acupuncture

William and I just tried acupuncture a couple of hours ago. We've been wanting to try it for awhile since we're in a country that has practiced it for centuries, but I didn't know where to go. Then, when I went to the hospital for swimmer's ear last week, I saw an acupuncture sign so I asked about it. We didn't have to make an appointment so we went today after my last summer camp class. For the two of us it was an incredibly cheap 30,000 won (~$24). One thing I am going to miss when I leave is the health care, it's been fantastic! Way better than home.

My 10 needles (above).

William had 11 needles in the photo above, though you can only see 10 here. Also, his were arranged differently than mine. Not sure if it's a male/female thing or if there was something else that made the difference. The needles stayed in for 15 minutes under a red heat lamp, during which time it hurt quite a bit to move.

When we walked into the acupuncture area we smelled marijuana, or so we thought. There were a lot of older patients around so we thought maybe it was for their pain relief, or maybe even cancer patients, but we were wrong. Initially, when they asked if we wanted the "hot treatment" we thought we might be smoking the pot, so William declined since he can be drug tested at any time. I figured why not, I'm in a hospital, so I got the hot treatment. The translator called it Moxa, which actually isn't pot at all now that I've looked it up, but it sure smelled the same. It turned out to be the little burning, sticky disks on my back in the picture above, which were left on until they felt hot to my skin. When we realized we wouldn't be smoking anything William chose to get the hot treatment also.

It was recommended that we get acupuncture ever other day if we want. So we may go back again before we leave.