한의사

Well, my non-kpop fans, this post is for you. Also, to my k-pop fans, this could be for you too. A dose of Korean culture of the non-pop-music variety.

I know, these kinds of posts come few and far between, but this is definitely something I would consider worth blogging about because it's kind of interesting. It was for me at least.

Today, after school I went to the doctor. But I didn't go to just any doctor, I went to the 한의원, a traditional Korean doctor's office. These kinds of doctors offices are pretty common, and are usually just tucked into the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th floors of buildings throughout the city. The only things that I think are more common than the 한의원 are 학원 and 약국, academies and pharmacies respectively. In fact, in the building where my 한의원 was located, there was one academy and two pharmacies. So yeah.

Anyhow, a traditional Korean doctor is a certified medical professional (not a crazy had with a cabinet full of herbs) that specializes in traditional oriental healing practices. The two most common reasons to go to a traditional doctor are general aches and pains or weight loss. However, people also go to traditional doctors for an array of other reasons including general sickness, constipation, sprained ankles and insomnia. I won't tell you why I went, because hey, that's my business, but I went regardless.

At a traditional Korean doctor you usually get two kinds of treatments: traditional medicine (usually in the drink form and I don't mean a syrup I mean a poach of tea-like liquid that is herbal and gross) or acupuncture. You can choose to do one or both, depending on the severity of the case and such.

Anyways, I got both, and I will supposedly be attending biweekly acupuncture sessions through the end of december.

It was my first acupuncture experience and though I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, the actually experience was not how I'd thought it'd be.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

First I'd like to brag that except for a small sprinkling of English from the doctor, and my co-teacher doing the check-in and helping me with payment options (one time or in installments is evidently a phrase I should have learned by now...) my whole visit was performed entirely in Korean. I walked in to the consultation room and after his first question (are you a teacher) I was sure to warn: "한국말 잘 못 해요~" Which translates to I don't speak Korean well. He replied that it would be fine (in Korean) and proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions about my health practices, exercising habits, treatment options, acupuncture session availability and the like. My biggest communication issues came over the discussion of weight and my height, and then later in the Korean word for aerobic exercise (which I totally didn't know). But everything worked out, and i understood his instructions pretty thoroughly. I don't mean to show off, but I must say I'm a bit proud that I could speak to the doctor and more importantly understand his treatment advice in Korean with only very little difficulty.

Then, it was off to the acupuncture room. I laid down a bed and they had me roll my shirt up just a bit to revel my belly. That's the only place they would be doing acupuncture today, and an assistant pulled over a machine and called the doctor over. The doctor then told me not to worry as it wouldn't hurt. And he speedily (and pretty much painlessly) inserted 10 or 12 needles into my stomach area (I can't remember exactly the number, except to say it was even and higher than 8). I wasn't really watching as I was laying down, but it seemed like he would line it up and then kind of tap the top into my skin. It was almost completely painless, with only the tiniest discomfort as he adjusted the third or fourth needle. Then he attached what appeared to be clamps to each needle. The clamps had wires leading to some machine near my bed, and as he turned the machine on there was a sudden strange vibrating sensation sweeping across my abdomen. Again, not painful, but as he adjusted the levels to greater intensity, he told me, if/when it begins to hurt (the korean word for if and when is sometimes the same... you can emphasize if-ness with an additional word, but otherwise it's the same) I should tell him. So he increased the intensity and it began to be only a tiny bit painful (kind of like a much more mild tattoo... in a nonpainful area) and I told him and he adjusted the intensity down just enough to alleviate the pain and then he left the room.

I didn't know exactly how long the acupuncture would last (I didn't think to ask, which seems foolish). It ended up being in the ballpark of 20 to 30 minutes and it wasn't so bad. After the doctor left, the assistant came back in and turned on a heat lamp which she directed at my belly so I was comfortably warm with just a general vibration through my abdomen. Then it was all over, and I was done.

I'll be going back on Saturday or next Monday for my next session so that should be interesting. Next time I will try to take a picture of it in progress for you guys.

That's it!

xoxo
A