"Mint Condition"

This past weekend I visited the "Grand Mint Festival" held at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu (Bangi) -- and not too far from Jamsil Sports Complex.

I didn't know what to expect, as I was offered free tickets by my girlfriend who needed to scope the venue out for her company, as they may want to use it for their own festival.

Grand Mint? As I approached the park area I saw a scattering of tents and stage set-ups. Was this going to be a festival promoting mint flavored products? I expected tea, candies, scented candles, and air-fresheners. Why was there a stage? Were they going to have groups come out and sing and dance about mint?

As it turns out, the festival is a mini-Woodstock rock festival, showcasing all sorts of music. (I think it's sponsored by the paper company "Mint Paper") I found the bands to be pretty entertaining, and was surprised at the large, yet young crowd. The event wasn't very foreigner friendly - probably because the groups were not very popular and didn't sing in English.

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

 SOUP Loving Forest Garden -- weird name for a staging area. (SOUP is a company name)

The food was good though - albeit expensive. There was also a lot of alcohol served - good for the crowd. -- I didn't see any mint juleps though....

Surprisingly delicious for Korean Tacos...

Who drinks nachos and/or art?

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Overall it was a nice little festival with many vendors and I got a lot of free stuff - bags, buttons, coupons, trinkets, and too many flyers.

"Work It Out Now"

Ever since I first arrived in Korea (almost a year and a half ago) I began to eat healthier.

This can mostly been contributed to eating smaller portions and just plain better quality foods. I regularly eat spicy dishes, less carbs other than rice, a ton more fruit and vegetables, more soups, and smaller quantities but better quality meats.

After my first year I had easily dropped 30lbs without really exercising. My lifestyle has changed dramatically due to the fact that I walk everywhere the subways don't go (unless it's really far that I need a bus or taxi), and that I get out more often and do more things. - I used to be pretty lazy and a homebody.

I started to plateau towards the beginning of summer, and actually gained around 5-10 lbs simply by being on vacation for a month in the States! I blame the plethora of parties and the frequent visits to restaurants with family and friends.

My new plan has been to start exercising. This is one thing I HATE doing. I am NOT a runner, I have had bad knees for years. I was never really into team sports besides baseball when I was younger. I do enjoy playing badminton with my girlfriend, and enjoy walking. I never liked gyms, but I do like the accessibility and ease of being able to get a workout while watching TV instead of running around in the snow and rain.


Walking around Gunpo is pretty relaxing actually. I like exploring side streets and noticing new small restaurants that don't get the attention of the downtown Sanbon crowd. I've even made it a plan to walk in different directions on different days so I don't get bored.

 

A pavilion over looking some apartments on top of a quiet hill.

The one thing that I really like is that there are outdoor "gyms" almost everywhere -- and they are FREE.

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Although these "gyms" aren't really well maintained a lot of the time, or protected from mother nature, they do have their appeal of being readily available to almost anyone at any time (granted when they aren't being used by the elderly -- which is ALL THE TIME except around dinner time). I have found a couple secluded spots where I can lift weights, stretch, and do other sorts of exercises in peace. You'll even find these "gyms" half-way up mountain tops (and usually occupied by 80 year old men and women vigorously working out!).

Some of the equipment I do not use as I don't see the point.

 Does twisting your body slightly from side to side like this REALLY give you a work out? 

Apparently all this walking and light lifting has been helping out. I'm getting closer and closer to my goal. Hopefully by next year I will have a slimmer and trimmer look!

Papa Was A Rolling (kidney) Stone

Last week, I awoke after feeling uneasy and I couldn't get comfortable. I went to the bathroom and immediately felt sick. I thought I might have eaten some bad tuna kimbab (Chamchi-kimbap) from a local franchise.

I thought I might vomit, as I became nauseous and started breathing heavily. Appendicitis was my initial thought - the pain was almost in the right place for it...but suddenly, the pain shifted and became more extreme - this time in my back.

I've had back pain for awhile now - I even saw a chiropractor/acupunturist about it last spring. This felt totally different. It was if I had just been stabbed in the back. As my mind churned, I developed the answer -- a kidney stone.

My gf and I took an excruciating taxi ride to the local hospital where the nurses and doctors at the ER asked my symptoms and did a urine test. (Thankfully my gf translated everything to me, as their English wasn't that great.) They confirmed the stones, and hooked me up to an IV of 5% Dextrose and some pain killer. As they were putting in the needle the pain reached it's height. I began to shake, my hands and chest went numb, and I began vomitting every 15 minutes for the next hour. I thought I was allergic to the medication - but I was told this was normal for this kind of pain.


In between bouts, they ran me into X-rays twice, and a CT-Scan (uncomfortable!) to confirm the stone and get a more accurate assessment.



Turns out, I only had one itty bitty 3-4mm stone.

Once the pain stopped a few hours later, I felt absolutely fine and they sent me home with some pain relievers, antibiotics, and some other medication that I had no clue about - but had no problem taking.

Saturday and Sunday I felt fine. My gf is a great nurse, and watched over me in more ways than I could have hoped for. I even felt great enough to take a walk to Seoul and see the HiSeoul Festival fireworks - which were pretty darn good.

Sunday night the pain started to act up again, as the stone began moving some more, and at 4am, we were in another taxi rushing to the hospital yet again. Of course being one of the only big (and handsome) white guy's the ER has probably seen that month, they immediately recognized me and set me up with the IV's and whipped out my info on their computers. Sidenote: The nurses and doctors I've had every time I've gone to the hospitals in Korea have been great.

Again, after draining the IV's and a little rest, I left feeling fine. We coulding make an appointment with the urologist on Monday - but waited around until he could see us anyway. We had to wait about an hour, but he showed me my x-rays and CT scan to show me the stone, told me that it was too late to remove it, but it wasn't big enough to do so anyways. Instead, I had to wait for it to pass. (I'm still waiting actually). But I've been told to drink a lot of water, eat regularly, and try to stay active. He did hook me up with some stronger pain medication that I've only taken twice since, as the pain has only been dull this past week from time to time.

Some people recommend drinking a ton of lemon juice to move it along, also, I've heard of a lemon juice and olive oil concoction. Others say beer...but the doctor told me no alcohol or caffeine.

All I know is that I wouldn't wish this pain on anyone. I've never felt pain like that in my life. I can only describe it as possibly feeling pregnant, and feeling stabbed in the back.

Hopefully it will pass soon. I don't like the idea that I could be in that pain again in 10 minutes without any notice.

"Lazy for You"

What I've been up to lately:

I've had basically 3 weeks of laziness due to mid-terms. Our teachers are preparing the kids for the tests and want to prep them without me. Oh, darn.'

So, I've completed 3 awesome lessons in my spare time (working on a 4th) and starting to prepare for my open-class sometime late November (open class is where I will be evaluated by other foreign teachers and Korean English teachers).

With all this free time, you would expect me to blog, right? Wrong. I've been keeping busy trying to work out every day, as well as improve my Korean through self-study. I really should do a blog post about the outdoor gyms in my area...

A few weeks ago, I got to see some ice hockey (there are only 2 teams in Korea, and one is located the next town over). The Anyang Halla were fun to watch. Here are some photos:

 

 

 

Also, I visted the Seoul Design Fair (last year called the Seoul Design Olympiad. I posted about it here.). My girlfriend is an event manager for the promotion company this year, so she's worked super hard on it. It actually closes today. I didn't find it as entertaining as last year. It felt larger and more interesting then, but it was still cool to see some of the amazing designs. (I didn't take any pictures though this time around - sorry.)

I'm debating starting a Korean food blog that would incorporate Restaurant Reviews, Cooking, and even School Lunches - so stay tuned for that. It might take me some time to get motivated to start it.

One of the many delicious dishes friend Minyoung's "Cafe Under the Stairs" in Hongdae (Seoul) creates. This one is Pumpkin Curry with Rice

Most interestingly Koreans have been in an uproar about the price of cabbage (Napa Cabbage specifically) - as it is used for making Kimchi. Bad weather (and even industrial growth) has been blamed for the shortage of cabbage this season, and prices have skyrocketed. It's even become a political issue. I love kimchi and eat it 2-3 times a day. Some restaurants are hurting as the prices have gone so high that they are starting to charge you when you ask for more of it. (Usually it's a free side dish). Koreans are referring to it as geum-chi (geum means "gold")

CNN Reports:

Thanks to my parents for sending me a care package! It's always great to get things from home. (Especially the new iPod Touch I purchased - as I can now use Skype on the go, and take photos/videos and send them instantly!)