Monday, December 21, 2009

Spirituality in Kuala Lumpur

I came across this little dittie in the wonderful guest house we stayed at in Kuala Lumpur. I thought it fabulous and worth sharing.

Prayer for Tourists

Heavenly father, look down on us your humble tourist servants, who are doomed to travel this earth, taking photographs, mailing postcards, buying souvenirs and walking around in drip-dry underware.

Give us divine guidance in the selection of our hotels, that we may find our reservations honored, our rooms made up, and hot water running from the faucets.

We pray that the telephones work, and the operators speak our tongue.

Lead us, dear Lord, to good, inexpensive restaurants where the food is superb, the waiters friendly and the wine included in the price.

Give us the wisdom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand. Forgive us for undertipping out of ignorance and overtipping out of fear. Make the natives love us for what we are, and not for what we can contribute to their worldly goods.

Grant us the strength to visit the museums, the cathedrals, the palaces and castles listed as "musts" in our guidebooks.

And if perchance we skip a historic monument to take a nap after lunch, have mercy on us, for our flesh is weak.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Korean Health Care Rocks!

Well, I don’t want to turn this into "Sarah’s Medical Blog", but I do have more medical news to share. And no, I’m not pregnant. (I’m getting very tired of answering that question. Is it my clothes or my big American belly?)

Back to the story...I had an extensive medical check-up this morning! And yes, I’m super excited about it. Hell, I’m an American - I don’t get check-ups unless my feet are in stirrups. And this was no ordinary check-up. It was a Korean style health care check-up. I know this is going to bore you even more, but I just need to tell you what I didn’t have to pay for this morning.

EKG
Bone Density/Mineral Content Test
Artery Check
Chest X-Ray (lung check)
Body Fat Ratio Test
Eye Exam (including eye pressure test)
Hearing Test
Ultrasound Check of: thyroid, carotid artery, kidney, liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas
Endoscope (looked at my esophagus, stomach, intestines, and whatnot)
Mammogram
Blood Tests

I was happy to discover that there may be a cure for acid reflux. Hopefully, the medication will clear it up in 60 days. If so, I think I’m going to have to buy doughnuts (or healthy rice cakes) for the entire staff at the heath center. I’ve had horrible acid reflux since middle school and no doctor has ever given me anything for it…other than a recommendation for Tums with Calcium - which I have taken to heart. I even got to see the damage (minimal) the acid has done to my esophagus. It was a totally wild morning.

And while I'm sure that was more than interesting to everyone out there, I have a few more tidbits to share. One, that both Jason and I finally know how to read/write Korean. Yeah!!! We're taking classes from someone that we work with. Below is a little sample...

사라 (Sarah) 재선 (Jason)

(We're farther along than that example suggests - I just didn't know what else to write.)

Two, that Jason and I are leaving for winter vacation on Monday. We finished our finals and submitted the grades and we're ready to go. We're taking a month to travel around SE Asia a bit.

Our itinerary: flying into Singapore, then traveling overland through Malaysia and Thailand, flying out of Bangkok, and stopping by Hong Kong for a few days before returning to Seoul.

I'll try to post pics of our travels while I'm on the road. Check back for updates if you're interested.

The very helpful nurse in the white uniform guided me around the center to the different little rooms I needed to visit.

They gave us hospital clothes to wear for our check-ups. Jason rocked the turquoise one, and I had the obligatory pink one.

We were put under for the endoscope, and I woke up to Jason talking incoherantly in the little curtained area next to me.

This is Daniel Sohn (pronounced Daniel Son aka Karate Kid) and his son Heechan. We went to his first birthday party (Tol party) on Thanksgiving Day.

Esther and John enjoying their dessert at the party.

Jason dressed up in his professor costume. Isn't he good lookin'?

So good lookin' in fact that he's now a member of the Sexy Club.

I didn't know if I should include this because of it's naughty language...but then I thought, "What the hell?". They don't know what it says, but it's English - so it looks cool.

On the weekend after Thanksgiving, we went to Nathan and Kat's place for a belated Thanksgiving dinner. This pic was taken at the Home Plus across the street. I thought the Iowa people would appreciate this little ice cream shop in Korea.