A visit to the doctor

So I've picked up some kind of nasty bug that refuses to leave my system. It's no surprise, really- 600 students bringing in who-knows-what, plus 15 teachers stuck in a staff room the size of a large bedroom. Basically, what goes round, everybody gets. So I have a cold that started in my throat, then moved to my sinuses, and recently turned into a middle ear infection. Today I experienced my first visit to the doctor, an ear, nose and throat specialist.

The office was a standard doctor's office, but when I was led back to see the doctor, I was a little surprised. He was sitting calmly at a computer hooked up to a computer screen and a bunch of equipment. He looked very doctorly- he was sitting confidently in his chair at the computer, dressed in scrubs and wearing a doctor's headband (not sure what the purpose of it is). On his feet were a pair of silver Nike runners. He seemed very relaxed, and put me in the chair and looked inside my ears. Then he grabbed a long silver needle-like instrument, attached it to a handle, and inserted it in my good ear. I soon found out that that long needle-like thing was a camera, and he was taking photos of my middle ear. He took two, and showed me on the computer monitor, which I thought was very cool! Now I know why they call it an ear"drum", because that's exactly what it looks like. My infected ear was not such a pretty sight. It was all red and swollen and I couldn't really see the drum. No wonder it hurts so much!

After putting some heat on it for a few minutes, I left the doctor's office and went to the pharmacy next door to get my prescription filled (just a day's worth). The pharmacist gave me three little packets of pills, one for each mealtime. In each packet there's a big white one, a little white one, a long yellow one, and an oval blue one. I'm assuming it's mainly antibiotics and painkillers. And here's the best part of the story (besides the great photos of my eardrum): the doctor's visit cost 3000 won (about $3), and the pills cost 1500 won (about $1.50). Excellent!