Midterm week just began and I came down with the symptoms of a sinus infection, something I’ve had once or twice before. I mentioned it to one of my friends and her response was, “let’s go to the 약국 (yakkuk, or pharmacy.)” And so we went. And it was actually the most simple thing ever. My friend, a non-native Korean speaker, merely told the pharmacist that I had some pain in my sinuses and a cough, and he handed me a nasal spray and then wrote 2-2-2 on a box of pills for me, meaning that I should take two pills once a day for three days. I paid less than $9 USD and that was it. I walked out, went to my dorm, and took the medicine. Today, I feel much better.

I’m a bit surprised by the fact that this can happen, since in the US you can really only buy vitamins and maybe some cough-cold medicine without a prescription. Even Claratin now is behind the counter.

L’ag B’omer is coming up, a Jewish holiday that marks the passing between two of our Festivals, Passover and Shavuot (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavuot). Pretty much, it means that this Sunday there will be a barbecue at the Jewish center. Finally! A barbecue!!!! As someone whose family barbecues almost every weekend in the summer, I’ve been looking forward to L’ag B’omer for quite some time.

Not eating meat isn’t really an issue, since I get every time I go to the Jewish Center/Chabad or one of the few Jewish families here for Shabbat/Sabbath. (I’m actually invited to someone’s house for dinner tomorrow night -spaghetti and meatballs!!) I eat a lot of tuna, eggs, and do occasionally buy some deli meat from the Kosher store that the Chabad has in their building. But barbecues are one of my favorite things.

Am I starving in Seoul? No way. I have a kitchen downstairs, salads from the small restaurants that are in the dorm, and there is plenty of kosher candy (Hershey’s chocolate and Blow Pops!) in the convenience store. I just found a nearby store that sells several Kosher things, including pasta, which makes life so much easier than having to go to one of the bigger food stores to try to get some pasta.

So, no, I’m not starving. It’s difficult for me, going from New York where I can get everything Kosher, except for pork pretty much. Would I live in Seoul longterm? Not as a Sabbath-observant, Kosher-keeping Jew. It’s difficult. But is it impossible? Not at all.