The Black Barbie Chronicles: Black Barbie Goes to the Dentist

I hate going to the dentist in my own country, let alone another one. Turns out pain is pain no matter where you go! Enjoy.

F.M. Laster

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

Black Barbie Goes To The Dentist in Korea

I’m not the biggest fan of the dentist, never have been. No part of me fancies sitting in the plastic covered chair looking up at fluorescent lights and having someone pick at my teeth with some form of metal foreign objects. I’ve been putting off a visit for a year (horrible, I know!) so last month I decided to put on my big girl panties take the plunge.  I had never had anyone outside of Texas check out my teeth, so, of course, I had some concerns. Turns out the whole experience was not bad.

1. What About Your Friends

The best and most logical place to go about looking for a dentist is to ask your friends; if you have Korean friends, even better. Niall sent me the address and website of the dentist he’s using, and I must say the guy’s work is good. That there was good enough for me; and yes, Niall showed me his teeth, and yes I looked in his mouth. Weird I know, but it’s Korea, who cares?

yAll you need is your trust bankcard and your ARC (alien registration card). They will be able to look up your number and confirm that you have medical/dental coverage; no medical card is needed. Pretty cool, eh? Or scary depending on how you’re looking at it.

2. Not Everything is a Covered Expense

I’m from Texas; I’m lucky that the office visit will be covered!  Here, cleaning your teeth, and extractions, like wisdom teeth, are covered! Naturally, of course, I needed some work done with me because I had an infected tooth and they needed to clean and then fill it.  This cost me a whopping 200,000 won or 175 USD. Trust me, I saved in Korea. For a cleaning, it would cost me 15,000 won or 13USD and extractions 45,000 won or 40 USD. Not bad, not bad.

3. Relax, they got you Boo

I loved Niall’s dentist.  He told me step by step what he was going to do. Not sure what I was so afraid of, but I guess if you’re scared of the dentist in your home country, going to one who doesn’t speak your language is probably worse. You how in the states when you need to get the numbing stuff, I got a boatload of that shit! I also think there was something else in there because I felt HIGH!  That’s not even the highlight of the visit.  While we were waiting for the drugs to take effect, he pulled out this book and showed me what was wrong and what he was going to do.  I liked that; giving Black Barbie the personal touch.  I really liked that. Now let me try getting that service in Texas. Not going to happen.

I really would recommend getting all your dentist stuff done in Korea if you don’t have good dental care where you’re from; especially America. Dentists there rip you off like hell.

Selfie Sundays Starring ME!

I love this color! Need to find it again.

Peru Pics From the Inca Trail

Some fun flicks from the Inca Trail. Enjoy this series!

The Black Barbie Chronicles: Black Barbie thinks her Korean is Racist (yes, HER Korean)

I’m not saying…but..Korea.

F.M. Laster

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

Black Barbie thinks her Korean is Racist (yes, HER Korean)

      I forgot how long I was in the country until I started to hear the N-word thrown around by everyday Koreans. I’m thinking about a month or so.  They were talking with each and on the phones and every time I kept hearing the N-word!  WTH?!! Seriously Korea. I mean I know that I’m not Korean but come on, really? Do you have to use that word in my presence? I was really starting to wonder about my life choices and run away from Korea, considering I ran to Korea to escape America. Or do I suck it up finish the rest of my contract and just increase my alcohol consumption to “deal” with my racist Koreans? I decided to have a chat with my handler, the sweet Moon Yeoung.  He would know what to do!

      I see him the next day at school and decided to wait until he is finished with his conversation on the phone before asking him about his very racist countrymen!  Guess what!  My Korean is just as racist as the other Koreans.  He’s speaking in Korean and all I hear is N-this and N-that. I am staring at this man like I am going to rip his spine out like in Predator.

I waited until he was finished to let him have it.
Me: OMG, did you just say the ‘N-word’ over and over again?
Moon Yeoung: Yes

Me: Why would you do that? Didn’t they tell you people (now who’s the racist), that word is offensive and wrong?

He is looking at me very puzzled, but I can see the wheels turning in his head recalling his conversation. Suddenly, he produces this huge grin on his face, bursts out laughing and begins to explain what I heard.
For starters he didn’t use the famous ‘N-word.’ The word in Korean just sounds similar to it.
There are two.

내가 and 니가
내가 (Neh gah) means ‘I’ when you are emphasizing ‘I’ in the sentence. 
니가 (Nee gah) means ‘YOU’ when you are emphasizing ‘You’ in the sentence.

      Ah, well, when he told me and explained it to me, it made a hell of a lot of sense. I thought it was really weird that every single Korean I ran into just used that word over and over again. Moon Yeoung told Mrs. Kim, another teacher we shared the office with my mistake and we all had a good laugh.

      I just go to show, that I should not be so quick to judge and assume the worse. If you didn’t know, then you would get offended.  There was this young man who acted a damn asshole on a public bus here a while back. He too thought the elderly Korean man called him the N-word. It’s bad and this bastard set us all back for a few years. It got even worse when the people around him were trying to explain what he meant.  It then went straight to the gates of hell when this bastard clocked the poor old man while he was sitting. I guess this fine example of manhood didn’t know about 내가 and 니가 but he sure knew a lot of other Korean swear words.

Selfie Sundays Starring ME!

Pretty girl for a pretty sunday.

P

Noir Saturday: Johnny O’Clock

When an employee at an illegal gambling den dies suspiciously, her sister, Nancy (Evelyn Keyes), looks into the situation and falls for Johnny O’Clock (Dick Powell), a suave partner in the underground casino. Selfish and non-committal by nature, Johnny slowly begins to return Nancy’s affection and decides to run away with her, but conflict within his business threatens their plans. As Johnny tries to distance himself from the casino, his shady past comes back to haunt him.

Check it out tonight @ 11PM CST on TCM or tomorrow morning @ 9AM CST on TCM.

F. M. Laster

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

Friday Flick: Inglourious Basterds

Here’s tonight’s flick and a good one. Enjoy.

Peru Pics From the Inca Trail

Some fun flicks from the Inca Trail. Enjoy this series!

Wayback Wednesday Music: Nicki Minaj Anaconda

Some Nicki for your Wednesday.

Travel Tuesday Cambodia: Ta Prohm

The so-called ‘Tomb Raider Temple’, Ta Prohm is cloaked in dappled shadow, its crumbling towers and walls locked in the slow muscular embrace of vast root systems. Undoubtedly the most atmospheric ruin at Angkor, Ta Prohm should be high on the hit list of every visitor. Its appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other monuments of Angkor, it has been swallowed by the jungle, and looks very much the way most of the monuments of Angkor appeared when European explorers first stumbled upon them.

Well, that’s the theory, but in fact the jungle is pegged back and only the largest trees are left in place, making it manicured rather than raw like Beng Mealea. Still, a visit to Ta Prohm is a unique, other-worldly experience. There is a poetic cycle to this venerable ruin, with humanity first conquering nature to rapidly create, and nature once again conquering humanity to slowly destroy. If Angkor Wat is testimony to the genius of the ancient Khmers, Ta Prohm reminds us equally of the awesome fecundity and power of the jungle.

Built from 1186 and originally known as Rajavihara (Monastery of the King), Ta Prohm was a Buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of Jayavarman VII. It is one of the few temples in the Angkor region where an inscription provides information about the temple’s dependents and inhabitants. Almost 80,000 people were required to maintain or attend at the temple, among them more than 2700 officials and 615 dancers.

Ta Prohm is a temple of towers, closed courtyards and narrow corridors. Many of the corridors are impassable, clogged with jumbled piles of delicately carved stone blocks dislodged by the roots of long-decayed trees. Bas-reliefs on bulging walls are carpeted with lichen, moss and creeping plants, and shrubs sprout from the roofs of monumental porches. Trees, hundreds of years old, tower overhead, their leaves filtering the sunlight and casting a greenish pall over the whole scene.

The most popular of the many strangulating root formations is the one on the inside of the easternmost gopura (entrance pavilion) of the central enclosure, nicknamed the Crocodile Tree. One of the most famous spots in Ta Prohm is the so-called Tomb Raider tree, where Angelina Jolie’s Lara Croft picked a jasmine flower before falling through the earth into…Pinewood Studios.

It used to be possible to climb onto the damaged galleries, but this is now prohibited, to protect both temple and visitor. Many of these precariously balanced stones weigh a tonne or more and would do some serious damage if they came down. Ta Prohm is currently under stabilisation and restoration by an Indian team of archaeologists working with their Cambodian counterparts.

The temple is at its most impressive early in the day. Allow as much as two hours to visit, especially if you want to explore the maze-like corridors and iconic tree roots.

Source: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/cambodia/temples-of-angkor/attractions/ta-prohm/a/poi-sig/500632/1002179