Korean Super Germs!

So, I am once again sick here in Korea. However, this time around it was super bad so I took a trip to the doctor, which was a super hassle. I went to a big hospital around 12:30 and couldn't figure out which counter to go to out of the 5 that were there. Everyone glanced at me but no one would help me. So, I got on the phone to my school and asked for help. I was then informed that all the doctors were on lunch break from 12:30 to about 2pm, when I start work! How can all of the doctors go on such a long lunch break and all go at once? So, one of my coworkers took me to another tiny hospital. It was on the second floor of my bank. We still had to wait an hour though for lunch break. When we finally got in to see the doctor we explained my symptoms, she looked down my throat, and then listened to my lungs. That was it. Then she wrote me a prescription for 5 pills and liquid cough suppressant. She didn't even take my temperature! This lack of basic medical care has me worried. What exactly are the pills I'm taking? They didn't give me any directions with the medicine except to take them twice a day. I didn't get any warnings with the drugs either. What if I was taking other medication and they clashed?! So, when I spoke with my mother on skype we deduced that one of them was an antibiotic, which will render my birth control useless, one is a pain pill, one if for fever, and the two other ones are a mystery. Oh yes, the best thing is that the pills make me extremely tired! I took them while at school and within ten minutes I fell asleep while talking and sitting up. I slept a total of 2 hours during school that day! So now, I'm at school armed with a liter of cola! I will overcome this!

Theory Relating Pregnancy and Teaching....

So, I have come to the conclusion that while teaching I release oxytocin, the same hormone released during childbirth. This hormone does a number of things during childbirth but one of its primary functions is to give the orgasmic feel that makes you forget how painful it is pushing something the size of a melon out of something so small. So, my theory is that while I'm going through the painful process of teaching these kids, I'm releasing a large amount of oxytocin making me forget how much I hate them some times. This theory stems from the fact that while I'm teaching the little devils I tell myself how much I want to kill myself but by the time I get home I'm all happy and love the kids again. What is this freakish weirdness taking over my body?! Is this the mythical maternal instincts that was thought to not exist in this child hating, woman's body? I don't understand! Why, even though I'm continuously pushed to the brink of self destruction, do I still love these midget Satans?

Korean Dating Advice

For all you ladies thinking it'll be great to date a hot Korean I have some advice for you. I know Asian fever isn't limited to the male population because I seem to have been infected with a touch of it as well. I made the mistake of taking things too lightly when it came to men.

This isn't like America where you can go hang out with guys just to have fun and be friends. Once you accept an invitation and say yes to anything you're done for. Once you've said yes they won't take no for an answer for anything. They become very aggressive in pursuit of you. They will stalk you on the phone and try to come by your house. Just to let you know, they're not actually stalkers. This is just their culture. If they're not semi-stalking you then they're not interested in you. I went on two dates with a Korean guy and the next time we went out as a group, he was introducing me as his girlfriend. I was very taken aback because I was thinking we were just hanging out and having fun, nothing serious. Well, I guess everything is serious here. There's no light, fun dating. So, the next time he called me I had to tell him no at least ten times. He couldn't understand that I was busy on the weekend and couldn't hang out. Then he said he would come by my house on Wednesday, today. I told him no repeatedly but he just said see you and hung up. So, after work today I snuck home early so I wouldn't run into him. I sat in my apartment without the lights on, phone on silent, and trying not to make noise. He called me 20 times in an hour, messaged me like 10 times, and rang my doorbell for nearly an hour! I knew that if I actually talked to him face to face it would be over. They just don't take no for an answer. Plus you have the added language barrier.

So, my advice to all you ladies with "yellow fever" is to be very choosy. You don't want to end up being stalked by someone you have no interest in, like me. I say take your time. The guys won't give up like back at home. These guys are used to working hard for it! ;-)

7 Random Koreans and a Date

It all happened in the wee hours of the morning, also known as after bar. I spent the night out with Nikiel and friends prowling the streets of downtown. We hit up German Bar, Speakeasy, Bubble Bar, and then proceeded to rock out at the norabong. It was a night filled with soju and mekju! We shared a lot of gambaes, one-shots, and a lot of drunk-tone-def singing. As the night drew to a close, I got some octapus from a streetvendor and hailed a taxi. Once out of the taxi I had to stumble a block home down a dark alleyway but I felt completely safe. While swerving my way home I happend to bump into 7 Korean men. I properly greeted them with a drunk annyeonghaseyo and a slight bow. They immediately took a shine to the drunk foreign girl who didn't speak any Korean and invited me to their apartment to drink some more mekju! Being the smart girl that I am I graciously accepted the invitation and went across the street from my house to party with some real Koreans. The rest of the night was filled with sticky notes stuck to our heads with our names written on them and our cellphone dictionary getting fully used. We sadly parted ways at 6am and I went and got 2 hours of sleep before I was woken up by my new friend Jungkil. We decided to go to lunch and watch the movie Avatar, which was GREAT! We had an ejoyable dinner of Burger King before the movie started. I was actually pretty happy because there's nothing like greasy food to help with a hangover. We spent all of lunch typing on our cellphone dictionaries to talk because I don't speak Korean and he doesn't speak English. But, it was still fun. So, over the next week we shared a few phone calls and text messages and then we decided to meet again last night. He picked me up at my apartment and we walked down the street to a nice chicken restaurant. We had some delicious spicy chicken and beer. Afterwards, we went back to my place where he did my dishes, cooked kimchi jjigae for me, and drank a lot of soju. After a few sojus we were feeling pretty loose so we put on some kpop and jammed out. I managed to get a little sleep last night! All I can say is that Korean sure can drink and they are very kind and patient. Jungkil is even studying English so that he can speak to me. I can tell that every time he calls me on the phone he's already practiced what he is going to say to me. I've never had someone that dedicated. I hope all Korean men are like this. If this keeps happening I'll never go home!

Weird Asian Remedies!

So I got my first case of the really bad flu here! You know the kind where you spend your whole night heaving, even when you have nothing left in your stomach. So, after a full night of abs workout, aka puking my guts out, I though I might want to call in sick to work. Luckily for me they let me take one hour off and it happened to be my break time! :-( So I spent the whole day with trips to the bathroom and time with my head down. I managed to teach some things but I got mostly taken advantage of today. The kids ran the show but I was in no mood to care.

The director's wife finally showed up in my room after she saw that I didn't eat with the rest of the teachers with some weird flu medicine, some kind of eggsalad sandwich, hot water to drink, and also some apple flavored milk! Who wouldn't want to take 4 horse pills and also eat an eggsalad sandwich when they can't even keep water down. Just the sight of the sandwich sent me reeling! Now lets talk about this apple flavored milk business! Who the hell would drink apple milk with an upset stomach, not to mention any other time?! I'll just let you know it's as gross as it sounds and tastes absolutely horrible coming back up!

However, I did get some amusement out of the day listening to what the kids told me I should do to get better. Normally in America it's drink fluids and get some rest. Well here I was told to drink cola and eat a lot of ramen! Just the thought of it is just gross! I did get a kid saying I should eat some squid or octapus but I think he just wanted to see me spew! I know, they all love me!

Well, until next time, that is if I make it!

New Year's Eve in Seoul

This had to be one of my best New Year's ever! I had so much fun. Well, I'll start from the beginning. It guess it all started when..............

The day was Monday when I called Jacob, a guy who I just met who also teaches here in Gwangju. It just so happens that he also graduated from UWEC! What a coincidence, hey?! Well, I was just seeing if he was planning on going out to the foreign bars on New Year's Eve but instead I was invited to join him and two other girl friends on their adventure to Seoul. I responded accordingly by saying "Heck yes I do!".

So we took the KTX train to Seoul, which only took 3 hours vs the 4 hour bus ride. It was actually very comfy! It's arranged like a plane, but of course thinner. There are only two seats on each side and it even has a food and beverage cart that goes up and down the isle. Once we got to Seoul we took the subway to our Hotel, which was right downtown. We were directly across from city hall. The hotel was wicked expensive. It was $300 a night for a one bed suit. Did you hear that? One bed for 3 girls and 1 boy! We all decided after we're lit-up we wouldn't care where we sleep, which turned out to be totally true.

We started the night out by having dinner. The place we went had a $100 buffet. I passed on that and instead had chicken curry, rice, and water for $23. It wasn't even that tastey! But the restaurant was beautiful. It had a sort of modern deco feel to it with very warm wood tones. After dinner we hit the local mart and bought some of Korea's finest soju. One bottle is about 20 cents American, I think. Anyways, 2 bottles is enough to get you really licked. We went to one of the girl's sister's house. She's an army wife. We had a nice family party until 5 or so of the young lieutenants showed up. We drank, took shots, and sang karaoke!

Afterwards, I left with the boys while the girls and Jacob went to enjoy the lights and fireworks. I hit up the bars. It was so much fun. I didn't pay for a drink the whole night and I didn't even pay for the subway or taxis either. Gosh, those guys are so nice. Anyways, we ended up staying out until 5:30 in the morning so we didn't have to worry much about sleeping. Jacob left at 5am to go back so I was left alone to make my way home. I had some trouble on the subway, it was hard finding the stop I needed to go to and I was given a faulty ticket. I actually had to leap over the turn styles and got yelled at. Then when I went to the train station they only had one ticket left for Gwangju that day and it was first class. So I had to fork over extra cash just to get home. I was really lucky because if I wouldn't have gotten that ticket I would have been stuck in Seoul with no place to stay.

Once back in Gwangju I had to wait 30 minutes for a taxi because there were so many people there. I happened to get in one where you risk your life. We ran more than 3 red lights, almost got hit by a bus, almost hit 3 other cars, and nearly ran over a person! I was hanging on for my dear, sweet life! I also got sick afterwards! Man, I'm really not as young as I used to be. I spent all of Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday sleeping trying to recover! I'm sad aren't I? But, it was totally worth it. I recommend Seoul for New Year's any time!

Well, until next time.

4 Score And ............

Four score and....actually a month ago, I was brought forth onto this continent and new nation. I have slightly adapted and have made numerous, make that countless mistakes. I bet no one knew how hard you have to work at daily life in a foreign country. Making food, buying food, getting around, and attempting to use chopsticks is a huge hassle. If I need to go shopping I build my whole day around a trip to the Lotte Mart, which is a 10 minute walk from my house. I have to make sure I have everything I need. Warm enough clothes, mittens to cushion my hands while carrying the bags back, my dictionary, notebook with useful phrases, money, alien card, camera just in case, 100W coin so I can get a shopping cart, and my Zune to listen to some tunes! So right away I'm slightly weighed down. Then once I get there and ask the nice people where to find things, by pointing at my dictionary and them dragging me around. I start my trek home. Half way home my arms start to shake and I feel like I can't go on but I man up and make it home and almost collapse! But for real, my bags do drop to the floor. That usually takes me about a couple hours. Then I put things away and start to cook food. So really it takes me about 3-4 hours to complete things but by this time I'm warmed up again in my apartment, full, satisfied, and then it's time for either a nap for some good old facebook!

I'm not lying! This is my typical weekend. Then the next day I have to start planning lessons so that I don't have to do it during the week because I'm extremely lazy in the mornings and after school I really don't want to do any more school work. I'm just like that. However, now that I have some foreign friends my weekends will slowly start to fill and I'll actually have to do a fulls days worth of work during the week so I can have my weekends free. I don't know why but for some reason I'm resenting having friends and a life at times like this! ;-)

But, back to the interesting things. I went to a buffet at the big bus station, which is really like a giant mall. And yes, the buffets are like the buffets back home but with all Asian food. I didn't even ask what I was eating because I really didn't want to know. I know I ate some octopus, squid, snail, mussel, raw tuna and crab, and the other stuff I just couldn't figure out. I did have a few normal dishes like beef stirfrye and some sweet pork. Overall it was delicious! They just kept forcing more and more food on me and finally I told them no more! I ate the least out of them but I'm the fattest one here! These skinny little Asians sure can eat and I have no idea as to where they pack it away! I took a sideways glance at the ice cream and gained 5 pounds! ;-)
But, I have to get going. I have to make my bed on the heated floor because I still haven't figured out how to work the heat here. I can only work the heated floor. It's the coldest day this year so far. Brrrrrr! It's -10C, I'm sorry to all my fellow Wisconsinites I'm becoming weak to cold temps over here in this mild climate!