Anyways, a week ago, I had a string of interesting experiences, and it's about time that I sit down and log them in.
Experience #1:
(If you're sensitive, or a male that has any feeling in your pelvic region, you might not want to read about experience #1)
Well, my battle with prostatitis (an inflamed prostate) took a turn for the worse. The antibiotics that I'd been given weren't helping, so I thought I'd try out the oriental clinic and see what they had to offer. It turns out, they had a lot to offer. More than I'd bargained for, actually.
I sat down in the doctor's office, told him about my situation, and asked him if he had any special treatments for my condition (by the way, prostatitis feels kinda like a headache in your pelvic region and balls occasionally, can be caused by any number of things, and is aggravated by sitting down. I think I got mine from riding my bicycle too much.).
He said that he had something to offer: a series of herbal injections that would be "very painful."
"How painful?" I asked.
He picked up a doll that had lots of acupuncture points all over it, and pointed at the chest. "A few here," he said. Then he moved his finger down and pointed to my pelvis. "One on each side here." He pointed to my balls. My heart skipped a beat. "One here," he continued. Then he pointed to the place between my balls and my butthole, otherwise known as the 'taint.' "One here, but it is the most painful. Very very very painful." I waited for him to continue pointing at various spots...perhaps my anus or eyeballs. But that was it.
Anyways, believe it or not, his treatment was better than the alternative, so I went for it. Oh, wait. I forgot to add. It's not just a one time deal. He told me that I have to have all these shots done around 12-18 times.
I'm gonna spare you the details of what it feels like to have a bunch of shots in your chest and think "that hurts" and then somehow prep yourself for a bunch of shots in and around your balls. I'll just say that the ones on the sides of my pelvis, the ones where my leg meets my pelvic bone, are the most painful. The one in my taint hurts too, but he's got the special touch that makes it not hurt so bad.
Well, anyways, along with the injections, I also get some acupuncture in my legs and stomach, along with what's pictured right below:
The nurse had walked in right before placing this on my stomach and held of a paper that said 'cautery' and she had asked, "Do you know cautery?"
"No," I said.
Anyways, it's some kind of burning thing on top of a piece of cork. It sits on my stomach and burns for 10 or 15 minutes. They do it every time I go in there, but I have yet to ask the benefits or reasons behind it, or even what's burning. It smells like sage in a weird kind of way. At times it smells like an illegal drug too.
Anyways, I've done the treatments around 6 or 7 times now, and things are getting better.
Oh yeah, I forgot: the first time, when I'd finished, I went up to the counter and the nurse said, "Well, it's gonna be expensive because insurance doesn't cover this treatment." Mind you, "this treatment" includes consultation, an ultrasound probe up my butt periodically, the acupuncture, the herbal injections, and the burning 'cautery.'
"How much?" I asked. I'd been in Korea long enough to not be worried.
"$12," she replied.
I smiled, paid, and said a prayer to the Korean medical gods that be, thanking them for providing the best, most affordable healthcare in the world.
Experience #2:
Well, the doctor had said that walking and jogging were good, so that day I went hiking. Along the path, I met an old man who said, "Welcome to Bundang!!!" I thought he was speaking in Korean at first, so I started speaking in Korean. But then he repeated himself and I realized he was speaking in English. "You're from the states, right? I lived in New York for 4 years," he said. I told him that I'd lived near Philly when I was younger, and then he said, "Habla Español?" I hadn't heard those golden words in many years, and I was so shocked that when I tried to answer him in Spanish, all I could say was 'yes' in Korean. I managed to stammer out 'I' in Spanish after a while, and then eventually I was able to form a sentence or two about speaking Spanish. He invited me to sit down and take a break with his daughters, so I sat down and talked to them for a while. He had been in the export business for a while, so they'd lived in a couple countries in South America, as well as the U.S. I busted out with my Spanish, which was really rusty. I couldn't think of lots of simple words, and sometimes I had to use the Korean word to say what I wanted. Anyways, after a while we all just spoke in English, and then I took these two pictures and continued on my way.
Experience #3:
Well, the next day I was hiking again. It was drizzling and gloomy. I began to hear flute music as I walked along the ridge, and eventually I stumbled across a pagoda. Some guy was playing a flute, and it sounded like something you would here in any kung fu movie, as the master meditates, sitting on a pile of burning coals.
It was surreal. I mean, I've been in Korea for almost 2 years, so it never really feels like I'm traveling or seeing the world. But for those few songs under that pagoda, as the rain brushed through the trees, I had that feeling again, like something magical was happening that I will only be able to experience once. So, I pulled out my bananas, gave him one, thanked him for his playing, and just sat there and listened. Between songs we would chit chat in Korean. He told me he'd been playing for 10 years, and that his flutes were from Korea, not Japan. They were handmade, and they cost $3000 each. He said he didn't mind if I took photos and video, and he asked about my camera. Our conversation was basic, but it made me thankful to have studied the language.
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