Sick

I awoke at 4am last Sunday morning to my body completely evacuating the diner I put into it Saturday night. My first thought as I was leaning over the toilet was that I had poisoned Mike and my co-teacher, who we invited over to diner. I stumbled back to bed and decided not to seek sympathy from Mike just in case he was going down with me. After four increasingly painful and noisy visits to the bathroom, Mike still slept soundly, so I gained hope that I had caught my annual 24 hour stomach bug. (four years in a row)

When Mike got up around nine feeling fine, and completely unaware of my hours of misery (sorry for the drama) I decided to call my co-teacher for help. He said he was feeling well, and agreed to speak with the local pharmacist about giving Mike some stomach medicine.

Mike paid the equivalent of two dollars, and this is what he came home with. I must have been really delirious but I was hoping for trusty yet disgusting Pepto-Bismol.

Mike spent hours and went all around Seogwipo trying to figure out how much of this medicine I was supposed to take. First he tried google translate, then he went to a café where the proprietor speaks English really well. Unfortunately the café owner wasn’t in, so we called several people who might have been helpful, none of whom were answering. Mike went back to speak with the pharmacist who seemed to tell him using drawings and numbers that I was meant to take all of the medicine. Please keep in mind that the photo above only shows the left over pills that I didn’t take.

As you can see this is a lot of medicine. It seems sketchy to consume so much medicine, but dosage aside, it was logistically impossible for me as I wasn’t even holding down water. Furthermore, of what Mike was able to translate it seemed as if the consumer was intended to take two spoonfuls three times a day. The pill dosage and the hours lapsing was unclear via google translate. Feeling like there was still a misunderstanding we finally got a hold of Master Oh from Kuk Sool. Mike went across town again where Master Oh looked over the medicine, gave his best guess of what I should take, and wondered why I didn’t go to the hospital. Finally at 1pm Mike and I decided that I probably wouldn’t overdose if I took a few pills with a few swallows of the liquid. I repeated the process four other times, and felt increasingly better as the hours wore on.

Despite feeling awful, I just kept thinking that I was so happy to be with Mike, and that he was spending so much of his day figuring out what and how much medicine I should take.

As you can see the medicine looks really different here. One time we picked up cold medicine from the pharmacy. The cold medicine was really cheap, and looked like sugar tablets. Since we couldn’t read the label, the two of us had a hard time thinking of it as real medicine. It is real medicine of course; a whole country uses it. But the medicine is so different than what we’re accustomed to that it’s not very comforting when you’re feeling sick. Stay tuned for the next blog about observations I’ve made about sickness during our stay in Korea.

Schedule Changes

Vacation is over and we are back at school, so I thought I would create a few more posts about school life. Something to be expected on any given week is a schedule change. Usually these schedule changes are last minute.

Mostly the change is that a class was canceled due to sports day rehearsal, graduation rehearsal, exam studying, or special programming. When a class is canceled I just tuck the lesson away and plan future lessons with my new found time. Sometimes my co-teachers will let me know in advance that classes will be canceled. Even if this forewarning occurs, I always have a plan in hand because it’s also possible that the cancelation will be voided and teaching will be expected.

Mostly it’s harmless that schedules get changed last minute. How could it be upsetting to do less work than planned? But sometimes these changes are as disappointing as they are thrilling. The disappointments come when I plan something extra special like Halloween, or a graduation party. I ask permission in advance and follow up with constant reminders, yet schedule changes may still swoop in. Halloween carried on with a little added stress, but the graduation party has been reduced to, “Have a snack! Congratulations!”

These “surprise” schedule changes are part of the school culture in Korea, but it’s exasperated by the language barrier. Mostly I smile with a shrug and carry on. At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter.

Here is a photo from Wednesdays schedule change. The fourth grade teacher recommended that instead of English, we throw snowballs at each other. It’s the last week of the school year, I couldn’t be a downer. Fortunately when the play resulted in a giant rip in my slacks he had extra sweats for me to wear. Thanks for reading!

Fire Festival

On Saturday we went to the Fire Festival with our Kook Sul master, and several other foreigners who practice with us. We had heard lots of good things about the festival, and it did not disappoint.

We got there around 4:15pm, but unfortunately it was too late to climb the small hill that was later lit on fire. So we had a look around, and then went to a tent for diner. Master Oh explained that the fire festival stems from farming culture. Farmers used to light their fields on fire in the late winter to fertilize, and kill any bugs before spring planting.

This tradition is honored by song, dance, fireworks, and lighting a hill on fire. First in the video you see woman wearing traditional dress called hambok. I assume they are singing traditional songs. Every time I see a woman wearing hambok and singing it is captivating. Unfortunately my camera doesn't convey the magic as well.

After hay stacks were burned and things appeared to calm down the hill suddenly blew up. Fireworks laying on the side of the mountain caused explosions, accompanied by more aerials. I didn't catch that initial explosion, but the whole thing made me think about war instantly.

After you see Mike, you see some of our friends dancing. At the end is a short clip of traditional circle dancing.

Enjoy!