Foreign medical procedures.

I saw this little scooter on the sidewalk when I was wandering around the first time I tried to go to my appointment.

I decided to get laser hair removal, while I am in Korea. Yes, I have chin hairs. It's gross and I hate it. It's embarrassing, but it's nothing I can control. Getting it done in the USA would cost me over a thousand dollars, in Korea it cost just under two hundred and seventy-five dollars. The YAG laser, which they are using, is what my sister has told me is the best (she worked in the laser hair removal business). I had to let the hair grow for six weeks. I could only shave it and not pluck it. I would never do this back at home because I wouldn't be able to face anyone. In fact, one morning I was shaving my chin and I cut myself. Like I said it's embarrassing. And let me make this clear, I am NOT manlike, but it's enough to make me self-conscious. I guess what made me really upset about it, is the fact that an acquaintance of mine is getting testosterone shots to become a man (transgender or whatever is the politically correct term). Regardless, she was posting her monthly results online and what she was proud of being able to achieve is what I can produce naturally. 

I try to go to my first procedure on Tuesday and of course the directions are horrible (it is becoming a constant theme every time a Korean gives directions, I am bound to get lost). So, I missed the appointment and got clearer directions and tried again today. I met with the doctor and we discussed what would be happening. Next, he led me to the nurse and they exchanged words and a laugh, most likely at my expense (fucken hairless, skinny Koreans). The nurse took me to a comfortable waiting room with a movie in English playing. She put numbing cream on my chin, which I forgot was there. I end up getting it on my lips and tongue and I become numb everywhere. Twenty minutes later she takes me to a room in the back, where I lied down. The doctor comes in and three minutes later he is done. During the quick procedure, which just felt like a rubber band snapping against my chin, I did smell the scent of burning hair. Then the nurse iced my chin and I was free to go. Simple, quick and relatively painless.

Before I left, I scheduled my next appointment for exactly one month later. The receptionist handed me a reminder card. She spelled my name Toei. This is maybe the third time someone has spelled my name that way, even though I have already correctly written it for them on some type of paper work. I don't know if it is the way I right my r or if it's in the translation.