Mok-dong: Paris Park (목동의 파리공원)

One medium-sized park in Yangcheon-gu is in Mok-dong, between Apartment Complex 4 and 6.  It is a short bus ride from Omokgyo Station.  The park’s name is 파리공원, or “Paris Park” in English.

 

The park has walking paths paved with that squishy running-track foam, and they are lined with trees.  There is also a walking/running/bike path encircling the whole park.  The park also houses exercise machines, a small baseball diamond, a bandshell, and a rest area with bathrooms and picnic tables.  There is also a     large pool (not for swimming!) that has fountains in the summer time.  There are flowering trees and plants of all kinds, including a rose garden.  Occasionally there are music festivals or bake sales in the park.  Middle school students take class pictures and do art projects there from time to time, and grandmothers bring their grandchildren over for playdates in the morning.  The park is bordered by a Buddhist Temple on one side and a big catholic church, along with the Yangcheon-gu Public Library, on the other.

 

Now for the photographs (please excuse the quality due to the mistiness of the Monsoon Season and my Old School camera):

A view of the park with Hyundai World Tower in the background.  The park is bordered by trees so you can’t see much of it unless you go inside it.

June flowers in the park

A misty-looking rose garden

 A close-up of the rose garden

 

A view of the baseball diamond, with Hyundai World Tower in the far background to the left and a view of the bandshell/restrooms in the foreground.

Clinics and Hospitals

Clinics and Hospitals

One thing we didn’t know when we moved to Korea was the distinction between the price of visiting a clinic versus a larger hospital. In the United States, visiting a private specialists’ clinic is often times more expensive than being seen at the hospital, but it’s the other way around in Korea generally.

For awhile we were attending a large University Hospital simply because it was near our home and we knew some doctors who spoke English. However, as we have a young son who caught colds quite often through the winter, the cost of doctors visits and prescriptions added up. One month, when all of us were sick, we spent nearly 300,000 won in doctors’ fees and prescriptions for all three of us!

It was after all this that we found out about visiting clinics. They are everywhere. It helps to know the names of different medical specialties:

내과 (ne-gwa): Internal Medicine

이비인후과 (i-bi-in-hu-gwa): Ear, Nose & Throat

산부인과 (san-bu-in-gwa): OBGYN

소아과 (so-a-gwa): pediatrics

의원 (e-won): clinic

 

The following is a picture of a building in our neighborhood that’s full of different clinics of various specialties. We see our ENT doctor here. It costs roughly 3,000 for a basic visit, and pharmaceuticals are pretty cheap, too. The name of the clinic is Somang ENT (소망이비인후과) and it’s on the 4^th floor. The doctor speaks some English, but not much.

 

Here’s the front of the building:

 

Here’s the sign on the side of the building (it’s the blue one):

 

The following is a picture of the directory outside the building where we take our son to see the pediatrician. The name of the clinic is Seran Clinic (세란 의원) and both of the doctors speak excellent English. One of the doctors specializes in family medicine and the other in pediatrics. Visits for my son cost less than 2,000 won and for my husband and I about 3,000 won. Pharmaceuticals are also fairly cheap, depending on the illness. Their clinic is located on the 3^rd floor. The name of the building is Hyundai World Tower (현대월드타워).

 

Here’s a picture of Hyundai World Tower from the side:

What's gonna be here shortly

This is a new adventure for me.  I have never blogged to truly inform people before.

Sure, I've posted stuff on forums.  I've also made a few posts for future reference to myself on things I've done and places I've been to.  But I've never written to the general public in a journalistic fashion before.

When I was growing up, my father would always tell me that he wished I would go into journalism.  I always told him I didn't want to because I didn't want other people telling me what I should write.  Oh, the starving artist attitude reared its ugly head at such a tender age!  Alas, here I am.  Writing to inform.

I live in Yangcheon-gu.  I like it a lot.  It's a high-end gu but it's a pretty good place to live for families and there are quite a few hidden gems.  Quite a few foreigners live here, but they seem pretty disconnected from each other outside of work relationships.  I have only met two long-term residents of the area that are foreigners.

Many people in Yangcheon-gu speak English.  However, finding out useful information about Yangcheon-gu in English is somewhat difficult.  Because I know just a smidgeon of Korean, I manage to get around and do stuff with a decent amount of ease.  Others may not be so lucky.  Still others may not even know what they're missing out on.  Perhaps I don't know what I'm missing out on.  I could be wrong about everything - and if you let me know that it'd be okay.

So this is the introduction post.  I plan to talk about a lot of the places I have visited.  Many of the articles I write may have to go without pictures for awhile because I visited a lot of places when I first came to Korea and I didn't have a camera with me at the time (I lost it in transit.  It was pretty pathetic.)

So bear with me as I go on this journey and I hope you learn a thing or two about the goings-on of Yangcheon-gu.