Dentist visit

Let's say it's been a long time since I've been to the dentist and I was very apprehensive. But Neil insisted we should at least get a check up so we went.  The location was easy to find from the subway, it's near U-Square. The building has several other medical offices.

It was a rainy day and we sat in the reception area waiting for our turn. Once we're called up, we went into this long room with several dentist chairs. There's a glass barrier between each one so you can't see the next person. There were a ton of nurses around. The dentist came by and he spoke perfect English and seemed very nice and kind. He took a look in my mouth and told me I still had two of my wisdom tooth. One is easy to take out and the other a bit trickier. He also asked me what I'd like to do today. I told him I'd like a cleaning first and then will think about taking out one of my wisdom tooth. 

The nurse came and showed me a piece of paper with instructions on what to do if I feel too much pain. I don't think she really spoke much English at all. Then she went to work on cleaning my teeth. She was very thorough and took about 30 minutes cleaning. At times it did hurt but I managed through the pain. My mouth felt really clean after that and I know it would be sensitive for a while. 

After Neil was done with his appointment we went to set up our next appointment where I would get my teeth pulled out and Neil will get some thing added to his gum. I'm still not sure what it's called. The best part of this experience was finding out the price. That almost hour-long visit only cost us each 30,000 won (which is roughly $30). 

My next dentist visit was much less apprehensive. I can only describe it as quick, thorough and painless. The nurse once again cleaned my mouth for about 20 minutes and then once the anesthesia worked, the dentist came by and pulled out my tooth. It took less than five minutes! I had to wait 30 minutes for Neil's appointment to be done. When we went to pay, they decided to give us discounts. My cost was only 12,900 won. And Neil's 3 gum thing was 120,000 won. Wow, what a deal! 

I have since recovered from this and it only took about a day of eating soft food before I was ready for some solid food. There was no bad reaction at all either. Neil took a video of me describing our experience and I look like a chipmunk and sound funny because of the cotton ball in my mouth. 

Neil's Parent's Visit

In the middle of November, Neil's lovely parents paid us a visit. They stayed with us the entire time they were here. It was a shame we didn't have much time to show them around or take them anywhere nice since we had to work. They had to do a lot of solo activities and enjoy our Netflix at home. 

They arrived at U-square on Friday night and we picked them up. Unfortunately the taxis here don't seem to have a lot of trunk space so we had to take two separate taxis home. They had just come from Australia and we were suddenly hit with a cold snap, so it was unfortunately very cold when they were here. 

We had two weekends with them and for the first one we went to Damyang to check out the Bamboo forest and museum. It was nice but I feel like that place really didn't have much to do. Ahh but Neil was super fascinated by the multiple penis totem poles that was randomly there and I was reined to take pictures for him. After we got back from Damyang, we took them to Ashley's at U-Square for some all-you-can drink wine and buffet.

The other weekend we went to Jeonju to check out their Hanok village. Basically it's an area of restored ancient style homes, buildings and restaurants. There's a lot of people there and we had a quick bite before heading home. Because we headed so late we didn't have much time to try their famous bibimbap. Next time.

While they were here, we took them to a samgulpsal restaurant (pork belly restaurant), The First Alleyway for brunch and boardgames (I won Settlers of Catan twice!), and Chocolat Village for their yummy chocolate cake. We also ate at home where we had fried chicken delivered and I made my thai coconut soup and they really seemed to enjoy congee. 

It was great having them here and they gave me a very valuable advice: find a big stick to hit Neil with when he's being a brat or pull his ears. Yup! 

MAN - ABD - SEO

This entire trip to get to Gwangju took over 24 hours.

We got to the Manchester airport by 6:30am. We found our airline counter (Etihad) and proceeded to check in. Good thing my bags were just on the limit! For some reason there was a massive line up to go through security that day. the line up went out all the way outside and even snaked around! It took us almost 2 hours to get to the security check! There was a bunch of people who didn't arrive 3 hours before their flight that had to be fast tracked to the front to not miss their flights. Crazy!

We still had a little less than an hour before our flight so we stopped to get some food. Pasty was open so I eventually got to try the Steak Cornish pasty and it was delicious. It was a bit big so I could only eat half of it. Neil picked up some more tea at the duty free. Surprise surprise.

The first plane ride to Abu Dhabi took about 7.5 hours. It was a very nice flight! We even got real forks, knives and spoons to use! No plastics. We were surrounded by children on this flight, many were toddlers. i didn't get much sleep at all. But at least this flight had a good free entertainment selection. I watched a couple of movies on this flight. I even watched a Chinese movie. This flight included a lunch meal and a snack wrap. I had the chicken and rice and Neil had the fish. His was much tastier, but they were both great. the snack wrap was delicious!

When we arrived in Abu Dhabi, it was super hot and humid. Neil's glasses fogged up right when we stepped out. We had to take the stairs out of the train and onto a bus to get to the arrival terminal. Our layover time was about 3 hours and I was able to convince Neil to visit the McDonald's. I was curious to see whether they had anything different and specific to this country. He ordered a McChicken meal (boring!) and I had the Classic Deluxe Chicken meal. This burger was huge! And much like a McChicken it also had a slice of Swiss cheese and a slice of tomato in it. It was very yummy.

The next flight took about 8 hours. This airline is very on point with their meals. Right away we got a cup noodle and a bun. Then they turned down the lights so we could get some sleep. I think I was able to get about an hour or so. Neil got a bit more. I ended up watching a few movies and TV shows. I watched Divergent which I thought was very good. I also watched 3 episodes of a show about the Silcon Valley. It was interesting. For breakfast I got beef congee and Neil got eggs and chicken sausage. It was very yummy.

The plane arrived about 25 minutes later than it's suppose to. It took us a while to get through immigration, there was a lot of foreigners. We eventually got our luggage and a Mr. Kim met us at the arrival terminal. He brought us to the bus station terminal and helped us with purchasing our tickets to Gwangju. The bus was to take off at 1:20pm. It was a 4 hour bus ride with a break stop at the 2 hour mark. Surprisingly this bus was very comfortable. Big comfy seats that recline back and the A/C was on. Many people were able to sleep including us. I had about a 1 hour nap. Neil even read his book on the bus.

By the time we finally arrived at Gwangju (U-Square) it was about five. Mr. Lee picked us up at the bus station and took us to the school right away to meet with the director, vice directors and some teachers.