South Korea Fun Fact #1: Fan Death
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...(or just 30 or 40 years ago in a little country called Korea), the government decided to persuade the countrymen and women to conserve energy through that almighty power called "fear". The government issued warnings against using a fan at night. Said usage causes a unique-only-to-Korea phenomenon: Death. While all across the globe, homosapians keep their ceiling fans and floor fans running during the night and still wake up alive and well (and less sweaty) in the morning, Koreans apparently die. Supposedly, the fan blades in Korea cut the oxygen molecules in two, reducing the amount of oxygen in the air which can, in turn, cause suffocation. Additionally, using a fan at night can drastically change the temperature of the air, resulting in fatal hypothermia. (I couldn't make this up if I wanted to, people.) However, I'm assuming "fan death" only affects the locals. I've been sleeping with my fan on every night for over a week...and I'm still alive and kickin'. (Reference: The Rough Guide to Korea)
Speaking of "death", I'm going to revisit that age-old topic of health care. If you can recall, I really loved the health care in Thailand. It was insanely affordable, the doctors spoke more than enough English to communicate with foreigners efficiently and the hospitals were clean and modern.
I kind of have this distinct feeling that Asia in general is trying to kill me. Between awful allergies, walking pneumonia and least we forget the getting-hit-by-a-motorbike incident in Thailand, I've been in Korea for a month and already had my fair share of crap. I've caught my first cold - an affliction that seems to occur every 3 months - and then had the misfortune of catching pink eye! A big Thank You to my students who like to fart on their hands and then touch things...
I finally had to head to the clinic last week to get some eye drops. I was expecting the health care in Korea to be far superior to that in Thailand - considering Korea is not a 2nd/3rd world country. Unfortunately, I found it's not quite the same...It's not bad by any means, but trying to communicate "pink eye" when I speak very little Korean (and am really cranky, frustrated and tired) to a doctor who speaks very little English is, well, just frustrating as hell. I was speaking to him in English and he was speaking to me in Korean, so basically the conversation was going nowhere. He finally pulled out his phone and I typed "pink eye" into it...he did the translation on his phone and says "conjunctivitis!" YES. Conjunctivitis. He wrote a prescription and I was on my way. I was later told by a foreign friend that this particular doctor is good at speaking English when it comes to medical terms, but to ask further questions (like how long will it be until you're better), you're at a loss. Good to know.
I also decided to finally try acupuncture (after years and years of saying I want to try acupuncture). My Korean co-worker is really into Chinese medicine and is a strong advocate of acupuncture, so she kindly set up an appointment for me to get some work done on my ankle. In the US (I assume...), you get little needles inserted into specific spots to cure various ailments. That's what I was expecting. Instead (well, more like "in addition to") they have a practice here that I can only describe as "blood letting". The acupuncturist did the little needle thing to a few spots here and there, then took some kind of needle-pricking gun and shot at least a hundred needle pricks all around my ankle. Imagine the feeling of having your finger pricked to test your blood multiplied by a hundred times. It fucking hurt (worse than a tattoo). Then he placed little glass suction bulbs over the pricks to draw out the old blood. (Luckily, that part didn't hurt.) They let that suction for a good 10 minutes. Apparently the process is used to get rid of the old blood to allow for new blood circulation. Afterwards, my ankle felt pretty good...I couldn't go running by any means, but it felt better walking on it. A few days later and it's back to where it was, but perhaps after a few regular treatments, I will be able to be running on it. I'll keep you posted!
Happy Healthy Trails!
A very befitting jam right here...Who doesn't love Jackson Browne?
UPDATE (July 2013):
I quit going to the "blood letting" acupuncturist. I didn't find it was helping at all. Plus, he made me angry when he said I was still in pain because 1) I walk too much; and 2) I'm too fat. How the hell can I lose weight if you don't want me to walk?! I've started drinking honey and cinnamon every day because I heard it was good for weight loss (on Pinterest!)...I'm not sure if it's helped in the weight department but since I've started, my ankle is hurting a lot less than before. Coincidence? Who knows!
