I was planning to go to Seoul this weekend, but as with every weekend I intend to have fun in Seoul, it was not meant to be. Last week, one of my students was really, really sick, and went downhill during our class. I finally sent him out to ask the manager to call his mom to come pick him up. He's usually somewhat obnoxious in class, but was so sick that he was acting really sweet. He coughed on me while I was trying to comfort him, and I knew I'd wake up sick the next day. Which I did. By Thursday evening, I was rapidly going downhill myself, and by midnight I had a high fever. So, my plan of lunch appointment, Indian/Nepalese cooking lesson, and train to Seoul was scrapped. Although I could've gone and tried to make the best of it, I know too well what overdoing it can do, and I don't much feel like ending up in the hospital, or getting all my friends in Seoul sick too. So instead, I've laid in bed resting for two days, and finally felt good enough today to get some desperately-needed cleaning done. And I disinfected everything I've been touching all week, so maybe by tomorrow I'll actually be all better. Best laid plans. It seems I'm never meant to have a good weekend in Seoul.
I'll reschedule anyway.
Blowfish.
The inspiration.
Showing posts with label Illness and Injury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illness and Injury. Show all posts
07 November 2010
15 September 2010
*Now with 95% fewer worms!
So, the doc said yesterday that I have pin worms, which I mentioned earlier briefly. She said many things, each more gross than the previous. Like how eggs were also found, so the pill tonight will kill mom, and in two weeks, the next pill will kill the babies after they hatch. Ewww. And "don't worry, this kind of worm can only go down. You won't have any coming out of your mouth, eyes, ears, or nose." Uh, thanks. I din't even know that was possible until just now. Even though this "isn't that kind", it doesn't make me feel much better.
However, within 10 minutes of taking the foul-tasting pill last night, I felt tons better. No more stomach rumbling or problems. Dead and dead. I was even able to eat my entire lunch today. It's soooo gross to think of something alive in my stomach and intestines. I guess I wasn't too far off with my quip about feeling like a scene in Alien. It just wasn't an alien trying to get out.
However, within 10 minutes of taking the foul-tasting pill last night, I felt tons better. No more stomach rumbling or problems. Dead and dead. I was even able to eat my entire lunch today. It's soooo gross to think of something alive in my stomach and intestines. I guess I wasn't too far off with my quip about feeling like a scene in Alien. It just wasn't an alien trying to get out.
14 September 2010
So it IS like a scene in Alien...
It's official: This is the worst vacation I've ever gone on. Makes me miss Korea, almost. Doc says I have pin worms. Taking meds now, should be better soon. The fact that I'm being "de-wormed" is not lost on me. (My dog would laugh his ass off...)
Doctor visit, part 2
Damn the early sunsets here! Couldn't wait for the lab to finish tests last night, or I would've had to walk along the beach in the pitch black back home. On my way this morning to the doctor. This sucks.
12 September 2010
Maybe I'm getting better?
I successfully finished an entire meal without feeling like I was gonna die! Woohoo! Maybe this thing is finally moving on out!
10 September 2010
Stomach bugs suck.
I am so sick, and have been for 3 days now. They say it's nothing to do with the diving, but I'm not so sure. They think it's something I ate or drank, but I haven't eaten anything but plain white rice, a banana, half a sandwich, and tons of Gatorade since I started feeling bad, yet I'm still sick. I wish my insides didn't feel like a scene in Alien... Such a shame too, since I can have many different kinds of Western and International cuisines that are hard to find at home, and I'm too sick to keep anything down. Boo. I can't even sit up for long periods. Been trying to do minimal diving, just to finish up the Open Water course, which is now done. Once I feel better, I'll work on the Advanced O/W...
18 August 2010
Bad Ankle
Doc said to stay off my foot for a while. Don't think that will fly at work, but maybe a bit more sitting will be allowed. Did some PT, which is much kinder than the US version. Again tomorrow for round 2. Meanwhile, I have a date with Harry Potter, and some NCIS.
17 August 2010
Ankle pain
In pain, but somehow managed to stand up long enough to wash the dishes and make dinner. Doctor tomorrow or Thurs... Hopefully we can get me fixed before vacay in two and a half weeks!
Do they make ankle upgrades?
I need to find an ankle store. Actually, a foot & ankle store. Mine's not functioning properly, and I think I need an upgrade. Too bad the warranty ran out some time ago...
(My toe is still broken from February. Stay off it until it heals? HA! How can I do that and stand up teaching? Now the trice-sprained ankle of winter 2008-9 is giving me big probs, and I think I bruised my heel bone. I'm a pile of goodness, truly.)
(My toe is still broken from February. Stay off it until it heals? HA! How can I do that and stand up teaching? Now the trice-sprained ankle of winter 2008-9 is giving me big probs, and I think I bruised my heel bone. I'm a pile of goodness, truly.)
17 July 2010
03 July 2010
Rain and Acupuncture
I almost made it home before it started pouring. Almost. And I have 9 needles in my skin for the week from the acupuncture guy. Was 10. Lost one from my wrist. We'll see how long the others last.
27 February 2010
Topics: Sick Days
The standard allotment of sick days given to foreign teachers at a hagwon (private academy) is 3 days for the whole year. They don’t last long if you are very ill even once. But it can be very difficult to take them at all.
Koreans have a different view of illness and missing work. They aren’t given any sick days at all, even when foreigners in the same position have them. They are expected to be at work even if they are extremely ill. Only hospitalization and major surgery would be good enough excuses for being absent. So many people here think that having 3 paid sick days is very generous.
Because of this ideal, when you call in sick, they are very reluctant to accept your reasoning. They will usually try to talk you out of missing the day using Korean reasoning (?) and guilt. If these don’t work, as with my first illness, I was told my director was coming over to get me and take me to a doctor. It was under the guise of helping me to get well, but I knew she wanted proof that I was actually sick. And she got it.
I was only able to stay home and rest because the doctor told her that I needed to do so. The second time I was sick, I went to work for several days so they could witness my downward spiral. Once they were convinced, it was them who told me to go home. I hope that they learned that I don’t just pretend to be sick. If I am truly too sick to work, and need to rest to get better, that’s when I will use my sick days, and not before.
Koreans have a different view of illness and missing work. They aren’t given any sick days at all, even when foreigners in the same position have them. They are expected to be at work even if they are extremely ill. Only hospitalization and major surgery would be good enough excuses for being absent. So many people here think that having 3 paid sick days is very generous.
Because of this ideal, when you call in sick, they are very reluctant to accept your reasoning. They will usually try to talk you out of missing the day using Korean reasoning (?) and guilt. If these don’t work, as with my first illness, I was told my director was coming over to get me and take me to a doctor. It was under the guise of helping me to get well, but I knew she wanted proof that I was actually sick. And she got it.
I was only able to stay home and rest because the doctor told her that I needed to do so. The second time I was sick, I went to work for several days so they could witness my downward spiral. Once they were convinced, it was them who told me to go home. I hope that they learned that I don’t just pretend to be sick. If I am truly too sick to work, and need to rest to get better, that’s when I will use my sick days, and not before.
25 February 2010
Topics: Sickness and Health Care in Korea
During Part 1 of my Korean adventure, I was very, very ill twice. Both times the cold/flu/cough/illness/earaches lasted up to one full month. I’ve had many friends tell me that during their first year here they were often very sick also. There must be something about so drastically changing your environment that causes this. There’s a new climate, new germs, and a new way of thinking about health care.
When I was very sick in October, I was starting to be desperately ill, and my director’s wife took me to the “hospital” to see “a famous internal” (doctor). We were told the wait would be one hour, which made my boss very frustrated (that it would take so long), and made me very surprised (that it would be so short for a same-day walk-in). In the meantime, she insisted on taking me to a restaurant to eat some spicy soup. She said that spicy foods are supposed to help fight illness. She also insisted that I drink only hot water or tea, and not cold water, when I’m sick. She said it soothes the throat and is easier for the body to handle while it’s fighting the illness.
We saw the doctor a short while later. I wrote my long list of symptoms in Korean (from my Lonely Planet Korean phrasebook), and my boss talked to the doctor on my behalf. He spoke no English, but I could understand his motions to open my mouth when he wanted to stick the biggest tongue depressor I’ve ever seen into it. It was huge, metal, and unsanitized. Maybe it was before he used it on me (I doubt it), but it went back into the can afterward, to be used again.
Then I was instructed to go behind a curtain with a girl. I asked what was happening, and my boss said, “shot.” Lovely. I loathe shots. But this girl was very fast and efficient, and to alleviate any pain and make the fluid move around faster, she smacked my butt as she administered it. It was odd. No one ever told me what it was, but it was yellow, so maybe it was a vitamin shot?
He gave us a prescription, and we went to the front desk to pay. I was shocked that the bill was 13,000 won, or about $12 USD. Since I didn’t have insurance yet, this was actually the entire cost. We went downstairs to the pharmacy where we got a cocktail of pills in packets, separated for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There were like 4-6 pills in each packet, plus I was given the thinnest cough syrup I’ve ever seen. The total for my “medicine” was 15,000 won. None of it worked at all, but at least it was cheap and tasted okay.
During our visit, my boss was instructed that I needed to rest and get well or I would get much worse. Otherwise, I would not have been allowed to use my sick days. More on sick days later. I went home to sleep. I spent the next 3 days sleeping and watching movies.
The last week in December was my vacation. The last few days I was starting to get sick, and by my first day back I was really ill. I had no choice but to go to work though, because otherwise they would have thought I was trying to extend my vacation. They wouldn’t have believed I was actually sick. I wouldn’t believe someone with that kind of timing, so I went to work.
Day by day I got sicker and sicker. My director spent the entire day on Wednesday at the same school as me (which is very rare), and when I saw him briefly the next day, he was also very sick. He saw me and yelled at his wife (in Korean), “Why is she here? Get her out of here! She will get everyone sick!” So she came over to me and told me we were leaving. It’s a shame showed up at work at 8:30pm. I could’ve used more than 30 minutes of leaving early. I had coughed to the point of vomiting many times that day. The next day I stayed home.
By the following Tuesday I was not improving, and maybe even getting worse. I called and said I wasn’t coming in again, and wanted to see another doctor. Jeff came down to get me and we went to the actual hospital nearby. It took longer to provide my insurance information over the phone via Candy than the rest of the visit took. Once payment was guaranteed, the doctor saw us immediately and spoke a little English. I tried to explain that I grew up used to strong medicine and that I needed an antibiotic. He seemed incensed and told me that he was giving me medicine and he wanted me to take it, and not question his knowledge. He was offended that I would question anything, and I was offended that I wasn’t allowed to.
We went to the counter to pay our bill, which was a 13,000 won copay. Again, I thought that was cheap, and they thought it was exorbitant. We visited the pharmacy next, and even the pharmacist double-checked that the lengthy list was correct. She gave us more packets, this time with 8 pills per serving. I went back home to bed.
It was made clear to me that I was expected to return to work the next day. So I did. I didn’t get too much better, but maybe a little. The pills were finished in 4 days, and I took another downturn. My left ear closed up, and I could only hear echoes. It was so painful, and disorienting. A couple of days later I was taken to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. He was an Oriental Medicine ENT specialist, with lots of fancy equipment, but no real medicine. I was told I had an ear infection, sinus infection, and bronchitis (more or less). He put me on many machines of questionable effectiveness. We went to the pharmacy again, and got some more pills, and went to school.
My ear stayed closed and painful for one full month, to the day. I couldn’t lay on that side for very long, couldn’t listen to music with headphones in that ear, and couldn’t hear in that ear without them. Finally, by the first of February, it was over.
It was horrible. It took 4-5 weeks to get over something that would’ve been gone in 3 days at home. The experiences didn’t leave me with much faith in Korean “health care”. They are concerned more with prevention (diet and exercise) than with cures. I’ve been told that there are International Clinics in Daegu, close to downtown, but they are too far to get to and back before work since I’m so far from town. Maybe next time.
When I was very sick in October, I was starting to be desperately ill, and my director’s wife took me to the “hospital” to see “a famous internal” (doctor). We were told the wait would be one hour, which made my boss very frustrated (that it would take so long), and made me very surprised (that it would be so short for a same-day walk-in). In the meantime, she insisted on taking me to a restaurant to eat some spicy soup. She said that spicy foods are supposed to help fight illness. She also insisted that I drink only hot water or tea, and not cold water, when I’m sick. She said it soothes the throat and is easier for the body to handle while it’s fighting the illness.
We saw the doctor a short while later. I wrote my long list of symptoms in Korean (from my Lonely Planet Korean phrasebook), and my boss talked to the doctor on my behalf. He spoke no English, but I could understand his motions to open my mouth when he wanted to stick the biggest tongue depressor I’ve ever seen into it. It was huge, metal, and unsanitized. Maybe it was before he used it on me (I doubt it), but it went back into the can afterward, to be used again.
Then I was instructed to go behind a curtain with a girl. I asked what was happening, and my boss said, “shot.” Lovely. I loathe shots. But this girl was very fast and efficient, and to alleviate any pain and make the fluid move around faster, she smacked my butt as she administered it. It was odd. No one ever told me what it was, but it was yellow, so maybe it was a vitamin shot?
He gave us a prescription, and we went to the front desk to pay. I was shocked that the bill was 13,000 won, or about $12 USD. Since I didn’t have insurance yet, this was actually the entire cost. We went downstairs to the pharmacy where we got a cocktail of pills in packets, separated for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There were like 4-6 pills in each packet, plus I was given the thinnest cough syrup I’ve ever seen. The total for my “medicine” was 15,000 won. None of it worked at all, but at least it was cheap and tasted okay.
During our visit, my boss was instructed that I needed to rest and get well or I would get much worse. Otherwise, I would not have been allowed to use my sick days. More on sick days later. I went home to sleep. I spent the next 3 days sleeping and watching movies.
The last week in December was my vacation. The last few days I was starting to get sick, and by my first day back I was really ill. I had no choice but to go to work though, because otherwise they would have thought I was trying to extend my vacation. They wouldn’t have believed I was actually sick. I wouldn’t believe someone with that kind of timing, so I went to work.
Day by day I got sicker and sicker. My director spent the entire day on Wednesday at the same school as me (which is very rare), and when I saw him briefly the next day, he was also very sick. He saw me and yelled at his wife (in Korean), “Why is she here? Get her out of here! She will get everyone sick!” So she came over to me and told me we were leaving. It’s a shame showed up at work at 8:30pm. I could’ve used more than 30 minutes of leaving early. I had coughed to the point of vomiting many times that day. The next day I stayed home.
By the following Tuesday I was not improving, and maybe even getting worse. I called and said I wasn’t coming in again, and wanted to see another doctor. Jeff came down to get me and we went to the actual hospital nearby. It took longer to provide my insurance information over the phone via Candy than the rest of the visit took. Once payment was guaranteed, the doctor saw us immediately and spoke a little English. I tried to explain that I grew up used to strong medicine and that I needed an antibiotic. He seemed incensed and told me that he was giving me medicine and he wanted me to take it, and not question his knowledge. He was offended that I would question anything, and I was offended that I wasn’t allowed to.
We went to the counter to pay our bill, which was a 13,000 won copay. Again, I thought that was cheap, and they thought it was exorbitant. We visited the pharmacy next, and even the pharmacist double-checked that the lengthy list was correct. She gave us more packets, this time with 8 pills per serving. I went back home to bed.
It was made clear to me that I was expected to return to work the next day. So I did. I didn’t get too much better, but maybe a little. The pills were finished in 4 days, and I took another downturn. My left ear closed up, and I could only hear echoes. It was so painful, and disorienting. A couple of days later I was taken to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. He was an Oriental Medicine ENT specialist, with lots of fancy equipment, but no real medicine. I was told I had an ear infection, sinus infection, and bronchitis (more or less). He put me on many machines of questionable effectiveness. We went to the pharmacy again, and got some more pills, and went to school.
My ear stayed closed and painful for one full month, to the day. I couldn’t lay on that side for very long, couldn’t listen to music with headphones in that ear, and couldn’t hear in that ear without them. Finally, by the first of February, it was over.
It was horrible. It took 4-5 weeks to get over something that would’ve been gone in 3 days at home. The experiences didn’t leave me with much faith in Korean “health care”. They are concerned more with prevention (diet and exercise) than with cures. I’ve been told that there are International Clinics in Daegu, close to downtown, but they are too far to get to and back before work since I’m so far from town. Maybe next time.
03 February 2010
Logic in Korea...or Not
When I moved here, I was warned by several veteran foreigners that the concept of “logic” has not been translated into Korean. While this is, of course, a joke, there are many reasons why foreigners see this to be true. Here are a few of my personal experiences which left me scratching my head.
1. At the first doctor, he pulled a metal tongue depressor from a container on his desk. He used it on me, then returned it to its place. So, either a)they were all sterilized before it went into my mouth (I hope) and then they got contaminated by my germs, or b)someone else’s germs were already on the one he used on me.
In the U.S., we’re so careful about using sterilized medical equipment. It was quite a shock that they don’t do the same here.
2. When I arrived, the H1N1 flu panic was reaching craziness. Everyone wore flu masks all the time, and at school the kids were told to use hand sanitizer when they arrived. However, during the Halloween party, masks were taken off and used again by the next class without any cleaning of any kind. Even musical instruments (recorders primarily) were allowed to be shared by the kids. (Huh?)
3. When kids starting dropping like flies from getting sick, my boss starting taking everyone’s temperature in their ear when they arrived and had other symptoms. But there was no sanitizing between kids then either. Once she surprised me from behind by shoving that thing into my ear. She couldn’t understand why I didn’t want that dirty thing anywhere near me.
4. Also at the Halloween party, it was decided that we would use candles to make the school “scary”. Apparently fire safety is another thing that never made it here. Open flame around kids ages 8-12…Does this strike anyone else as a bad idea?
1. At the first doctor, he pulled a metal tongue depressor from a container on his desk. He used it on me, then returned it to its place. So, either a)they were all sterilized before it went into my mouth (I hope) and then they got contaminated by my germs, or b)someone else’s germs were already on the one he used on me.
In the U.S., we’re so careful about using sterilized medical equipment. It was quite a shock that they don’t do the same here.
2. When I arrived, the H1N1 flu panic was reaching craziness. Everyone wore flu masks all the time, and at school the kids were told to use hand sanitizer when they arrived. However, during the Halloween party, masks were taken off and used again by the next class without any cleaning of any kind. Even musical instruments (recorders primarily) were allowed to be shared by the kids. (Huh?)
3. When kids starting dropping like flies from getting sick, my boss starting taking everyone’s temperature in their ear when they arrived and had other symptoms. But there was no sanitizing between kids then either. Once she surprised me from behind by shoving that thing into my ear. She couldn’t understand why I didn’t want that dirty thing anywhere near me.
4. Also at the Halloween party, it was decided that we would use candles to make the school “scary”. Apparently fire safety is another thing that never made it here. Open flame around kids ages 8-12…Does this strike anyone else as a bad idea?
06 November 2009
29 October 2009
Bugs and Spiders the Size of House Cats
Bugs and spiders here are the size of house cats. Okay, maybe not that big, but the spiders that live on the trees in the park where I walk Hayes-y have bodies like large marbles, and 3-4 inch legs, and are many colors. I’m sure they’re poisonous, but I don’t need to be reminded to stay away from something that may as well have a knapsack and be passing me on the street…
See, I'm not kidding! (Just picture him with a "hobo-style" knapsack on a stick saying hello to you on the street... If I were more adept at Photoshop, there would be a photo of that next...)
Mosquitoes love me here. At home, too, but here especially. And I’m super allergic to them too, which makes everything more interesting. I got my arms and hands attacked my first week, and they all swelled to immense proportions. The dumb things bit the knuckle of my pinky. Now, what exactly were they expecting to find in the knuckle of my pinky? There’s no fat, hardly even any blood! So dumb!
And then last night I was attacked while sleeping and woke up with 9 on my thigh, knee and right foot. So now they’re all big and itchy. I should probably invest in some bug spray, but even so I don’t intend to wear it in my sleep…
This really shows how well I can produce a huge knot by allergic reaction. I'm the best at it, certainly.
See, I'm not kidding! (Just picture him with a "hobo-style" knapsack on a stick saying hello to you on the street... If I were more adept at Photoshop, there would be a photo of that next...)
Mosquitoes love me here. At home, too, but here especially. And I’m super allergic to them too, which makes everything more interesting. I got my arms and hands attacked my first week, and they all swelled to immense proportions. The dumb things bit the knuckle of my pinky. Now, what exactly were they expecting to find in the knuckle of my pinky? There’s no fat, hardly even any blood! So dumb!
And then last night I was attacked while sleeping and woke up with 9 on my thigh, knee and right foot. So now they’re all big and itchy. I should probably invest in some bug spray, but even so I don’t intend to wear it in my sleep…
This really shows how well I can produce a huge knot by allergic reaction. I'm the best at it, certainly.
24 October 2009
Festivals in October, and Swine Flu
Guide books say to go to Korea in October because of the many festivals. However, October 2009 was not the time to arrive here. Because of the Swine Flu (H1N1) scare, most festivals and all gatherings of any kind of more than 1000 people lasting for 2 or more days were cancelled. I guess I’ll have to wait until next fall to see things I wanted to see now…
23 October 2009
Blisters
I have gotten some crazy blisters since moving to Korea also. Not much to say about it, but here's the best I've had so far. (See also, Day 1 post.)
22 October 2009
H1N1
Okay, this is bad. Maybe they do have a reason to be so scared of H1N1…People are dropping like flies. Jenn had 3 weeks off at the English Camp because of so many cancellations because of the flu. On Monday, Kelly1 had 2 students absent due to high fever. The Okgok public elementary school had 7 students out the other day, and today a teacher there is out. One of my favorite students Julie is out all week with the flu. At the public school, all children have to wear a mask the whole day. Yikes.
Today we got word that Okgok Elementary now has 28 students out sick. Linze doesn’t look good, and Kate has been sick since Saturday. Bad.
Friday, half of our school was out sick. And now I’m sick. Not H1N1, just a bad cold, but I’m really sick and Korean medicine isn’t working. Boo.
Today we got word that Okgok Elementary now has 28 students out sick. Linze doesn’t look good, and Kate has been sick since Saturday. Bad.
Friday, half of our school was out sick. And now I’m sick. Not H1N1, just a bad cold, but I’m really sick and Korean medicine isn’t working. Boo.
11 October 2009
Day 1.
Yesterday was quite an experience—a very long day. On Thursday, I arrived in Seoul (Weds night), and didn’t get much sleep on the plane at all. 14 hours is entirely too long to be on a plane on one leg. Korean Air was very roomy- much more so than any of the American airlines, but although I could stretch and walk around, I still had to sit back down and my behind was over that about 5 hrs in. That’s when I woke up and realized that we still had 8 hours to go. Boo. I did get to watch a couple of movies I didn’t get to see in the theater—X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Soloist—so that was cool.
Anyway, I finally arrived at 4pm-ish and went to get Hayes and my luggage. Hayes-y was PISSED. I couldn’t get him to stop barking. I thought customs would send us home, it was that bad. But they let us thru with no problems and I went out of security to find the person with my name card. He wasn’t there. Short version: the dog quarantine office was by a different exit than where I was supposed to come out. A very nice man helped me to call my recruiter and find him. He took me to his brother’s van taxi and shortly we were off.
Although I don’t remember the driver’s name, he was great. He explained many things to me along the way. He pointed out a bridge in Incheon (where the airport is) that is like 5 stories high and was entirely built in 9 days. Yup, that was the look on my face, too. We stopped for food and such, and he explained what everything was. It took about 5 hours to get to Gyeongsan City (my town, pronounced Gee (like Gordon)-yong-sahn). He took me straight to my apartment, where I was met by Mr. Park (director of my schools), Mrs. Park (or Candy, the VP of the schools), and Jon (who has been showing me around, but I haven’t quite figured out his relationship in all this). Mrs. Park brought blankets, a few dishes, a few pieces of silverware, coffee, tissues, and shampoo to get me started. It was a nice gesture. Mr. Park went to the store for bottled water (no drinking from the tap here), milk and bread. They stayed about an hour, then I crashed. They asked me many questions about what I needed, but all I could think about was sleep. I slept most of the way in the taxi, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
So finally to Friday, my first full day here. I woke up at 7am and couldn’t get back to sleep. It was really annoying. Jon came at noon to “show me around town”, as was decided the night before. We walked to my first school (much longer than I thought), and I met the 3 Korean teachers.
Along the walk to my school in Okgok-dong.
Candy came to get us for lunch of Bibimbap. Good, but I think I’ve figured out that I don’t like sesame oil. She drove Jon and I to a bus stop, and we headed to a hospital in Daegu.
On the drive to the bus stop. I have no idea where I was.
It was a very small but nice enough place, but I’m not terribly fond of getting weighed and measured and poked and x-rayed in any country. (Especially when you’re twice the size of the person doing it.) It was humiliating. And of course it was all in Korean. Having Jon talking to everyone about me in Korean was just awful.
Luckily, that didn’t take very long. Jon said we were going to my school. Funny me, but I thought he meant my actual school; my branch—the other one. But alas, it was not. But I didn’t know that for the next 3 hours. We got off the bus and I said, “Wow, is this Gyeongsan?” He said, “No, it’s Daegu.” Okay, so I’m confused. Jon didn’t really know where we were going, but we found it after asking many people. (I get the impression that Jon doesn’t get out of Gyeongsan much.)
We met Ryan, the director, and I was even more confused, because I had met and talked to “The Director” last night, Mr. Park. I thought maybe he isn’t the Director, maybe he’s like a VP or something, and that Mr. Park is the actual director or something. But no, Ryan is the director of the Daegu-area GnB headquarters (where we were). His English is amazingly good. I was thrilled. And then I saw another white, Midwestern girl, and I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, she’s from Michigan.
I said, “Hey! You’re not a native!”
She said, “No, I’m American.”
I said, “Where are you from?”
And she said, “I’m from Michigan.”
And my immediate gut reaction was, “Oh, I’m sorry.”
Luckily, she laughed. I asked if she was a Meatchicken fan (U of M), and she looked at the floor. I said, “Oh, you are! That’s okay; we’ll just have to throw down on game day.” I was wearing my OSU t-shirt, so it was kind-of obvious where my allegiance lay. Her name is Nic, shortened from Monica. She’s been here for 3 weeks.
I also met Joe and Emily, who live together. I sat in on Emily’s class. It was easy, although I made the kids a little nervous being there, I think. They were maybe 7 years old, and didn’t understand why I was sitting there in a small chair with them. I probably looked just as nervous, honestly. The class reminded me a lot of 5th grade, except that I’m a lot older now, and could totally take down anybody that treated me like I was treated back then. Let’s just say it was a little unnerving, but overall fine. It made me feel a lot better to see what an actual class was like, and what would be expected of me, more or less.
While at this (Jisan-dong) branch, I got all my questions answered by actual English speakers. They more or less told me what the deal was. That’s when I started to figure out that I was not going to be working at that branch. I was disappointed, but I got phone numbers for all three of the English speakers, so maybe we can hang out at some point.
Ryan and Nic were talking about trying to find a time to go hiking, and asked me if I liked it. I told them I’m terribly out of shape, but I like to hike, and would love to go sometime. Hopefully we can work that out. Nic and I are going to try to get together next week I think. So that’s cool, even if I’m not working there.
We left there and got some gimbap, which is kind-of like a sushi roll that we’re used to in the States. It has some kind of yellow crunchy radish, and some other veggies (I think), rice, and then wrapped in dried seaweed. The first few bites were delicious, but I really don’t like the radish thing.
We got on a bus, and I thought I was gonna die. Literally. The driver was weaving in and out of traffic like nothing I’ve ever seen before. And it wasn’t only this and that he was going faster than any bus I’ve ever seen before, but that he wouldn’t start to slow down until about 20 feet before the stop, when he would slam on the brakes, sending everyone standing on the crowded bus flying forward. I was standing for the first few stops, and I was literally holding onto a different bar with each hand, and I still almost knocked like 8 people over when the bus ground to a halt. Of course, they couldn’t move because the bus was so packed. But as the crowd thinned, I feared I might go flying out the front window. “Well, I made to Korea. Very short stay. Dead within one day. But I made it.”
We got off the bus back in Gyeongsan, and headed for a grocery store to get dog food, on the way to my other school. Close to the store I saw a street food vendor selling steamed crab legs. And I’m not talking about a couple of legs. It was an entire crab body with 8 legs, steamed, for (in US terms) a dollar. It was 1,000 won. So I took a picture, because my mother is a huge crab fan. (Actually, she’s a huge fan of crabs, not a huge crab fan. Or maybe she’s both. ;)
Street food vendors selling CRAB.
(On a side note: On our way to the school, Jon asked me why we say in English “Oh crab!” when something is bad. I had to explain that CRAB is not the same word as CRAP, what CRAP is, and why we use it in this way. It was fairly hilarious.)
The grocery store is your basic, average grocery store. I got some butter and milk, juice and cereal. The juice I thought was orange, but Jon said it was tangerine. I got in anyway, and it’s actually quite awesome. It’s much sweeter than orange, so it satisfies the sweet tooth when no chocolate can be found. The cereal was Kellogg’s Almond Flakes (the only 3 words in English on the box), and it’s absolutely amazing. I took pictures of the packaging, because I’m a huge dork like that. Hey, I thought it was pretty nifty.
Nifty packaging.
Then we went to the Jeongpyeong branch of my school, and I met the other teachers. Mr. and Mrs. Park were there, and another teacher that lives in my apartment building. He’s in his fifties I think, and lives on the floor above me. (Jon, my guide for the day, lives on the top floor. With his parents. He’s older than me, but won’t tell me how old, and he seems more than a little sheltered and awkward in his own skin. I started getting the impression about then that maybe Mr. and Mrs. Park were hoping to hook me up with one of these two. Um, no.)
We finally made it home and said goodnight. I was very tired, and it was very late. Okay, it was like 8:30pm. But Jon met me at noon and we ran around everywhere, and I met a million new people, and ate many new foods, and was poked and prodded, and blood was taken, and I had carried heavy groceries all over, and…I had thought we were sightseeing around my area, so I was totally unprepared for the adventure. I was exhausted. I changed my clothes and went to bed. I didn’t even get the iPod out. I couldn’t even take the dog out. I was asleep by 8:45. I got up at 3am and took the dog out. I went back to bed until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and then just laid around.
At the end of the day, I had a few injuries:
I've never seen ankles this swollen on someone who isn't pregnant...
My lovely blisters. It's actually one connected blister on the entire arch of each foot. Let me tell you how wonderful this feels...
I don’t have a comfortable chair in here, and the bed is as hard as the floor, so reading is difficult. I’ll need to find a solution quickly, or at least find somewhere that has comfy chairs where I can relax and read and such.
Jon wanted to show me around today, but I really just need to read the teaching guides for the books I’ll be using, and sleep and get rid of the jet lag. I just need a day to do nothing.
My door bell has rung several times, but I don’t want to see anybody. I haven’t successfully taken a shower here yet, and I look lovely. You have to turn on the hot water, which was explained to me briefly while I was basically comatose and overwhelmed during the first hour I was in my apartment. So, of course, I don’t remember how to do it. And cold showers are no fun. No one made plans with me, so I’m just staying in here and not answering. I hope it’s nothing important.
Anyway, I finally arrived at 4pm-ish and went to get Hayes and my luggage. Hayes-y was PISSED. I couldn’t get him to stop barking. I thought customs would send us home, it was that bad. But they let us thru with no problems and I went out of security to find the person with my name card. He wasn’t there. Short version: the dog quarantine office was by a different exit than where I was supposed to come out. A very nice man helped me to call my recruiter and find him. He took me to his brother’s van taxi and shortly we were off.
Although I don’t remember the driver’s name, he was great. He explained many things to me along the way. He pointed out a bridge in Incheon (where the airport is) that is like 5 stories high and was entirely built in 9 days. Yup, that was the look on my face, too. We stopped for food and such, and he explained what everything was. It took about 5 hours to get to Gyeongsan City (my town, pronounced Gee (like Gordon)-yong-sahn). He took me straight to my apartment, where I was met by Mr. Park (director of my schools), Mrs. Park (or Candy, the VP of the schools), and Jon (who has been showing me around, but I haven’t quite figured out his relationship in all this). Mrs. Park brought blankets, a few dishes, a few pieces of silverware, coffee, tissues, and shampoo to get me started. It was a nice gesture. Mr. Park went to the store for bottled water (no drinking from the tap here), milk and bread. They stayed about an hour, then I crashed. They asked me many questions about what I needed, but all I could think about was sleep. I slept most of the way in the taxi, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
So finally to Friday, my first full day here. I woke up at 7am and couldn’t get back to sleep. It was really annoying. Jon came at noon to “show me around town”, as was decided the night before. We walked to my first school (much longer than I thought), and I met the 3 Korean teachers.
Along the walk to my school in Okgok-dong.
Candy came to get us for lunch of Bibimbap. Good, but I think I’ve figured out that I don’t like sesame oil. She drove Jon and I to a bus stop, and we headed to a hospital in Daegu.
On the drive to the bus stop. I have no idea where I was.
It was a very small but nice enough place, but I’m not terribly fond of getting weighed and measured and poked and x-rayed in any country. (Especially when you’re twice the size of the person doing it.) It was humiliating. And of course it was all in Korean. Having Jon talking to everyone about me in Korean was just awful.
Luckily, that didn’t take very long. Jon said we were going to my school. Funny me, but I thought he meant my actual school; my branch—the other one. But alas, it was not. But I didn’t know that for the next 3 hours. We got off the bus and I said, “Wow, is this Gyeongsan?” He said, “No, it’s Daegu.” Okay, so I’m confused. Jon didn’t really know where we were going, but we found it after asking many people. (I get the impression that Jon doesn’t get out of Gyeongsan much.)
We met Ryan, the director, and I was even more confused, because I had met and talked to “The Director” last night, Mr. Park. I thought maybe he isn’t the Director, maybe he’s like a VP or something, and that Mr. Park is the actual director or something. But no, Ryan is the director of the Daegu-area GnB headquarters (where we were). His English is amazingly good. I was thrilled. And then I saw another white, Midwestern girl, and I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, she’s from Michigan.
I said, “Hey! You’re not a native!”
She said, “No, I’m American.”
I said, “Where are you from?”
And she said, “I’m from Michigan.”
And my immediate gut reaction was, “Oh, I’m sorry.”
Luckily, she laughed. I asked if she was a Meatchicken fan (U of M), and she looked at the floor. I said, “Oh, you are! That’s okay; we’ll just have to throw down on game day.” I was wearing my OSU t-shirt, so it was kind-of obvious where my allegiance lay. Her name is Nic, shortened from Monica. She’s been here for 3 weeks.
I also met Joe and Emily, who live together. I sat in on Emily’s class. It was easy, although I made the kids a little nervous being there, I think. They were maybe 7 years old, and didn’t understand why I was sitting there in a small chair with them. I probably looked just as nervous, honestly. The class reminded me a lot of 5th grade, except that I’m a lot older now, and could totally take down anybody that treated me like I was treated back then.
While at this (Jisan-dong) branch, I got all my questions answered by actual English speakers. They more or less told me what the deal was. That’s when I started to figure out that I was not going to be working at that branch. I was disappointed, but I got phone numbers for all three of the English speakers, so maybe we can hang out at some point.
Ryan and Nic were talking about trying to find a time to go hiking, and asked me if I liked it. I told them I’m terribly out of shape, but I like to hike, and would love to go sometime. Hopefully we can work that out. Nic and I are going to try to get together next week I think. So that’s cool, even if I’m not working there.
We left there and got some gimbap, which is kind-of like a sushi roll that we’re used to in the States. It has some kind of yellow crunchy radish, and some other veggies (I think), rice, and then wrapped in dried seaweed. The first few bites were delicious, but I really don’t like the radish thing.
We got on a bus, and I thought I was gonna die. Literally. The driver was weaving in and out of traffic like nothing I’ve ever seen before. And it wasn’t only this and that he was going faster than any bus I’ve ever seen before, but that he wouldn’t start to slow down until about 20 feet before the stop, when he would slam on the brakes, sending everyone standing on the crowded bus flying forward. I was standing for the first few stops, and I was literally holding onto a different bar with each hand, and I still almost knocked like 8 people over when the bus ground to a halt. Of course, they couldn’t move because the bus was so packed. But as the crowd thinned, I feared I might go flying out the front window. “Well, I made to Korea. Very short stay. Dead within one day. But I made it.”
We got off the bus back in Gyeongsan, and headed for a grocery store to get dog food, on the way to my other school. Close to the store I saw a street food vendor selling steamed crab legs. And I’m not talking about a couple of legs. It was an entire crab body with 8 legs, steamed, for (in US terms) a dollar. It was 1,000 won. So I took a picture, because my mother is a huge crab fan. (Actually, she’s a huge fan of crabs, not a huge crab fan. Or maybe she’s both. ;)
Street food vendors selling CRAB.
(On a side note: On our way to the school, Jon asked me why we say in English “Oh crab!” when something is bad. I had to explain that CRAB is not the same word as CRAP, what CRAP is, and why we use it in this way. It was fairly hilarious.)
The grocery store is your basic, average grocery store. I got some butter and milk, juice and cereal. The juice I thought was orange, but Jon said it was tangerine. I got in anyway, and it’s actually quite awesome. It’s much sweeter than orange, so it satisfies the sweet tooth when no chocolate can be found. The cereal was Kellogg’s Almond Flakes (the only 3 words in English on the box), and it’s absolutely amazing. I took pictures of the packaging, because I’m a huge dork like that. Hey, I thought it was pretty nifty.
Nifty packaging.
Then we went to the Jeongpyeong branch of my school, and I met the other teachers. Mr. and Mrs. Park were there, and another teacher that lives in my apartment building. He’s in his fifties I think, and lives on the floor above me. (Jon, my guide for the day, lives on the top floor. With his parents. He’s older than me, but won’t tell me how old, and he seems more than a little sheltered and awkward in his own skin. I started getting the impression about then that maybe Mr. and Mrs. Park were hoping to hook me up with one of these two. Um, no.)
We finally made it home and said goodnight. I was very tired, and it was very late. Okay, it was like 8:30pm. But Jon met me at noon and we ran around everywhere, and I met a million new people, and ate many new foods, and was poked and prodded, and blood was taken, and I had carried heavy groceries all over, and…I had thought we were sightseeing around my area, so I was totally unprepared for the adventure. I was exhausted. I changed my clothes and went to bed. I didn’t even get the iPod out. I couldn’t even take the dog out. I was asleep by 8:45. I got up at 3am and took the dog out. I went back to bed until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and then just laid around.
At the end of the day, I had a few injuries:
I've never seen ankles this swollen on someone who isn't pregnant...
My lovely blisters. It's actually one connected blister on the entire arch of each foot. Let me tell you how wonderful this feels...
I don’t have a comfortable chair in here, and the bed is as hard as the floor, so reading is difficult. I’ll need to find a solution quickly, or at least find somewhere that has comfy chairs where I can relax and read and such.
Jon wanted to show me around today, but I really just need to read the teaching guides for the books I’ll be using, and sleep and get rid of the jet lag. I just need a day to do nothing.
My door bell has rung several times, but I don’t want to see anybody. I haven’t successfully taken a shower here yet, and I look lovely. You have to turn on the hot water, which was explained to me briefly while I was basically comatose and overwhelmed during the first hour I was in my apartment. So, of course, I don’t remember how to do it. And cold showers are no fun. No one made plans with me, so I’m just staying in here and not answering. I hope it’s nothing important.
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