Punctuality

I wrote a post about punctuality and put it on What The Kimchi. It is one of those posts that could fit on either blog. I figured it wouldn't hurt to mention it here. ;)

The simple things.

I was just watching episode 4 of the latest season of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. He is in Lisbon, Portugal this episode and it starts off with him having a feast of sea food. It reminded me of the time Stig and I were in Jeju. Actually our last night in Jeju City. We found a seafood restaurant on a wharf and had a similar feast. God damn I am drooling just thinking of it!

I went back to WTK and tried to find a post about it ... and found none. Hmmm. May have to rectify that. But I digress.

I have said it before, and odds are I will say it again, often the simple foods are the best. The feast we had in Jeju was simple but great. The feast Bourdain had in Lisbon was simple but great.

A Cook's Tour - Mexico

I was watching A Cook's Tour - Mexico - Tamales And Iguana Oaxacan Style and some of the food started making me think about Korea.

Bourdain was given a soup called Menudo to eat. It is supposed to be good for hang overs and for stamina. It is made out of tripe (Bourdain's had belly, eye, heart, leg, lips, head, and liver. This is added to some crunchy veg and a hot spicy broth. All in all, it reminded me of sunjae haejanguk without the congealed blood but with the same colour.

Yes, Bourdain did crack wise about the Mexican group Menudo being named after tripe soup. And rightly so. :)

While I have never had a hangover my friends in Korea swore by haejanguk. I still remember the 1st time Dave had it. He was half dead when he started and within 20 minutes he felt human again.

When I lived in South Korea kamja tang was my comfort food. it reminded me of how my Mother made ribs. Now I find the reverse, Mom's ribs remind me of kamja tang and South Korea.

Access to medical care in Nova Scotia

The other day my mother, 78, slipped and fell. She was helping a friend, who had fallen and broken her foot a week ago, get out of the car after taking her shopping. She turned and caught her foot on the curb and took a tumble landing hard on the right side of her head/face.

She received a lot of help. Some workmen helped her up and put her in a wheelchair. A woman living in the condo is a retired nurse and came to help. Mom was cut above her eye and blood was gushing out like a wildcat oil well. The condo superintendent called 911 and then called me. I got there after the EMT's arrived. They took great care of mom and said she should go to the hospital and get checked out. They were worried about a concussion more than anything else. Her face around the eye and cheek was already bruised and swollen. Since I was there, and an ambulance ride costs $500-600, I drove mom to the Dartmouth General Hospital.

We got there around 11:300 AM and the Emergency Room was packed. Some of the people ahead of mom at triage had injuries such as a bleeding nose that needed to be cauterized, a sprained ankle, a migraine, and other assorted injuries. Mom had a head injury with ;possible concussion. We left the hospital around 6:10 PM without having seen a doctor.

Everyone who was there before we arrived was in AND out of the ER. Lots of people who came in after us were in and out. Mom was still waiting.

I don't want to knock the staff that works at the hospital as I know they do their best with what they have. But if mom's injuries were so insignificant that she was on the bottom of the totem pole, someone with a bleeding nose that was packed and not bleeding got in hours before we left, then why didn't they tell her that and suggest she see her family doctor the next day, or the duty doctor that day? A few hours after no signs of concussion showed they could have suggested that. It boggles my mind that a nose bleed and a migraine were given priority over a 78 year old woman who fell and was possibly concussed.

Why was the wait so long at the hospital? Well, people go there to have things treated that could just as easily be seen by a family doctor or a duty doctor at a clinic. A migraine. A cold. A sprain. One woman came in to get IV antibiotics, at her family doctors request, for an infection. These are all things that should and could be dealt with at a clinic or doctor's office. Yet people go to the ER and clog it up.

One of the things I loved about Korea was the care you could get IN a doctor's office or clinic. Needed a blood test? They drew the blood AT the doctor's office. You didn't have to go to a special clinic that is only open a couple of days a week or the hospital. You needed minor stitches? Clinic. Needed an x-ray? Any doctor's office I was at in Korea had an x-ray machine. Need IV antibiotics? Doctor's office. You didn't have to go to the ER, let alone the hospital, for minor things. Add to that there are enough doctors in Korea that you can walk in without an appointment and reasonably expect to see the doctor in less than an hour. The access to health care in South Korea makes Canada's access seem ... third world.

Then you have another problem making things worse at the ER. No beds in the hospital. A lot of patients who SHOULD be admitted to the hospital have to wait in the ER for days for a bed to become available. The mother of a friend had a mini-stroke last December, at the time they thought it was a full stroke. She spent THREE days in a small room in the ER waiting for a bed to become available in the hospital. When my mother had congestive heart failure 3 years ago she spent over 12 hours in a bed in the ER waiting for a bed to become available in the hospital. That is an insane situation.

A lot of the hospital beds are being taken up by people waiting for beds to open in long term senior care facilities. Twice while we were waiting in the ER a "Code: Census" was announced. Another person waiting went up and asked a nurse what that meant and was told it meant there are NO beds left in the ER and they can't admit anyone else until one opens up. It was over an hour before they took another patient into the ER to see a doctor.

In Nova Scotia there is a shortage of long term care facilities for the elderly, hospital beds, doctors, and nurses. Which makes what the Provincial Government wants to do now obscene. They want to take $47 Million of Federal money slated for infrastructure and use it to put towards having a new convention center built in Halifax. THAT is pretty fucked up.

We currently have a convention centre in Halifax that is NOT being fully utilized, the World Trade and Convention Centre. Also there is the Summit Place, a convention centre that was built to host a G7 meetings in the 1995. Why in the blue hell do we need another centre? One built with government money? If a new centre was REALLY viable the private sector would be ready to build it without government money.

The $47 Million dollars that the Dexter government wants from the Federal government was slated for infrastructure investment, mainly repairing and upgrading the roads in Nova Scotia as well as recreation centers around the province. I could see them wanting to take it away from roads for another infrastructure area, let's say long term care facilities for the elderly or more hospital facilities and staff, but a convention centre that we DON'T need?

I thought things were supposed to be different under an NDP government? The Dippers are more worried about "the people" than business. I guess that was just a lot of bull shit used to get themselves elected. Like any other party. Based on the expense scandals, donation scandals, and bullshit like this convention centre and self congratulatory spending one would think it was the old Buchanan government in power and not the Dippers.

If you HAVE to take $47 Million in Federal infrastructure funds away from from roads you should be putting it in health care and not a white elephant Mr. Dexter.

Just tell China to piss off!

Damn. Once again someone backs down from China.

This time the Japanese are releasing the Captain of a Chinese fishing boat that ran into Japanese patrol boats. Instead of prosecuting him they are kowtowing to China's demand to release him.

A couple of years ago Chinese fishermen illegally fishing in Korean waters murdered a Korean Coast Guard officer. It was one in a long line of problems the South Koreans have had with Chinese fishermen. The fishermen come into Korean waters armed. They have kidnapped coast guard officers. Beaten them. Murdered them. And the South Korean government did jack shit to back up the Coast Guard. They refuse to arm them and not much happens to the Chinese fishermen.

Hell, even George Bush blinked after the Chinese ran into a US patrol plane and forced it to land in China.

If you are just going to let China ram it up your ass you may as well hand your country over to them now. It makes me shake my head to see countries just take the shit China is shoveling.

Thirsty Traveler

I downloaded all 4 seasons of the Thirsty Travel and have started season 3. every episode has to do with some type of alcohol and the area it is from. In season 3, episode 4, the Thirsty Traveler goes to South Korea and looks at soju.

Unlike Cooking in the Danger Zones South Korean episode, it was an interesting show. I found the guy who did cooking in the Danger Zone to be a prat. The Thirsty TYraveler actually looked at a lot of aspects of drinking and soju in South Korea. Drinking customs and etiquette and original compared to modern soju. Keving Brauch, the Thirsty Traveler, wasn't condescending in the least. He gave a view of South Korea and Soju that touched even my jaded sensibilities. I recommend watching it if you haven't.

It also made me miss South Korea. I love being home but there is nothing to compare with a night out with friends in South Korea for soju and samkyubsal. Whether you go for the Korean drinking etiquette or not. I had a fantastic dinner with familty followed by a great chobia and some corona with lime. But I would kill for galbi and soju with friends.

The show also has me kicking myself for not going to Andong when I had a chance.

Tomorrow my niece is trying out a Korean restaurant with some friends. I gave her some tips. if it is any good I will be visiting. :)