Good Things About Korea (in pill form)

Often I tend to bitch about the negative aspects of living in Korea: the absence of the use of lines, the shoving, the slapping of children and so on. Today I am here to tell you that there are good things too! Like birth control! At the second pharmacy I tried I was able to walk in, show the label of my bc from America and get an almost identical chemical compound from the pharmacist. First, I was able to do this without a prescription![1] Second, a six month supply cost me $34 and change! I should add that I think that my continuance of bc is absolute evidence that I am secretly an optimist because the only thing I'm at risk of right now is immaculate conception (Hi, mom!).

PS, at work yesterday I got to shout, "Charlie, don't clothesline other students, please!" Charlie is one of our students who really needs special attention that I think other teachers aren't giving him so I've been cultivating a relationship (that sounds bad, I know, but there's not another word) with him to encourage him to speak and behave better.

[1]This is both good and bad. It is certainly good for me here because I am terrified of the idea of getting an OB/GYN checkup here. So it's good because access is important for all people. The ease of access to bc is bad to the extent that the prescription requirement does encourage women like myself to go to the doctor every year. Sadly, in America, annual exams are monstrously expensive at a regular doctor. A checkup with my physician in DC would cost, without insurance, hundreds of dollars for a basic checkup, interview, and STD testing. That is ridiculous. These preventative checkups should not be prohibitively costly yet they are and it is contributing to unnecessary illness, death and pregnancy among many, I'm sure.