Hot in the City!

This was an incredibly hot day!

After dropping Sophia off at her bus stop, I went with my neighbor to an "Obesity Clinic". I had seen these clinics around town but didn't really know what went on inside. Could it be a Korean version of Jenny Craig or Curves? My curiosity got the best of me and I had to see for myself, I asked if she could take me when she was taking another neighbor, to get her moles removed.

The clinic was within walking distance from our house and no appointment needed. A drive through cosmetic surgery clinic! You walk in, pointed to what you wanted removed, sit down, wait a couple of minutes for the nurse to call you back. All communication between the doctor and patient was done through body language and an abundant amount of faith. When the procedure was complete, the nurse wrote down the amount owed (5-10,000 won per mole depending on size) and we were out the door in less than 20 minutes and 2 moles short. I was amazed how simple it was to have this done!
While I was waiting in the office I saw another patient sitting with dots of cream all over her face. I pointed to her dots and shook my head in question. She took her arm and pointed to her freckles. She was having the freckles removed from her face. As she became a little more comfortable with her English, she asked me how old I was and then proceeded to tell me how old she was...52! She looked not a day close to 40.

later that day...

I was almost done with dinner and my pie was on its last 15 minutes, Chris had come home early and the girls were in the house around when the fire alarm sounded (the fire alarm is frequently set off from excess of smoke or a child pulling the alarm). Chris and I went out the front door to make sure it wasn't an actual fire. I couldn't see any smoke and asked the neighbor, coming up the stairs, if it was coming from our building. It didn't seem that the sound was coming from our building but the neighboring building. I went back into the house and looked out the patio to make sure. As I look out... I see the Korean construction workers pointing up toward our building, yelling and running to toward us. There was an actual fire but I had no idea where it was coming from. I yelled to Isabelle to take Sophia out to the playground and yelled to Haley to grab my purse with my ID , as I was scooping up both dogs in each arm. We had made it out to the playground while Chris had gone up the stairs with another neighbor. As people were "slowly" evacuating the building, I could see smoke billowing out of the window on the 4th floor and smell burning plastic. Chris finally came out to the playground to tell us that the construction workers had run up to the apartment and help put out the fire. Chris and 2 other neighbors were trying to contain the fire until the fire department arrived arrived (within 10 min). The fire began in an apartment on the fourth floor and did not spread to any other apartments. The fire started in the kitchen and was caused by grease. The mother and children were able to safely evacuate the building while dad arrived as the fire department was extinguishing the fire. I have not heard how much if the house was damaged. Housing immediately relocated the family to a fully furnished apartment.

We are very thankful that everything worked out as it had.