On the Right Foot

As predicted by time-experts everywhere, 2009 began a whopping 14 hours in Korea before it did in Ottawa. I'm glad to report that I managed a pretty good recovery this week, and I (luckily enough) got to spend the New Year in Seoul.

I reported to the Hospital on Monday, where I had to get a chest X-Ray done, as well as several other breathing tests. While the hospital was crowded, it seemed to be much more efficient than the ones back at home - the wait time for the doctor was under half an hour, and the wait time for all tests (done in different sections of the hospital) was under 15 minutes. As it turns out, my lungs have almost cleared - though that didn't keep the doctor from prescriping me a ton of antibiotics, along with a cough syrup and two pumps. I think they're precautionary, so i'm pretty much out of the woods.

The cost, including all tests and prescription medication, was around 75$. Not too shabby.

As for New Year's eve, myself and a few teachers made our way out to Itaewon, a heavy foreigner-populated district of Seoul. Someone was having a house party (and hey, they were Canadian!), which was all fine, aside from the fact that the apartments here are pretty tiny. Fitting 25-ish people in one of them isn't exactly the funnest way to count down to Midnight.

It turns out that in Korea, there's no ball that drops (American Style), but rather a very big bell that's rung when midnight hits. This is done somewhere in downtown Seoul, which i'm told is a pretty crowded and uncomfortable event to be present for. I can't really say that New Year's had any kind of a different feel here, than it did in Canada. Regardless, i'm still glad I went out - it's a crappy time of the year to be stuck lying in bed.

It was a decent end to a pretty good, up-and-down kind of year. Best Wishes for 2009 to all family, old friends, not-so-old friends, and those two cyber-stalkers i've never met that keep reading my blog.

(Just kidding - I don't keep statistics - i'm sure I have a lot more than just two cyber-stalkers.)

Cheers!