I am now out in the big bad world. The orientation dormitary was this little haven for all of us since the moment we stepped off the plane. When I was sick (I'm still recovering), the staff brought food right to my room, along with newspapers, magazines etc.
Today, my school's co-teacher (I'll be teaching with a co-teacher in every class) picked me up in a taxi and brought me to my apartment. After showing me around my apartment building, she took me to my school. It was my first time using public transportation in Seoul. It's the little things that mess you up. Like how you can't open the doors here on the bus if you're a passenger. Only the bus driver has the power to do that. My school is super bright. I mean colour-wise. Pink and blue with beige as the background colour. I saw my office space. It's in a room with a number of other teachers. I have an office cubicle! I've always wanted to work in a cubicle. I have my own computer, phone and printer so that'll make lesson planning a whole lot easier...as well as facebook stalking.
Well, I'm at an internet cafe now cause I don't have internet or phone set up at the apartment yet. I feel really lost right now. And I bet all the other teachers feel the same way. We were all together for the past week and a half, and now we've all been scattered all over town. We don't know our way around the city, and we don't have phones or internet. So meeting up will be quite intersting. I had to deal with this in Australia as well, but what is making this even more challenging is the fact that I don't speak the native language of the country. If I get lost in the streets and people don't understand me, I'll have to keep searching till I find someone who speaks English. I'm not complaining though. I signed up for this and this is exactly what I wanted. One of the reasons I like to travel is because I like a good challenge. I think being too comfortable in a particular world/neighbourhood/bubble is a tad dangerous. We're always too comfortable with our own way of doing things. We need to be shaken up more often. These past several days have kept me on my toes and have definitely lifted me out of my comfort zone. And I absolutely love it.
Bring it on Seoul.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
It's past boredom now...
date Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 3:02 PM
subject Re: Time of my life
mailed-bygmail.com
Update: Volume II
So turns out I do have the swine flu. But when they were analyzing my saliva/grossness, apparently the result came out a bit sketch. So on a scale of positive to negative, I'm at the very bottom of the positive barrel. I have a very very mild case of the swine flu is what they're telling me. I'm already starting to feel better and if I had it my way, I would be running around causing raucous in the streets of Seoul by tomorrow. But the doctor recommends that I stay in isolation till Thursday. I have to pretty much beg to be let out of my room to check my email. I don't know what I'm going to do in that room alone for another 3 days! Actually, I've started to teach myself Korean from this book they gave me. By Thursday I might be translating crap.
But no worries. I'm on my way to recovery!
Zen
~Living with a defective immune system since 1986.~
subject Re: Time of my life
mailed-bygmail.com
Update: Volume II
So turns out I do have the swine flu. But when they were analyzing my saliva/grossness, apparently the result came out a bit sketch. So on a scale of positive to negative, I'm at the very bottom of the positive barrel. I have a very very mild case of the swine flu is what they're telling me. I'm already starting to feel better and if I had it my way, I would be running around causing raucous in the streets of Seoul by tomorrow. But the doctor recommends that I stay in isolation till Thursday. I have to pretty much beg to be let out of my room to check my email. I don't know what I'm going to do in that room alone for another 3 days! Actually, I've started to teach myself Korean from this book they gave me. By Thursday I might be translating crap.
But no worries. I'm on my way to recovery!
Zen
~Living with a defective immune system since 1986.~
From South Korea, with swine flu.
I'm gonna start writing on this thing again. Why? That's right, you guessed it. I'm travelling again! Hurrah! What's been going on in my life since I've landed in South Korea? I'm going to take a different approach. Instead of rewriting stuff I've already written to people in emails, I'm going to copy and paste two emails on here. They will pretty much sum up what I've been going through for the past 3 days.
Warning: The emails below contain swear words. If you've never heard me swear before, prepare yourself.
date Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 9:58 AM
subject: Time of my life
mailed-bygmail.com
Update.
I had a great 1.5 days after I landed here. Lots of fun. Fun teachers, great food, great lectures. Learned a bit of Korean. But since last night everything went down the shitter.
I got sick. And I know it's because I didn't get a lot of sleep before I left for Korea and my journey was very long and it's hot and humid here. So naturally I got sick. Plus I haven't gotten sick since February so this was long overdue. Unfortunately all the symptoms of my cold are identical to symptoms of the swine flu. So Korea has been freaking out about the swine flu and was taking our (the teachers') temperatures twice a day since we've arrived (which was 2 days ago). They've had over 200 cases of the swine flu in the past week. So the nurses and everyone is freaking out about me. They took me to the hospital in an abmulance but coudln't get me checked last night. I was there till 1 in the morning. Now me and my roommate are both kept in rooms by ourselves, separately. We can't go out. The nurses bring food to us. When we go outside we have to wear those white surgical masks over our faces. And the nurses around us wear that too. They're trying to get me tested to make sure it's just a cold/flu and not the swine flu so that I can start participating in the orientation lectures again. I'm missing out on all the orientation lectures and field trips right now. I can't be with any of the other teachers. Just have to sit alone in my room. It really fucking sucks. Especially because I KNOW that I just have a cold. It's not swine flu. But this country has been on high alert for it so I have no choice but to wait until I get the results. It'll take about 3-4 days at least to get the results. I'm so fucking upset right now you have no idea. Fly over here and kick the National Health Security's ass for me please.
Zen
date Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 10:45 AM
subject: Re: Time of my life
mailed-bygmail.com
Thanks Mou. You're always there when I need an encouraging word. They're still examining my saliva at the lab. Apparently it came back negative but not 100% negative. What the hell does that mean?! So basically I could still have swine flu. Except that I know that I don't. I just have a really bad case of the zenith cold. And don't tell me to grow an immune system. I haven't gotten sick since February. Do you know how impressive that is for me? I thought I was practically invincible...until 2 days ago. They've still kept me locked up in my room. Well, right now there's no one in the building cause everyone went to a fieldtrip to a Korean village (I really wanted to go and am so sad that I'm missing it). So because there's no one in the building I've snuck out of my room to check my email in another floor. Hope your application crap is going well. I'll keep you updated on my aids situation...
Z
Warning: The emails below contain swear words. If you've never heard me swear before, prepare yourself.
date Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 9:58 AM
subject: Time of my life
mailed-bygmail.com
Update.
I had a great 1.5 days after I landed here. Lots of fun. Fun teachers, great food, great lectures. Learned a bit of Korean. But since last night everything went down the shitter.
I got sick. And I know it's because I didn't get a lot of sleep before I left for Korea and my journey was very long and it's hot and humid here. So naturally I got sick. Plus I haven't gotten sick since February so this was long overdue. Unfortunately all the symptoms of my cold are identical to symptoms of the swine flu. So Korea has been freaking out about the swine flu and was taking our (the teachers') temperatures twice a day since we've arrived (which was 2 days ago). They've had over 200 cases of the swine flu in the past week. So the nurses and everyone is freaking out about me. They took me to the hospital in an abmulance but coudln't get me checked last night. I was there till 1 in the morning. Now me and my roommate are both kept in rooms by ourselves, separately. We can't go out. The nurses bring food to us. When we go outside we have to wear those white surgical masks over our faces. And the nurses around us wear that too. They're trying to get me tested to make sure it's just a cold/flu and not the swine flu so that I can start participating in the orientation lectures again. I'm missing out on all the orientation lectures and field trips right now. I can't be with any of the other teachers. Just have to sit alone in my room. It really fucking sucks. Especially because I KNOW that I just have a cold. It's not swine flu. But this country has been on high alert for it so I have no choice but to wait until I get the results. It'll take about 3-4 days at least to get the results. I'm so fucking upset right now you have no idea. Fly over here and kick the National Health Security's ass for me please.
Zen
date Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 10:45 AM
subject: Re: Time of my life
mailed-bygmail.com
Thanks Mou. You're always there when I need an encouraging word. They're still examining my saliva at the lab. Apparently it came back negative but not 100% negative. What the hell does that mean?! So basically I could still have swine flu. Except that I know that I don't. I just have a really bad case of the zenith cold. And don't tell me to grow an immune system. I haven't gotten sick since February. Do you know how impressive that is for me? I thought I was practically invincible...until 2 days ago. They've still kept me locked up in my room. Well, right now there's no one in the building cause everyone went to a fieldtrip to a Korean village (I really wanted to go and am so sad that I'm missing it). So because there's no one in the building I've snuck out of my room to check my email in another floor. Hope your application crap is going well. I'll keep you updated on my aids situation...
Z
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