Being sick in Korea

Today I want to talk about my experience of being sick in Korea.

Here is my story:

Last year when I was in Korea, 5 days before I would leave again I went to eat some (delicious) Korean pancakes with a girl from Hong Kong (who I met in my guesthouse). We also drank some soju and since I didn't eat anything before the alcohol got straight to my head. Later on we went to 'prince edward' for some karaoke and there we shared a can of beer together. She had a cold and I was at the point where I had forgotten sharing a can wouldn't be smart. 

So what happened? The next day my throat felt like there was something stuck in it. It wasn't a big deal first, because I thought It would just be a harmless cold. The next day I went to Lotte world with a Friend of mine. We had lots of fun but I started to feel sick. Thou I thought it was because of all the scary rides. 

Now, when I got into the subway to get back to the guesthouse I slowly started to feel sicker by any passing minute. When I finally reached the guesthouse I felt just weak and hot. The Italian girls that stayed in the room next to mine gave me a thermometer. Turns out I had a fever. I wanted to go to the pharmacy on the next day but I just felt so horrible that I couldn't stand it anymore. So the awesome and very very nice guesthouse owner went with me to the next hospital (I don't remember the name sadly). There was no one who could speak English so having the guesthouse owner with me, was very helpful. It also didn't take long until I got to a doctor. They measured my temperate and ask what symptoms I had. I told them everything (also about the light pain in my throat) but they didn't even mind checking my throat. They motioned me to lay down on a bed and I got an injection on my hip, they also gave a me a prescription. A few minutes after the injection I started to feel way better :) I payed the medication(?) and went to the pharmacy right next to the hospital to get my medicine. All together cost me 26.000 won. Which is soooo cheap for going to a hospital and getting medicine. 

I needed to take these pills 2 times a day for 2 days.

When I came back to the guesthouse I felt awesome... I felt like I could do everything... I actually would like to know what was in that injection to be honest ._.  The next morning the effect was gone. I felt horrible again but took the medicine and hoped that I'll get better. This day and the following day I stayed in the guesthouse and watched movies. I didn't feel like going out. Until the second day, when a french girl from the guesthouse ask me to eat samgyeopsal together. So we went to the nearest restaurant. I couldn't enjoy the samgyeopsal at all because swallowing hurt so much. The only thing that was pleasing was drinking the free cold water (BTW the people at the hospital told be to avoid drinking and eating cold food/drinks). The next day after I took a shower I brushed my teeth and saw something very weird. My Tonsils where very big and.. looked gross. Now it was totally clear to me what my real diagnosis was 'Tonsillitis' I put some cloth on and went straight to the guesthouse owner. This time we went to a way better hospital the Yonsei University Hospital. When we went in there was a woman who spoke English and assisted me all the time. It took a little longer this time to get to a doctor but still not too long. He just needed to look once into my mouth and gave the diagnosis that I already knew myself. They asked me if I was allergic to something and gave me medicine. This time the bill was quite more expensive, but to be honest I wasn't that surprised when I saw 210.00 won standing on the bill. Listen If you are a German than get a 'Reiserücktritsversicherung' you'll get all the money back. This medicine helped me a lot and made it possible for me to get to the airport 2 days later and get back to Germany. 

So the end of the story is:

1st  Be prepared that you can get sick when you are traveling so make sure to have a travel insurance or something that will make you get most of the money back.

2nd  Always take that little piece of paper with you that tells what you are allergic to (I never had angina before so of course I didn't know I would have an allergic reaction to the medicine that they gave me at the 2nd hospital)

3rd  Go to the university hospitals because there will be a person that can speak English and translate. 

4th  Don't be afraid of going to a hospital If you start to feel sick. At first I also thought it was just a cold but turns out its something way worse (Infectious mononucleosis aka Pfeiffer's disease and Tonsillitis)

and 5th  NEVER, NEEVEEEERRRR share a glass/cane with someone who is ill.

That's it I hope I could help you out with this little post of mine. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment. I'll answer as fast as I can. (And sorry for my horrible English -.-)

Stay healthy~~~

xoxox Mary

Very helpful apps for traveling to South Korea

안녕 여러분~~~ 

Today, after 3846 years of not posting anything, I'll talk about very helpful apps that you SHOULD download before you travel to South Korea. (If you have an android phone than just check out if these apps also exist in the google play store)

Let's start

#1 

You may think that you'll never need a Map when you are in Korea, but trust me, you will. Especially when you walk around without knowing where you are going. If you think now that "google maps" or "maps" (The app that is automatically on your IPhone) will work, than you are wrong. With these apps you can't zoom in a lot. It'll be quite impossible to see where exactly you are. So here comes app number 1

"다음 지도" aka "Daum Maps"

This App is the Korean version of google maps. When you see it for the first time, it might be frightening, because everything is in Korean. But don't worry ^^ I'll show you how it works. (It 's very helpful when you can read Hangul thou)

This is how the App looks if you open it. Let's say I want to find the next Innisfree shop. I'll click on the search....box? Let's call it search box 

Now here comes the tricky part, for some shops, cafes and so on you'll need to write in Hangul. I did it with innisfree too, but you can also write innisfree just like that. Write down what you are looking for and click on search on your keyboard. 

Now you can see what is the nearest Innisfree shop. Click on the nearest or on the sign at the right corner that says '지도'

If you clicked on 지도 you'll see all the innisfree shops that are near you (you are the yellow pin)

Now I'll show you some more stuff that you can do with this app.

If you click on the middle sign that is on the right side, you can change to satellite.

If you click on CCTV sign you can see live videos of Seoul.

There are a few camera signs as you can see, click on the camera that you would like to see the live video of.

And now you can enjoy a loop of a street in Seoul ㅇㅅㅇ tadaaa~

There is also street view available 

Just click on the sign on the right, that looks like a blue robot with one eye ㅇㅅㅇ

Then the streets will turn blue. Now you just need to drag the robot thingy to the place that you want to see in street view and click on the white banner over the robot.

That's it.

Let's go to the second app.

#2.1

I guess you are not fluent in Korean and can maybe not even read Hangul. Well don't worry! There is an app for that ^^

Number one of the apps I use is this one

"learn Korean"

This app has very helpful phrases that you can use in every situation.

Here are just a few of the topics that are listed in this app. Also, this app is for free ^^

Click on one of the topics and on a word that you would like to know. The word will be read aloud when you click on the word. The turtle stands for reading it out loud slower. If you want to listen to the word again click on the speaker.

You can also look for phrases or words when clicking on the magnifying glass.

Phrases that you think that might be helpful you can add to your favorites.

Pretty simple.

The second app that I use, because it has some words that "learn Korean" doesn't have 

is 

#2.2

"Phrasebook"

This app is set up the same way as "learn Korean" the only thing that is different is that its also available in German and other languages.

You can also record yourself saying a word or sentence and listen to it.

#3

When you are in Seoul you most likely will need to use the Subway one day. Here is the best app for that.

"Subway Korea"

When the app opens you can see the subway map of Seoul. Click on the Station that you want to depart of. 

Click on 'Departs from'

Now you can see the station that you'll depart from. 

Now choose the Station that you want to go to.

And click on 'Arrives at'

The orange circle is the station where you need to take another line. As you can see at the bottom there is standing the approximate fare for the ride when you pay with a t money card.

Let's go to app number 4

#4

When you are in Korea it's a MUST to at least try once delivery food. This is my favorite app. It loos very cute and you can even pay with your credit card ^^ yay~~~


"배달의민족"

This App has quite a lot to over. 
I guess its pretty easy to understand what sign stands for what. 
If you wonder what that Batman sign stands for, it means 'late night snack'
And that bowl of rice with an egg stands for 'korean food'

And now last but not least


#5

"Kakaotalk"

If you meet a Korean and you decide to exchange numbers this app is very important.
In South Korea its not common to give your cellphone number to everyone that you meet. For kakaotalk you get an account with an ID. So its not important to know the cellphone number of someone you just tell them your ID. Also writing messages is for free so is this app too.

Kakaotalk has soooo many cute emoticons >.<

These are all the apps I have for you today. I hope you find this post helpful.

I'll hear from you soon 

xoxo Mary