Sick in South Korea

I’d caught a bad cold about 3 weeks ago, if anyone recalls, from sharing a shot glass with Coman, who was sick at the time. That cold came on out of nowhere and knocked me on my ass for a week or so. I’d been feeling mostly better when I had my fiesta last Sunday, just some minor sniffles, which is why it came as a bit of a shock when I passed out on my desk at work last Thursday! I was taken to the “hospital” (Koreans refuse to say “doctor’s office”, and say “hospital” instead) in the same building of my school. My diagnosis was that “Korean viruses are very strong” and that I had fainted because I was dehydrated. I was given an IV to get my fluids up and was able to lie down for a few hours to sleep. I think this is the first time I’d had an IV and though I knew there was nothing to really worry about, the whole situation was a little bit scary to me- especially being in a foreign country.

The IV actually helped a lot. It brought my fever down and took away the spinning sensation in my head. It didn’t, however, give me enough strength to teach my night classes, which my school expected me to do. I convinced my director to change my classes to the following night, all the while thinking that were I at home, I’d never be expected to come in the next day. But, in the next day I went, and it was not bad at first, but by the end of the day, my chest felt like a knife was being dug into it every time I coughed. That night, I had a terrible fever, a rarity for me, and couldn’t sleep through the night. I had the chills so bad I was literally shivering and too cold to get out from under my blankets to get warmer clothes.

Fortunately, the next day was Saturday, so no work (!) and I had a follow-up doctor’s appointment. Doctors in Korea don’t quite give you the same personal attention as doctors back home. For one, you don’t go into an examining room, you go into the doctor’s office. They don’t check physically for all your symptoms, but rather ask how you are feeling and type it into the computer. He looked down my throat, but that was about all. I told him my symptoms had gotten worse, and he prescribed me 3 more days of the same medicine I was already on. And an injection – of who knows what? Seems an injection is the norm with any doctor’s visit here.

It was a long weekend of sitting in bed watching TV and being bored out of my mind. The highlight was when Coman graciously came to bring me an inhaler and some ice pops- or ice lolies as he so charmingly referred to them. Sunday morning I was so sick and still not feeling any better- worse actually- that I called Mom and told her I wanted to come home. Being sick is bad enough, but when you are so far from home and have no one to take care of you, it’s absolute hell! I was nearly in tears.

Monday morning finally rolled around and I was feeling a tiny, itsy bit better, but I was not at all up to working. I called my boss, who insisted that I go back to the doctor! We waited for nearly 2 hours. I was half asleep, half in tears in the waiting room. Fortunately, this doctor showed a little more interest in my and my symptoms, and actually went as far as taking a chest X-ray to make sure that didn’t have bronchitis or pneumonia. I didn’t. But, I did have some pretty bad scaring from the cough. Whatever medicine she prescribed was infinitely more effective than whatever worthless pills the previous doctor had given me. I went home and slept the rest of the afternoon and was already feeling much better by the time my boss called to ask if I would mind coming in to teach my night classes (seriously).

It’s Wednesday night, and my cough is still terrible, and I’m still a bit stuffy, but all the aches and pains are gone, along with my fever. I just pray that I have a full recovery and don’t catch anything else! The weather is finally getting a bit warmer which I’m hoping will mean that cold season is ending. It’s been a rough winter!

Fiesta

Yes, that says Fiesta! Ole! There are a lot of fine foods from back home that I've had to learn to deal without- cheese, sour cream, guacamole, chili powder, limes... just to name a few. There is hope though and its unofficial name is The Foreigner Market in Itaewon. Itaewon is the one place you can go in Seoul which more closely resembles a Western City in that 1) there are usually more foreigners than Koreans, and 2) there are all sorts of great ethnic restaurants and shops. It's also more expensive than most places in Seoul and not really the kind of place you'd go to experience Korean culture. My trip there this weekend was only the third time I'd been there and it's a place I generally try to avoid because it's a bit of a tourist trap. However, I'd been without a bowl of chili for all to long and bribed my friends to come to a dinner party (I live far away from everyone) by temping them with some.

I must admit, when I saw the foreign market, I was a bit suspicious. It looked like nothing more than a convenience store from the outside. I doubted whether I'd find everything I was looking for, but I was pleasantly surprised! Packed into this tiny place I was able to find everything I needed and then some- jalapeños, salsa, tortillas! I was in heaven. Definitely worth the hour and a half train ride! They didn't just have Mexican food, though, they had Italian, Indian, Mediterranean... you name it. If it is sold anywhere in Korea, this is the place to find it. No Ricotta cheese though- looks like my dreams of stuffed shells will continue until I return home.

Anyway, I loaded up my backpack with everything I could find for my fiesta and cooked an amazing meal the next day, complete with quesadillas and homemade guacamole! Take that, everyone who went to tropical beaches over the holiday!

There were actually only a few of us- myself, Mi Hee, Erin, Natalie, Jemma, and Coman- our token guy friend for the evening. But the party was the most fun I've had in a long time. We played cards (a very violent game called spoons), did headstands (I have a crazy bruise on my knee from when “someone” pushed me over), and laughed and laughed, especially when Coman was called, "a son of a leprechaun!" Yes, it was just a bunch a friends being silly, but it sure is fun to be silly isn’t it?

An Interesting Fellow in the Cafe

Yesterday was my first official day without coffee and where did I find myself? In the local Starbucks, of course! I had to get out of my house. I don’t care if I’m still a little sick, I refuse to sit home all break. And, a café is a great place to go when you want to be alone with your thoughts. But I just wasn’t in the mood for tea and with coffee not being an option, my choices were limited. I ended up getting a Chai Latte out of a lack of any better options. It made me think- a cup of black coffee, at least calorie-wise, isn’t as bad as a big cup of sugary whole milk. It’s better for my blood sugar and cholesterol, too. I’m tempted to change my “no coffee” pledge to “no coffee at home or work.” That way, if I really want a cup, I’ve got to get up and get out of my house and walk a bit, which is actually pretty good. It’s a motivation to get myself going.

As often happens, I just rambled on for an entire paragraph about something that I had no intention of writing. The real purpose was to tell about a really interesting guy I met while I was sitting in the café. Contrary to my most recent post, I found myself sitting at a table next to a Korean man, who was also by himself. He was reading. I was deep in thought, listening to Bob Marley and writing in my journal on the topic of “What is love?”

After we’d been there a half hour or more he politely said, “Excuse me.” I heard him after the second time, maybe third and took of my headphones. I smiled, “Yes?”

“What are you writing about?” he asked in fairly good English. I sighed. Despite his seemingly decent English, I’ve found that sometimes difficult or abstract topics like love can sometimes be very difficult to discuss with my Korean friends, because of the language barrier. Even if that proved not to be a problem, did I really want to discuss love with a perfect stranger? But, I didn’t want to be rude and here was the opportunity to have a potentially interesting conversation with a Korean. Isn’t that the reason I travel? After a long pause, I cautiously told him, “Love.”

“What about love?” he asked.

Here was an opportunity to get an outside perspective on love, from someone who doesn’t know me or my situation, from someone who is part of a totally different culture than my own.

“What about love?” I asked back. “That is the question isn’t it? What is love? What does it mean to you? How would you define it?”

Now it was his turn to pause. He sat back in his chair and put his hand to his chin, really thinking about it for a moment. Then he leaned forward again and said, “That’s a very difficult question.”

“Yes, it is,” I replied and we shared a smile. It was only the beginning of what turned out to be nearly a two hour conversation about love, philosophy, journalism, and travel. Now, you might be inclined, after hearing the topics, to think that I dominated the conversation, but it turns out that my new friend, Jung Eun is a broadcast journalist for a Korean broadcast station. (It’s little coincidences like this- call them signs- that make me think that going to back to school for journalism might be the right track.) Also, he’d live in New York for a while. So, we had much to talk about. He’d been a musician in New York and didn’t make it, but he still loved to play. He told me journalism is a tough field, but not as tough as music. We talked about the challenges and pleasures of living in a new culture and day-dreamed about places we’d like to visit.

He paid me compliments. “You are the most interesting person I’ve met.” How can you not get along with someone who will stroke your ego like that?

After a long while, he had to go, but we exchanged numbers and I hope that we will get together and talk again soon. Maybe I’ll invite him to my dinner party on Sunday. It’s so interesting to get to know so many different kinds of people in my travels. It’s where my passion for traveling stems. I’m never going to stop!

Squidelicious

Last week I had the privilege of videotaping a few of my friends partake in yet another Korean tradition- eating live squid! Now, when I say live, what I mean is that the tentacles have been chopped off of the body and eaten while they are still wriggling and sucking. Yummy! People have actually choked to death because they didn’t chew properly and the suckers grabbed onto their throats and suffocated them. Or, so I’ve heard. Anyway, the entire thing was quite amusing to me. For one, it has the Fear Factor effect of just watching someone do something so gross you just have to watch. Furthermore, it was entertaining to watch my friends try to pick up these slimy, wriggling things- sucking for their lives to the plate- using chopsticks. Lastly, I got a kick at how you could drop it in the sauce and leave it there for a moment as it went for a swim. Here are a few videos if you want to check it out!

All in all, it was an entertaining evening. Of all the crazy things that happened that night, perhaps the stupidest thing I did was to use the shot glass of a friend who was sick. I figured that the soju would kill any germs, but I was wrong. Come morning, I had quite the sore throat. It was bad enough that I actually went to the doctor- a rarity for me- that afternoon. Luck me caught an upper respiratory infection. It's been one of the worst colds I've had in a long time. Going to the doctor in Korea isn't much different from going to the doctor anywhere back home. The biggest thing is that you don't need an appointment, just show up and wait a few minutes. Also, the cost of a visit is negligible. I actually have gone twice now and it was about $4 each time. What I think is most interesting is the prescriptions that get written. I've got all these little packets of pills and I have no idea what any of them are. I just have to go on faith. They seem to work though, so who am I to say anything. And they are cheap too. I take about 5 or 6 pills three times a day for five days and the cost was about $6. Can't complain about that! Can complain that my entire weekend was wrecked! I sat home going stir crazy and watching the first two and a half seasons of The Office- which, by the way, doesn’t get my vote for best sitcom.

Work yesterday was hellish, though I’m feeling slightly better this morning. I’m hoping that I’ll be up and about come tomorrow, since it is the beginning of my Lunar New Year vacation. No big plans, but it will be nice to have some time off and time to myself as most of my friends are out of town for the week. I’m going to try to make it into Seoul and find the foreign food market in Itaewon. I want to see of they’ve got some sour cream and guacamole because I’m having some of my friends over for a chili and quesadilla night on Sunday.

Last bit of interesting information- tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. I’ve decided to give up both beer and coffee for the next 40 days! I think that people are betting against me on this one, but I’ve made up my mind and I’m sure that I can do it. I’ve been consuming both in vast quantities and I need to cleanse out my system a bit. Should help me save a little money, too! I’m going to sign up of a yoga class next week with my friend Natalie. This body is going to be ready for the beach come summer!