Kimchi...I get it now.

Ok, so when you think of Korean food, what's the first thing you think of?

 

Kimchi.

There's good reason. Kimchi is a STAPLE of the Korean diet. As in staple, I mean it is served with EVERY SINGLE MEAL. I wish I had something to compare it to in America that we eat with every meal...so let's just compare it to breathing. IT'S THAT MUCH OF A STAPLE.

Exactly.

Now, coming to Korea, I was prepared to try Kimchi. I do NOT like it. However, I have found some resturants that make it with a recipe to where I don't MIND it. Not saying I LIKE it, I'm just saying there are some places where I don't MIND it. 

I've spoken to many foreigners about kimchi and it goes like this:
 

Me: "Do you like Kimchi?"
Fellow Foreigner: "At first I didn't. But now I love it."

Ok. This ALWAYS confuses me. If I don't like something, I don't keep eating it until I do. I mean, DUH?! 

But, after over half a year here...I have finally come to understand Kimchi.

Oh, let me backtrack....you may be asking "What IS Kimchi?" Wikipedia describes it as "a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings. In traditional preparation Kimchi was often allowed to ferment underground in jars for months at a time." Yeah, it's basically fermented cabbage with spices. NOT TASTY. 

But, Korea is one sneaky country. It sneaks it into some AMAZING dishes....kimchi stew, kimchi pancake, kimchi fried rice. Ok, maybe it's not really sneaky since it's in the name, but these dishes are quite tasty. Weird, since it has Kimchi. 

So....since you eat the delicious food such as the examples above, you are CONSTANTLY eating Kimchi without realizing it. 

Well, here's what happened to me:

I hadn't had Kimchi in a while (even when it's served, again AT EVERY MEAL, I don't eat it), nor had I had my FAV Kimchi Stew. Then, one day at school...I recognized a flavor. It wasn't exactly a delicious flavor, but it was a familiar taste. Kind of "homely" I would say. Then it hit me. IT WAS KIMCHI!

You get USED to Kimchi here sneaking into all your dishes that it just becomes a familiar taste. You may not like it, but your mouth recognizes it and is like "Oh, I haven't had you in a while, nice to have you back."

So there. I get it. Kimchi. I don't mind it now. AND I understand how people start liking it even if they started off hating it. 

Ghamsamnida,

Apes 

IMPROVED EYES!!!

Yup, that's right...I fixed my eyes. Well, I didn't fix them, my doctor did. LASIK SURGERY!!! Saturday I went to the eye doctor, ready for my appointment for them to cut up my eyes to make me see better.

Was I scared? YES!
Did I think I'd end up Blind? OF COURSE I DID!
Was I excited? Only at the prospect of no longer needing contacts/glasses!

I headed to the office and ran into 2 foreigners who were there for a checkup. They answered TONS of questions for me, but I'm not sure if it eased any of my fears. One of them said "It was the craziest thing I've done" and I responded with "Have you been bungee jumping?" and she replied "Yes." Oh. SCARIER THAN BUNGEE JUMPING?!?!? I don't know if I can go through with it....Oh, well. Just do it, right?

Whelp...it was time. The doctor called me upstairs, and I went into the waiting room and checked out all the "success" pictures. The doc (Dr. Kim)  knew I was scared, and he kept telling me "Don't worry"...but that only helps so much.  Then he leads me in to the operating room...it's all white, and looks like an alien lab. He puts me in the first (of 2) chairs. It's FREEZING so they put a blanket on me. I start thinking that maybe I don't need this surgery.  Then they tape over my left eye and tell me they are going to "make a flap" in my eye. Then I REALLY think about just saying no and getting up and leaving. But I don't, surprisingly. So they put something on my right eye (pressed down so it went under my eyelid so I wouldn't blink). Apparently it wouldn't hold, so they had to do it again. It was kind of annoying. Then the press a machine onto the thing in my eye, and I felt a little sting in my eye...and the flap was made. Then it was time to do the left eye. Luckily, the left eye thing went in fine, so that was nice.

Then I had to move to chair number 2...LASER TIME! They tape over my left eye again, and tell me to look at the green dot in front of me. They remove part of my eye (I won't even pretend to remember what part, or bother goggling). In 10 seconds the laser will start. And then in 15 more seconds it will be over. Then he put the piece of my eye back on (the lens maybe?).  And the right eye is done! Whew, on to the left eye. Same procedure, and then I'm done.

They send me back to the waiting room and they take a "souvenir picture" of me and Dr. Kim and give me as a keepsake. I mean, I thought perfect eyesight was a souvenir of itself, but apparently I was wrong. After Dr. Kim points out the red around my right eye (due to the placement of the "no blinking device" being placed twice - it will go away in 2 weeks), he sends me back downstairs to start my eye drops and wait for my 30 min checkup. I put my drops in every 10 minutes, and while I am waiting and dropping, I meet 2 other pairs of foreigners who ask about the surgery. They were shocked that I was up and walking around after it, and couldnt believe I had gotten it done just minutes before.

Then, it was checkup time! My checkup showed that everything was perfect, and I was on my way!

They put me in a fancy schmancy hotel down the street, and my the time I got settled, my eyes were starting to become light sensitive. So I turned off the lights and closed the curtains. Eventually, I had to turn off the TV as well. I felt like a vampire "NO LIGHT!! AHHHH!!" So I napped for about 10 minutes, and then my eyes started to sting, so it kept me from sleeping. So I tried keeping them open, but my eyelids were so heavy that wasn't happening. So for a few hours I laid in the dark, luckily with music playing, with burning eyes. It was SOOO painful! I thought for SURE this couldn't be normal..I even called the eye office to check, and they said it was. Well, I DEF didn't get warned about THIS! Eventually I was able to nod off. I woke up around midnight and my eyes were no longer burning. It was a nice feeling. I out in some more drops and went back to sleep.

In the morning, I woke up...AND I COULD SEE!! That's right, no reaching for glasses, no popping in contacts, no blurriness, just CLEARNESS. Well, my eyes were a LITTLE hazy, but WHO CARES! I headed for my 1 day checkup, where he removed the protective lens he had put in during my surgery ( may have left that out above).  He said all was perfect, and to abide by the rules for good recovery. Rules you may ask? Yup...here they are...

Eye Drops: Every 30 minutes
Antibacterial eye drops: 4 times a day (2 diff kinds each time)
NO RUBBING THE EYES!
No exercise for 1 week.
No strenuous exercise for 2 weeks.
No swimming for a month.
Sleep with the protective goggles for a month.
NO ALCOHOL FOR A MONTH.
I think there may have been some others, but those are the big ones.

So....good thing I'm broke from the surgery, as I can't spend money on drinking. Since I can't hit the gym for a week, it's a good think I can't drink.

Looks like it'll be pretty boring in my life for a little while...but then I will be back in action, with NEW EYES!!!

So LASIK...scary, but worth it.

NO MORE OF THESE FOR ME!!!

Sidenote: On Sunday, Jaclyn and I were shopping and every 30 min I stopped to put in drops. She said "People are going to think you're a druggie!" My response "I'm in Korea, people will see me putting drops in and know I just got Lasik" I think Korea may be the only place where you seeing people putting in drops and thinkg Lasik, not drugs. 

Welp, time for more eye drops!

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes