Hey, hey, hey!
It has been awhile and have had multiple requests for a blog update…so here goes!
I left you all a little sick but on the mend. Well, that all changed. It may or may not have had something to do with going out nearly two weeks ago in a neighboring city with a bunch of people from orientation. What a night! It was Mardi Gras, so we lived it up! All I have to say is: soju is evil. The rest will have to be evidenced on my facebook pictures! Which, by the way, haven’t been put up yet because I still have yet to find a cord…going on a mission later today.
Monday (about 10 days ago) I started feeling more sick after I had felt much better that weekend. By Tuesday, I felt like death. Much worse than the first week of sickness. After my morning classes Tuesday, I asked if I could go home. They finally let me. I went home after lunch and slept all day. But, to no avail. Last Wednesday I woke up and felt worse than I have in years. I really felt like death warmed over. Horrible sore throat, stuffed nose, fever, achey, horrible hacking cough; the works. I called my coteacher (from skype!!) and though barely audible (voice was almost completely gone) told him I wasn’t coming in. He told me to call again at lunch to see if I would be well enough for the afternoon…So, I went back to sleep and got up again around lunch. Still feeling like death and barely able to talk. I called and said I wouldn’t be well enough to come in. He countered with, “ok, me and school nurse will be there in 3 minutes.” What? WTF?!?
Even being on the brink of death, I quickly threw all of my shit into my closet. Low and behold, they were there three minutes later. Koreans are fast! I let them in and they both were like, ohhh soo clean!! I wanted to laugh, but didn’t, haha. They were so nice and kind! They brought me a ton of medicine and a bag of fruit and a Korean herbal drink from another English teacher. It was so nice. Apparently, I had the entire school worried! I returned to school the next day against my better judgment, but figured that 1.5 days off was probably all they would let me and the fact that I was only in my 3rd week, have a year to go and only 7 sick days. Back at school on Thursday, I felt like shit. Horrid, horrid, shit. I could barely speak and lost my voice completely by the end of the day.
By Friday, I was feeling less like death and more just sick. I taught 6 classes (pretty much the whole school day) and again lost my voice. I downed Ibuprofen all day long like my life depended on it!! After school in the evening, I headed to Busan to see Chris. Although I felt sick (again) in Busan, the weekend was fun! Friday night we had Japanese sushi (California rolls!!) and on Saturday we headed for the beach. The weather was beautiful!! Loaded with cold medicine and pain killers I braved the outside. We got Mexican food (Mexican!!!) at a restaurant along the beach. We shared nachos (albeit made with cabbage, but with sour cream) and he got a burrito and I “quesadillas”. They were more like tacos…All in all, for Mexican in Korea, it was an amazing meal! Plus, the weather was nice enough that we sat outside, facing the beach! It was the nicest weather I have experienced so far in Korea!!
After lunch, we headed to a shitty little carnival where I rode a mechanical moving Panda! It was the weirdest shit, ever! You know those like mechanical horses you put quarters in outside stores? It was like that. Except furry. And mobile. It moved around!! I didn’t believe Chris when he said it would wander around…but low and behold, it did! I was laughing my ass off and I think entertaining the Koreans. Chris has a video that I am sure he will post for you all to see! The weather quickly turned to cold, windy and rainy and we had a few hours to kill before a birthday dinner in the area so we “rented” a room in something known as a DVD bong. It is a place where you rent like rooms with these bed/couch things and watch a movie. They are mainly used for sex (Koreans don’t have sex before marriage at home), but we used it for shelter from the elements, and I took a nap! Sickness was still running me down and I needed a break if I was going to last all night. What a weird place though…The bed/couch is vinyl, so they can clean it easily….After the birthday buffet dinner and a few drinks, we headed back early because the sickey (me) was tired and needed rest.
The rest of me week until now has been pretty uneventful. I did receive a package from my Mom!!! That was probably the highlight of my week because it was filled with…AMERICAN MEDICINE!!! Boy, was I happy to see that! I was still very sick when it arrived so it was amazing. It also contained some American food items that I was super excited about such as taco seasoning, dried black beans, dried lentils, Italian salad dressing, vegetable boullion cubes (for broth and soups and such) and FALAFEL MIX! Which I was the most excited by! Can’t wait to use all of the food! The medicine, however, went to use immediately! It did bring about my first full/real bout with homesickness. Seeing all the items and smelling home on the clothes and other items of mine my Mom sent me was hard. Knowing it has only been a month and I have…well a lot more to go, was hard.
But, that being said, I am adjusting to life here. I think my 3 week cold from hell is finally abating. I feel better today than I have in over 3 weeks. It was a horrible, nasty cold (actually, I think I got two back to back). When you are sick, especially as sick as I was, life is shit anywhere. But particularly if you are out of your element in a foreign place without the proper medication. But now that I am feeling much better, life is looking up!! I am really getting into my job and realizing it is pretty cush. I teach 16 hours a week (I work 40) and sit on my ass to “plan” and look at the internet the remaining hours. It takes me only a few hours each week to plan, so most of the time I just look on the internet. I should exhaust it soon, I will keep you posted when I reach the end. My girls here love me. Really, really love me. They are constantly hugging me, holding my hand, saying, “teachaa I love you!” or making hearts with their hands our arms. It is a nice feeling. They constantly shower me in candy. Even when they see me in the street!
For example; the other day I was searching my little Podunk town for a camera cord and while wandering around I saw probably 12 or so girls from my school. They were excited, no, elated, to see me outside of school. Most freaked out and screamed. It was so fun! The last girl I saw ran up to me and gave me a giant hug! So, so sweet! I wish I knew their names though. But there are 1100 girls with Korean names, whom I only see once a week. It is gonna be a while….
I thought I would write a little bit about what an average day looks like for me since I haven’t really talked about that. On a school day, I get up around 7 am and get ready for the day, shower, eat breakfast, make up, do hair, check email and etc… I leave for school around 8:00, but if it is closer to 8:10, I run. I run to school frequently, gotta get some exercise somehow! But, when the foreigner in town is running (with a backpack on, no less!) Everyone notices. “teachaa, running!”. I see all the girls on my run/walk to school. I have to be to school by 8:20. I am very lucky in the fact that I have a super short commute that involves only walking! Most people have to take a bus or train and commute for up to an hour each way. At 8:15 or so, I arrive, take off my boots and put on my indoor shoes. I have a cubby with my name and everything! Legit. After that, I head to the teachers room where my desk is. There are 7 other teachers with me in the room (all Korean). Depending on the day, I teach 2 or 3 classes, except Fridays, where I teach 6!! Fridays are always tough. But, I guess better Friday than Monday for a hard day.
Lunch is around noon, depending on if I am teaching or not. I eat lunch in the cafeteria with the other teachers and all the girls. Everyone eats together here and everyone eats school lunch. School lunch is served on a metal tray and consists of rice, a warm vegetable, usually also a cold vegetable, soup, some type of meat side dish, and often fresh fruit and sometimes yogurt. No beverages are served at lunch, there is a water station you visit after lunch. Something that has been hard to get used to. Also notably absent: napkins. Koreans are impeccably clean eaters and thus do not require napkins! I, however, am not. That has been quite comical/horrifically embarrassing. I drop food (I always do, but especially with chopsticks) and my fingers get dirty. It has been a work in progress.
The school lunch is generally, amazing. I always get full because meat is usually just a side dish here. There have been plenty of lunches actually without any meat! There is often fresh fruit and sometimes yogurt; these are apparently rarities at other schools. One day, there were even delicious strawberries! The last two days, however, have been horrible. Yesterday the rice had lots of little bits of meat mixed in, so I couldn’t eat the main ingredient. The side dishes were meat too. I had 5 strawberries, a few pieces of pickled radish and some broth. I was starving. Today, I brought a granola bar, just in case. Thank god I did! There was at least rice today, but much more meat than usual and no fruit. I had some rice (about a cup, standard serving here) and some cooked seaweed….and later hurriedly ate my granola bar. I just hope the lunch goes back to normal, because it was great before!
After lunch, I either teach, or hang out. The last class ends at 3:00 and I go home at 4:20, so regardless of my teaching schedule, 3:00-4:20 is always free. I usually sit on the internet at this point and don’t even attempt to look busy. I am tired by then and have stopped caring. I am home by 4:30 and since I have been sick, have spent a lot of my afternoons napping. I cook most of my meals here (most people eat out because it is pretty cheap), but not eating meat makes it very difficult. In the evenings I am on skype and facebook and always plan on being in bed by 9:00, but it never happens. I am usually asleep/in bed by 10:30. Any later than that, and I am wrecked for the next day. Even though 11-7 would be a solid 9 hours, I am constantly woken up throughout the night by drunken Koreans stumbling in the hall, up the stairs. Koreans here go out and get wasted on Tuesdays, and Wednesdays and every other day of the week. So, every night without fail, between midnight and 3 am or so, I am up constantly. I slept with earplugs for the first time last night because I finally got a cell phone!! The travel alarm I had been using was very quiet and I was afraid I wouldn’t hear it through ear plugs. So, hopefully sounder sleep is on the horizon for me!! That is my day, in a nutshell.
I get paid tomorrow (woooo!) and will be joining the gym this weekend. So freaking excited about this! I haven’t worked out in over a month and at home for the past year or so I had been working out 4-5 days a week for 1-2 hours at a time, so my body has been going through withdrawals!! Look forward to a Korean workout blog. The gym in Korea should make for some interesting reads!!
Speaking of cell phones, I now have one! And a smart phone, to boot! I’ve never had high tech phones, so it is quite exciting! My cell phone number for the American peeps is 011-82-10-4717-1493. You can call me from Skype for around 2 cents a minute or so. So, do eeeet!!! Weekends are best for communicating due to the severe time change. For example, west coast Friday and Saturday nights, are my Saturday and Sunday late morning/early afternoons. Those are the best times to call. Also, working on getting some app where you can text a US number (so for free) I will get it routed to my Korean phone (for free) and I can text you back (For free). Thank Colin for that! And soon Shyawn and Jennifer for help with that on the US end!
The weather in Korea is apparently confused as to what season it is. The beginning of this week it seemed as if spring really was about to spring. But, spring has not spring in South Korea. I retired my very heavy winter coat earlier in the week for my normal Seattle winter jacket, only to have to pull it out again Wednesday. Sigh. Temperatures dropped back down below freezing. I have heard rumors of snow, but have seen none so far! It is so cold here and because it is now “spring” the school turns the heat off in the afternoon. So, I type to you now wearing a parka, a scarf and many layers. Sigh, someday I will be warm again.
I feel like I can’t close this blog without touching what is going on in Japan. First and foremost, NO I didn’t feel the earthquake. I am in Korea, LOL. So many people asked me that! But, it has shaken me up quite a bit. I contemplated going to Japan to teach and after hearing that the first American casualty was a young woman teaching English, it hit home hard. Being just a stones throw away from Japan makes it hit closer to home. Thoughts have swirled, what if? What would I do if that happened here? What if something really badly happened to me, or my friends here? But, I quickly have to let that go. Not only do I live in earthquake territory back home and have lived through two, anything can happen anywhere, wherever you are. Going abroad doesn’t equate to any increased danger or likelihood of death; just as staying put at home doesn’t guarantee you any additional safety. We can’t, and I refuse, to live life in fear. You have to live. Get out and do shit, even if it scares you. Ya, you might die. But, you could also get hit by a garbage truck on the way to work, and that is an even shittier way to die than being swept away by a tsunami while doing something you gave a shit about. You know what I mean? It was like when North Korea bombed South Korea a few months back. I was already in the process of securing a job here and everyone assumed, didn’t even ask, that I wouldn’t be going any longer. I always said, “why wouldn’t I go?” Some people thought it was a stupid answer, but I refuse to live my life in fear. Plus, it is not as if I am living in the middle of a battlefield. It is South Korea. TIK! LOL. But anyways, what I mean to say or the point I am trying to get across is, you can’t live life with what ifs. I have thought how tragic it is that this girl died in Japan, away from all her friends and family. But, really, would her death have been any less tragic or painful for them had she suffered a brain aneurism (or whatever) in the same city as them? Of course not.
Ok, I think that is about it on my end. I miss all of you so much. The tsunami and my package from home has made me a little nostalgic the past 10 or so days, but I continue to live and breathe everyday here. The days have already elapsed into weeks and the weeks into marking my first month of many here. It is hard to even fathom that amount of time I have left without seeing all of your faces, but I trust you will be there when I return! I hope you all are having your own adventures in your daily life, wherever you may be.
Love, Kimberly
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