america – Asianliving.me

Himeji Castle, or the white heron, was first built in the 1500s. It has survived 48 transfers of power (both peaceful and not) as well as a bombing by America. Somehow this amazing structure managed to survive after two duds hit it in World War II. (A footnote a British couple made sure to bring to my attention…)

The morning after we arrived from Yamazaki, we lined up to get tickets to visit the white heron. Since we were there early we were given a special ticket. We would be 2 of the first thousand people to visit the main keep that day! This made the visit so much more worth it and I suggest all who go to Himeji to line up by 8am to seize this rare opportunity. To be honest, the main keep alone was worth the price of admission. Continue reading The White Heron of Himeji

Where's the billing dept.? — Where’s the billing dept.?

Before coming back to the US I only had two worries: 1) where was I gonna get awesome, authentic Chinese food?? 2) what happens if I get sick?

Since student loans are my shackles for the next few years (as long as I repay them like a baller…), any medical incident has the potential to reinforce them in cement. Even with insurance, I felt this pit in my stomach coming back because I knew there would always be a heavy co-pay… after the $2000 deductible, of course. And the cost of getting treated is anyone’s guess…

Luckily when I got back to the US (uninsured here at the time) I had no health issues. It was when I started working at my current company that I had a reason to go to urgent care and then to a local hospital. It was an ear infection that caused some hearing loss for about 4 weeks. But that wasn’t the biggest surprise…

Continue reading My first trip to an American Clinic: So Un-American!