Going to the dentist in Korea

Since getting back to Korea I seem to be doing everything that I was too scared to do in my first year in Korea, most notably a trip to the dentist. To be fair, a trip to the dentist is scary at any time, particularly so in my case as it had been 9 years since my last visit. Why so long? Because I knew it was going to involve a lot of pain and money, and I'm a big believer in 'if I ignore it maybe it will go away". It didn't, as these things tend not to, so when I happened to walk past a door saying 'International Dentist' I decided it was too good to ignore. Because of course, in Korea there's the whole language thing, which I can normally bluff my way through with a somewhat dignified rendition of charades, but I thought this would be a little more difficult from a dentist's chair - although 'ow' seems to be fairly universal as it turns out.

First, let me just mention the waiting room, which is pretty much how I imagine a little waiting room somewhere in Buckingham Palace. There are three chandeliers, in a room about the size of the Library conference room, in addition to two sets of Victorian era tables and chairs, oriental rugs on the floor, and legitimately nice paintings on the wall. When you get further in it turns into something that resembles a very modern hotel, all glass and marble and statues and flowers. For some reason only women seem to work there - I've met about 6 different dentists so far, and not a single one has been a man.

None of this makes the actual dental procedures any better unfortunately - oh and by the way, you know it's bad when a dentist looks in your mouth for the first time and gasps. So it turns out that I am in need of four - four - tooth extractions, two of which will need to be replaced with implants, one root canal and crown, plus several more minor treatments. The amazing thing? The total bill is coming in under $2000. They keep apologizing for how expensive it is, and asking if I'm sure I don't want to get it done in Australia. I try not to let on just how much money I'm saving and demur vaguely.

So despite the fact that I am now booked in for a weekly trip to the dentist from now until I leave in February pretty much, I'm feeling pretty happy about my Korean dental experience :-)

Quickest Visit Ever

So I've been back for a week now from what felt like the quickest visit home ever, probably because I crammed so much into the space of 2 weeks. It felt really strange at first to be back in Australia - everyone was speaking English! And the guys at Customs all had Aussie accents! I couldn't hear it on anyone else after getting through Customs so I'm assuming that my ability to hear an Aussie accent wore off very quickly, or else Customs guys are employed solely on the basis of their over-accented way of speaking. I swear all the girls were blonde and buxom too... Anyway, it was great to be back in Australia; the first thing I did (seriously, even before getting to my friend's place) was go to a supermarket and stare at all the people and revel in the fact that I didn't stand out - aside from being the freak staring and grinning at everybody anyway. Of course the second thing I did was have a beer, and that was pretty nice too.

I thought it would be hard coming back, but I was strangely excited when it came to it, so that was okay. Unfortunately the excitement didn't last after missing a connecting flight in Shanghai and sleeping in the airport whilst I waited for another plane - word to the wise; don't ever fly China Eastern Airways, no matter how cheap they are. They don't even have movies!

As soon as I got back into Korea I had to move apartments, so I might have to post another video soon. I really like my new apartment, even if it is much smaller. There's roughly about enough room to swing a cat if I really wanted to, so that's okay. Now I'm procrastinating doing all the study that is waiting for me...

Speaking of which, I was informed of this cool thing they do in Korea for study. Instead of studying in libraries, they pay money to study in special buildings where everyone has their own cubicle. The rules are super strict, so you have to unzip everything and open everything before you enter, so as to make as little noise as possible. And if you do happen to make a slight noise people will come and put post-it notes on your desk telling you not to do whatever activity it was that made said noise, i.e. blowing your nose, sniffing, coughing, scratching your head etc. Intense! I think I'll just study at home.

Everland

Everland

So I finally got around to visiting Korea's big theme park, Everland, a couple of weeks back, and despite my original impression that it was the perfect setting for a horror movie (think homicidal clowns and ravening oompa loompas) I have to say that it was pretty much the most fun I've had as an adult. I guess fairy floss and over sized cartoon animals never get old, but the real draw for me was the crazy rides. I made the belated discovery that I'm a huge wooss when it comes to rides (I swear I remember myself to be much braver as a kid), so I spent a lot of the time at Everland with my eyes squeezed shut and my hands in a death grip on whatever safety bar was at hand. The main event was the T-express, a great big wooden monstrosity that has the claim to fame of being the most vertical wooden roller coaster in Asia. I have to say that I was genuinely scared shitless, and I'm pretty sure I dropped the f-bomb a few times at the top of my lungs, but it was a total blast.

When we weren't on rides (or in queues for rides) my friend and I amused ourselves by counting the color coordinated couples. It's a thing here in Korea that couples will coordinate their clothing to match one another. A lot go all out and have identical outfits, right down to the shoes and socks, but others are more inventive, like the couple we saw all in black and white but with opposing items of clothing, i.e. one white hat one black hat, one white shirt one black shirt etc. I find myself completely bemused by the whole thing, as I can honestly say that it never occurred to me to match what my boyfriend was wearing, but for all you couples out there, there you go...

Everland

Everland, a photo by kirijae on Flickr.

Note the insanely scary roller coaster in the background.

Everland

Everland, a photo by kirijae on Flickr.

I think i got this guy just as he was questioning his career choice as an elf.

Spring

So Spring is definitely here, and I have to say I'm quite the fan. I never really knew what spring was meant to be about - even in Melbourne I just remember it as the weather getting warmer. Well here it is very distinctive; first came the cherry blossoms, which only lasted a couple of weeks but were so pretty while they were here. Then came pretty much every other flower you can think of, and finally we're getting some greenery again. It's amazing how dead everything looks in winter - if it hadn't snowed it would have been really ugly. It's been raining heaps, but when it's not raining we have beautiful sunny days - but super windy days too. Some days everyone wears masks to school and shuts all the windows because it's a high 'yellow dust' day; yellow dust is this stuff that apparently comes from Mongolia and causes cancer and other bad things. I feel weird about the masks, but I do keep the windows closed - which is really sad when it's a beautiful day and you have 35 smelly grade 6's in the room.

Best of all it's getting warmer again; I actually left the house in a sleeveless top the other day, which would have been suicidal only a couple of months ago. Unfortunately this revealed how incredibly white I have become - I don't think I have been this white since I was a baby to be honest. I'm dreading the day I have to wear a skirt for the first time - my legs are definitely a shade unseen around here. But other than that I can't wait for some super warm weather again - beer drinking weather! Unfortunately I haven't found anything resembling a beer garden around here which makes me sad :-(

Things to know about Korea

Okay so after a slow couple of weeks I thought I’d put this post together to show that I’m not just sitting around having fun here in Korea, I’m learning stuff too. Actually, I took all this stuff down in January with the help of my friend Mick and one or two pitchers of beer (hence the belated photo of Mick in my favorite duck restaurant). So here it is;

Things I’ve learned in Korea!

1. Don’t get into elevators naked.

You may think that this would go without saying, but no, I found myself in all seriousness suggesting that Mick had better not do this. This is what happens when you have multi-storied jimjilbahngs, and you have to negotiate floors carrying only your toiletries and a towel a little smaller than one of our tea-towels. It’s better to take the stairs – that way you won’t arrive anywhere unexpected too quickly.

2. Don’t sing karaoke when your friend’s holding a video camera.

This shouldn’t need further explanation, but if it so happens that you are silly enough to break this rule, then don’t complain when said video is brought out every year for your birthday thereafter.

3. Learn Korean for “where is the toilet?”

While charades will get you a long way in Korea, you might not want to use them for every situation – although kudos to Mick for his unflinching demonstration of how to take a leak for the benefit of a rather bemused barman.

4. Be suspicious of overly attractive women who want to hold your hand.

Not all the bars that Mick and I stumbled into were entirely on the up and up.

5.

6.

7. These were all various points made on the hazards of drinking too much, that can pretty much be summed up by saying that it is not entirely necessary to finish the entire bottle of scotch/5^th jug of beer/insert drink of your choice in one sitting.

8. Don’t be the person with a Dong Chim story.

This might take a little explaining. There’s a fun little tradition here in Korea known as ‘Dong Chim’. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but to give you an idea, the literal translation is ‘poo needle’. Whilst I haven’t experienced this myself (I’m glad), many a foreigner has had the unexpected shock of bending over – usually to put on/take off their shoes – and receiving a little Dong Chim surprise. Basically, you don’t want to be the person who can say, ‘oh this one time…”