Eye Surgery Korean Style

A couple of weeks ago the vision in my left eye became blurred.  This was surprising since I'd had cataract surgery a few years ago that gave me a new lens in each eye and great vision.  A trip to our friendly Korean optometrist we met in the English Club in Pohang deepened the mystery.  Her equipment could not read the vision in my left eye.  She reassured me that it was probably a minor problem with the implanted lens from the cataract surgery and suggested I see an ophthalmologist.  We got a recommendation from the optometrist and dropped into his office today without an appointment (one of the things I love about the Korean medical system is that appointments are often unnecessary to see a physician the same day.)

The ophthalmologist examined my eye and told me I had a condition the often occurs 2-3 years after cataract surgery.  Eyesight becomes blurred due to conditions in the back of the eye that need correction.  The new implanted lenses were fine, but I would need to have a laser procedure to correct the problems in the back of my left eye.  Ouch!  Another surgery.  Where am I going to find the time with finals coming in 2 weeks and what will it cost?  The ophthalmologist (his name is Kim, but that describes 20% of the people in Korea) told me I could have the procedure today if I was willing to wait another 30 minutes for them to dilate my eye with the necessary drops.  The laser treatment would take less than 5 minutes.  TODAY?  What is it going to cost? (as I considered our depleted budget for the month)  He told me it would cost fifty dollars.  I almost fell out of the examining chair.  I think the doctor enjoyed the shocked look on my face.  I spend thousands of dollars on laser cataract surgery in the US with insurance.  This was unbelievable.  I said let's go ahead and returned to the waiting room for the nurse to administer the necessary drops in my eye.  I also started thinking, "What am  I doing?"  "This can't be right, what do I know about this doctor?".  Still, it had every appearance of a very professional office and the doctor acted as though this was a pretty standard office procedure.

After the eye was dilated, I went back in for him to reexamine the eye.  He took a picture and projected it on a screen to show me the source of the cloudiness and blurring in my vision.  He explained the process he would use to correct the problem.  I was then led into another room where he performed the procedure.  It reminded me of the cataract surgery though shorter and no sedation.  In 5 minutes it was over.  I'm at the office now working on grading student papers.  I am already seeing a dramatic improvement in the vision in my left eye.  Words are already much clearer with my left eye.  The doctor told me it would take a day for the medication to wear off and see the full benefit of the surgery.  I am already delighted and can't believe all this was taken care of in an impromptu stop by the doctor's office.  Only in Korea!

15 Minutes of Fame

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Many have probably noticed the recent controversy in the news resulting from an allegation that a spokesperson for President Park committed a sexual assault on a Korean American intern during their presidential visit to the US last week.  This is extremely embarrassing to Korea and has dominated the news in recent days.  Much to my surprise, HILS was contacted by the largest national news broadcaster in Korea (KBS) asking for a professor to comment on U.S. law and procedures.  I was asked to help out and found myself being taped yesterday afternoon for inclusion in last night's evening broadcast.  I was a bit nervous that cutting and splicing might distort my comments, but was relieved to find I was edited down to about 5 seconds of air time with a brief quote during their 10 minutes they devoted to the story at the top of the broadcast.  Below is a still picture of me from last evenings broadcast.

 

In an additional surprise the law school was also contacted by an English radio station in Seoul asking for a professor to be interviewed on this morning's live talk radio program.  I was surprised to learn that this was the station that Elysabeth worked for last year and they remembered her.  Small world!  I was on the air for about 5 minutes and managed to meet my self imposed standard of trying not to say anything stupid.  Actually it was a fun experience.  Who would imagine our visit to Korea would involve opportunities to be part of news events on topics of U.S. law?

 

Your Korean correspondent

   

Teacher Appreciation Day - at HILS

Here in Korea, teaching is an honored profession - especially at the college and post graduate level.  Its roots go all the way back to Confucius' time and his teaching about gentlemen scholars.  Susan had no idea what sort of a prize she landed when we married.  I had heard that teacher's day was a major event at Handong International Law School (HILS) and seen lots of activity over the past 2 weeks.   Perhaps the biggest clue was the sudden onset of students who were unprepared for class.  

All this came sharply into focus today when the whole Chinn family was invited to the annual celebration of teacher's day (it is a national holiday in Korea.)  The law school auditorium was full of students, family members and alumni as each professor was presented with flowers and escorted, amid loud applause, to front seats for the show.  And quite a show it was!  Each professor has a family group with about 14 students to meet with weekly and lead through discussion topics on Christianity and the Law.  My group has been over to our home to meet the family and enjoy some home cooked meals.  On teacher's day each family group puts together a special performance to honor their professor in front of the whole auditorium as we sit in seats of honor in the front row.  This turned out to be a combined 3 hour performance of singing, dancing and skits that were wonderfully creative and highly entertaining.  

My family group combined comedy and a performance of the "Do, Re Me"song  from Sound of Music with the lyrics altered to sing the praises of their Professor Chinn.  I was delighted and felt so honored.  Susan and the kids really enjoyed all the performances as well.  The professors reciprocated by singing altered lyrics from "Go Tell It on the Mountain" as a funny lamentation on the trials and tribulations of law study at HILS.  

The event was topped off with us all joining together to sing praise songs, pray for the students, alumni, and professors, and sing blessing songs.  The blessing songs are incredibly beautiful and are sung with outstretched hands directed towards the recipients of the blessing.  They are very moving and, as far as I know, something probably unique to Korea.  After all the performances, prayers, worship and blessings, we enjoyed a huge buffet dinner to end our time together.  

I have never felt so honored in all my experiences as a prosecutor and law professor.  It is a day to remember and I must apologize to a couple of my students next week for giving them the evil eye for being unprepared for class earlier this week.  They have been very busy!

US Military Base During Troop Exercises

Much to our excitement, our family and a group from our church here in Korea were able to visit a military base during the recent joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.  We thought it would be fun to visit our troops and thank them for their service here in Korea.  I don't expect this happens too often when they serve on the foreign field.  We figured some homemade BBQ brisket would delight the troops as a memory from home.  We stocked up on brisket at Costco and Susan slow cooked it over a two day period.  BBQ brisket isn't complete without coleslaw so a friend made a large batch of delicious slaw while others made fruit salad, tuna salad and more homemade deserts than I could count.  One of the U.S. marines who attends our church chipped in some homemade mango salsa that is better than any salsa I ever tasted - especially surprising since he is neither Hispanic nor from Southern California.  He is, however, a certified redneck from Ohio and a closet chef - a combination that certainly qualifies him to be an honorary citizen of Orange County.  He has taken me under his wing and is busy schooling me in the fine art of "redneckery."  

As we approached the base, a convoy of military vehicles was just pulling away.  I would have thought we were in Iraq or Afghanistan.  There were all sorts of heavy trucks, uploaded (heavily armored) humvees, and men manning mounted machine guns on top of the turrets wearing goggles and looking like they were heading off to battle.  Once we pulled  onto the base, we saw the troops were busy there as well.  Most were dressed in camouflage fatigues with rifles slung over their shoulders.  Our kids were wide eyed as we passed several large pools of combat vehicles that probably were also part of the maneuvers.  This rivaled anything I've seen passing by Camp Pendleton on our trips down to San Diego.

Serving a meal to the troops was an absolute delight.  They were so appreciative.  Many were there from other parts of Asia to participate in the maneuvers.  I'm sure they were only expecting the normal rations in the field.  Their eyes lit up as the spotted all the goodies from home.  We met troops from all over the US.  They kept calling me sir and Susan ma'am.  I kept thinking how young they all looked.  I tried telling the younger troops "thank you for your service".  They responded by telling me to instead thank the veterans back home that had earned the  thanks.  Needless to say, I couldn't have been more proud of the young men I met that day.  They were happy to hear about our involvement in honoring the vets at the VFW lodge down the street from our home in Anaheim.

Daniel, Mary and Robert got to put on some of the combat gear that the troops wear in Afghanistan.  Daniel was the only one strong enough to wear the body armor that covers the chest and back.  It felt almost as heavy as steel plate and is designed to stop virtually any bullet.  Robert's favorite part of the uniform was the gas mask that must have reminded him of Darth Vader in Star Wars.  Susan will attach pictures of the three kids to give you a flavor of how they looked in combat gear.

We are very thankful for our troops and the many friends we've made in the military over here in Korea.  A couple of them will be leaving soon to be rotated back the the US.  We are very hopeful of seeing them again someday, Lord willing.