LASIK in Korea

This post serves to remember/share my experience with getting LASIK eye surgery in Korea.

June 23 - I talked with a fellow Tongyeonger about her experience with LASIK in Korea. I knew she had gotten the surgery a few months prior, so I was really interested to know how it went. She told me about her clinic (Good Morning St. Mary's in Busan) and told me just how amazing it was. She let me know about the procedure, costs, and overall experience. After talking with her, I felt like I didn't need to wait until summer vacation (as I had previously thought) because the recovery time is only 2-3 days...meaning if I did it on a Friday afternoon, then I would be able to go back to work on Monday!

June 29 - I called Good Morning St. Mary's in Busan and made an appointment for a LASIK consultation. They let me know that it'd take about two hours for the whole process.

June 30 - I headed to Busan for my LASIK consultation. It was quite easy to get to the clinic...I was able to take the bus to Sasang station, then the subway directly to Seomyeon. The map made it really easy to find the place, especially since it was really close to the subway exit (#13). When I walked in, I was really surprised! The place was huge! It was so fancy! And there were lots of ladies at the front desk. They greeted me by name and were expecting me, which was quite comforting. I filled out a few forms (general information) and then started the examination process. It consisted of a large variety of eye tests...measuring and examining and checking out my eyes. In the final step, my eyes were dilated and then the doctor checked it all out to make sure my eyes would be ok for the surgery. After that, I talked with one of the ladies I had met in the beginning of the appointment and she went through the process with me. She spoke English well and was very helpful with any questions I had. I felt really comfortable about the whole process.

July 6 - Surgery day! My appointment was for 4pm, so I left school early and headed to Busan for the surgery. When I got to the center, the doctor checked my vision again to make sure it was the same as the week before. After that, I waited for a bit until I was ushered into the surgery area. The space was divided into three sections...a waiting area, the actual room with the surgery machines, and a 'recovery' room. The first step was getting a ton of different drops in my eyes. These drops helped numb the area around my eyes and prepare me for surgery. After that, I was led into a room for the actual procedure. I laid down on the first machine and the doctor positioned it over me and told me to look at the star stickers they had placed on the machine. He put some thing in my eye to keep it open so that I couldn't blink during the process. This machine was used to cut my cornea with a laser. (My cornea was too thin to be cut with a blade.) Each eye took about 15 second maybe...it was really fast. Then they led me to the second machine, which was the actual laser machine to correct my vision. I laid down and the doctor put another thing in my eye to keep it open. Then he used some tools to open the flap of my cornea. After it was ready, the laser machine was lowered and I was told to stare at the lights above me. Then they started the machine, and I swear it only lasted a few seconds! I couldn't believe it when they told me it was finished! After that, the doctor replaced the cornea and smoothed it out before going on to the other eye. It was SOOO fast! I couldn't believe it! I had read that it smells like burning hair when the laser is correcting your vision, which was true. It did smell like that! After that, I was escorted to the recovery room, full of recliners, and told to sit with my eyes closed and just wait. After about 30 minutes, one of the clinic workers took me to my motel to sleep! It was that easy! I could see after the surgery, but not clearly. It was quite blurry at first. At the motel, I just tried to keep my eyes closed as much as possible and rest my eyes. I found that I was pretty sensitive to the light on that first night...so I pretty much just listened to some podcasts with my eyes closed and tried to sleep.

July 7 - The day after my surgery, I had an appointment with the doctor at 10am, so I woke up after a comfortable night of sleep. I had to sleep with some eye protectors on my eyes so that I wouldn't touch my eyes, but they didn't hinder the sleeping process! My vision was still pretty blurry, but not so much that I couldn't get around. It kind of felt like I was walking around without my glasses, so my instinct was to put on my glasses, but that wouldn't work since the prescription was way too strong now. I was able to walk around and go have breakfast before my appointment. At the appointment, the doctor checked my eyes closely to make sure they were doing alright and then I was on my way! It was short and sweet! After that, I went to the store to do a little shopping and then headed back to Tongyeong on the bus. I tried to rest my eyes a bit, but they weren't hurting or anything. When I got back to Tongyeong, I came home and was able to watch TV and relax. I even met up with some friends for dinner, and there weren't any problems.

July 8 - Still a little blurry vision, but it was getting better. I could watch TV and use the computer a little bit. I was able to walk my dog, Riley, and function normally.

July 9 - I went to work without any major problems. My vision was still a bit blurry, but nothing that hindered me from going back to work. I could still see just fine, but I just had to focus a bit more than before. The doctor said at my appointment that it would take some time for my eyes to adjust so I'm not worried!

July 14 - I went back to Busan for my one week checkup. The doctor said everything looks good and my cornea is very clear. He just said to keep using the medicated eyedrops until they run out and then I'm good! He also said to keep using the artificial tears pretty often to keep my eyes wet. Besides that, he said my vision should continue to sharpen and to come back for my 3-month check in October!

High School Camp (2nd Time Around)

Busy, busy, busy! That's all I can say to describe my life lately! It's almost JUNE!!!! Can you believe it!?! I know I can't! 

What's been keeping me busy, you might ask!? The main thing is a 6-week high school camp at a local private girls school in town. I worked this same type of camp about a year ago, and I was super excited to get the opportunity to do it again!!

A couple of weeks ago, we did a music lesson and listened to one of my favorite artists, Jack Johnson. We then drew pictures to go with the lyrics of the song, and I put it all together in a video for the girls. Check it out below!

More to come!

Lonely - The Irony

"Are you lonely?" It's a question I hear a lot from Koreans.

You see, Koreans aren't used to living alone. Most of them live with their parents until they're married, and then they live with their spouses.

So when they found out I live alone, they all ask the same thing, "Are you lonely?" But I always say the same thing, "No, not at all!" And it's the way I feel. Even before I got Riley, I didn't really think of myself as being lonely. I have always had someone that I can hang out with or call up if I needed. But also, I value my alone time. I grew up in a different house than my sisters, so I've always known how to handle myself when I'm not surrounded by others. It doesn't bother me...and actually, I quite like having 'me' time!

I've heard before that it's possible to feel completely alone even when you're surrounded by a crowd of people. I never knew that feeling until I came to Korea. And today it happened again, hence the reason for this blog entry.

Today I traveled to a small town outside of Tongyeong to watch our teachers compete against other local schools in a volleyball competition. I didn't have anyone to go with, so I took the bus alone (no problem) and when I arrived, I sat by some teachers that I'm pretty friendly with. Well, when it was time for them to go warm up for their volleyball match, the space around me freed up. Some other teachers (older women) came to sit down, but I could understand them saying in Korea how they didn't want to sit by me because they couldn't speak English.

In that moment, the 30 or so minutes that I was sitting there, I couldn't help but feel so lonely, even though I was in a gym full of people.

To me, it struck me as so ironic that Koreans are always so concerned about me being lonely and not having anyone with me, but in that moment, I was completely isolated from the group of teachers. The teachers that 'shut me out' are not ones that I'm close with, nor are they teachers that I've had any interaction with...so I'm not taking it personally. I know that if it were any foreigner sitting there, they would have done the same thing.

It's just ironic to me...that's all.

April Happenings

It's hard to believe that April is almost over. Time is quickly racing by and I don't quite know how to feel about that! I just really can't believe it's already about to by May in a couple of days!! Wow!! 

On that note, here is the last month for me in pictures...

Riley and I out for one of our many walk on the seaside.

Cherry blossoms in full bloom against the night sky.

Liz, Riley, and I at the Tongyeong Cherry Blossom Festival

 I couldn't get enough of these amazing trees!

Sunset at the pier...a great reminder of why I love Tongyeong so much!

A small bout of food poisoning is a way to damper anyone's free holiday off (April 11...Election day in Korea)

My wonderful friend, Eujin's, wedding

Jinju for the day to see Sara and Ruby

Riley and I experienced a new (to us) park in Tongyeong...WonMun Park.

 Beautiful spring flowers everywhere!!

 Riley got a haircut for the warmer temps outside...oh my little man!

Busan to see Eujin and Gon in their new apartment as a married couple!

Lotte Giants game with lots of Tongyeong friends.

Cultural Difference -- Collectivism vs. Individualism (Korea vs. America)

Every couple of weeks, I have some type of cultural lesson for my students. It's just a little 5-minute bit about some difference between their culture and mine, and it ranges from how to greet someone (shaking hands, not bowing) to national sports around the word to elementary school life for Americans.

Last week, we had a very interesting culture lesson...and it's not just useful for Korean students...I think it's useful for anyone that comes to Korea, any Korean that visits the US, and anyone trying to understand Koreans around them. 

The topic was (as the title states) collectivism versus individualism. Along with my co-teacher, we explained to the students many different points about this major cultural difference.

Firstly, we talked about 'our' vs. 'my'. In Korea, people refer to people/things as 'our'...'our mother', 'our friend', 'our food', etc. In America, we refer to those things as 'my'...'my mother', 'my sister', etc. 

In the same way, a major community item is food. If you see a Korean meal, you can see that they all eat collectively and together. Each person doesn't have their own plate and eat their own meal like back home. It's all in the middle and shared together. Even at Western restaurants in Korea, Koreans order together and share together. Along the same lines, when you're eating a bag of chips or a snack, Korean culture is that you share with the people around you. When I was at the hagwon a few years ago, I literally saw a student bring in a bag of chips, share with everyone around him, and have just a couple to eat for himself...but that's normal. Korean culture is about sharing and give and take. I usually like this idea...except for when I'm really hungry and just want to eat my whole snack on my own! 

Secondly, we discussed personal space. Contrary to what I was taught back in elementary school myself, Koreans have little or no personal space. Whereas in America, we are all about our personal bubble and keeping a safe distance, these things don't seem to be a concern here. Koreans claim it's because there are so many people in such a small area, so it's impossible to have personal bubbles. 

Along with that point, we talked about public space. Koreans, with their 'our' thinking, feel that space is everyone's. Any foreigner that visits/lives in Korea can tell you of a situation whereas people in public spaces (subways, busses, sidewalks, stores, etc) have bumped into them without saying sorry or cut in front of them in line. Those are little things that drive foreigners in Korea nuts, but I think by understanding that the intentions of the Korean people are not negative ones, it can help foreigners in Korea to keep their cool a little better. My co-teacher explained to the students that in American (Western) cultures, when we bump into someone or need to closely pass through a crowd, we would say to each person 'excuse me' or 'I'm sorry'. The students all gasped...seriously! They couldn't believe it. They kind of started giggling...and saying 'I'm sorry' and 'excuse me' to their friends. It was so interesting to see their reaction...as if they had never heard of that concept. But the truth is...they hadn't! Whereas we (as Westerns) do it without a thought, my students had never even thought about doing it! 

After we were finished with the culture tips, we let the students ask questions. Some students were very curious about the topic, which made me really happy as a teacher. I was glad to get their minds thinking about other cultures in a new way.

So after this lesson, every day, I notice some part of this culture difference and it makes me even more aware of how it is a true cultural difference that we (as foreigners in this land) must know about. We shouldn't get angry, we should try to understand. 

**Editor's Note: These thoughts are mine...they are not fact. And of course, they aren't applicable to every single Korean or every single Westerner. They are a general overview of the culture from my experience here.