Holiday time!

Before I left for Korea, I had a cough that I'd had for about one month.  When I got to Korea, it got way worse.  The head teacher at school convinced me that I needed to see a doctor.  I was warned that if I went to a Korean doctor, I would get a shot in the butt....  Luckily that didn't happen.  The head teacher took me to her doctor and helped me with the language barrier.  I sat down and watch a very young boy throw up all over the floor.  I felt so bad him; he looked white as a ghost and very sick.  However, I had to turn my head unless I wanted to get sick.  The doctor called me into his office within minutes (we didn't have an appointment--they don't do that here, I guess).  The doctor spoke just enough English to tell me not to take a shower for 7 whole days!!!  Well, obviously I didn't follow doctor's orders.  He also prescribed me some medicine and that was that!  I only had to pay about $3.50 (U.S. dollars) for the office visit.  I then went to the pharmacy and got three day's worth (about 4 pills, 3 times a day) of medicine.  That only cost $5.00 (U.S. dollars).  The mask was $1.50 (U.S. dollars).  My doctor visit and medicine was a total of $10.00 (U.S. dollars)!!!!!  My cough is basically gone!!

Here is me wearing the mask.  I wore it while walking outside and in cabs.  I should have worn it anytime I was in public, but I had a hard time breathing in it!

Merry Christmas (late)
So, this was our first Christmas in Korea and our first away from our families.  It was a little sad for us, but then again, it didn't really feel like Christmas.  Koreans don't really celebrate Christmas.  It is more of a holiday for young children and young couples - not a holiday for families.  So, everything was open.  In fact, we went grocery shopping on Christmas.  Kind of sad, I know, but there really wasn't anything else to do.  However, we did have to pick up a few things because a new friend invited us over to her apartment for a Christmas dinner.  She had turkey (rare in Korea), mashed potatos, noodles, celery and cheese (which are both rare in Korea) and a couple pies and cookies!!!  About 2 hours before we went to her house, it started SNOWING!!!!  That's when it really started to feel like Christmas!!!

 View from our porch.

 Another view from our porch.

 Waiting on a taxi.

 Slow moving!

Our Christmas turkey!

The day after Christmas, we explored downtown Iksan even though it had continued to snow.

 Downtown Iksan

 Downtown Iksan

Again.

We were hungry after doing so much walking so we decided to "splurge" a little and stopped at a "higher end" restaurant.  We didn't even know if we would be able to order - not knowing if there would be pictures or anything in English.  We lucked out!!!  The titles of the dishes were in English.  However, we didn't know what came with the main dish.  Oh well!!!!  We were pleasantly surprised!!!

 My meal - Korean chopsteak - a little spicy!!!

Zach's meal - Boston garlic butt steak - spicy!!!!!!!

The best part was that our splurge only cost us about $21.00 (U.S. dollars) and Koreans don't tip--anywhere

Well, my next post will be about teaching.  Hope you enjoyed!!