11.18.2010

Stomach blues and coffee woes.

Not happy with my body at the moment, it has to be said. I had big plans for the day off today, but they were unequivocally foiled by my stomach waking me from a dead sleep at 2 am to be absolutely horrible. Stayed up drinking herbal tea, willing some kind of mind-over-matter voodoo, and lying face-down on the ondol until just after 4. Son of a bitch. I don't know what the deal is, but I've been having issues with eating for a couple of weeks now, off and on, so if it keeps up I suppose I'll have to do what has as of yet been avoided so far in my Korean adventures, which is go to the fucking doctor.

If I'm really honest with myself, I know what it is. But I don't want to be honest with myself about it, because it's much more difficult than a stomach virus -- anxiety. I've been slowly easing myself into considering that possibility the past couple of days, but the reason why it's such a pain in the ass is that there isn't always a clear cause. Sometimes, it just is. Which is fucking annoying. Anyway. You didn't come here to read about that, now did you?

I did eventually make it out this afternoon. To Hongdae, where at my favorite coffee shop I failed yet again at managing to get my hands on a fucking large coffee. I love this place. I love everything about this place. But I think it's actually impossible to get them to give you a large coffee, if you're a foreigner. Or me. I've tried everything I can think of -- saying it in Korean, saying it as it's written on the menu ("tall"), saying it as the small size is written on the menu ("regular"), saying it in English and Konglish ("lar-gee" and "big si-juh", pointing to the big cup on the display counter. Every time the clerk nods. Ah, I understand. Then my little electronic thingy buzzes and there it is -- a fucking small. I have similar issues with getting them to give it to me in a paper cup. Take out. Jan. Mug, no. Igeot.

Fucking nothing. I don't know.

In other news, in case you're bothered, the new massive ZARA is open in Hongdae. I wandered in and walked around today, but purposely didn't go to the ATM first. Stared at a pair of shoes for about five minutes. Made myself leave and not go back. Went around the corner to another coffee shop to get another small cup of coffee to make up for the lack of buzz from the one that only took me about ten minutes to drink at the other place. They outdid themselves this time. I think it might have actually been a mini size. It was actually in a paper cup, and maybe that was the issue, but it was about half whipped cream and it took me forever to even get the coffee to start coming out.

God my life is rivetting. Aren't you glad you stopped by to read today? Well, there are a lot of other things going on, but I'm just not feeling well these days and I'm focusing on staying positive at work and doing the best that I can there. That means the rest of my life is a bit staticy at the moment, including writing this blog.

I will say that my winter life forever changed this evening as I discovered something that probably every other female on the peninsula is already aware of, which is fleece-lined tights. If you haven't come across them yet, be on the look out. I may never take them off. Until April.

Over and out again for now.

5 comments:

Kel said...

Have you really never been to the doctor in Korea? Wow. I'm impressed. I've taken full advantage of our health care plan at about a million different doctors. I've had more weird health issues here than any place I've ever lived, like laryngitis, sprained ankle, bronchitis, bizarre wart-like growths on my hand, cervical lesions, etc. I was never sick when I didn't have insurance. Go figure.

Anxiety sucks. I totally understand; I was dealing with that for about a month - up until a few days ago. It finally just dissolved.

Anyway, thinking of you. ^_^

penniesforposies said...

I hope you feel better soon!

At the coffee shop, you've been saying "큰" size and they still won't give it to you? Maybe you can ask them to "supersize" it keke There's some equivalent of that at Burger King, I saw.

Anonymous said...

I just found your post, and it's really informative and readable.

That said, this is going to sound weird, coming from a stranger on the internet - but it'll be good to see the doc - you never know what those symptoms could be. (There's a lot of things out there that start off with stomach upset.) I've had a lot of stomach trouble on and off for years and nothing was ever really found. So they tossed my symptoms into the IBS bin and had me take a mega-load of fiber and that settled things (but it took a couple of weeks). Sorry to sound like a nag, but coffee/caffeine might also contribute - and as your stress might not be changeable (due to job, being in a foreign country, etc.), you should take care of yourself.

Hope you are better.

Ebriel said...

Hope you made it to the doctor! Korean food is fantastic but it gave me ulcers that I left untreated for years...cleared up with a set of antibiotics in Thailand.

L. said...

How are fleece-lined tights written in Korean? I would like to look for these.