Paging Dr. Fish

Mel pointed out earlier this afternoon that we came to Korea for the first time exactly four years ago today. If you'd told me in 2006 that I'd still be strutting around Seoul four years later, I'd have been pretty surprised. But, we're still here and Korea has been pretty good to us.

We didn't have any special plans for the day, and we're trying to live frugally until our trip to Beijing, so we decided to check out the nearby Dr. Fish cafe in Gangnam. At Dr. Fish you can put your feet in fish tanks where special fish will eat the dry skin off your feet. It's meant to feel like a pedicure.

It was raining, so we took a bus up the road (it's only a 20 minute walk) to the cafe. On the way there we passed by dozens of cafes that don't have fish that will eat your feet, but where's the fun in stopping at a cafe like that?

The cafe might be a little hard to find because the signage is all in Korean and it doesn't mention anything about Dr. Fish on the sign. The cafe is actually called "Namu (tree) something something". It's on the second floor of the big BSX building.

When we arrived we were told that we should first buy a drink, then finish the drink and finally we could use the fish tanks. The cafe was actually really nice and we were able to get seats by the windows overlooking Gangnamdaero, which is probably the busiest street in the country. We'd both been sick earlier in the week and missed one of our Korean classes so we brought our textbooks to study and catch up in the workbook. There was also a complimentary self-serve bread buffet, with a half dozen types of breads to toast up and butter as you see fit. We'd only had a light breakfast and took much advantage of this.

Nobody used the fish tanks the whole time we were there- at least an hour- and just as we were ready to use them a western family of 50 sat themselves down around the tanks. Actually, we noticed that the whole time we were there only western people were using the fish tanks. Maybe the Koreans know something we don't? Anyway, we had to wait a little while for our turn, but one of the waitresses actually approached us and offered to let us in next, which was pretty nice of her. We took off our shoes, showered off our feet and sat at our tank. It took me a good minute before I was ready to put my feet in that water, but after Mel pointed out that the entire cafe was basically staring at me, I decided to man up and serve my delicious feet to the hungry fishies.

It was revolting. I wanted to puke the whole time. Really. This is how Mel looked during our pedicure:

And here's me:

At first there was only a few fish on me but soon I looked down and there must have been 30 slithering their way over each foot. It felt like someone was rubbing gummy worms all over my feet. They were so hungry!! After a while... let's say 10 of our allotted 15 minutes, I was able to relax a bit, as long as I didn't look at the fish. I know I'm a puss, but how would you like it if this was happening to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP6zHTmTVNc

When we got out of the water we realized things could have been much worse. There were only two tanks and the other one was full of much bigger fish... possibly piranhas. I don't know if I could have handled that business because their mouths were huge and they looked like they ate toes.

The whole Dr. Fish experience was really weird but I'm really glad I tried it. I'm writing this a few hours after we went and I will say my feet do feel different. If I were to choose one word to describe how they feel I'd say they feel shaved. We'll have to try the piranhas next time...

Everytime We Buy Groceries...

...we get a massage. Both our local E-Mart and Home Plus have massage chairs set up to be sampled. I think we spent 20 minutes in them last night.

I love the Superstore at home, but it certainly doesn't offer a service like this.

A Little Prick

Today our school did mass H1N1 immunizations, which was probably smart because we have had so many canceled classes because of H1N1. Last week there was a joke going around at my part-time school that I was the H1N1 carrier because all my students seem to get sick. Well, hopefully that will never become true because Mel and I decided to have the shot as well. It was pretty painless but I know a lot of people at home have gotten sick from it so I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't make us ill too. I've had to teach way too many classes full of coughing kids in face masks to say no to this shot. But I'm not gonna go around licking any students just yet: according to the doctor we won't be immune for another 2 weeks. Wish us luck!

A Little Stretch

It happens all the time in Asia. You're waiting to cross the road, you're standing at the bus stop, you're walking down the street and, sure enough, someone starts up with some random public exercise that would put Olivia Newton-John to shame. In both Korea and Taiwan, we've noticed that it's completely normal for locals to bust out some sudden jumping jacks, over-dramatic stretches and pelvic thrusts that can't possibly do anything for their health besides make them look ridiculous.

So yesterday, my fat ass was sitting at KFC when I spotted a cab driver taking an exercise break at a gas station. Unfortunately, I had a Zinger in my hand when he was first leaping around, but the footage I captured is still a good example of this phenomenon of Asian public exercise. Foolish as it is, you have to admire the spirit of the exercise. I mean, what do Canadian cabbies do on their breaks? Go to a Tim Horton's drive-thru? Smoke? This video makes me happy.

An H1N1 Update

Monday morning at 9am I am greeted at the door to my classroom by a student wearing a mask.

Student: "Teacher! My class.... 5 people H1N1"

I walk into the class and see 20 boys, all wearing masks and all coughing.

We're going to die.

Gimme A Kiss

Most of us who have spent some time in another country have eventually dined on some dodgy food and spent the night doing shots of Pepto Bismol. Well last night, after some questionable dumplings I had to take a couple Pepto tablets and this morning my tongue had turned black!!

I checked online and this is a natural side effect of taking Pepto Bismol, though I can't remember this ever happening to me before. So what do you think of my new look? Hot or not?

AHHHHHH..... H1N1

After our local news networks shifted from 24/7 H1N1 coverage to 24/7 Michael Jackson coverage we stopped hearing so much about the disease in New Brunswick, at least. But H1N1 is a big deal in Taiwan, and with new cases popping up everyday the country is trying to prevent a massive outbreak.


When we arrived at the Taipei airport we had to go through a quarantine station which just sort of checked our temperature as we walked through a gate and all around the city you can tell that the government is trying to educate people about H1N1. The subway stations all have posters telling people to wash their hands, to stay home if you’re feeling sick… all that kind of stuff. There are hand sanitizing stations everywhere, though I’m glad I brought my own hand sanitizer from home because the stuff they provide here smells like strong bug spray and makes my hands itch. As well, everywhere you go people are wearing surgical masks. No, they aren’t all doctors, they’re just being responsible because they might have a cold themselves or someone in their family might.


We all know one of the best ways to catch a cold or flu is from our co-workers or classmates. Well, last week all of the summer students were sent home from Mel’s school because 10 of them had tested positive for H1N1! Supposedly it was fine for us to stay on campus, though… As a preventative measure, effective yesterday (Taiwan’s first day of school for the new year) all students are having their temperatures taken before they are allowed on school grounds. Any students with a temperature over 37 degrees must wear a face mask and if their temperature is over 37.5 degrees they will be quarantined. If more than 2 students from the same class show symptoms within 3 days of each other then classes will be cancelled. These policies will probably pretty effective in preventing cluster outbreaks, though nothing’s stopping the infected people from hitting the town, coughing on your KFC and passing it on.

So far none of us sacrificial foreigners have shown any signs of sickness, but we did kind of wonder what was going on when we headed back to the dorms on Sunday night only to find the foreign teachers’ offices roped off like this:


Hmmmm…

Update: On campus this afternoon we saw a teacher teaching at the front of the class with both a surgical mask and a headset microphone on! Wonder how the sound quality was there. And also, we went to a department store tonight and before we were allowed to enter we had to let a worker spray our dirty hands with antibacterial spray. At least I assume it was antibacterial spray....