I went to the doctor today after work. I have a hacking cough that I feared was bronchitis. Walked in with no appointment and filled out no paperwork. Was seen after a 10 minute wait. Talked to the doctor for 5 minutes, he took my vitals and asked me some questions. He gave me a prescription. The pharmacist was located conveniently downstairs from the doctor's office.

Total cost of visit to doctor and prescription meds:

Doctor: W2,500.00 or about $2.20

Meds: W3,200 or about $3.00

Total time:

20 minutes

Sometimes I love this country.

And now a picture of my apartment building.

The street on which i live...

...and the street parallel to the street on which I live.

Brendan's blog entry #4

I’ve been meaning to post for a couple weeks now…

But I’ve been busy. A couple weeks ago my school asked me if I’d be interested in teaching after school classes at a different school. I hesitated, but it pays really well. I had to decide within the hour of them telling me and then leave for an interview. Got the job, and of course they told me I needed to start in 10 minutes (though they swore before hand I wouldn’t have to). Terrible time, not told what to do, how it was taught previously, and I was teaching grammar while reading what I was supposed to be teaching.

I work 8 hours extra a week, and get back around 6:45 as opposed to 5:00. Because I leave early for this I now have little to no time to lesson plan with my co-teacher for my regular classes. Plus, I have to write a separate lesson plan for each of those 8 extra. Also, I have to have grades for all my students for writing and grammar, as well as comments for each kid in one of the classes, by Wednesday. I know nothing about them, not even their names, and their grades are now based off of how well they answered about 10 one word answers while I looked over their shoulders. Completely arbitrary.

Extremely wore out right now, but this should pay for most of our trip come February. More interesting posts from me should be coming shortly.

I am sick...

This is the chair next to my bed.

I was going to take a picture of myself, but then I started coughing. So I just figure that it was appropriate.

What's up party people?

Yeah, so it's been a while since i've posted. I can feel the guilt washing over me.

This week was the Korean SAT. It's only for the seniors. We call them 3rd graders because High School is 3 years here and they are (obviously) in their 3rd year. I found this a little confusing at first but anyway. It was on Thursday. So I didn't have to come to work! Yay! It's a national test and it's pretty darn serious. Like, if you do badly it will ruin your life, serious. This test is weighted as 90% of your college application here. It's about 8 or 9 hours long. Kids prepare for it by studying 5 and 6 hours a day outside of school for YEARS. There are no make-up days even if you have swine flu. It's crazy. Planes are not allowed to fly on this day. Traffic is stopped for students. Parents sit outside the gates of the school and wait for their kids. What did I do on this all-important day you may ask? I cleaned Brendan's apartment and watch 5 episodes of America's Next Top Model. All of the other teachers (the Koreans) had to work that day proctoring the tests. One of the teachers told me today that a girl threw up in the middle of the listening test all over herself. Awesome. It's the pressure. It's insane here. Interested in reading more about it? You can find a news story here.

Hmmmm what else? Brendan and I got trivia every Thursday night at a foreigner bar in Itaewon. (That's the happening place for English speakers.) We've never won. Recently, we've paired up with a group of military micro-biologists and nurses and have come in second twice. The trivia is no-joke and has 5 separate sections. Somehow I always come out of there feeling dumber though...

Brendan is over his illness. Still don't know what it was but I suspect it was the regular old flu. He never even missed a day of work. The working Korean-style right there.

I've been shopping around for Christmas presents lately. I'm trying to get stuff bought up for everyone and sent out in time for the big day. Only 7 more shopping weeks till Santa is born and Jesus comes down the chimney!

I want some cranberry sauce. I don't think they grow cranberries in this country. I also want egg nog.

I'm a little concerned about all of the people in southern Virginia. Are you ok? Are you flooded?

It's finally getting cold here. I think it was in the upper 40's and lower 50's today. It also rained. Kind of depressing. Especially when the bottoms of your shoes are breaking away and street water pours in to greet your socks. Then you have wet feet all day. Ick. Plus the streets here are gross. I can't even get into how gross.

Koreans are not classy dressers. I wish I had pictures to show you but I will tell you why.

1) Shiny suits. I'm sick of seeing dudes walking around in pin stripes and shiny suits. It doesn't make you look important. It makes you look like your from the 80's.

2) Women here wear cut off shorts with tights and high heels. It's so pretty woman in this country.

3) Fur- they all wear it. That's just gross.

4) High-heeled tennis shoes. Apparently Koreans aren't all quite as tall as I thought, they're just sneaky.

5) I think Brendan has gone over this one: Clothes with incomprehensible English writing on them. Wow, you're shirt says, "Sweety girl toaster rebellion" and your bag is telling me, "Gives faces above paranoid..."

6) Men straighten their hair here. They also get perms.

7) Glasses with no lenses. Frames for fashion.

The DMZ!

We went to the DMZ this weekend! It was... OK.

I made a video about it for your enjoyment.

I forgot to add into the video that at the train station, a girl got on the train thinking that it was part of the tour and the doors closed on her. She was stuck inside the train while it took the hour long journey to Munsan. Lol.