I saw the doctor and told him my symptoms and based on my internet research, I was a little scared about a kidney infection. He also thought I might be pregnant, so he suggested a test for that. The secretary and I start laughing because another secretary just found out she is pregnant, so we were saying "no way" and I said "I can't be!". The doctor then proceeds to ask if I am married. I ask YoonJoo (who is with me) "what did he say?", because his English was not so great and YoonJoo says "he asked if you are ready?". And I'm thinking ready for what??? Is he about to pull my pants down or something?? Finally, I repeated "Am I married?" he nods. I say "yes". He must've thought I was a Russian hooker in town and was scared that I was pregnant and probably didn't know the father. It was a rather odd question to me, but then again, I'm in Korea.
I left this doctor to go upstairs to provide a urine sample. I walk in the door of the small, non-ventilated room and what do I see (and smell). Yes, folks, it's the urine samples. But they don't do it like the USA. Here is the first thing I see right when I walk in the room. Luckily people were speaking loudly enough that you couldn't hear the camera click sound that my cell phone made when I took this picture.
Anyone want some lemonade??? or orange juice????
The secretary and I are DYING LAUGHING. How disgusting!! And she's even Korean. The gentlemen prints out my barcode with information, sticks it on the side of a small dixie cup and then DRAWS a line with a ball point pen to show me how much he needs. HA!!!!!!! I then walk down the hall, around the corner to the women's restroom to provide my sample. I fill 'er up and then walk back down the hallway past everyone while holding my pee in a dixie cup. Good thing I didn't get thirsty and forget what I was carrying.
So, I went back later this afternoon to receive my diagnosis. He pulls up the computer screen to something that shows "pregnancy test = negative". My secretary and I clap and let a sigh of relief -- which must have been very traumatic for the doctor, who then asked "What were you doing to do if it was positive?" I then felt bad and said I wouldn't "do" anything, but I just wasn't planning on having a baby in Korea.
That's about all of my story, I thought it was funny. Disgusting urine samples and a doctor who thought I had no baby-daddy and would've gotten rid of it. No kids yet, but did get some antibiotics. Hopefully no trips anytime soon to the urine culture lab!!!!! Makes you almost appreciate the extremely long waits at the US doctor's office.
Now...the owner of the restaurant comes to our table and mumbles off some Korean at 100 miles per hour. we all look at her confused and say "Ribs?". Finally she says "Regular, Spicey or Salty". Every man begins with "I'll take spicey". But she cuts in and says "Spicey is veeery spicey". So we start to rethink the situation. Maybe she knows what she is talking about??? These Koreans don't play around with the level of spice - this stuff gets HOT. Luckily, we find someone at the next table over (small town) that we know from another project. I ask him -- what do you order? He says half regular and half spicey -- and this came from a table of all men. So we decide on 3 regular and 2 spicey orders. Then, the gloves come out. We get a bucket with gloves and the guys think they are funny, of course. Here, the ribs have been laid out to cook on our little coal pit in the middle of the table. "Korea Style"
Lindsay and I give them a thumbs up... Can we get these with every meal??
Yum, these were great! All gone now... check out the abundant amount of side dishes. I wasn't doing so well with the metal chopsticks this night. Talk about frustration. Typical side dishes include: kimchi (rotten...I mean...fermented cabbage), a bowl of onions, a bowl of garlic pieces, a bowl of skinny green beans easily mistaken for St. Augustine grass, a bowl of seaweed, a bowl of green jalapeno shaped peppers that turned out to be hot this night. Most of the time, the peppers are not hot and you dip them in chili paste. Unfortunately for Dale and Mitch --- they learned the hard way that some actually are hot like a jalapeno!
Now, the bowling alley was in the next town, which meant an estimated 15 minute drive. We wouldn't want anyone to have a beer and drive home, so we hired the bus for the 15 minute drive. Luckily, the bus comes complete with cordless microphone for our entertainment!
Tom belted out a nice tune or two....which was then completed ruined by another co-worker who sang to the tune of "walking in a winter wonderland", while singing the words "why is korea so darn hot"...or something like that. He was HILARIOUS.
What a beautiful picture. So serene... But checking into our resort was hilarious. I did TONS of research for available resorts. The only requirements were pool, breakfast included and spa at the resort. Well, we finally found the place that fit the bill. Now, to decide on a room. None of these resorts had too many pictures online. It was amazing at the variety. You could get a room for $40 a night or $250 a night. So, we searched and searched and decided that the "superior deluxe room" looked like a winner. That sucker was only about $67 a night. Sweet! We arrive in Koh Samui and the resort is picking us up from the airport. We start to get nervous that maybe we cheaped out and this place sucks. The shuttle bus pulls up and there is our name with the driver. He then runs off to get the Resort Van -- this is a good sign - they have their own van. It's raining at this point as we head off to the hotel. Along the way we pass TONS of people on motorcycles (or scooters) and it's raining?!?!?! Then, we make a turn onto a little side street with junky houses. Could this be the way to the resort? And finally, we dead end into a tiny parking lot and we're there. It's looks a little sketchy. We get out to go to the "Front Desk", which is an old desk with roof, but it's all outside and there's not even a computer! They finally show us to our room. We got a semi-detached cottage, so we only shared one wall with another cottage. We walk in and Oh My Goodness - what a sh*thole!!!! 
What's even better is that our giant garden tub that "blends with nature", doesn't even have a shower hose long enough to go above your head. You had to squat to wash your hair and it didn't have a shower holder high on the wall, so you had to hold it the whole time. Here is Rob demonstrating our shower technique (with clothes on). Too bad the place was too gross for me to consider sitting and bathing in there. Not to mention that you have to brush your teeth with bottled water because their water is bad. That makes you feel even more dirty that you aren't bathing in "good water". 
Well, the room sucks, but back to the positive. We're at a gorgeous beach in a place where you can't spend money if you try (unless you get an expensive room)! :)
Here we are, just swinging in the trees. Rob was hot in his tree swinging getup.
Kayaking out at the Marine Park.... a dreadfully boring 2 hour boat ride from the island. Should've taken the speed boat tour. Lesson Learned!
A hike up the uninhabited island.
The people behind us on the Elephant Trek. We bought our picture, but I can't scan it right now, so you get to see this family. What a gorgeous trek through heavy forests......or not. Maybe it was just a circular path. oh well, I got to ride the elephant --- which also rid me of my previous desire to take a elephant safari in Africa. Can you say uncomfortable.
Okay, another funny story. We are walking along the beach at night and we see this bright light in the sky, but it's moving slowly. Must be a small private plane coming in. Wait, there's another one. They sure aren't moving fast, but that is bright. What is it?? That one is moving around in crazy directions and the other light just went out. What is going on????!!!! Then, another night we see them and listen intently. Definitely no engine. Finally, on yet another night, we are at the restaurant on the beach and these guys walk by and are trying to sell this "bag". Then, we see them light one and off it goes into the air and burns for 5 or 10 minutes. THAT'S WHAT THOSE LIGHTS WERE! Boy do we feel dumb. Anyhow, we bought some lamps while we were there and had them shipped back to Korea, so the owner of the store gave us two of these "hot air balloons" (can't remember the Thai name). He said that you send it off with all of your bad luck. We are so excited because I wanted to do one and now it's free. :)
Finally, I will leave you with the most interesting part of the trip. We had to go see a ladyboy show while we were in Thailand. We tried to decide between taking the Baht Bus (too tired to insert the picture) to Chewang - the nicer beach - or staying on our beach (Lamai) and going to the show we could walk to. We decided on walking. Lucky for us. :) We got to the show early and were the only ones in the whole place while this "lady" (or boy) danced on stage in lingerie and stared us down. Geez, are there any other weirdos on this beach that want to see a lady boy show? I thought we were going to be the only ones. Finally the place fills up and a lady from Australia sat next to us and we had a blast with her all night -- her husband refused to come out for such an event. The reason I say lucky for us that we stayed in Lamai for the show was definitely not the costumes or stage props -- this place was a junker and the poor ladyboys had costumes with holes, etc. They definitely need to increase the price of their drinks to buy some new costumes! But we were lucky because the show was fun and it had one chick/dude that did a comedy portion, so it was hiliarous. In between the shows (yes, we stayed for the 2nd show), they would come hang out with the crowd. So, here is Rob getting to know them and also the hilarious one, who proposed to Rob during his/her skit and picked on the crowd. Great show! We had a blast!!
I would upload more, but this took me an hour. The picture are the slowest part. It's past my bedtime and I've stayed up just so I can call Bank Of America - now that they are open - and transfer money for our next trip to China! The tour group only accepts money orders or wire transfers -- what happened to the great credit card!