An update from the depths of Hell...I mean Korea

It's sometimes hard to figure out if I like it here or really just hate it. I find myself wishing I was home a lot, or wishing I was anywhere else but here. If I had the choice to do it all over again, I would never have come here. There are just so many things that are screwed up, and it gets really frustrating.

Example: Today, I was informed that the "government" will not give me my medication that was sent to me from the states without me having a prescription for my medication to present to them. I don't have a prescription because it's my medication from the states, being sent here because I forgot to bring it. There's no grey area. No prescription, no medication. I guess they think I'm trying to smuggle in weed or something, even though it's in pill form and comes in bottles marked as the appropriate medication that it actually is. An easy Internet search (looking up the medication will show you it IS the medication claimed) could be conducted, but they are "too busy" for that. So I guess my medication is going to be thrown out instead of delivered to me. Another reason I hate this place.

I can't even do simple little things that I might enjoy, like play the new Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization. I can't play it because if you don't live in North America, no one will sell it to you. You can't even download it anywhere because they've blocked off South Korea for distribution. I was able to buy a game I really didn't want called Titan Quest, but it doesn't work properly on my laptop, so that was yet another waste of money for something I don't even get any pleasure from.

My writing career sucks being here. I can't send out queries unless the agent takes email queries, but when you email an agent, they don't take you seriously and just delete your emails for the most part. I can't send in short stories because mailing to the states is inappropriately overpriced. So, I can write, but that's about it.

The food. I can't stand most of it. I have a hard time going to a supermarket here because when I get into the meat section, the aroma nearly causes me to vomit. Did I mention that I really hate it here?

The people I work with are okay, but they have a really bad habit of speaking only in Korean and then wondering why I never know what's going on. Today was a good example of that. We lost one of our teachers (he quit a few days ago) so I had to take over his class on English writing. I found this out today, about an hour before class. The head teacher asked me how come I didn't have a lesson plan already made up (an hour before class). I said I just found out about the class. She said that everyone knew, and how come I didn't? Yeah, that's the kind of thing that really causes one to sit up and hate where they're at.

And medically, I'm really having some problems here. I have a condition I can't seem to fix, and if it's as bad as I think it is, I've been living with an imminent heart attack coming at any time for about the last three weeks now. No one seems to understand the significance of needing to get medical coverage taken care of, mainly because it's not happening to them and, in the words of one very sensitive Korean: "You haven't had a heart attack yet, so you're fine."

On the positive side, I bought a really nice 22 inch flat screen LCD monitor for my computer for the equivalent of 22 beads and trinkets (about $140). So I hope someone gets some great use out of it after I collapse on one of these upcoming days.

I also read a really good science fiction book called Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I'm now reading the next Cliff Janeway novel by John Dunning.

Stumble It!

Don't tell anybody, but I think I've become a Vegan

It's not that I hate meat or anything. I just discovered it's kind of killing me. So, I've started to stock up on mainly Vegan foods. I think they're Vegan. I never really did figure out the difference between vegetarian and vegan, so cut me some slack. Instead of my Philly Cheesesteak for dinner, I had split pea soup, a banana and some grapes. I did some grocery shopping today and bought mainly vegetables and fruit. Couldn't believe how much food has animal products in it, cheese or various types of milk.

So does going Vegan mean I have to become a liberal? And do I have to take up smoking, too, because I use to see nothing but smoking Vegans when I lived in San Francisco? Part of the "allowable" foods was beans, lots of different types of beans. I'm not ready to go there yet. I can't stand beans, and I might just starve first.

Stumble It!

Food prices are hitting hard in the areas people don't notice

I was in the grocery store this morning and noticed some prices were up 50 percent for much lower priced items. I think they believe we won't notice a difference if something that used to be 99 cents is now "on sale" for $1.50. I also noticed frozen food prices are up quite a bit. Some of the really badly made items that used to sell for 99 cents (the really bad budget frozen dinners) were now "on sale" for 2/$3.00.

Stumble It!