In sickness and health

You can't take me anywhere...

Its a well known fact around town that i get sick anytime I go overseas for a holiday. And apparently moving overseas is no exception. I have been here for less than 3 weeks and I am already sick. Luckily it has nothing to do with my bowel and guts (random comment? Not really, I have Crohn's Disease for those who have only just joined us), rather I appear to have the beginnings of a chest infection. I don't actually think it is that bad, I think its more the constant dry coughing is driving Co mad at work. So today, he came inside and said;

"Bonnie, I feel you need to go to the hospital"

My reaction was something like this:

"..."

"Bonnie, I am concerned about your chest. I think you are getting much worser and need to get a shot".

A shot? You mean needle? Surely not! I have had many a cough in Melbourne, and as much as it used to drive my sister mental at night it never warranted a trip to the hospital. I tried to explain to him that I just didn't think it was serious enough for the hospital but he wouldn't hear of it. 

"But teacher," I said to him, "I can't go to the hospital, my ARC card isn't ready yet and I don't have medical insurance set up".

Not to worry! Out Vice-Principal has very good connections apparently, and they will sort it all out so it won't cost much.

So off we go to the hospital around 4pm.

Hospital visit

I get that it was supposed to be a hospital, but to me it looked like more of a big, old clinic. If Co hadn't been with me I would not have gone in, mainly because from the outs it didn't look like a hospital (in fact the inside wasn't much better). The floors had huge cracks in them, which I think will be due to the heating and cooling in winter, but still it looked messy and un-hospital-like. The admin girls didn't speak English so it was lucky Co was there with me. He desalt with all the paperwork and the hospital director came out to say hello. Turns out the Vice-Principal DOES know people... Anyway then they took my temperature and blood pressure and then I went in and saw the doctor. He spoke ok English, asked me if I had any diseases and if I was allergic to anything. That was all. He looked in my throat, asked me what my symptoms were then prescribed a heap of stuff and then sent me out. I paid something like 22,000won and got 3 different pills to take for 3 days, a heap of 'tonic' (coughing syrup) and a shot. Needle. I was like "huh?" 

I didn't even feel that bad! Why do I need a needle?

Now, I don't really have issues with needles, I have a heap of tattoos so it would be stupid if I was a needle freaker. But, this is South Korea, and I just wasn't sure about this needle business. Especially when I was asked to follow the nurse into the back room. She told me, well, mimed at me, to drop my pants. 

WTF?

So there's me, leaning over a bed with my pants down while this nurse gives me a needle in the fleshy part of my butt. She slapped it a few times, and kept slapping while administering the injection. She then got an alcohol swap and mopped the area and then gave it a good rub. She mimed at me to keep rubbing my butt for a while. I walked back out feeling a little weird, and Co said to me that I should keep rubbing the area or I will get a big bruise. 

I then got on the bus and came straight home to lick my wounds (in a non literal sense obviously). 

Needless to say I am not going out tonight, which I am a bit disappointed about as it was a newbies night in Suwon. But I will try and pay the area a visit on Friday night instead. 

My syrup and pills

School this week

Has been stupid. There has been absolutely nothing to do, which is ok but it does make the time go slowly. 

Monday

This was Typhoon Day. My first typhoon and it was a complete letdown. Very dull. It rained and was super windy so the classes were cancelled and the kids all got to go home after lunch. I however, had to go to immigration with Co. It was in Suwon, but in an area that was way far out and I had never been anywhere near there before. It took at least an hour to get there and then we had to wait for over 2 hours for my number to be called. By the time it was my turn I had started shivering and coughing. im thinking this is why I am sick... Getting wet and all that in the typhoon... Anyway, Getting the form filled out only took 5 minutes and cost 10,000won. So not expensive at all really. The catch is that I have to go back on the 12th October to pick up my ARC (alien registration card) and until then I can't open a bank account or get a phone. I am totally pissed off about this, because I am running out of money and I hate not having a phone that works. I am trying really hard to make friends, and I can't even call the ones i've got to make plans. And its all Co's fault for not taking me to immigration right away. Still, its done now and there isn't really anything I can do about it. 

By the time I got home Monday it was dark and I was cold and coughing. 

Tuesday

I honestly don't really know what happened yesterday, except that the kids had no classes after lunch again, but this time it was because they were practicing for the Sports Day. I swear, these kids are never in class...

I took the grade 4 class by myself for the first period which was ok, I like the grade 4 kids they are still cute. And they were pretty well behaved, i wanted to play a game with them but they didn't understand what I was trying to get them to do. So we just went back to the workbook. 

Today (Wednesday)

I swear I did NOTHING. All classes were cancelled for the kids to practice for Sports Day but no one told me, so i was sitting around wondering what the hell was going on. I put something on FB along the lines of "Where are my students?" and Jeong, my teacher friend, saw it and told me what was going on. She then came to see me in my classroom and we hung out all morning. I gave her some tongue twisters to work on - she has plenty of English vocal but trouble with conversation and pronunciation. So hopefully they will help. e went over a few so i think she got the gist. The we worked on my Korean. I am so fucking bad at it. I can't make certain sounds properly, so i sound like the biggest idiot trying to make the words work. but, i a trying really hard so I think once I have some basics I will be better. For example, Jeong and I were talking about where I was from, and how to say 'I like...' or whatever. Then, when I was in the hospital I recognised when the hospital director asked Co where I was from. And I understood when he said I came from Australia. I couldn't tell you what they said, but I knew what they were talking about. So its a start!

Tomorrow is the Sports Day and I asked Co if there was anything he wanted me to do... He said yes, that if I had a video camera would it be ok if I filmed the students. Hell yes! I was planning on doing it anyway, but was worried I would come off as a creep - filming kids. A big no no at home lol.

So i will take some pics and put a video up on Youtube in the next few days. 

Now, it's 6:30pm and I am ready for bed. I think the pills have made me sleepy so hopefully that means they will work. Because I want to go out for dins tomorrow with some Pyeongtaek people and then I want to go out drinking on Friday with Suwon people. So I need to get better soon!!!

I'll leave you with an adorable pic of the kindy kids practicing their flag waving for tomorrow. They were supposed to be doing some sort of synchronised flag waving and dancing, but they were just flailing them around like tiny crazy people. So cute ^_^

Anyway, peace out!

xoxo