Medical Check Wednesday

Today I finally bucked up and got the courage to get my medical check done and go to the bank. Despite that bank's website specifically stating that they'll open foreigner accounts using just you passport, the lady who helped me said it was wrong. So, no bank account for me until I get my Korean ID card in a few weeks.

So, that didn't go so well. What did go surprisingly well was my medical check. It was such an ordeal last time, taking hours, dental checks, and swabs of unmentionable places. I also though I had to go to a hospital all the way in Suwon. Then I asked if I could just do it at the local hospital where I went last time. Uni said sure, so I gathered my courage for what I was convinced was going to be hours and hours of embarrassing confusion and unintelligible Korean.

Well, all up it took half an hour. I just asked for a medical check and the lady at the front desk directed me downstairs. The lady at the desk downstairs spoke great English and accompanied me the whole way. All I had to do was a chest x-ray, hight + weight, vision, pee, and blood. Oh, and some doctor who spoke less English than the receptionist "interviewed" me:

"Medication?"

"No"

"Medical problem?"

"No"

"Healthy?"

"Yes"

And he signed my forms and showed me out. It was so easy. So now I just have to wait a few days for the results, then they'll text me and I can go and pick them up. Then it's off to immigration for my ID card.

That's pretty much my adventures for today (so far). It was about 20 minutes walk to the hospital, and I realised on the walk home that I was kind of not looking forward to getting back to the apartment. It has bad vibes for me, I think. It's pretty shabby, a bit run down, and too small. Not that I really need to rationalise the feelings. I've realised over the years that I can be pretty sensitive about stuff, and if I feel bad about a place then staying there will eventually make me miserable. So, I'm definitely not staying in this apartment. I've just got to give myself a little time to figure out what I do want to do.

My first day of work is tomorrow! We've been asked to "dress up" so they can take out photos for the uni website. Man, it's nice to get some advanced warning about these things!!

And now, those photos I promised! I was going to make a post over on my new food blog about the soup, but I didn't feel like it was worth it. I want to start off with something awesome that I have something to say about, and this soup was nice, but pretty meh.

Banchan (side dishes)

Dwen-jeon jiggae (fermented soy-bean soup) and rice. All up, this meal is $5 per person.

The view from the 6th floor corridor. 

The corridor. It's got baaaad vibes, man.

New yoga mat Tuesday

I've been quite busy today. Well, not really busy-busy, but not bored :) I walked to E-Mart this morning, which is about 20 minutes walk away and bought a bunch of stuff. Mostly non-food stuff like a yoga mat, conditioner, a loofah, things like that. I think Andy and I will go back with the car this evening to get some groceries. Oh! and I finally found an ATM to give me some money! Sadly, I had to use my regular credit card, not my pre-loaded one, but at least I have some cash now.

I was going to go to the bank today to open a new account, but I chickened out. Perhaps I'll give it a go tomorrow. But, tomorrow I think I'm going to try and go to the hospital to get my medical check - which is more scary than the bank account. Everyone just did this for me last time, but I'm putting on my big girl pants and doing it myself this time! Hopefully.

After shopping, and eating some kimbap, I came home and did some more cleaning. I did the kitchen and all the cupboards and stuff. It wasn't so much 'cleaning' as 'sorting'. Andy, apparently, feels the urge to keep every single box and bag of everything he's ever bought. Boys are weird. At least it's tidy now.

Then I did some yoga on my cool new purple yoga mat. I have the floor heating on, which makes yoga feel lovely! I did a restorative session, which felt great. While I'm much more settled this move, I'm feeling a bit jet-laggy today and a bit weird overall. It'll be good to get to work, earn some money, settle into a more permanent home and get some hobbies and decorating going.

And something I haven't done in a while, today's five things:

1) Heated floors. For someone who suffers from cold feet, it's like a dream come true.

2) E-Mart. One store with everything you need. And cute.

3) I can see buds growing on all the trees, which means that spring is on its way. 

4) The kitchen is now clean, clear, and usable. What's more, I found a blender - smoothie time!

5) Andy has a humidifier. While floor heating is awesome, it dries the air out and gives me a sore throat and eyes. With a humidifier I can be warm and comfortable. Good job.

P.S. I promise to start taking more photos!

Made it to Korea Monday

Apart from being a bit turbulent at times, I made it to Korea safe and sound last night. Andy came to the airport and picked me up, we got some dinner, and then I crashed into bed! I managed to sleep all night - through till about 6am, which was good. Hopefully that means I can get into the time difference without too much trouble.

I'm staying at Andy's house while I work out where I want to be and what I want to do. I'm going to give it two weeks before I start trying to decide on anything, but whatever I do decide, it probably wont involve living in this apartment. It's very small for two people (probably around the same size as my apartment last year, but laid out worse (kitchen is much worse) so it feels a lot smaller). It's also a lot more run down. Not horribly, but I'd like some more space. I can either get that by moving out by myself, or by pooling my money with Andy and getting somewhere worth almost double what this one is (so bigger and nicer). I've just got to wait and see which one of those options is the one I want to pick.

I've spent the morning cleaning the bathroom. What is it about boys and bathrooms? Andy is a clean, clean guy, but his bathroom was FULL of scum and mould. It is now fully cleaned and disinfected. And he has to buy me dinner for doing it. I'd say that's a double win.

Not so winning, is that I have no money! There's two cans of tuna, some rice, and two overripe bananas in the house, so I went out to find an ATM, get some cash and buy some food. None of the 5+ ATMs that I tried would give me money off my credit card. They all either said I'd exceeded my limit, or didn't have enough funds - which isn't true! Or just plain old wouldn't accept a foreign credit card - that was common too. One card is US$700 in credit, and the other has it's full limit available - I just paid my bill this morning. Haha, so I had to come home and eat a can of tuna :D

And that's all I've done today. Tomorrow I will venture forth with my passport to try and open a bank account!

Disturbed by advertising Wednesday

For the first time in ... a very, very long time, I watched regular tv last night, for about an hour. The show itself (America's Next Top Model) was pretty bad, but what really got to me were the ad breaks. I haven't seen regular advertising for so long now, and I don't read newspapers or magazines, so I don't get it there (plus all the street advertising in Korea is in Hangul that I either don't understand or don't bother to read), so all the ads kind of hit me anew. And boy, was it scary.

All they did was tell me all the stuff I need, implying the whole time that if I didn't have that toothpaste, that toilet anti-bacterial disk, or that brand of frozen vegetables then I was going to get sick, be unhappy, or somehow not normal. Seriously, the toothpaste ad tried to tell  me that if I get some blood on my dental floss, I've probably got gum disease, so should use their toothpaste. Another ad instructed me to "protect my family from toilet germs" - which just makes me imagine this army of bugs swarming out of the loo to rape and pillage my home. 

I've been simplifying my life, and have lived without all this crap for so long, that to see it again made me mad. No wonder people are confused, can't save any money, and think that 'low fat' products guarantee them good health, when they fill their heads with this stuff. Even if, like me, you don't believe it, seeing it regularly as got to plant ideas in there about how, really, you've had your cellphone for 6 months now - probably time to get a new one. So, I will not be watching any more TV! Ew.

Happy Valentine's Day Thursday

I had quite a good valentine's day, despite being alone. Not just 'single' alone, but fully alone alone. As in, the only words I spoke were to my dog or myself. But, to celebrate - because I like to celebrate everything, I'm going to be dead one day so I should make the most of it - I created my own valentine's day paleo lunch! Seriously, I made up a new recipe!

I made spiced sweet potato pancakes with peach-berry sauce! There're a ton of 'paleo' pancake recipes out there that use all kinds of different flours as long as they're gluten free, but I don't really like using them much. Not only are the difficult for me to get, but I think there's a serious risk of them becoming a habit and then before you know it, you're back eating a high-carb, high-processed food diet, just gluten-free. Which is not so cool. So, while my 'pancakes' are not anything like a regular pancake, they weren't exactly fritters, either. But, they are 100% paleo, no grey area at all! However, it's fairly high-card, so a 'sometimes' food. I shall call them... fritakes!

Ingredients (for 1 person, because *sniff* I'm all alone!):

1 smallish carrot (about 75g)

1 medium sweet potato (about 95g)

1t each of cinnamon, ginger, allspice (or use 3t of pumpkin pie spice)

1egg

1T coconut oil

--------------

Sauce:

1/4 cup mixed frozen berried

1/2 peach

2t honey (if necessary)

Nut to top, if desired.

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Instructions:

- Chop up carrot and sweet potato and boil until tender.

- Drain well. Add the spices and stir in to moisten.

- Using a stab blender (or potato masher if you're old-school) blend/mash until smooth. 

- Stir in egg.

- Heat frying pan with the coconut oil. Fry small batched of mixture until crispy on both sides.

- To make the sauce, just heat all the ingredients in a small saucepan gently until they release some of their juice. Pout over finished fritakes. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Rough nutritional breakdown? Sure!

Calories: 460

Carbs: 65g

Fat: 20g

Fiber: 10g

Enjoy :)

Paleo for a week Thursday

As some of you might know, I'm generally a 'primal' eater. When I'm not travelling I don't eat grains, sugar, or legumes. Exceptions are made for the odd BR ice cream :) And I include rice in my diet because I'm not trying to lose weight. But, anyway - that's how I eat. However, since leaving Korea in October, I haven't even tried. I've had too many other things to do and/or very little control over my meals. Plus, I want to try everything unrestricted when I travel - I still want to really experience places through their food.

But, I'm back on track now, thanks to a mini-challenge over on Nerd Fitness. I haven't had grains, dairy, or legumes for 7 days, and the only sugar I've had was in the most delicious gluten free dark-choc orange cake IN THE WHOLE WORLD last Saturday. It was so good, I'm going to have another one this Saturday! Whoa,  it was so amazing! But, I digress - I'm gluten free now! If you'd told me a year ago that'd I'd be voluntarily "going gluten free", I'd have laughed. But, seven days in and I'm feeling great.

Here's some of my meals:

Breakfast smoothie

Bacon and egg 'pie'

Paleo chilli

It's been a while Wednesday

Sorry about that! Well, what has been going on here? Not much, which is probably why I haven't written anything for a few weeks.

My time in NZ is rapidly counting down! I've got my Korean visa, my flights are booked, and I even have a schedule for work.

Not much else to report, really! But I'm very excited to be going back :) Gonna miss my peeps, though.