Trust vs. Naievete
Anyone who's known me for any amount of time knows that I am trusting, just this side of naive. At some point in the last decade, I grew aware that I was "too trusting" and balked, going the other way for all but select friends/family.
I think this is why the inherent trust I have to have in the Koreans here makes me balk. I have to trust the shopkeepers not to swindle me when buying something unmarked in a store. Today I had to trust Saewon, the manager of the Korean staff here, to take me to the doctor, explain my symptoms to the doctor, be sure they only charged me what I owed, and then to take me to a pharmacy that would give me the right medicines.
It's not that I don't want to trust people, and it's not that I think Koreans are bad -- for the most part, I think this is an honest country. It is just hard, in matters of money and medicine, for me to take things at face value.
Part of that is growing up in a nursing family and being trained fairly young to ask intelligent questions of the doctor. My doctor today could speak some English, enough to confirm with me the symptoms that Saewon told him I had.
THere is also an inherent trust in merchants/doctors here. I asked Saewon, on the way back to the car, what medicines I was given. He responded, "I didn't think to ask. Do you want to go back to the clinic and find out?"
Of course, this may be a human thing and not a Korean thing. I've met many an American who did the same thing, but at least in the US, the pills come in bottles with labels. Here they come in doses. FOr example, I'm supposed to take a individually packaged dose of 5 pills after my next 6 meals. No clue what any of them are and all the pharmacy bag says is "3 times day, 30 minutes after meals". (This is in Korean, but matches what the doctor told me).
SO, wish me luck that my nausea cocktail doesn't kill me AND give me you thoughts on trusting while traveling.
I think this is why the inherent trust I have to have in the Koreans here makes me balk. I have to trust the shopkeepers not to swindle me when buying something unmarked in a store. Today I had to trust Saewon, the manager of the Korean staff here, to take me to the doctor, explain my symptoms to the doctor, be sure they only charged me what I owed, and then to take me to a pharmacy that would give me the right medicines.
It's not that I don't want to trust people, and it's not that I think Koreans are bad -- for the most part, I think this is an honest country. It is just hard, in matters of money and medicine, for me to take things at face value.
Part of that is growing up in a nursing family and being trained fairly young to ask intelligent questions of the doctor. My doctor today could speak some English, enough to confirm with me the symptoms that Saewon told him I had.
THere is also an inherent trust in merchants/doctors here. I asked Saewon, on the way back to the car, what medicines I was given. He responded, "I didn't think to ask. Do you want to go back to the clinic and find out?"
Of course, this may be a human thing and not a Korean thing. I've met many an American who did the same thing, but at least in the US, the pills come in bottles with labels. Here they come in doses. FOr example, I'm supposed to take a individually packaged dose of 5 pills after my next 6 meals. No clue what any of them are and all the pharmacy bag says is "3 times day, 30 minutes after meals". (This is in Korean, but matches what the doctor told me).
SO, wish me luck that my nausea cocktail doesn't kill me AND give me you thoughts on trusting while traveling.