Hospitalization Makes My Trip Complete

As I mentioned earlier, my allergy was back since Friday night, and I thought it was because of the weather. Somehow it got better in the morning, so I went out to have fish cake for lunch with a friend again. And that’s how I found out I was allergic to the food, not the weather. Redness was all over my neck, stomach and back and was worse than the night before. Hospitalization seemed to be the only solution. It took me a while to figure out where to walk to the only, open clinic in the close by region. Here, special thanks to Mr. Choi, the old security guy of the dorm, Miss Lee, our housing assistant, and the Seven Eleven store owner who happened to be a Chinese Korean. No one spoke English in the clinic. The female doctor knows limited English words like me speaking limited Korean words. Somehow everything worked out fine.

“Ah, your insurance not working,” said the doctor.

“Hmm, is it gonna be expensive without the insurance?” asked me.

“내 (yes), expenser,” stressed she.

I guess I should be upset by now because I know now I can never have fish cake again because of my allergic reaction, but learning a new English word is quite an interesting experience to me. “Expenser,” I am so gonna remember this word forever for “more expensive.” Laugh my ass off. Everything went well. The cost of hospitalization was cheap, unlike the U.S. Excellent service as well. This unexpected event definitely made my trip unforgettable.

Without getting any rest after injection, I went to meet up with my old friend, JiYeun, in GangNam. I knew her since four years ago, but we stopped hanging out after she graduated. Such a long-time-no-see, and I suddenly feel old. We went shopping and walked around the area. It was awesome, but I have spent too much money. I need to save for the next three weeks from now on. Good luck to Zixin.  

Having Fun

I would like to jump to my conclusion: Korean people are funny. Se Mi, Kyong A, Je Min, Jessie and I hung out at the outdoor activities yesterday. We first took the school tour bus to the National Folk Museum of Korea. Our tour guide was a funny looking Korean man who loved to take pictures for us. It doesn't mean he is good at it. He always missed the point and never photographed the sightseeing spots. Se Mi soon realized he was not an excellent tour guide and became our own private, and the best, body language tour guide. She is not very good at explaining in English and sometimes gets confused about her own saying, so she used a lot of gestures and sound effects to complete her sentence. The best thing about her though was to show us the private loyal family backyard in the Palace. Not many people knew that place in the Museum, but we got to see it. Awesome!! Kyong A is a tall, quiet girl, and she laughs at my jokes, so I guess our friendship works out somehow. Je Min is the big brother among us. He knows where to do fun stuff and find good food. He told us because his last name was Lee, he must be from the loyal family in Korea. We laughed about it and never took it seriously. Jessie is a Chinese girl from UK. She is suffering from jet lag these days like me. I guess I can put her into my jet lag friend cirlce on Google Plus. Laugh out loud! After the Palace, our tour guilde took us to a show, NANTA. It was a group of people using kitchenware as drums to make loud noise and rhythm. It was great, but I kinda slept through the whole thing. We successfully dragged our exhausted bodies to a Korean barbecue restaurant. Sleepiness and hunger almost killed us. The crazies thing we did was to run in rain after dinner. People here think running in rain is strange because we should use umbrella. Yeah yeah yeah, I was just trying to be an Oklahoman. Because of the weather here, my skin allergy is back. Redness covers half of my back. Good that I don't feel itchy or pain. I hope I will get well soon and have more fun!!

Becoming A Korean

After everything is settled down, jet lag seems to be my biggest problem for now. The international orientation and campus tour were full of Korean cultural elements, but time difference made me suffered. I made a few new friends at the lunch and the individual activity. Some Korean students at SKKU are not fluent in English, but I am glad they put up with my limited Korean skill. Someone even told me my Korean was the best among all of the foreign students. I was flattered. Even more interestingly, an old man passing by my friends and me said my English was great while he thought I was a native Korean. Flatteries! I think I have become very Korean. Of course, my Asian eyes are really convincing. Kim bap (Korean sushi) here is really cheap and tasty. Kal bi (barbecue ribs and pork) is expensive per se but reasonable. There are so many noodle soup restaurants near my dorm, and I will give it a try in the next few days despite the fact that I am not a big fan of Korean noodles. I am so tired and sleepy now. Yawn…' 

Transit (Written Earlier)

Thirteen hours of in flight non-active hibernation are quite a torture to me. I have slept and eaten a lot while doing nothing, but doing nothing productive isn’t my lifestyle. I guess I would be doing laundry or vacuuming my apartment if I were home at this hour, or maybe put up a stuffed animal show with my toys (Yes, that is productive to me). I should probably be satisfied since I had a super basketball star, Russell Westbrook, to start this long journey. I accidentally broke into his private reserved area at the airport waiting section. The trying-to-find-an-empty-seat me didn’t recognize him at first. I love watching basketball games, but players’ faces never happen to remain in my mind. People asked for his photograph and signature, and even my Facebook friends told me to get closer to him. Guess what, I didn’t even talk to him. Now I am flying over the Pacific Ocean. Seven hours have passed, but dehydration and boredom are not making this flight enjoyable. I guess I could have asked for a cup of wine and watch some inflight movies meanwhile. Trust me, I have done that. It usually takes me 30 minutes to finish a cup of wine. Thirteen hours are 26 half hours. So yeah, drinking 26 cups of wine isn’t a wise solution for me. I am still very looking forward to my trip in Korea despite all these whining. The first meal inflight for me was Bibimbap, one of my favorite Korean dish. They made me choose between Bibimbap and beef tenderloin steak. I struggled a little bit, but favorite won. All the attendants are Korean. They didn’t put up with my poor Korean-speaking skills. I now regret not studying hard in the past few weeks. Hopefully my incoming Korea experience would improve my communication skills. Teehee! 

My Pre-Korea Adventure

Waking up at 7 in the morning isn't my pleasure. Finishing packing, cleaning up the mess in the apartment, and saying bye to friends are my final preparations for Korea. This will be my second biggest adventure traveling to the other side of the world all by myself. The first adventure would be leaving all the families behind coming to the U.S. for high school. The teenage me wasn't ready for exploring the world without parents, being socially awkward and immature. Although my past experience beefs up my resume, I was forced to start my first adventure. I am glad I am now able to add a new page to my life and color it with my favorite pencil.