at the Korean doctor's

I woke up this morning with a slightly sore throat. I didn't think much of it at the time but by the afternoon it had snowballed into a semi-violn'ent illness complete with naseua, vomiting, fever, diziness, hot flashes, cold chills, and a severe sore throat. Throwing up Korean food is an experience beyond description. I can't explain it but I don't recommend it. Doctor's office visits are walk-in, not by appointment. I walked through the door and,before I even sat down, a chime went off signaling it was my turn to go in. I went straight into the office and sat down. The doctor said something to my translator and she told me to point to where it hurt. He took my temperature(38 celsius, 100.4 farenheit), looked in my eyes, nose, and down my throat then sent me on my way. I was out of there in less than 10 minutes! They gave me 5 pill packs and pouches of syrup with a picture of a frog on them.
I'm not exactly sure what everything is but it's basically a combination of vitamins, tylenol, and cough syrup. Overall my first Korean doctor's visit was alright. What would have taken about two hours and cost $50 in the US only took about 10 minutes and cost 7,000 KRW (roughly $6.30 USD)! We'll see how I'm feeling in a few days..then I'll make my official jugement of the experience.

So far so good

I've come home from work the past two days extremely exhausted. I can't tell if it's the kids or the time change. For some strange reason I'm also quite hungry..all I can think of is eating! Korean food is actually quite good. The only things that I've tried so far that I didn't like were the kimchi and the crab. They eat the crab here with the shell still on. It's a very unnatural feeling trying to chew up and swallow the shell..not to mention that the crab sauce is pretty spicy!










Kimbap is pretty good. It's kinda like what we think of sushi in the states but it just has other stuff rolled up in it. Here's the nutrition info: http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/generic/kimbap





My blood sugar has been doing well with the Korean food. If you stick with what you learned in carb counting 101 you should do alright. My A1C had gone up to 8.2 before I left home. Most likely it was because of my bad eating habits that just kept getting increasingly worse as my departure neared. I'm going to use my time over here as an opportunity to improve how I control my diabetes.

Here!

I'm here..I'm exhausted. That's all I've got for now!

Disparity

I got my visa confirmation code and flight information the other day. Initially I was supposed to go out on the 22nd but that has now changed to the 19th. It seems like a trivial amount of time but when someone is trying to do as much as I am it makes a difference. I was hoping to get a non-stop from Atlanta to Seoul but I'll settle for the one stop in San Francisco.

Wow..13 days left!

I went out to Singapore Airline's website to do a little research about the Boeing 777 I'll be on. I looked at the features, amenities, and dining for the economy section and it looked awesome at first. I have never seen anything that nice! Then curiosity got the best of me and I scrolled to the top. The nicest of the nice seats look more like a hotel room than an airplane seat!

Economy seat

Looks pretty good huh?

ok..now compare to

Private suite

That's nicer than my apartment!

Economy dining

That looks awesome..they even give us ice cream!

Private dining

I've never eaten that well on a date!

It amazes me the difference a few grand can make. I'm going to have to try hard not to look down at my magazine holding a plastic spoon for my little cup of ice cream and not think of those people up front lying in their beds, watching their plasma televisions, and drinking their wine from crystal goblets. I'm sure I can find something to keep my mind occupied..just not for 12 hours and 55 minutes.

Just got text from my BFF. Trivia is on for tonight and possibly a tour of the Sweetwater brewery tomorrow. He's putting together a good bye party for me next Saturday. I guess that means I'll be moving my stuff back to my parent's house with a hangover. I'm falling behind on the to-do list.

get a haircut

get H1N1 vaccine

send visa info to the Korean consulate

appoint my mom as power of attorney

look into travel guard insurance

clean out my desk at work

I know there's much more but I keep forgetting about things that aren't written down on the list. Sleep deprivation is making my brain hurt. Thank God it's Friday.

Reaching Out

I've been searching the web for ESL Korea and Diabetic blogs to follow in hopes that I can make contact with another diabetic expat. It would be awesome if I could find someone who has the answers to some of my questions.

How much does insulin cost?
How expensive are pump supplies and how do I order them?
How does the national health insurance program work and what/how much does it cover?
Where can I get an ID card/bracelet that says "type 1 diabetic" in Korean?
How do they count/measure carbs over there?
How do I read a nutrition label in Korean?

Is there anything I'm forgetting?

Stocking up on Glucose

There's a listing on Ebay for 110 ReliOn brand Fruit Punch flavored glucose tablets. I like the fruit punch..they're pretty decent. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110452080617&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

$16.99 with $9.23 shipping doesn't sound bad. I'm sure they have glucose tablets over in Korea but it hasn't been easy trying to do the research. For $26.22 I'll be safe and bring my own. I've still had no luck trying to price insulin & pump supplies but I'm hoping to bring enough with me to get through the first few months.

Right now I'm searching the National Health Insurance website for information. There is some useful stuff on it but not exactly what I'm looking for. I'll keep looking.

Two Week Notice

I just saw my supervisor and put in my two week notice here at the office. I've been with the company for almost 12 years (if you count all the part-time years.) It's been great working here but after seven and a half years of schooling and two music education degrees I think it's time for me to move on. Forget the fact that the company is shutting down all it's offices (that's a story for another time!)

The new criminal background check is almost there http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?ascend_header=1&clienttype=dotcom&cntry_code=us&language=english&tracknumbers=860464218990!

Oh well..I need to get back to work now and start making my list of all the things I do that will need to go to someone else. At some point I want to go to jcrew.com and order some new khakis. I have so much left to do and time is running out!