Food Poisoning & the Flu

Came down with the flu last Wednesday. Patiently sat through a dinner with the teachers/staff called a 회식 (hweshik). We ate at 전복 마을 (Abalone Village), a seaside restaurant located in Mokpo. If we had sat on the floor as we usually do, I think I would have died. I don't know how all these old people can sit on the floor for hours without collapsing from aching back or joint pain. I'm normally fidgeting and cringing by the end of the meal because the floor is so uncomfortable. Anyways, we sat in chairs this time and dined on various kinds of sea foods including abalone. I don't have any pictures of it, but it was sliced up nicely on a plate. The texture was chewy and crunchy, at times it was gritty like sand. It was gross, but other people seemed to enjoy it.

 

 

Happily filled with beer & soju, the teachers and staff wanted to go out for 노래방 (noraebang / karaoke) after dinner. I declined and got a ride home. I went once, and it was really awkward. They sing a bunch of Korean folk songs that sound sappy and dated. Not doing that again...

I didn't sleep well. My body ached, I had chills, and I had a splitting headache. I woke up feeling more sick, but went to school anyway. I had a slight 99^F fever, which the school nurse gave me medicine for. She kindly offered to take me to the hospital --in Korea, going to the hospital means getting a ~$5 miracle booster shot-- but I declined. 

Thursday night was worse. Another sleepless night and a bigger headache than before. There was no way that I was going to teach on Friday. I went to the nurses office, asked her to take me to the hospital, and laid down in the bed. We went to a hospital in 삼호 (Samho). No one spoke English. I tried to communicate my symptoms in broken Korean, while pointing at places on my body. They only took my temperature, which I already knew was 103-04^F. They didn't take my blood pressure. Didn't ask to look at my throat. Didn't listen to my breathing. Didn't give me a miracle booster shot. Just printed out a prescription, which we took to a nearby pharmacy. I took the bus home and stayed in bed for the next 3 days.

I put myself on this amazing thing called the bread and soup diet. I also took 3-4 different mystery pills 3x's per day for 3 days. After the first dose, my headache disappeared. It was a miracle.

 

 

I still have a cough and congestion, but it's manageable.

On Tuesday, I went out for dinner with Joanne and Nari at the Emart food court. Joanne and I ate 알밥 (rice topped with raw fish eggs). Never again. Both of us got food poisoning probably because the eggs or veggies weren't fresh. I woke up at 2:30AM feeling digestive discomfort. I experienced some temporary diarrhea and spewed the rest. Joanne wasn't so lucky with the vomiting. She had bowel issues for the next day or two. No bueno.

알밥 (albab)
Photo courtesy of Google Images

7 Highlights from Today

7. I got 9 hours of sleep last night and am feeling significantly less sick. I think I am just sleep deprived.


6. I caught a glimpse of the Western Republican Presidential Debate live from Las Vegas. It was actually really, really interesting. Never been so intrigued about politics in my life. Looking forward to following the election from Korea and voting in the 2012 election.


5. It's Wednesday. The younger kids always forget that class starts earlier and don't show up. Not my fault!

Hannee with the 1st grade girls who showed up

4. School ended 40 minutes earlier, so I used the extra hour (and the high-speed Internet at school) to watch an episode of GLEE.

3. My friend / co-teacher Hannee told a 3rd grader to run out and get us ice-cream cones before class started. This is the life.

Hannee Teacher eating ice-cream instead of teaching 3rd grade
nom nom nom nom

2. Justin Bieber released the music video for his new song, "Mistletoe."

1. I received a colossal 10lb package from mom & dad!!! This includes mashed potatoes, Mexican style rice, refried beans, M&Ms, lentil soup, split pea soup, dried fruit, nuts, refried beans, heaps of tea, garbanzo beans, hummus, pita chips, health bars, seasoning/spices, more socks, my new camera, refried beans, 3 Korean phrase books, and documents for my impending loans (yay). I was pretty overwhelmed by the size of the box. It's like Christmas in October! I can't wait to dig into the hummus and pita chips. nom nom nom nom. 

I half-expected a small person to jump out of this box

♥ Thank you Mom & Dad! ♥

#WINNING

DINNER
Fried rice with organic egg, organic baby tomatoes, organic garlic, wild parsley
Side of kale, swiss chard, & parsley with garlic
Fresh baby tomatoes & kimchi

*Care packages are officially highly encouraged*

;)

Language Barrier Issues on the Rise

I spent last weekend (23-25 September) in Daegu with a bunch of friends from TaLK Orientation. Took the one-hour bus to Gwangju with Joanne and spent Friday night with our fellow G6er, Rebecca. For dinner, Joanne and I eagerly consumed a bowl of udon & sushi for only $5 followed by ice-cream from McDonald's. We give off the impression that we are deprived of food back in Mokpo, which is relatively true because we eat the same things everyday and then indulge ourselves on the weekend. The next morning, the three of us woke up early to catch the 3.5 hour bus to Daegu. Split a delicious coffee ice-cream patbingsu with Joanne at Paris Baguette. Met up with friends from Group 1 at Travelers Bar later in the evening. Ate lunch at a Western restaurant the next day called Lazy Diner. The customer service was definitely lazy; it took them ages to bring all of our meals out, and most of the people at our table just ordered eggs, sausage, and French toast / pancakes. I ordered a smoked salmon & caper sandwich on a bagel, and it came on a blueberry bagel with a vinaigrette dressing salad inside. Not the most ideal combination, but I was starving and ate the whole thing.

En route to Daegu

nom nom nom nom

Coffee ice-cream patbingsu

My other friends shared a fruit patbingsu

Chili Cheese Fries at Travelers Bar in Daegu

Smoked Salmon Bagel with Fries

In more recent news, I came down with a cold / flu 48 hours ago. Teaching sucked because I felt like my head was in a bubble, and I had a sore throat. Luckily the Pharmacy / Hospital chapter of my Korean phrase book covers those bases: "I think I have a cold" and "I have a sore throat."

When I am sick, I have little tolerance for things that I normally have a lot of patience for. In Korea, that would be the language barrier. I appreciate that the staff at school are doing their best to reach out to me or feed me Korean words, but I just wasn't feeling it this week. It takes 50x's as long for anyone to tell me anything that I could tell another person in a 5 second sentence.

YESTERDAY'S LANGUAGE BARRIER [mind you, I was really sick / tired]

INTERIOR CAR

Passenger: Tomorrow ....... early ...... take picture ....... you come ....... 10 o'clock

Me: Come early ..... at 10 o'clock?

Passenger: graduation ...... take a picture ...... all take a picture ......for graduation .... 10 o'clock

Me: Okay ...

Passenger: Go home ..... take picture ..... come before 10 o'clock

Me: Take a picture .....?

Driver: come at 10 o'clock

Me: Okay...

*The driver makes a phone call to my mentor teacher and hands me the phone*

Me: Hello?

Mentor Teacher: Hello Kristine. Tomorrow you come to school at 10 o'clock ...... take a picture.

Me: Ne (yes) okay...okay thank you....bye

Passenger: morning ..... you rise

Me: Ne (yes) .... I will go to school at 10 o'clock

Passenger: you rise .....morning ..... time

Me: oh, what time do I wake up?

Passenger: *nods*

Me: 9:30

Passenger: *nods*

And our conversations continue like that.

NEXT DAY

I show up before 10am, put my stuff in the English classroom, then go down to the main office at 10am. I approach the vice principal.

Me: Am I supposed to be doing something now?

VP: Please wait *gestures for me to sit down*

Me: Okay

VP: Take a picture ..... after ......you lunch

Me: Okay ... take a picture after lunch?

VP: Come here ...... take picture

Me: So come back later?

VP: after here ..... take picture .....

Me: So I should wait upstairs?

VP: here ..... after lunch ...... come here .... take picture

Me: Okay .... so take a picture after lunch? Huh?

VP: Follow me.

So she takes me to take my individual photo in one of the classrooms. Everyone was wearing their best suits and ties, and I dressed like a country girl with my red plaid shirt and my hair tied back. I clearly missed the memo where they wanted me to dress up. I thought that we were taking a group picture when the administrator said, "all take a picture .... for graduation," but now I know that he meant that everyone was taking a portrait photo for the yearbook.

Car Final Translation: You will be taking your yearbook picture at 10am, but come before then.

VP's Final Translation: After you come to my office, go take your yearbook picture, and have lunch afterwards.

So that's a typical day in my life. I've gotten into the habit of intentionally misinterpreting their English because it's fun to piss people off, and it's frustrating enough on my behalf to try answering the question. Let's look at today, for example.

TODAY'S LANGUAGE BARRIER [mind you, I am still sick and impatient]

LUNCH TABLE

Principal: Kristine Chong, *KoreanKorean*

Me: What ...... ? *looks at the VP*

VP: Why ...... you ..... Korea?

Me: Why Korea? 

VP: Why you ...... come Korea?

Me: Why did I come to Korea?

VP: Yes

Me: To teach English

VP: No ...... *thinking*

Principal: W-H-A-T

VP: What ..... you ..... Korea?

Me: What am I doing in Korea?

*blank stares*

Most of my conversations go just like this at lunch. After more prodding, I think the Principal and VP were asking how I felt about my life in Korea and if it was interesting *blank stare*

More language barrier issues:

- Today the Principal made an announcement over the loudspeaker. I never understand what he is saying, but they usually mean that he is informing the staff about a teachers' meeting after school. Today he told everyone to go home early (~4pm instead of 5pm). I missed that memo. I also missed my ride home, and no one came up to tell me that everyone was leaving early. I took the bus home.

- I have ventilation issues in my apartment. At least one of my neighbors smokes in their unit and the secondhand smoke filters into mine via the sink/shower drains in my bathroom. I close my bathroom door, so when I have to use the bathroom or take a shower, I basically walk into a transparent ashtray. I wanted to complain to the guy manning the office downstairs, but when he is in, I don't have a friend who can translate....and when I have a friend to translate, he isn't in. He also happens to be a smoker -- go figure. So I went on Google Images, found pictures of No Smoking signs in Korean, drew my own signs, and posted one by every door in my hall with a piece of chewing gum. Bastards.

Please do not smoke in this building.

No Smoking Propaganda

- I won tickets to the Hallyu Dream Concert, which is a huge Korean pop concert taking place on Monday evening in Gyeongju. This weekend is a 3-day weekend; however, Gyeongju is about 5 hours away, and the first bus out of Gyeongju won't get me back to Mokpo in time to teach on Tuesday. I asked an English-speaking teacher if she could ask my Mentor Teacher about using Tuesday as a vacation day. She spoke to him, but he never brought up the issue to the vice principal because he thought that I left early today (Wrong!) She told me that it might not be possible to take Tuesday off because I did not give 1-2 weeks notice, but it is not my fault because I just won the tickets 2 days ago. I decided to call my Mentor Teacher directly -- screw the language barrier -- and tried to ask if it was possible to take Tuesday off. He said that we already decided that my vacation days would be in December (this was all in broken English by the way -- I'm just speeding up the dialogue), but I pushed and asked if I could use one of those vacation days next week. He said that he would call the VP tomorrow (Saturday) and call me back. I am not a huge fan of K-Pop, but I know enough to say that going to this concert would be a huge cultural experience. The concert features Girl's Generation, 2PM, SHINee, GD&TOP, miss A, Sistar, T-ara, and a bunch of other artists that I haven't heard of (but everyone else has). The fact that I won tickets is huge, and I know other people who won, so it's not like I would be going by myself. I also have a spare ticket under my name, but I haven't decided who to invite yet. Read more about the concert here.

I won 2 tickets to the Hallyu Dream Concert via Facebook. I'm winner #47 !!

Sicky

I don't have much time to answer individual messages, much less update the blog.

Very quickly...

I got sick over the past few days. It started with a 3-day sore throat and gradually developed into a dry cough, exhaustion, congestion, and no voice. I've been taking my vitamins religiously, and a friend helped me get an herbal remedy from the campus convenience store yesterday evening. I also got excused from lectures and slept all of Monday. The nurse gave me some pills for my cough last night, and they helped with everything in general. My voice is slowly returning, and I am hoping that if I stay in one more night that I can go out on Wednesday; it will be our last evening together in Jochiwon (and the night before my birthday!)

I have one more lecture today then a lesson planning workshop after lunch. I'm due for laundry, so I'll have to figure that out this evening.

I finally got my banking account established yesterday afternoon (in the midst of my sickness). The bank nearby doesn't accept traveler's cheques, so I either have to find my way to the Nonghyup Bank near Jochiwon Station, or figure it out when I get to Gwangju in a few days. Complicado....

The sun finally came out, and the weather feels just like Cali. The humidity subsided drastically, and sometimes the weather almost feels like autumn.

The mosquito bites on my legs are abundant, and my legs/feet look awful because I've been scratching them.

Headed to lecture. Peace out.