영국사람

Interesting…

I’m surprised I didn’t notice this before.

However, in the case of the founding member and previous communications director, Tony Hellmann, the association was unable to help him renew his contract at Kyungnam University. Hellmann was accused of having sexual relations with minors when he was in the United States and faced an investigation by the Korean police. Although police failed to find a criminal record of the former spokesperson, the university decided not to renew his contract. “He wanted to work with us, but we are reluctant to do so, although he might be innocent,” said an official from the university.

As a result, the former spokesperson left the school and his current status is unknown. The Korea Times was unable to contact him.

So that’s why we have heard nothing from him in a while. Allegedly.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GN'R - Live in South Korea!

Source.

I’ll be there!

Anyeong Motherfuckers!

I have been spouting (to anybody who would listen) that GN’R would hit up Korea some time in 2009/10 (based on nothing but a gut feeling that Seoul is becoming a staple on the Asian touring circuit). It seems that I was correct.

A few weeks ago, rumours started to hit that the Chinese Democracy Tour would start in Taiwan in December, and that Japan and Korea will be included on the Asian leg of the tour.

A few days ago, advertising for the Taiwan date started to appear that makes direct reference to the the Korean show (translation here). Yesterday tickets went on sale, Japan announced their dates and now we have advertising!

Of course, there is no confirmation from the band, but that is nothing new. I just hope this happens. I would be happy with just 1 date, but 2 or 3 would do me nicely too!

On Medical care in Korea…

As regular readers may know, I have not always had nice things to say about medical care in Korea. Whilst the issues surrounding the birth of my daughter still manage to get me riled up, I have recently had a couple of positive experiences with Doctors in Korea.

In the UK, we benefit from the wonderful hassle-free care offered by the NHS. Free healthcare for all. Sure, it isn’t as efficient as it should be (the British NHS is the largest employer in Europe – that’s a lot of middle management), but it generally does the trick. Visit a GP, get referred if you need it, and get whatever work need to be done without handing over a penny.

In Korea, things are different. The coverage offered by the NHIC is just 80% of your medical bills, and the patient is responsible for the other 20%. The coverage only works for illness too. Accidental injuries are paid for by the patient, not the NHIC. I have grumbled a few times about having to pay for doctors visits, though they are so cheap it doesn’t really bother me. Usually you pay around the same as you do for a pack of smokes, and smokes are very cheap here!

For the last 2 months, I have been uninsured. I was working freelance until my new job started (just last week), and my NHIC insurance will kick in again any day now. During the past 2 weeks, there have been 2 occasions where I have had to visit a doctor.

Deafness

I have always had problems with my hearing. As a very young kid, I had to have an operation to sort out some problem or other. During my teens, I became partial to very loud music, and the hearing in one ear never recovered from an incident involving a poorly positioned speaker and a very loud vocalist during a gig I played in my student band days. To this day, my ipod never falls below maximum volume.

This constant abuse leads to a few problems from time to time, and a few weeks ago I was going through the weekly de-waxing when I wedged the cotton bud in and went deaf in my right ear. I don’t mean my hearing became impaired… I mean I could plug up the left ear and the world fell silent.

I put up with this for much of the day, and when it didn’t improve I set to work on it, using my little finger as a makeshift plunger. (A peculiar trait of the British is that we tend not to visit a doctor unless we have to – there are obviously much sicker people in need of attention). I managed to get some sound through, but the world was still pretty muffled.

As this was 2 days before I was due to start my new job, and seeing as hearing people is quite an important part of language teaching, we had to go find a doctor.

We looked around the neighbourhood until we found an ENT clinic. We entered, and explained the problem. Within 5 minutes, the doctor had a camera down my ear, and showed me (on the monitor) the insane amount of way that was blocking up my ear canal. Then, he got a little ear-sized vacuum cleaner in there, and set about sucking it all out. He also did the left ear, just for good measure.

All in all, I was there for 15 minutes, and when I left there I was able to hear better than I had done in years. Chinese Democracy rocks even harder now! Total cost for the uninsured? ₩10,000. ₤5. 4 packs of smokes.

Nasty Growth

Sometime in my mid-teens, and altercation led to me receiving a nasty gash on the back of my head. Not considering myself ‘sick’, I never bothered to visit a hospital, and so a nice raised scar up residence. Between the ages of 19 and 31 I sported a bonehead, and so the scar was kept firmly in place every time I shaved. Sometimes it would get a little nick, offering up a nice reminder of my school days.

When the time came to meet my future father-in-law, my hair was allowed to grow back for the first time since reaching adulthood. It has stayed firmly in place ever since. The last time the scar was out in public was the end of 2007.

Over the past few months, the wife had started referring to the scar as ‘the mole’. No matter how many times I corrected her, she kept going back to ‘the mole’. Her English is better than that, and she is not so stupid she would keep saying the wrong thing after I had corrected her. She is also not the sort to call me a silly bugger and say that I was wrong. This week she told me that it seemed bigger, and you know what… it did. Much bigger… This could be… well… not good!

Not wanting to stress her by letting her know it may be a big deal, I tried to get a good look at it after she had gone to bed. I couldn’t get a good look at it, what with it being at the back of my head. My camera was coming out with blurry shots, shots that were not lined up correctly, or shots that showed it completely covered by hair. Last night I went ahead and tried some more, and managed to get a couple of shots that allowed me to take a look (the one on the right has been brightened considerably during post-processing – click either for slightly larger images).

That’s one ugly fucking mole where my scar used to be!

Today I got up and headed out to find a dermatologist. As I have only been working my new job for one week I am still not insured, but I do know that you don’t wait around once you find a nasty growth on you.

At 10:15 we entered the clinic. At 10:30 we were in with the doctor. He told me that it was just a mole, nothing more, though he advised cutting it off as a precaution. I asked when he could fit me in for an appointment. Stupid question!

I went into the next room, and was asked to lie face down on the bed. Anaesthesia was administered and I spend 5 minutes or so feeling as though my head was being crushed in a vice. After that, I felt heat, some burning hair, and it was all done. My growth had suffered removal by laser.

At 10:45 we left the clinic. I was done. Cost for the uninsured? ₩30,000. ₤15. 12 packs of smokes. Cost for the insured? Actually… the same, as it was elective surgery.

The point of this post? If you (or anybody you know) is in Korea and is suffering with a relatively minor problem – go see a doctor. The cost is much less than you could imagine, and the service is super-quick! It seems that a host of minor complaints can be taken care of on the spot with no need to book appointments or be referred elsewhere.