Waegwan

One of the things that excited me most about coming to Korea was the fact that there are Costcos here. I just went through a bit of a situation getting glasses made at me at Costco. I'll try explain it quickly.

I got a prescription made for me by this pediatric ophthalmologist last summer. I had had surgery to correct a condition that I was suffering from called Strabismus, a condition that is not very common in older individuals, but the brain is such a magic thing that it was able to compensate for the problem until I turned about 25 and my overall energy level started decreasing.
So at my 3 month post-op appointment I asked the doctor to make me a prescription based on the new condition of my eyes. He did, but he seemed to rush through it, and seemed a little aggravated that I would ask him such a thing.

9 months later, in February 2009, as the deadline for my relocation to Korea was approaching, I decided that I needed to make sure that I had extra pair of glasses. So I took my new prescription to Costco and picked out a pair of frames that I liked, and paid for the glasses to be made, they were a little more expensive because they were a progressive prescription. I'll never forget that the Costco employee at the desk said, "Why do you want glasses with such big frames?" I didn't know how to answer that, and my response was, "Because they're cool!" or something lame like that. Maybe he knew at the time that they would cause distortion because of their size, but he didn't tell me that.

10 days later the phone rings and my new glasses are available for pickup. I excitedly drive down to get them and they're huge and beautiful and golden, but when I put them on the whole bottom portion of my sight is blurry. Even when I get close up to something it doesn't get that much clearer. If I get right up next to something then it is clear. So I don't like it, and I'm extremely disappointed, so the next day I go down to Costco again, this time to make sure that the glasses were made properly, and to have an appointment with the optometrist. At my appointment, the optometrist explains many things to me, like how my brain is an awesome programming machine and how it had gotten used to dealing with the Strabismus for so long, and it is not going to all of a sudden be magically fixed even though went under the knife. And the fact that I have rather extensive astigmatism in one of my eyes, and for whatever reason there was no astigmatism correction written into the prescription that the pediatric ophthalmologist gave me. So he made me a new prescription, this time I avoided the progressive lenses because my eyes are not that bad and I didn't want to deal with the aggravation. I return the 1st pair of glasses and they give me $20 back because I am going to get the new ones without progressive-ness.

Fast forward 10 days and the phone rings again because my new glasses are ready. So I drive down there and they distort everything. My perception of depth, and things move a lot more than they should when I move my head from side to side. I am really annoyed by it, I wear them for a day and then I'm like "fuck this". So I go down to Costco and explain the problem to the lady at the optometrist desk. She looks at the glasses and says, "Yes, well large frames like this tend to cause distortions." I thought to myself, "well why didn't you tell me that when I ordered the glasses the first time???" But I politely smiled and, after I picked out some smaller frames, gave the frames to her and underwent the 10 day waiting period for the third time.

Fast forward another 10 days, it is about the week before I leave. The phone rings that my glasses are ready, and it almost like I am going down to the dentist when I go pick them up. I put them on, (I am fully aware of the fact my astigmatism has increased dramatically since my last glasses were made). But still I feel like I am kind of in a fish bowl, I mean, don't get me wrong, it is not nearly as bad as it was with the other pair, but I don't care for the feeling. I am aware that I am wearing glasses. I dislike that feeling. So while I'm there, I make sure to go to the optometrist and she looks at my eyes all close up and basically tells me that I have to suck it up, that her first glasses with astigmatism correction she had to wear for over a year before she got used to them. I trust her, but still, you know? But seriously the optometrists in Costco are very nice people and I highly recommend them.

It was during one of these Costco trips that I discovered that there are Costcos in South Korea. I was aware that I was going to go to the Gyeongbuk province, but I didn't know where exactly. So I saw that there is a Costco in a city in the Gyeongbuk region, Daegu. I say region because there are some cities in Korea that govern themselves, their municipal government is such that they do not need to be governed by a province, Daegu is one of these. So it is geographically in the Gyeongbuk province but it is not actually part of the province.

There is a Costco in Daegu! Daegu is 30 km from Waegwan! That is the point of the story!

I live in Waegwan now. A city of 125,000 people. The culture here is vibrant, and there are like 3 branches of the bank that I need. Seeing how some people live is amazing. Shacks with trash everywhere. My apartment is nice.



I'm teaching at the Waegwan Middle School 3 days a week, and at a smaller school that's on the outskirts of the the city on the other two days. I was just told about the other school today. That's what is so funny about Korea. You have to be flexible.

My front door:















My neighbors:















Green Ville:

















3rd Floor. Yeah my windows are open: