St. Paddy's Day Hike

While other people were going to spend St. Patrick's Day getting drunk, I made plans to go hiking.  I was prepared for a more relaxed, low-key day.  However, I found myself having more of an adventure than I originally bargained for!

Mark and I made the plan to go hiking earlier in the week.  As the weekend approached, we were not sure if we would be able to head into the mountains as the forecast called for a rainy weekend.  It rained most of the day on Friday and early Saturday morning didn't look promising.  By 10:00, it was still dreary and foggy, but it looked like the rain might hold up so we decided to head out anyway.  Our planned route was to head up the mountain using the trail head behind the Gyeongsangnam Provincial Office, hike along the ridge line, and come back down to the trail head next to the shooting range. 

In the beginning, everything was going according to plan.  We made it up to the first peak in an hour and fifteen minutes.  The peaks along the ridge line offer spectacular views of Changwon on clear days, but it was very foggy on this particular day.  Despite the fog, we could still make out the buildings below and kept our eyes on the shooting range.  Going from peak to peak was exhilarating, and at times scary.  The were staircases going up the side of a rock formation with nothing underneath the stairs but a long drop to the ground below.  In another place, the trail was narrow with steep drops on either side that one misstep could mean serious trouble.  Oh, and don't let me forget to mention that the rain from the day before left some of the rocks slippery and sections of the trail muddy.  I wiped out once and had a few other close calls due to the conditions.

The fog was thick early in the morning and afternoon.

 Notice the slope of the rock ledge.  There was not much underneath the stairs except a long drop down.

The view from one of the staircases bolted to the side of the mountain.

 This part of Jeong Byeong Mountain is 460 m high.

 We found this perch with a scenic view.  However, falling can be hazardous to one's health!

566 m high on Jeong Byeong Mountain.  I think the highest elevation was 583 m but I didn't see a marker at the peak.

Like I said, reaching each new peak was exhilarating and provided a great sense of accomplishment, especially for being in the shape I'm in.  Because of this, we kept going along the ridge line, further than we should have.  Hiking is very popular in Korea and on the weekends, the trails can be crowded.  While the weather kept some people home, there were still many Koreans on the trails.  However, after reaching the last peak, we should have noticed that we were no longer seeing other people on the trail, but we were oblivious at first.  Descending the other side of the mountain was not an easy task.  There were parts along the trail where you had to scale down the sides of rocks and navigate down steep, muddy slopes.  Before long, we realized that the trail was not taking us down toward the shooting range, but rather toward some other town or neighborhood on the other side of the mountain! 

 Some parts required scaling down the rocks using ropes.

We kept going down, but tried to find a trail or other navigable route that would take us around the mountains into Changwon.  We weren't having any luck until we were near the bottom of the mountain.  There, the trail split off into two, one direction continuing on toward the base and the other seeming to head in the direction we needed to go.  We took the trail to the left hoping it would lead us in the right direction.  Although the trail was marked, it did not look like it was used often.  Low hanging branches and overgrown bushes obstructed the way.  At one point, my jacket got caught on a branch with many thorns and Mark had to help me get unstuck.  Eventually, the trail disappeared and we seemed to be in an orchard of some sort at the base of the mountain.  At this point, I was becoming exhausted.  We found a dirt road and followed that through the orchard.  About 20-30 minutes later, after having to backtrack once due to a dead end, we came upon a Korean man and woman who were probably working the farm.  We tried to ask how to get to Changwon University, and the man did his best to point us in the right direction.  It was not a good sign when Mark asked about finding a taxi and the woman laughed.

 We found these near the base of the mountain.  I don't know what they were.

 We had to navigate through this orchard(?) until we found the road (below).

We continued down the road in the direction the man pointed.  Soon, we were walking through a small area of houses which I assumed were for people who worked the land in one form or another.  There were also chicken coops along the road with roosters crowing as we walked by.  Eventually, we saw a paved road and a building so we headed in that direction.  The building turned out to be deserted as it looked like it was just constructed.  The main road turned out to be a brand new expressway going under the mountains that was not yet open.  Considering the only alternative was to go up and over the mountain without a trail to guide us, we started walking along the deserted expressway through the tunnel under the mountain.  Although it was nice and cool inside the tunnel, it seemed to go on forever.  We walked for at least 15-20 minutes before we came out the other side.

 The tunnel seemed to go on FOREVER!!!

There was a random phone booth in the tunnel.

The good news was we could now see the university.  The bad news was we still had to get off the elevated expressway and across the fenced-off railroad tracks.  A ways down, we saw what appeared to be an overpass over the tracks.  Looking further down the expressway, we spotted signs (still shrink-wrapped as the expressway wasn't open) for an exit toward the university and the train station.  After making our way toward the exit and down the ramp, we noticed the exit is not yet finished.  Also, the exit was not connected with the overpass we spotted earlier.  To get to the overpass, we had to scale down a dirt embankment.  To our disappointment, the overpass was part of the construction still going on and led to a dead-end on the other side.  At least we were over the railroad tracks though!

Our best option at that point was to slide down another embankment and walk along the fence that paralleled the railroad tracks.  Our plan was to follow the tracks to the station and catch a taxi there.  After walking a while along the fence, we ran into a Korean couple going in the opposite direction.  They seemed to be trying to point us in a different direction which was through a cemetery.  We obliged and after passing through the cemetery and another muddy area, we were at the university.  Sweaty, exhausted, and muddy, we made our way to the entrance of the university and hopped in a taxi to take us home.

The path along the railroad tracks.

What should have been a 3-4 hour hike turned into an adventure lasting over 6 hours!  Despite being lost and exhausted, we never panicked or lost our spirits.  Even during our trek, we were able to joke around and state that this was one hike that won't soon be forgotten! 

Going to the Doctor (USA vs. Korea)

I knew it would happen though as spring drew nearer I was hoping I would skip it this year.  I am referring to getting sick.  It usually happens to me once every winter.  This year, it turned out to be a bad sore throat with bouts of coughing.  Finally, after 5 days of not getting better, I made the decision to go to the doctor. 

It is interesting how living in a different country enables one to view their own country in a different light.  Sometimes, the comparisons allow you to view your own country more favorably.  This was not one of those times.  I should mention that I am basing these comparisons on only one trip to the doctor here in Korea, but I have a strong feeling that my experience was not a statistical anomaly.

Over-the-counter medication:  When I first started feeling sick, I thought I might be catching a cold or getting the flu.  When this happens in the United States, I can go to any retail store, supermarket, or convenient store and purchase medications such as pain relievers, cough medicine, and cold/flu relief gel caps.  In Korea, however, even over-the-counter medications can only be purchased in a pharmacy.  Considering that there seems to be 3 convenient stores every block, this is rather,well, inconvenient.  Currently, Korea is considering legislation to allow other businesses to sell basic over-the-counter drugs but until then, I have to say:
ADVANTAGE: United States

Getting in to see the doctor:  Five days later, I still wasn't feeling better so I wanted to see a doctor.  In the U.S, this would involve calling the doctor's office to make an appointment.  There rarely were openings available on the day I would call and almost never an available time over the next day or two that was convenient for me.  This usually meant that going to the doctor would involve missing work.  In Korea, you just show up at the nearest hospital with no appointment.  I gave the receptionist my ID, told her my symptoms, and into the hospital I went.
ADVANTAGE: Korea

Wait time:   Not once did I ever see my doctor on time in the United States.  I often had to wait 20-30 minutes or more beyond my appointment time to see the doctor.  Once, I had the first appointment of the day at 7:00.  I still did not see the doctor until 7:20.  At the Korean hospital, after I checked in with the receptionist, I was given a personal guide to accompany me during my visit.  I don't think this is typical but rather because I do not speak Korean.  Anyway, she took my up to the waiting area for the doctor and waited with me.  From the time I checked in without an appointment to the time I saw the doctor, I waited no more than 10 minutes.  
ADVANTAGE: Korea

Communication: The doctor spoke enough English that I was able to communicate with him and understand what he was saying although I did have to ask him to repeat himself a couple times.  The other staff in the hospital I interacted with spoke very little English but just barely enough for me to communicate what I wanted.  When I was finished with the doctor, he told me what I had.  I don't remember exactly what it was because he used advanced medical jargon that I couldn't understand.  Come to think of it, my doctor back in the U.S. does the exact same thing.  I just remember him saying something about my tonsils and using long compound words to describe them.
ADVANTAGE: United States (by a small margin)

Cost: After seeing the doctor, my guide took me to the cashier to pay.  The cost to see the doctor was around $14.  This was without insurance as I applied for the health coverage last week but have not yet received anything.  With insurance in the U.S, my co-pay was $20.  The prescription, meanwhile, was also approximately $14 for everything without insurance while back home, I was paying a $10-$25 co-pay per medication depending on what it was.  Again, this was with insurance.  Imagine what the prices in Korea are with the insurance!
ADVANTAGE: Korea

Filling a prescription:  After the cashier took my payment and printed out my prescription, my guide took me to a side exit and showed me the pharmacy across the street where I can get my prescription filled.  I walked in, handed the pharmacist my prescription, and had it filled in less than 5 minutes.  Also, the pharmacy took my medication and divided it into packets for easy consumption.  The instructions were to take one packet, 3x a day, along with 10ml of "gargle".  To be fair, pharmacies in the United States do not take much longer to fill a prescription.  I think 15-20 minutes was my average wait time back home.  
ADVANTAGE: Korea (by a small margin)

Let me first say that I believe the United States is the best country in the world and I am proud to be American.  However, I was never naive enough to think that America is the best at everything.  It is really a shame that many people in America are strongly against changing something that clearly needs improvement, such as our health care system.  I realize I am only making comparisons based on one visit to the doctor here in Korea, but I NEVER had a medical experience back home that even came close to the affordable, easy, efficient, experience I had this morning.  Other nations, including Korea. have learned ways to improve certain aspects of their own counties from the United States.  The United States also could learn a thing or two from other countries but many people are against just that.  I just wish more Americans were not so stubborn and ethnocentric as to prohibit our great nation from becoming even greater.         

How I Celebrated Samiljeol

On March 1, 1919, a movement began in Korea protesting colonial rule by the Japanese.  A group of Koreans wrote a document similar to the U.S.' Declaration of Independence.  Japan reacted to this with aggression and many people were killed, but the Koreans eventually would prevail.  Much like the Declaration, this did not lead to immediate independence, but it was a catalyst which led to the Korean people thinking about independence which they would officially gain over 26 years later with the defeat of Japan after World War II.  Thus, Samiljeol is a national holiday every March 1 to celebrate this movement.  Why is this important to me you ask?  The answer is quite simple.  I get a day off!

After an exhausting last week and a half, I needed a day away from my students.  After a leisurely morning on March 1, I went hiking for the 2nd time in Korea.  The weather was gorgeous!  I'm guessing the high temperature was somewhere around 12-13 degrees Celcius.  I went with Mark and a friend of his, Olivia.  This time, we headed to a trail near the Changwon Shooting Range.  We noticed that they offer skeet shooting and said we will be trying that in the future (check here for pictures and a description when we go).  Anyway, we head up the trail and I notice a few cemeteries along the way.  It seems like an out of the way place to bury someone, but then again, this is Korea and there probably isn't enough flat land for the types of cemetaries I'm used to seeing.  Continuing on, I should mention that Olivia is into fitness and is making it up the trail with ease.  Meanwhile, Mark, and especially I, are huffing and puffing as we trek along.  Unlike last time, we did not make it up to the top of the mountain, but we weren't planning on it from the outset so it was no big deal.

 There were a few cemetaries along the trail.

 A random single grave on the hillside.

 I'm still not sure whether the stairs make it easier

or harder.

 The thumbs up was fake!  I was dying!

 Mark was doing better than me, but he was

feeling the burn as well.

Dusting the shoes off!

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we went to see a movie at City 7, the main shopping mall in Changwon.  For the most part, everything was similar to the movie-going experience in America including the prices.  It cost 9,000 won for a movie ticket.  There were two exceptions, however.  The first was that when you buy the tickets, you are assigned seats, much like in a stadium.  The employee showed us a map of the auditorium and what seats were available and we had to choose our seat locations ahead of time.  The other main difference was that the movie was subtitled in Korean.  We saw Safe House with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.  Obviously, the movie was in English, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the Korean subtitles for some reason.  I guess that is something I will just have to get used to.  Aside from the subtitles, once the movie started, I forgot I was in Korea for those two hours!

While the day wasn't exactly relaxing, it was defintely something I needed.  Since the last two weeks have worn me out (though not in a bad way), I needed a day not on the weekend to just go out and have fun.  I know the Koreans back in 1919 weren't thinking of me when planning their movement, but they sure seemed to pick a day that was convenient for me!