Sam Gye Tang!

There is a soup that you are supposed to drink here in the summer.  I know, I was skeptical about soup in the summer, but this soup is so delicious that it is worth eating any time of the year.  The original Korean calender had 24 months, and on the first day of the three hottest months, you are supposed to eat this soup.
Ok, the English name is Chicken Ginseng Stew.  You get a whole little chicken in a bowl with rice and ginseng.  The chicken is stuffed with garlic, a chestnut, and a jujube.  The soup is supposed to give you energy to face the heat of the summer.  The protein and ginseng are energy foods.  However, the soup just made us really full and happy.  This is a recipe I will definitely try to make in America.

Delicious Samgyetang!  Your own personal chicken in a bowl.

Happy Feet!

There is a health trend in South Korea that took us a while to figure out.  It has to do with your feet.  Apparently, if  you treat your feet right, the rest of your body will follow.  For instance there is a type of clay that is good for your feet.  They make long trails of it to walk on barefoot.  Its supposed to cure you of indigestion, diabetes, memory loss, and various other diseases.  Its supposed to be the clay that cures you, but I suspect the long walks have something to do with it.

The next foot treatment feels really good.  Here is a picture of us on one.  Riley is in front just wearing socks, and our Slovenian friend Anton is next.  He and I went on it barefoot.

Riley and Anton healing their bodies with their feet.  Its a foot massage path!

It feels so good!  Its a path of smooth rocks that vary every now and then with different sizes and styles of rocks.  You just have to look out for sticks and insects that may have fallen, but they are usually kept pretty clean.  You can find simple ones in lots of small parks, this one was a little more extensive because is was near a tourist spot.  You can see the sign on the right of the path that shows you what part of your foot will affect what part of your body.  All your body parts correspond to a section of your foot.  I'm not sure how true all these feet things are, but they sure feel nice on your feet!

Health Check!

So, before we go back to America, we wanted to have a complete check up in Korea to make sure we were doing ok.  I scheduled a "Plus" health check which was the middle-sized package.  I wasn't allowed to eat for 8 hours beforehand because of the blood test and the endoscopy.  I showed up at 9 in the morning, and was told to go to the locker room and change into the clothes I would find in the locker.  It contained a comfortable linen pants and shirt.  I also had a pair of comfortable sandals to wear except they were for Korean feet.  I had to go to the front desk and ask for bigger shoes.  The lady tried to find me some bigger women's sandals, but I ended up getting men's sandals.  They fit perfectly.
Then the testing began.  I went from station to station getting my height, blood pressure, muscle mass, hearing, blood, and heart checked.  Besides the blood test, all of the exams were automated.  I was hooked up to various machines holding metal things or covered in suction cups.  It was all very quick and efficient.  Then I went to get the extra stuff done.  Vision, chest x-ray (standard to check for TB), and abdomen ultrasound.  I wasn't really expecting the abdomen ultrasound.  It was strange to have someone looking at my kidneys, pancreas, liver, gall bladder, and spleen.  It also tickled.
Then was the endoscopy.  Endoscopy is a horrible experience, if you've never had one, but the nurses were very nice and efficient.  As soon as it was over, I got to go over and see nice color pictures of my stomach.
It was a whirlwind of tests, I barely had to wait for anything.  I haven't gotten the full report back yet, but I am healthy as far as the immediate tests go!  But even better, the whole thing cost $120 without insurance!