Sick in Seoul

After being sick for a month in a new country, I have got a overview how it is to be sick in Seoul. The process of getting an appointment until you actually get better is complicated. You will enter the hospital, register and after take a queuing ticket and wait. You will pay for the appointment and after the payment you will go to the doctor. He will give you advice what to do and after, you need to queue again. Then you will head up to the second floor, get a new ticket and wait to take your X-rays. After that, you will go down to the hospitals pharmacy, tell them that you are there, and you will have to wait for your medicine. So much waiting for someone who is sick. You might be waiting forever to hear that nothing is wrong with you. In one week, I have visited the hospital 4 times and got a lot of different medicine, seen different doctors and always had to have a korean friend with me to translate.

The doctors visit is a bit different. The doctor is usually a male with lack of english skills who has a female nurse to assist. The doctor can basically not touch you, which I thought was a bit funny, since the nurse had to move my hair away from my back and pull up my shirt. The x-rays are taken with a hospital shirt on and the doctors have this nervous feeling all the time. Maybe they feel nervous to deal with foreign patients.

On the other hand, if you visit a pharmacy, their english is brilliant. Also, the atmosphere in the pharmacy is relaxed and you might even hear a few jokes while paying. I got to show my korean skills while the employees got a good laugh and replied in korean. Even though I'm sick, I try to see the positive things about this. I have had the chance to experience how it is to visit a big hospital in South Korea. At the pharmacy I got some more medicine that I have to take for a week. Even though I'mf rom one of the coldest countries in the world, it can be dangerous for me to breathe in this cold air, so believe it or not, I have to wear a mask for one week. This is a pretty normal sight in Korea, but foreigners in Korea would never wear them. Here we go, let's see how many looks and laughs I will get by wearing it.