Korean and then say change in English.  They should understand that.  I did that easily and as I came out I saw that Mrs. Jung was there with the bag and that we would still be able to make our original bus time.  So I ran back inside and repeated the same ticket exchange--except in the reverse--with the same ticket seller.  She sort of laughed at me, but was willing to do the exchange... again!

Fortunately we were able to make it on the bus just in time, even with all our stuff and had an uneventful trip from Sokcho to Seoul.  But then once we got off the bus in Seoul, we realized that we had to figure out some way to get to a motel for the night, and we didn't see any just outside the station.  We didn't want to drag all eight bags all around with us so we thought we'd find a taxi, load all our stuff, and then just tell him to go to the nearest motel.

Sounds easy right?  It should have been.  There were plenty of taxis waiting for customers, but none of them would take us!  And we couldn't figure out why.  After what seemed like hours of trying to get a taxi in the dark, a kind Korean woman came to help us.  We told her all we wanted to do was get a taxi to take us to a motel nearby because we would be needing to get back to the bus station the next morning.

She spoke excellent English and understood us perfectly.  She went to talk to a few drivers and then came back to report that all of those drivers did not want to do a local run.  They only wanted to take passengers long distance.  It didn't make any sense to me, but then again, a lot of things in Korea didn't make sense to me.  She told us she would continue to find a taxi for us, and very soon, she did!  Sometimes things are so much easier when you don't do them yourself!

We loaded up our bags in the trunk and the back seat.  I sat in the back, and Derek sat in the front.  The driver had to drive very carefully because the trunk was unable to close because our bags were so big!  The funniest part (funniest after the fact) was that he literally drove just around the corner.  We could have walked!!!  But at least this way we didn't have to drag our bags around!

As soon as the taxi stopped and Derek and the driver started unloading our bags, I jumped out to see if the night manager of the motel would be able to help us get our bags inside.  I don't remember what I said, or even if it was in Korean or English, but he did come out to help us.  He helped us all the way up to our room!

The next difficulty we had was that the size and amount of luggage was almost too big to fit in the room!   All Korean lodgings have a separated entryway.  This is the place where you take off your shoes before entering the living areas.  In this particular motel room, there was the main door to our room, and then another door to the sleeping area.  The door to the bathroom was off of the entryway.  Since only one or two of our smaller bags would fit in the sleeping area with us, we had to put all the rest of our bags in the the entry way.

And they just barely fit.  We were able to maneuver to and from the bathroom, but if we wanted to get in or out of the room, we had to shuffle our bags around to make room for the main door to open!  Thank goodness we were only there for the one night.

Since our flight left in the morning, and we still needed to take the hour bus trip from Seoul to the airport, we decided to take another taxi to the bus station the next day to make things just that much easier.  The manager helped us get a taxi, and then we had no trouble getting from the bus station to the airport and from that point, our trip home went without a hitch!

Way Back When Wednesday - All Tucked In!

To say Derek and I weren't prepared for our first day of work in Korea would be an understatement.  When Mr. Kim picked us up from our apartment that first Monday morning, we had no idea he was going to take us to work!  We thought we were going to go to the bank or something like that.

And for anybody who knows me, you know I'm a planner.  So this big surprise was quite unsettling for me.  Once we got to the English academy (ETS), we had a mini-conference with our boss and the other foreign teachers.  We learned that we would have absolutely no training!  We would be able to observe one class before teaching a full day.  Yikes!

So needless to say, I was a little flustered.  After the mini-conference I walked down the hall from ETS to use the bathroom.  About the time I was exiting the bathroom many of the students were arriving.  I was trying to put on a brave face and smile and wave at them because that's what they were all doing to me.

Just after I came back in ETS, so did one of the other foreign teachers.  She quickly tapped me on my shoulder and whispered, "Your skirt is caught in the back of your underwear!" 

Oh man!  I was wearing one of those full-ish, tiered skirts, and I had thought I checked for that problem before leaving the bathroom stall.  How embarrassing!  "Thank you!" I whispered back as I quickly fixed the problem.

Flustered didn't even begin to describe how I was feeling at that point!  What a way to start my first day!

Way Back When Wednesday - I'll take size 20,045

I'm a really nervous language learner.  I think it's interesting and worthwhile to study and learn another language, but I'm really afraid to talk to anyone in the new language.  Especially native speakers.   Consequently, while we lived in Korea, I only made a couple of HUGE mistakes because I rarely ever tried Korean conversation with actual Koreans.

The huge mistake I'm thinking of this time really wasn't all that bad.   I didn't say anything rude, inappropriate, or offensive just something really, really funny.

Derek and I were at a bowling alley near our apartment.  It was owned and operated by the mother of one of my students, so we got a great discount whenever the owner was there (Thats how Korea works.  It's all about who you know!).  It must have been one of the first times we had gone because the owner was there and she was asking us our shoe size, and believe me, after hearing my answer, I don't think she will EVER forget my shoe size.  She probably still thinks about what the funny foreigner said every now and then and laughs.

I had just learned how to say my Korean shoe size in Korean.  I think it's a pretty big accomplishment because Korean shoe sizes aren't like American or even European shoe sizes.  Koreans measure by the millimeter.  The millimeter!  That means that I had to learn how to say two-hundred-forty-five instead of something simple like seven.

So needless to say, I was really excited and nervous to use this new "phrase" out in the real world.  Unfortunately, I also had just learned the vocabulary for Korean money.  I'll tell you why that knowledge is related in a minute.

So the owner asks us our shoe sizes.  Derek tells her his size perfectly.  She turns to me and asked me.  I proudly said, "이만사십오 (yi-man-sah-ship-o)."  She--and Derek for that matter, great support he was that day--immediately started laughing.  It wasn't mean spirited, but still embarassing!  And I wondered--like you are probably right now--why it was so funny; I was pretty sure I said the numbers correctly!

Then Derek turned to me and told me what I had actually said.  이만사십오 means 20,045!  What I should have said was very similar, 이백사십오 (Yi-baek-sah-ship-o).  I had used a ten thousand counter instead of a hundred counter!  Imagine a foot that was 20,045 millimeters long!  That's about 65 feet!  No wonder it was so humorous!

The most pathetic thing was I really did know the difference!  The reason why I made such a dramatic mistake was because I used the ten thousand counter with money every day.  20,045 won is approximately $20.04.

Sadly, that was not the only embarassing thing I did at that bowling alley.  I also threw my bowling ball behind me for the first and hopefully only time in my life.

Monday Morning Musings - Trash

er... maybe it's more afternoon?  But I was thinking of this this morning.

Last Wednesday evening, we forgot to take the trash out to the curb, and none of us were awake or dressed enough to run out there Thursday morning when the trash men came.  Therefore, our cans were still full and trash built up around the house because we couldn't take it out. 

All weekend, we were lamenting over our predicament.  It would be another week before the trash men came again so it was either wait it out (not really our first choice), or go to the dump (we didn't really like that option either because you have to pay to dump stuff). 

Then I remembered how much trouble trash was in Korea.  There were no large trash bags.  The largest they had were shopping bag sized which was convienent in a way because you could buy them at almost any grocery/department store check-out and use them for shopping bags as well. 

But the Korean trash system is very specific.  You must separate food and throw it away in very small yellow bags (BTW egg shells aren't food, they go in with the regular trash).  Recyling is big in Korea, but it's not easy.  You have to separate paper, cans, glass, plastic, and cardboard; all in their own bags or boxes.

So you didn't just have one or two bags to take out.  You had at least six!  And it wasn't always easy to take out the trash.  Most large apartment complexes had a designated trash "area" with organized piles of bags within the parking lot, but smaller apartment buildings and individual homes didn't.  For us--we lived in a small apartment building--there was a place down the road where we could leave our trash bags.  It wasn't too far away, but it was far enough that we would try and coordinate taking out the trash with other errands we had to run.

There were also trash "police."  These guys would check the trash bags to make sure that people were disposing things properly.  If there was a problem, they would watch for the person who was doing it wrong and then fine them.  This was scary for us because no one told us about the trash system until we had lived there for almost a year!  We could have gotten in big trouble.

They also had specific rules for businesses.  I'm not quite sure what they were, but somehow they were so strict that cities don't put out public trash cans because they're afraid that buisnesses will break the rules and throw their trash out in the public cans.  From what we saw, businesses throw their trash out on the far side of the sidewalk in front of their shops.  Gross, huh.  Especially since we knew you can't flush T.P. down the toilet in Korea, and the trashmen don't come regularly.  Eww! 

So after thinking about that, I can't complain too much about our current trash problem.

Way Back Wednesday - Bust Size

A couple of weeks before Christmas of '07, I decided to go Christmas shopping by myself.  Pretty brave for me because we lived in Korea at the time, and I was planning on going to Seoul, about 3 hours away.

Derek and I had gone together plenty of times so I knew the routine, and I knew exactly where I wanted to go--the COEX Mall--and how to get there on the subway.

I left Sokcho early-ish in the morning and got to Seoul with no problems.  Once I got to COEX, I decided I'd be a little adventurous and do some clothes shopping for myself.  That's a big deal for a foreigner like me in Korea because it's tough for us to find clothes that fit.  Koreans are just built differently. AND hardly any shopkeepers speak enough English to make conversing pleasant.

After walking past a couple stores, I found one that looked promising.  There was a cute sweatshirt hanging out front and I stopped to look at it making myself a magnet for shopkeepers.  And sure enough, the shopkeeper immediately came out and tried to help me.  She didn't speak much English, so I sort of pantomimed that I wanted to try on the sweatshirt.

She vigorously shook her head no.  When I asked why, she said, "One size," as she took the sweatshirt off the hanger.  She then grabbed it on either side under the sleeves, and stretched it several times like a rubber band chanting "Bust size! Bust size!"  I got the point and left quickly.  Evidently, she thought I would stretch it out!

What I couldn't figure out though was why my bust size prevented me from trying on the sweatshirt, but she saw no problem with stretching it out herself!

Way Back Wednesdays - 10 Hamsters

We are animal fans.  We like to have a pet.  Preferably a kitten or a cat, but when that's not possible we go for a cute hamster... or two, or three.  Which is what we did in Korea.

We had one, lonely white hamster named Yuki.  One day, I decided that I wanted to get her a friend.  E-mart sold hamsters for the equivelant of only $3, so it wasn't going to be too expensive.  When I got to the store, I realized that Yuki probably wouldn't like any hamster I brought home.  They're solitary creatures unless they're brought up together.

So I decided that since I couldn't get a cage friend for Yuki, I would get two hamsters that would get along and put them in a cage next to Yuki.  I asked the E-mart employee if the two I picked out were girls.  He assured me they were.  I hapily took them home and named them Hamu and Hamu because they were identical; we'd never be able to keep track of who was who!

For the next few weeks, I didn't give their genders a second thought.  The employee had assured me that they were both girls, so they were!  They both seemed to be growing to be the same size at the same rate.

But one Sunday right after, one of the Hamus started acting a little weird.  She was running around the cage.  Then she stopped, and sort of flattened herself against the floor of the cage.  At this point, I picked up the cage and turned it so I could see what she was doing.

At that point tiny, squirmy, pink things started popping out of Hamus back end.  She was having babies, seven of them.  And one of the shes was actually a he!  I freaked out!  Derek and I looked up breeding hamsters online to see if there was anything we neded to do.  The biggest thing was separating the male and female.  We found out that hamsters can mate and conceive literally minutes after giving birth, and the father might eat the babies!

Even though it was a Sunday the proverbial ox was in the proverbial mire and I went to E-mart to get another cage for the boy Hamu and to see if perhaps E-mart would take the 7 babies once they were old enough to be separated from their mother.  After finding someone who could understand and speak English, they agreed to take them for free.  That made me happy because we couldn't keep 10 hamsters all in separate cages!

Baby hamsters are so cute!  Especially Roborovski hamsters.  They are so TINY!  We cooked Mamma Hamu eggs and gave her extra tissue to make a nest for her little ones and watched them grow from teensy pink gummy bears to mini Hamus!

When it was time to take them to E-mart, we were really sad, but glad we didn't have to take care of 10 cages!!! :)

Way Back Wednesday - Visiting an Otolaryngologist in Korea

I woke up one cold, winter morning with a shooting pain in my left ear. It was the kind that if I layed my head on my left side, it felt like someone was sticking a crayon into my head through my ear, just awful! Being in Korea, I wasn't too excited about the prospect of going to a doctor.


Korea is a wonderful place. They have a rich, beautiful culture, amazing cuizine, and a complex language to boot, but they really stink when it comes to interacting with new foreigners, especially at a doctor's office. They're already feeling awkward with speaking English. Often they know a lot more than they think they do, but stumble over words and end up saying weird things.


But after a couple of days, my ear pain moved to both ears, and my throat was sore and my nose was stuffy. I knew I needed to go visit a doctor. I had been to a doctor in town before, so Derek and I both thought that we could go visit him again. We bundled up and took a taxi down to the Shi-ne (main street).


We walked into the doctor's office, checked in, and waited. Pretty soon, they called my name and we went in to see the doctor. We briefly explained what the problem was, and he got this really weird, confused look on his face. He spoke basic English, so he was able to ask, "Why did you come here?"


Then it was our turn for a weird, confused look on our face. We said, "Because you are a doctor."


He again replied with, "But why did you come here?"


We told him that we came because we had come there before. Then he understood what the misunderstanding was. He was a specialist. Not a doctor you would go to for an ear infection. We laughed a bit and then asked where he recommended we go. He told us about an Ear, Nose and Throat (Otolaryngologist) doctor down the street. He told us the name of doctor's office which was Korean for Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor, but we didn't really realize it at the time. And we went on our way.


Now as soon as we got out the door, we forgot what he had said. It's really hard to remember Korean words. At least it is for me. A lot of things sound so similar it's hard to remember anything unless it's written down. Maybe that's because I'm just a beginner. So we walked and walked and walked. It was so cold! But finally, Derek saw a sign that said, "Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor," but in Korean of course, and we went inside.


I was immediately impressed or comforted rather, by the waiting room. It wasn't really all that impressive, but it felt very familiar. I was afraid that it would be more third world feeling even though Korea is a first world country with the 11th largest economy. It had good flooring, nice couches, and big wrap-around windows with a great view of Sokcho (it was on the 5th floor of the building).


The doctor must not have been very busy that day--I think it was a Saturday--because I didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes. As comfortable as the waiting room made me feel, the examination room made me feel that much uncomfortable. It wasn't becuase it was unsanitary or anything like that. It was because it looked like a dentist's office and a doctor's private study produced offspring!


The room was rather large. On the right side was a big desk with some chairs and bookshelves filled with doctor books, many of them in English. on the left side were two large dentist-type chairs. In between the two mammoth chairs was a large oval table with TONS of small, pointy, stainless steel instruments. I nearly turned around and ran out of there! But my ears hurt and I was irrationally afraid that my eardrums might explode, so I stayed.


The doctor was a kind man. He spoke a bit of English, but the problem with Korean doctors' English is is they know a lot of medical English and they speak it with a heavy Korean accent. Medical terms are hard enough without the accent. But with his limited English and Derek's limited Korean--actually it was mostly Derek's Korean that carried the conversation, he's a lot better than he'll ever admit to being--the doctor understood the problem.


He asked me to take a seat in the first mammoth dentist-type chair. He told me to sit back and tilt my head back. Then he picked up a pair of mini-forceps and opened each nostril and shined a pen light up them. Then he used the forceps again to spray a little bit of water or saline solution (I'm not sure which come to think of it) in each, and then again to blow some air in them to dry them out?


After spreading open my nose, he looked in my ears and down my throat. Next, he told me to move to the other chair on the otherside of the oval-shaped table. I thought that was weird because the other chair was just as close to the table as the first, but I thought that maybe he was done with the scary looking instruments and was glad.


Once I was settled into the second mammoth dentist-type chair, he raised the chair up so my head was at his height. Then he pulled out a tiny camera. The kind that looks like a straw with a light on the end. He stuck it up my right nostril and pushed a pedal on the floor. I heard a click (not in my nose, thank goodness!), and then he stuck it up my left nostril and pushed the pedal again. He repeated the process with my throat and ears.


I don't remember if he wiped it off, or if there was a cover on the camera, like there is on thermometers. I was so totally freaked out that he was sticking things up my nose to take pictures, I didn't pay much attention to much else. Part of what contributed to this internal freaking out--did I mention that it was internal? I was trying to keep my cool--was the doctor didn't even try to communicate what was going to happen next. I was surprised by his every move!


After taking pictures of the insides of my ears, nose and throat, he took out a laser pointer and started explaining the pictures. He started with the insides of my nose. Here's how the explanation went.


Doctor (pointing to my right and then left nostril pictures): Here is your right nose, and here is your left nose.


Pause while pointing to the gooey inside stuff


Doctor (still pointing to the pictures): And this is your.... um....


Me: Snot... that's called snot.


Doctor: Oh, ok.


This mostly one sided conversation kept going about my throat and then my ears. After a lot of explaining, most of which we didn't understand, we understood that my ears were "too clean" and that I did have an ear infection with a sore throat and stuffy nose. He decided to give me a prescription, and an "injection," and "physical therapy."


I was ok with the prescription part. Korean doctors usually prescribe a bunch of vitamins with the antibiotics. And surprisingly, it doesn't bother me, even though I don't really know what medicines I'm taking. Plus, it's cheap to boot. I think it was $3 for the medicines?


And the "physical therapy" part didn't phase my too much. By this time, I'd been in Korea long enough to know that what they say isn't always as weird as it sounds. I was curious, but it didn't really bother me.


But the injection. Now that's another matter. I've been mortally afraid of shots ever since I was a little kid. I used to scream and cry even before the needle came in the room. I would tighten up my buttocks (I usually got shots there, not sure why. Maybe a doctor's cruel joke) so tightly that my rear end and leg would be sore for the next couple of days.


So needless to say, I was REALLY nervous about getting an injection, in a doctors office in Korea. The doctor told me to go down the hall to an injection room. Well, Derek and I walked down there, and the room was more like a closet with an examination table in it. Like I said before, I was REALLY scared, so I asked Derek to come in with me and hold my hand. He did.


When the nurse came in, she asked me something in Korean. I didn't understand so I looked to Derek. He had sort of a funny look on his face and told me she had asked me to pull down my pants. "Oh, great!" I thought, "just what I need, a shot in my rear!" But I complied and pulled my pants just enough. Just then, the nurse started pinching and slapping my rear like I was a little kid! I was so shocked, but I still noticed the needle.


After this, the same nurse led me to another alcove in the hallway with a bunch of strange looking devices. "This must be my physical therapy." I thought. She demonstrated what I should do with the first device and told me to do it for three minutes.


The first thing looked like a tiny hair dryer, but instead of blowing hot air, it had a tiny heat lamp. I was supposed to hold it over my nose for three minutes. I felt really stupid doing it. My first though was maybe it was some sort of sick hazing this doctor does to his foreign patients, but soon after I started, a young Korean man started doing "physical therapy" too.


After three minutes, it was time to do the next thing. It seriously looked like a bong for smoking drugs! It was a glass teapot shaped instrument that had a hose coming out of the back of it connecting it to something under the counter. There was tons of steam coming out of it. The nurse told me to hold it under my nose and breathe through my nose. I tried to ask her what it was just so I knew I wasn't breaking any commandments. She didn't seem to understand me or Derek, so I just did it. It turned out to be water vapor.


After three minutes of that, I moved on to another steamy, glass teapot where I was supposed to breathe through my mouth. I still felt really silly doing the "physical therapy." I got how it would be beneficial to do it, but not just once for three minutes! Oh well, Korea's an interesting place...


The pharmacy was in the basement of the building, so after we finished up in the doctor's office, we headed downstairs. Service is pretty quick there too, and luckily, everything needed is written on the prescription paper.


The pharmacist handed me my strip of doses. In Korea, they don't give you bottles of medicine with instructions on a sticker. They give you a string of packets, each with one dose. They put all the doses in a little paper baggie and write when and how often to take the medicines. Kind of weird, but easy for us foreigners! After paying our $3, we were on our way home! And I started feeling better within a week!

Way Back Wednesday - Four Vials, a Plastic Cup, and the Bathroom Floor

I visited a hospital a couple of times in Korea.  Health care semantics and general health care is different there.  For instance, they call doctors offices and hosptials, hospitals.  When Derek or I would call in sick to work, our boss would always ask, "Are you okay, do you need to go to hospital?" (Koreans usually leave out articles).  We would always decline, thinking that he was really talking about the hospital.  I always thought, I have a bad cold!  Why would I need the hospital?!

Health care in general is different, too.  Not bad different.  Just different.  I feel like even thought I was really uncomfortable when I went to see a doctor, it wasn't because I felt like they were incompetent.  It was just because things are different in Korea.  Very different.  I've posted about this before, Getting Glasses in Korea and today's bonus Way Back Wednesday, Visiting an Otolaryngologist in Korea.

This story is another example of feeling well taken care of while being COMPLETELY uncomfortable...

Around October of 2007, I was having some pretty severe heart related issues (After a thorough check up, it was determined to be stress related and nothing serious).  I asked my boss, Mr. Kim, to take me to a doctor.  He first took me to a doctor in town.  He thought it was stress and prescribed me a sleeping pill and a muscle relaxant.  They only mildly helped.  He then suggested that I go to a hospital to get further tests.

There was a hosptial in Sokcho, but evidently, it didn't have what I needed, so Mr. Kim made me an appointment at the hospital in Gangneung, our prefecture's capital, about 1.5 hours away.

Because Mr. Kim was a very busy man, he sent his wife to take Derek and I to the hospital (We went everywhere together.  Plus, he was my moral support and my back-up translator.).  She spoke decent English, which was good.  We needed someone who could navigate the unfamiliar system and translate for us.

I was really, really nervous.  Not only did I think I could die at any time (I was a little dramatic, but come on!  It was my heart!), but I had NO IDEA what to do, where to go, or what to say.  The doctors were very kind and took great care of me.  I did all kinds of tests.  One doctor was cute, if a little odd.  He and I were chatting during a test and he said, "I thnk it is really interesting that even though we are different on the outside, everything looks the same on the inside."  I think he was referring to the Caucasian/Korean differences.

After doing a few tests, they needed some blood for testing.  Not my favorite thing.  I get really light-headed when my blood is drawn, and I've even fainted once!  Compound that with being in a foreign hospital and being scared to death about death, and I had a real problem!

The area they had to draw blood was in a very open, public hallway.  There were about 4 desks set up with little arm pillows.  Derek stood next to me and held my hand as the nurse drew four vials of blood.  FOUR VIALS!

Then she handed me a plastic cup and indicated that I needed to give them a urine sample.  A regular plastic drinking cup.  No lid!  Huh!  So Derek and I walked down the hall to the bathroom, feeling increasingly light headed with every step.  As soon as I got into the bathroom, I knew I would have a problem.

Bathrooms are often different in Korea.  They have Western style toilets (the kind that we think of when we think of toilets).  These usually have a sign on the stall door pronouncing them "foreigners only."  And then they have traditional asian style toilets.  Asian style toilets are in the floor.  They only way to describe them is to say they look like a small urinal imbeded in the floor.  To use them, you have to squat.

Usually, squatting wouldn't have been a problem, but when you're already feeling light-headed, it makes things a little difficult.  I squatted the best I could and gave them a urine sample, but standing back up again increased my light-headedness to the point of almost fainting.

I needed to sit down.  But without a toilet there was no where but the bathroom floor to sit!  I decided that choosing the least dirty spot floor was better than fainting and falling randomly on to it.  I quickly looked around and found a decent looking spot in the corner of my stall.

I sat there for a minute or two until I felt like I couldn't stand it any more.  I tore off a piece of toilet paper to put over the cup (I thought it was gross to be carrying around a cup of open urine!), and stumbled out of the bathroom.  Mr. Kim's wife and Derek were waiting for me just outside the bathroom.

They could see that I was going to fall over and drop the open cup of urine at any moment, so she took the cup and Derek took me over to a waiting area so I could sit down.  I found 3 or 4 open seats so I decided to lay down across all of them.  If you could only imagine the looks I got from the other people in the waiting room.  First of all, I was the only horizontal one.  Second, I was white.  That fact alone created instant interest anywhere we went.

Long story short, I didn't faint.  I just looked stupid.  And all my tests came back normal.  There wasn't anything wrong with me.  I was/am just an overdramatic freak boardering on hypocondriac when it comes to my health.  But hey, my excuse is it's my health!  What's more important than that?! :D

If you've got a fun Way Back Wednesday or any day story, post it and link up here! Remember to copy and paste the direct link to your post, not your blog address.

Way Back When Wednesday - Jenny

I told an abbreviated version of this story last night to our Home Teachers.  It probably wasn't the best story for me to tell them, but they are our friends and I think they thought it was funny... or they were laughing so hard because they were really embarrassed. 

We had a lot of really funny and bizarre experiences while we were teaching in Korea.  A great many of them came from our co-workers.  They had some interesting personalities.  I couldn't tell how much of it was a culture difference thing, but they definitely kept us laughing.

The story I'm about to tell you comes from a study session I had with my co-worker Jenny.  I don't remember what her Korean name was.  Maybe Jin Hyo Lee?  A lot of Koreans studying/teaching English choose an English name.  I guess it's cool.  She picked Jenny.

Anyways,  I "taught" Jenny three times a week.  Our class was more of a Q&A study session for her.  Which I didn't mind.  I didn't have to prepare anything.  Jenny would ask me all kinds of questions.  She had pretty good English, but had a lot of grammar issues.  Most of which would come up over and over.  I wasn't sure how I felt about helping an English teacher study her teaching materials, but whatever.  At least she didn't look stupid in front of her students. 

On this occasion, we were just talking.  I don't remember how we got on the topic of my bras and underwear.  Maybe we were talking about household appliances and my washer came up.  It's spin dry function was so powerful it had ruined a couple of my underwire bras. I probably should have used one of those little undergarment bags they have for washers, but I was cheap.  Jenny asked me where I bought underwear in Sokcho (the town we lived in).

I told her I hadn't bought any yet because I couldn't find any in my size.  She looked at me with a blank expression for a second, then got that I'm thinking of how to say this in English face.  We saw it all the time, and I prepped myself because often the words that come after that face are a little odd because they're usually directly translated from Korean.

She looked a little down and to the left (a normal Korean conversational thing) and started tapping just below and in front of her right shoulder with her right hand.  "My friend.... umm..... my friend has... big, umm... bumps?"

I tried really hard not to bust out laughing.  "You mean boobs.  Not bumps."

"Boobs?"  The her face was classic.  Confused and a little embarrassed all at the same time. Plus she exaggerated the shape of her lips to make the "oo" sound.  Again, it was hard to hold back laughing.

"Yes, the word you would use in this conversation is boobs.  But that's because we're both girls and we're friends.  There are lost of other words, but that's the one you want to use in this situation."  I tried not to act too embarrassed, but it was getting harder by the minute.

"Oh.  My friend has big... boobs.  I can show you where she buys her underwear."  I politely declined. Koreans shop owners and salespeople are a bit too involved when you go to buy underwear.  I would get some from the States the next time I went.

After a pause she continued, "would you teach me all the words for... boobs?"  She was completely serious.

That time I did laugh out loud.  "No," I answered with a red face.  "Most of the words people use for that area of the body aren't very nice, and most of them are boy words."  I did teach her the official anatomically correct term and then quickly ended the anatomical conversation. 

She and I had plenty of other equally awkward conversations, but none were quite that personal and embarassing.

Way Back When Wednesday

Here's one of those travel horror stories that includes land, sea and air travel.  Now, how often does that happen?

For 추석 (Chuseok) 2006, the Korean holiday closest to the American Thanksgiving, Derek and I decided we'd go to Japan.  Derek was just itching to go back there.  We had originally planned on teaching in Japan, but Korea had better perks and benefits.  We comforted ourselves by promising ourselves at least a trip or two to Japan while we were there.

Throughout the month of September, I was looking for good deals on transportation to and hotels in Japan.  I happened to find a great one--or at least I thought--through a company that I don't remember the name for.  It included tickets for the "Beetle," a high-speed, hydrofoil ferry and a hotel. I talked to my boss, Mr. Kim and he was very impressed that I found such a great deal!

We purchased night bus tickets from Sokcho to Busan (the port city we would depart from).  Mr. Kim suggested the night bus because the road trip would take 7 hours.  There weren't any other good options for this leg of the trip.  Seven hours is a long time no matter what time you take it.  And the trip went smoothly.  The only problem we had was the bus arrived in Busan earlier than anything opened.  So we wandered around the bus station and the port for a few hours before we could pick up our tickets.  A lot of people have told us how nice Busan is, but we weren't able to see much while we were there.

We got on our ferry just fine, and our trip across the Korea Strait went uneventful and very short; just three hours!  If we had taken a regular ferry, it would have taken twelve!  Derek slept the whole way, but I watched their Korean dubbed, Japanese anime movie.

Japan was great!  We had a lot of fun and got some good souveniers.  But our time in Japan isn't the point of this story.  The real point is how we got home.

The evening before we were to leave, another member of our group, a very kind Korean man who spoke great English, told us that he had received word that the ferry wouldn't be coming to pick us up because of bad weather.  We were a little surprised because the weather looked fine in Fukuoka, Japan, but evidently the weather wasn't so fine in Busan and hydrofoils are sensitive.

The Korean man told us that as soon as he found out more, he would let us know.  Eventually, we were told that we would need to take an airplane from Fukuoka to Busan.  We would pay for the tickets up front and then the travel agency would reimburse the portion that was covered by our ferry tickets. 

Normally this wouldn't have made us blink.  Not that we were loaded or anything, but we did have a cushion that we could fall back on, but we were in a foreign (foreign from Korea) country without a visa/debit type card from our Korean bank.  Luckily, we had brought a ton of extra cash--or what seemed like a ton at the time--400,000 won.  That's abut $400.  It took almost exactly that much money to buy our two tickets.  We literally only had pocket change, no paper bills.  But we had no other choice.  We had to get back to work in the amount of time it would take to get back.

So we flew to Busan, and then we were stuck.  It just so happened that our bank was doing maintenance on all their ATM machines during the holiday weekend, so every one of our banks ATMs were out of order.  We had no money to buy a bus ticket back to Sokcho, no money for a hotel, not even any money to get a taxi to get anywhere!  AND we were in an airport that we had never been to before in an unfamiliar city in Korea.  We didn't know what to do!

Our first thought, which turned out to be not our best, was to call Mr. Kim (Which was kind of a miracle.  We didn't have Korean cell phones yet, and I just happened to have a calling card with a few minutes left on it.) He could solve any problem.  But even he wasn't able to come up with anything great for getting us seven hours from Busan to Sokcho without any money.  He was too far way to come get us and we still had the problem with the bank so he couldn't send us money either.  And that wasn't the problem anyways.  He said to wait for a while so he could come up with a solution, and then we were to call him back.


After a few minutes, I noticed that there was a "365World ATM," and a light went off in my head.  365World, I thought.  That means I could get money from my account in America.  But we had another problem.  I only had about $30 in that account, and that wasn't enough to get us back to Sokcho.


It was sometime in the early afternoon in Busan so it must have been in the wee hours of the morning in North Carolina, but it was an emergency so I called my mom to see if she would transfer some money to my account.  This was my breaking point.  Until then, I was able to keep it together... mostly.  But after calling my mom and telling her about our predicament, I started bawling.  She readily agreed to transfer some money for us, and miraculously, it was there within minutes or even seconds! 


For a small fee, I was able to withdraw enough money to get us a taxi from the airport to the bus station and from the bus station to Sokcho.  We called Mr. Kim again and told him everything was okay and that we got some money from America, and we were on our way!

The mistake we made in calling Mr. Kim was that we didn't realize that he would tell ALL of our coworkers within hours of hearing the news.  Our reception the first day back was quite mixed.  Some were genuinely concerned for us, others looked at us like we were silly little foreigners who didn't know anything, and one of our coworkers (one who was annoying on regular days) berated us for not having enough extra money with us for these, shall we say, unforeseen circumstances. 

We couldn't believe it!  What was he talking about? We had brough $400 extra!  How much were we supposed to take with us?!  Our entire life savings?!  Oh well, we just brushed him off and went on our way.  It was a great vacation with an exciting return trip!

Way Back When Wednesday - Teacher, you have a perm!

I don't remember exactly how this conversation started, but it ended up really frustrating.

Here's a little needed background information.  I have naturally curly hair (see picture at left).  Koreans don't have naturally curly hair.  Nobody does.  But everybody--including men--has a perm.  Well, not everybody, but there are quite a few perms out there.  So it's not unusual to see curled hair in Korea.

I was teaching a class one day.  It was my favorite class.  The kids were 10 years old, and they all spoke English well enough to have interesting conversations with me and with each other!  One student, Min Young, turned to me and said, "Teacher, you have a perm," very matter of factly.  Actually, it sounded a little more like, "Teacher, you have a pama."  Many Korean students have trouble with the English "r" and ending some words without a vowel.

I turned to her and said, "No, I don't.  My hair is naturally curly.  It grows this way."

She replied again, very matter of factly, "No, you are lying.  You have a perm."  Min Young was a very precocious kid and very sassy.

I tried again to explain to her that I did NOT have a perm, my hair was naturally curly.  She looked at me like I was insane or stupid.  She told me again that I was lying, and that I had a perm.  No matter what I said, she would never believe me.  I even tried to appeal to her senses and ask her why I would lie about a perm.  It seemed ridiculous to me, but evidently not to her.

In the end, I had to pull the hierarchy card (which almost always works in Korea) and tell her that I was the teacher, and that she, the student, should not accuse the teacher of lying!

Way Back When Wednesday - Getting Glasses in Korea

I started noticing Derek needed glasses just a little while after we were married and living in Provo, UT.  We couldn't sit in the back half of movie theaters, he was always squinting at menus in fast food restaurants, and he always asked me what the next street sign said.  His eyes aren't BAD by any means, just not that good.

So we priced around and found that Costco had the cheapest options.  We went, and they were pretty cheap.  I think the total cost for the eye exam, lenses, and frames was around $150-$200.  The only problem was, one lens wasn't quite right.  His right eye was always straining to compensate causing all kinds of discomfort.  He would tell me that if he wore his glasses for too long, his right eyeball (not the eyelid like one would expect, the actual eyeball) would get twitchy.  And therefore, he didn't wear them all that often. 

He continued to squint for the next two years or so.  Then we went to Korea and found their health care to be really inexpensive.  We talked about getting glasses for him a few times, but put it off for various reasons.  Mostly because doing most anything out of the ordinary was a lot of extra effort and often embarrasment. 

But finally, on our last weekend in Korea, we thought we'd go see how much it cost and how long it would take for the glasses to be made.  We walked down the Shi-ne (main street) until we got to a large-ish glasses shop called, Davici.  They had a cute jingle in which they totally butchered the pronunciation, "Bi-chi, Bi-chi, Da-bi-chi!..." and so on. 

We walked in and tried to blend in with the other shoppers as much as possible.  But being a white person in Korea makes that a little difficult to say the least, and in less than 2 minutes, a friendly salesperson came over to help us. 

This is where the interesting part starts.  We, or I should really say I, don't speak Korean.  Derek does pretty well, but often, Koreans don't know how to communicate well with someone who is only fairly proficient in their language.  Anyways, the friendly salesperson came over and asked if we needed help.  Derek told him yes, he did.  He needed new glasses.  One lens was good and the other was not good (I'm trying to translate exactly what Derek said so you can see how interesting it is to talk to Koreans).

The man told him to go over to one of the cubicle-like things to have his eyes checked.  I fully expected to see those huge circular-shaped things that optomitrists pull in front of your face and adjust to get your prescription, but not in Korea.  Or at least not in this particular glasses shop in Sokcho.

The salesperson sat him down in a chair and then asked him to read a chart just like they do in America, covering one eye then the other.  I was a little worried about a salesperson doing the eye exam, but then I remembered that EVERYTHING is different in Korea.  Maybe their optometrists operate that way.  Then instead of the big circular things, he put a pair of glasses on him.  Then he added extra lenses to them, all the while asking Derek to read the chart.

Once Derek indicated that he could read the chart clearly, the salesperson told him to walk around the store and see how they felt.  So now, imagine an already conspicuous white guy walking around with these huge, thick glasses with a bunch of tabs for each lens the doctor put in there sticking out.  It was pretty funny.  I was laughing pretty hard.  He tried to not get noticed, but that was hard for him in Korea. 

I started saying "wae-gae-in! wae-gae-in! (korean for alien)"  The doctor laughed and said, "E.T., E.T!"  Derek wasn't too impressed with our jokes.

After the salesperson finalized the prescription for his glasses, it was time to pick out the frames.  We looked around and quite a few that were hideous, a few that would have sufficed, and one or two that were perfect!  The trend for Koreans right now is to wear thick plastic frames in black, red, or even purple.  They kind of look like American glasses from the 60s.  We found a perfect pair that were thin, black, half-wire frames for, I think, the equivalent of $30 or $40.

We were so happy to find frames so cheap!  We asked what the total would be for everything including the exam and lenses.  The salesperson us told us that with those frames, it would be 70,000 won.  That's only ~$70!  What a deal especially if they turned out well! 

Then we got a little worried about when they would be done.  In America, it can take up to a week sometimes!  It was late on a Saturday evening, probably around 6pm.  Come to think of it, that was another difference in Korea.  Shops, all kinds, are open until 10pm or later!  Derek asked him if we could get them before Monday evening (We were leaving to go back to America via Seoul Monday night). 

The guy told him that of course that was possible.  They would be ready by 7pm that same evening!  We were shocked!   Really inexpensive glasses AND same-day service?!  How did we get so lucky!!  The salesperson told us to go wait in their little ice cream cafe.  Oh yeah, I forgot that part.  Davici had a cafe where they served ice cream to their waiting customers free of charge!

After he handed the information to the glasses-making technicians, We picked out our flavor of ice cream.  I chose chocolate and Derek chose strawberry.  The ice cream was stored in plain, little, disposable containers in a chest freezer.  I thought that we would just eat it out of the container, but no, not in Korea!  The sales person dumped the ice cream into a machine that squeezed it out in pretty pile in glass dishes!  Talk about service.  Koreans almost go overboard with it.

We waited for the exact amount of time they said, and his glasses were done!  They fitted them on his face, and they work perfectly!  He can see clearly and now wears them all the time!  Thanks Davici for your wonderful service!

Way Back When Wednesday - Miracle Missionaries

This is a post from my blog, Cheneys in Korea.  It's no longer active because we aren't in Korea any more.  Living in Korea was a lot of fun even with all it's challenges.  This story is from one of the first few weeks we were there....

"The missionaries here in Sokcho are great!! They are really committed to their work and are always willing to help all of the members out--sometimes without even knowing it....

We finally got paid on Thursday. It's been a long month and by last Monday, we were only left with the equivalent of $2 and about a week before we got paid. We have been inviting the missionaries over for dinner on Sundays, so one of the elders offered to cook us dinner in return. We then made arrangements for all four of the missionaries to come over last Sunday to cook Japanese stew and eat together.

On that Sunday we realized that we didn't have enough rice to last us the rest of the week let alone to feed all six of us. We called the elders and asked if they needed us to make rice (hoping that they wouldn't), they sounded a bit confused, but they offered to bring some with them.

We cooked what we had and when they arrived, Elder Kochi (the Japanese missionary who was cooking) told us that he didn't put stew on his rice--his family ate stew with dinner rolls, but he'd make the rice anyways.

He had brought rolls to eat, and most of us ate the stew with rolls, so we ended up with more rice than we could eat in two weeks! More than enough to feed us until we got paid."