"Ointment for the Oral Cavity Disease"

I think I'm quite lucky to have a pharmacist that speaks English at a pharmacy near my school.  I can't even begin to imagine trying to act out or gesture medical symptoms to someone who speaks no English in hopes that they will be able to decipher my motions correctly and give me medicine that will actually help my ailment.  Nevertheless, I'm always pretty apprehensive to take Korean medicines that I've picked up at the pharmacy or gotten at a doctor's office.  More times than I can count, one of my co-workers has come back from the doctor's office with a Ziploc baggy of 40-50 unlabeled pills and instructions to take these pills together twice a day and these other 2 pills every third day or something like that.  What boggles me even more is the fact that most of my co-workers begin popping these pills without a second thought about what they might be. 

A couple of days ago, I made my way into the pharmacy.  I've had these terrible canker sores taking over my mouth for the past couple weeks, and I had reached the point where I couldn't suffer through them for one more day.  I walked in and told the pharmacist that I had 4 canker sores in my mouth that were making it really difficult to eat or talk or brush.  He nodded his head in understanding and then asked, "Pill or ointment?"  I looked at him rather puzzled.  I had it in my head that I was looking for something similar to Anbesol or Orajel; something just to soothe the pain while the canker sores healed on their own.  After all I had read pretty extensively that there isn't really any cure for canker sores.  I told him ointment.  I was, then, handed a small box with a tube of ointment in it and instructed to apply twice a day.

Now if I wasn't already skeptical about taking Korean medication, I quickly became so.  I had a real issue with squirting some unknown gel into my mouth twice a day to heal my canker sores.  I fumbled around with the box trying to see if there was any clue as to what this magic medicine was.  It was then that I ran across the description of my medicine, "Ointment for the oral cavity disease."   

I silently thought to myself, "That sounds terrible!  Oral cavity disease...surely this can't be right."  Twenty minutes later the pain in my mouth took over my skepticism and I decided to give this medicine a shot.  I applied a small bit on one of my canker sores to test it out and was more than a little surprised when the gel turned into a malleable wax that clung ever so tightly to gum.  It was not what I expected.  It was weird.  But it worked.  Here I am a couple days later, canker sore free.  I still have no idea what exactly I was applying to the inside of my mouth 2x a day, but I'm still alive.  I guess I should just trust the pharmacist when he so assuredly gives me something to take.

Well I'm off to say farewell to a teacher that is leaving tomorrow.  Enjoy your Memorial Day!!!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

Gyeongbokgung

For the most part, I consider myself quite lucky to have been blessed with the co-workers I have.  I've had the opportunity to get to know a couple of them pretty well in the last couple months, and it is really nice to work with people that I get along with, both English staff and Korean staff.  On Sunday, I spent some time with some of these co-workers.  I went to Gyeongbokgung with my friends, Nate, Maeve, Monica and Min-hee.

Gyeongbokgung is one of the royal palaces that is in Seoul.  It was the main and largest palace during the Joseon dynasty.  There are dozens of different halls, temples, and gardens.  It is beautiful!!!  We went to Gyeongbokgung in early afternoon and were able to see this ceremony that they have at the palace called the changing of the guards.  In this ceremony, they reenact what the actual changing of the guard looked like back in the day when the Joseon kings actually lived there.



  It was really interesting.  Afterwards, we spent the next couple of hours walking around the different areas of the palace, exploring the different halls, enjoying the gardens and taking pictures.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip.  I love history and was so excited to see an actual historical relic of Korea.  Seoul is so modern; there are very few traditional, historical things to see in the city.  I have plans to go to a couple of the smaller palaces in the upcoming weeks, and I can't wait!


 

I hope the weather hasn't been too terrible for all of you.  Love you and miss you.
 
It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke

Children's Day

May 5th in Korea is Children's Day.  When I first ran across this holiday on my calendar, it meant absolutely nothing to me.  "I have no children of my own...what a silly holiday," I thought.  Then I found out that Children's Day is a national holiday, so I would get a day off of work.  I instantly became fond of Children's Day.  The more I think about it, it's a pretty cool holiday.  Korea is a society of hard workers.  People work a ridiculous amount of hours, and it is just the norm.  I think there are many Korean children who see their parents infrequently.  So on Children's Day, all these parents that work so many hours the rest of the year take the day off and totally spoil their kids.  I've heard it said that it is as good as or better than Christmas to Korean kids.  Lucky little children!

I didn't get loads of candy and toys from my parents, but my Children's Day was still pretty awesome!  I went to Namsan (Mt.), a famous mountain in the center of Seoul, with my friends, Monica and Nate.  I don't get to experience much nature on a daily basis, other than my bamboo plant and a half dead tree on my walk to work.  So we wanted to go somewhere full of plants and flowers and beautiful.  Namsan was just that.  At the top of Namsan is N Seoul Tower.  N Seoul Tower has an observation deck that allows you to see a panoramic view of Seoul, and I think it's the highest point in Seoul.  So once we got to the top of Namsan, we went up in the N Seoul Tower.  It was so pretty!!!  We grabbed a cup of coffee and chatted while we looked over the city that we are all growing to love. 

I think my favorite part of our day at Namsan was the "Lovers' Locks."  On the first observation deck of N Seoul Tower, there are fences all around the outside of the deck that are covered with every conceivable color, shape and type of lock.  Years ago, two lovers brought a lock with them on their visit to N Seoul Tower.  After they had spent the day there, they locked a lock onto the fence of the observation deck with a message written on it proclaiming their undying love for one another.  After they locked the lock, they threw the key over the edge of the observation deck, never to be retrieved again.  In this act, they committed themselves to each other until their lock was unlocked and removed from the fence at N Seoul Tower.  Ever since, couples have come to N Seoul Tower with locks to put on the fence, declare their love and commit to each other for as long as their lock remains on the fence.  Personally, I think the whole thing is ridiculous and funny and corny.  But the locks are beautiful.  It's breathtaking to see tens of thousands of locks covering every fence around the entire deck.  It was an all around really fun day!

Hope things are well in the States!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke