PhilKor Oriental Medicine Clinic

Can miracles actually happen? Reading through the Bible stories of how the lame walked and the how the deaf could hear after the Lord healed them was really fascinating. Even now, I find that a lot of miraculous stories of healing happened in my life and others as I shared testimonies with my brothers and sisters in faith.

Realistically speaking though, the Lord can also use science to work as his hands and feet. Enter my dearly beloved church mate who is currently studying acupuncture. She has finally dragged me off to her school after a lot of stories about her medical mission. I went to PhilKor Oriental Medicine Clinic as they they were offering 50% off for their diagnosis.

For the record, I wrote down all the diseases I was experiencing so that I can get properly treated. Here's the list:
1. PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)
2. Mild dextroscoliosis
3. Myopia with astigmatism
4. Cough and sore throat

Honestly, I sort of knew what to expect as my friend has been trying her new found acupuncture knowledge on us but nevertheless, found nice surprises along the way...

I was really happy with the diagnosis because other than the conditions that I've listed down, they also mentioned some that I didn't know actually existed. (e.g. I get cold easily and I had sweaty palms - pasma in Tagalog). Plus, some more diseases I might encounter in the future. Of course, this took a little more effort as the doctor was Korean. Nevertheless, someone was translating beside him so it wasn't really a hassle.

Acupuncture diagnosis usually just takes a few minutes, less than 30. They have a machine that does it. What my friend raves about is this- it usually gives you a holistic view as some symptoms from the body might be the cause of something much more deeper.

After that, I had an acupuncture session and ventosa. Acupuncture is just like being bitten by a mosquito, it's nothing really. Okay, maybe for some it might be painful. Pain is actually subjective, right? But ventosa for me... Hrgh! It was a little more painful. Maybe add .5-1 level more than acupuncture. (Ventosa has different styles so I can't really describe it in detail). In this case though, they put some needles and vacuumed it up with the suction cups so that the bad blood comes out of your body. The concept is kinda like menstruation...

During the whole process, they were just suggesting I sleep 'cause you have to wait for the needle to work - 15 minutes minimum. I guess it's just really peaceful and quiet since they all left the room.

After that, they just rub the parts where the needles poked and one can walk out of there like nothing happened.

Oh! Wait a minute...?! Payment time... Haha... They were giving discounts that time as there was a promo so it was cheaper. =)

And, no... I suddenly didn't start having clearer eyesight and no miracle of Jesus' time happened to me. They honestly told me that if I wanted to get healed, I'd have to go through the process of continuing a lot of sessions because it depends on each bodies' reaction. My friend did tell me before that a paralyzed man was able to walk right then and there after an acupuncture treatment so I might be back... As for now, I'm just going to blog about this experience. =)

PhilKor Oriental Medicine Clinic:
273 Connecticut St., Greenhills East, Mandaluyong City
(02) 723-22-71; 0921-454-3531
philkor2007@hotmail.com

Clinic hours:
Monday to Friday (9am to 5pm)
Saturday (9am to 1pm)

Plus, they also have acupuncture classes!!!

Oh, the Interesting Possibilities...

On Education
I was browsing through Quirky's Pricing Game when I came across the case for Raspberry Pi. Imagine my excitement, when I thought of the endless possibilities that we can do with it when it comes to nation building!!!

Okay, Raspberry Pi is not a food but a credit-card sized computer that costs almost similar to a textbook. It sells around $25-35 which would be around 1,000-1,400PHP. I think my finance book costed about 800PHP (which I bought for half a price because it was second hand). If you want to know more, you can check out their main website. It runs on Linux and is open-source... And, well, me not being the most techie person out there, I believe you can just search them out in Google for other specs.

I think that underdeveloped countries can really have a go at this. Back when I was in college, I had to do school profiling for some public schools and they were in dire need of computers. It's cheap and a great starter for any community that's interested in getting things started in the right direction~

On Trading
As we're on the topic of nation-building, an American news channel (I forgot which one) was also doing a feature on some fishermen in the States who were using the internet to directly target consumers to buy straight from the day's catch. Based on their data, 50-80% of seafood source are usually sent to repackaging sites (mostly to China) but possibly go bad by the time it gets to resellers or grocery stores-which means that it isn't as fresh and at the same time, isn't as sustainable.

What they do is try to eliminate the middle-men so that people can directly converse with the fishermen, know where they get it (which sea they get the catch, how they operate, etc...). A person who purchases from ilovebluesea.com can usually get the fish within 24-48 hours so it stays fresh.

I was conversing with my friend (her family farms) and she mentioned to me how difficult farming was in the Philippines since it involved some middle-men. I can see that we've a lot to go from here. I mean, we don't even have good infrastructure and great internet connection but I think we're off to a good start. I know a lot of NGOs are really working to get things to happen.

I'd just like to say, again... Oh! The interesting possibilities!!

New Find~ Lorenz: Naturals (Sea Salt & Pepper)

While I was grocery shopping with my dad last Thursday (May 16, 2013) in SM Savemore, I felt so happy to find a product called Naturals from Lorenz. In the Phillippines, it's distributed by Goodway Int'l Trading Corp. in Quezon City. The flavor was Sea Salt and Pepper- made with all natural ingredients. Well, the truth is, the reason why I was excited with it was because of the quality and its price. Imported goods usually cost 80-100PHP. This one only costs less than 30PHP even if it was made in Germany~ Similarly priced as artificially flavored local snacks in the market. Very competitive, right? I munched on it with my dad while paying at the cashier, it tasted very good!

I'm sure that the people who buy non-artificially flavored snacks are as gleeful as I am!

I'm really pleased yet at the same time, not surprised. The truth is, as some of us may know, some companies have to raise their prices when they can actually give it at a cheaper price. FYI to anyone who's interested... When Lacoste first opened, they lost sales because they didn't have a high price. After they started aiming for a higher price range and market, people started buying. Now, they are quite popular, aren't they? The reality is, some people associate price with quality more than actually reading the package and discerning what they buy. I hope we can really be more capable of getting quality goods at the right prices. (Oh, if anyone has tips and tricks about great bargains, I'd love to know~)

I'm optimistic that a little more into the future, these organic and safer food products will be priced for the masses. I mean, it's not even supposed to be a privilege to eat safe food. It's supposed to be basic. Of course, businesses can't really drive the prices down, consumers also have to cooperate because they might close down if they're not earning enough. Hopefully, people can be more active in spreading something great because when there's more demand, prices usually go down, as economics would say...

Last note! If you know great items at the right price, feel free to post it here~ <3