I'm certainly not the first person to say life is a game. It is in many ways, not simply in the manner in which life is playful and beautiful, but in how we interact with each other. We are all playing games with one another, many of them with particular rules. Some rules are implicit, others explicit, and our ability to play by and bend the rules of these games is what makes up our social lives. The games we play are games of etiquette, communication, affection, and attention. Their rules tell us who we say "hello" to and how we respond to the question "how are you?" They reinforce our relationships, be they friendships, love affairs, or family, guiding us in how to act and react.
I've come to see teaching as a misunderstood game, or perhaps, misperceived.
Mainly, because what mass education does isn't necessarily what we think it does. Many of us come to school thinking of it as a place to acquire academic knowledge, but it isn't. Schools (at least until university) are not simply places of academic development, they are centers of social reinforcement.
Schools teach people how to interact with their society. They set standards (at a very young age) about what it is to be a good citizen.
When I started as a teacher, I considered my position as an academic one. I was to nurture and impart knowledge upon learners, academic and practical communication skills. However, now I'm coming to realize that academia is another social game. It has it's unique rules, skills, and structure. We are trained in high school how to play the academic game, how to study, read, and write research papers. How to receive research tasks and carry them out independently of moment to moment guidance. If we can demonstrate proficiency at this game, we graduate and are given the option to continue playing academia in higher education. It is a game I admittedly enjoy, but a game nonetheless and it's rules and skills do not always apply outside it's walls.
These days I spend a great deal of time teaching young students. Kids who are still learning the ropes when it comes to the game of society. I find that my greatest trials as a teacher are not teaching, but enforcing the necessary behavior to teach in a classroom environment. This is a unique challenge as a foreign teacher because the standards of behavior in class are quite different when it comes to Korea and the US. Furthermore, my students' perceptions of me as a foreign teacher also contribute an enormous amount to their own conceptions regarding appropriate behavior. Because I'm a foreigner the norms I expect in a classroom are not the same for Koreans.
For example: in the US, it is expected that when the bell rings, class begins. You are expected to be in your seats and ready to start a lesson. In Korea, students tend to be rushing to class after the bell rings. It's not uncommon for students to arrive in class anywhere from five minutes before the bell to five minutes after the bell! Yet, this is acceptable, and normal in the classes I've attended and taught in this country. Is this one of the reasons many Koreans are notorious for being fashionably late? I'm not sure, but it is curious to ponder.
I have never received any formal training as a teacher. What I have learned I've learned on the job and from online courses in teaching. Though classroom management is an important topic, I have yet to really learn of a teaching course that considers the cultural implications of teaching kids to behave in a classroom. Being in education my imagination is inherently drawn to consider educational structure, method, and reform. I wonder if we are fooling ourselves about the aims of state sanctioned education. Academic skills are what we want to impart on our students, it's these subjects that teachers get passionate about and invest themselves in teaching. However, what schools do (or implicitly aim to do) is not make passionate learners, but functional citizens.
I'm still in a personal debate about this. I wonder if it would be better if we reevaluated our education system to explicitly teach students and parents about it's goals to make children into citizens, or if it should simply focus on academic skills. Because if we ignore the moralizing aspect of our education system we are in tacit compliance to the values it passes to children with no dialog about what those values are and how they are transmitted into young minds. Similarly, it cripples teachers with an enormous social responsibility that they are not necessarily trained to consider or carry out. Furthermore it creates a biased standard for which the success of schools is based. Schools are evaluated upon the testable academic ability of its students, not upon their ability to be good citizens. Yet, what are the measurable traits of a functional citizen? Political participation? Stable economic standing with a strong work ethic? Clean criminal record? Are good students the kids who have strong academic skills, or simply the one's who have learned to play the game? Both?
It's worth pondering.
Being an outsider in an education system it's easier to see the socializing characteristics of public education. I try and think back to my own experience as a student and wonder how I thought of my experience. It's hard to dial back my thinking to remember what I was like to experience school as a child. I wonder what kinds of behaviors my education instilled in me without really noticing it. I have to wonder as a teacher now what kinds of behaviors my teaching is implying to my students and how that may contribute to their academic success later in life. I can't help but feel uncomfortable about the idea of being partially responsible for the moral and social development of children. I'm much more keen on being a source of knowledge and guidance academically. Yet, I suppose what makes teaching such a grand adventure is discovering these unexpected aspects of its execution. I never cease to be amazed at how much I don't know about what I do for a living. It's perplexing. So much to learn, so much to do.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
Learning and Games and all that stuff
So recently I've taken to clicking a bit more freely on my idle internet time and came across PATv. It's a series of channels and shows associated with the well known web comic, Penny Arcade. It's always been a favorite comic of mine and I'm pleased to discover these shows, one in particular. Extra Credits, is a long running program of short podcasts discussing ideas and issues in video games and video game development. Which one might think would only apply to gaming enthusists, yet the folks working Extra Credits do an excellent job discussing very cerebral topics such as story creation, marketing, political issues, and gaming mechanics, all while keeping their shows short and lighthearted. Among the topics I've especially enjoyed is an episode called Tangential Learning, from Season 2, Episode 9. I'll provide a link below if you're interested in seeing it after reading this.
In this episode, the folks at Extra Credits remark on the divide between mainstream video game and educational game industries. Though the focus of Extra Credits is on video game development and industry, I found the discussion to open up my mind to a great deal of questions about the use of games in education.
As a foreign teacher in South Korea, there is a great deal of emphasis on using games in the classroom to educate and motivate students. In some cases foreign teachers are instructed to simply "play games with the kids" which seems well and good, but has some issues that Extra Credits has helped me consider.
In their presentation on Tangential Learning, they note how many educational games have the promise of fun but very quickly devolve into dry lessons where players get assulted by knowledge. This is an experience I have a tremendous amount of empathy for because as a kid I experienced this frustration. I can still recall the deep anger and frustration I felt for having been forced to play Math Blaster, as opposed to playing fun games like Super Mario World. Granted I know my parents were only trying to better my grades and get me to learn my multiplication tables, but man it sucked!
As a teacher using games in my classroom, I have to wonder if my students face a similar experience. Many of us foreign teachers use games in our classrooms, especially Powerpoint games. Many of these Powerpoints have great animations and themes that are from popular culture, but they're all basically the same. Powerpoint games are almost all quiz games of some form or another, choose a box, answer a question. Sure we may use a different theme, package, or soundpack, but for many of these Powerpoints it's SSDD (Same Sh*t Different Design).
Not that I'm criticizing these games for being quiz games, it's what they're meant to be. I realize many teachers have devoted their time to developing incredibly elaborate and impressive Powerpoint games, games that kids enjoy. I'm incredibly grateful for their efforts and skills in preparing these tools, and I will continue to use them in my class when I need an activity to spice of my lesson (and keep kids in their seats).
However, when a student finishes a bomb game(or any quiz game for that matter) do they really take anything away from the experience? Sure we got to do something flashy and entertaining that provides and exciting break from the average class, but did they really get to exercise their English (or their minds for that matter)?
This is what I find most compelling about Extra Credit's episode on Tangential Learning: the idea that games can plant seeds of intrigue and information into their content that will inspire learning outside of the gaming experience.
As an English teacher in Korea, I can't go more than a week without hearing, reading, or noticing some discussion or article commenting on the struggles of the ESL program here. They cover a wide variety of issues from training, to program goals, institutional structures, and cultural complications. It's an enormously complex issue which I don't want to get into here. However, if I can think of one thing that I feel my students desperately need to improve their English, it's the interest and opportunity to explore English outside of school. I have met few students who have even the slightest idea of how vast and exciting exploring a language can be. It's the unfortunate truth that school is hard work for Korean students, and mandatory English education is one of the most difficult parts of the experience. I don't know anyone who likes be forced into learning something. Hell I still resent learning about math and American history because it was required. Not that I didn't benefit from those classes, but I loathed it.
I suppose what I'm trying to get at is a discussion of how we as teachers can develop our games to last longer than the time students are in class. To create educational experiences that leave intrigue in our students' minds. Now that certainly is no easy task. Tangential learning in mainstream videogames is often accomplished through allusions or historical framing, games that refer to real world ideas and persons or are based on history. Incorportating these little Easter Egg style tangents into a classroom experience is very difficult as allusions are based upon references that are often culturally specific. If I were to refer to Ariadne's golden thread as a metaphor for education, none of my students would know that allusion is to the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. (Or maybe they would, I've no idea how much Greek mythology Korean kids get exposed to these days)
Many teachers use cultural icons as a way of inspiring class participation. Putting up picture of K-pop idols and cartoon characters to illustrate dialogs and grammar, and these techniques can be effective. Yet, do these nuggets of entertainment carry the lesson beyond the classroom experience, encouraging kids to think and explore language on thier own?
Another option came to mind as I was pondering this idea the other day. I recently discovered a free online language education website called Duolingo. It's a free website that offers courses in French, German, Spanish, etc. structuring lessons and topics into short chunks. It builds like a game, with various skills and lessons broken into short lessons where a learner listens, writes, and reads new words. However, if the student gets questions wrong, they lose lives. Lose three lives and you have to restart the lesson. However, following the game structure, Duolingo also has a points system that can be redeemed for health potions to recharge hearts in a lesson, or ways of winning more points off of lessons completed. When I first began exploring this I thought to myself, "man this would be great for Korean students!" It's simple, free, and can be used on a PC as well as a moblie phone. It'd be awesome to develop some simple lessons for kids to use outside of class, their progress can be objectively charted and schools can opt to reward students who accomplish their tasks. Granted no such course currently exists, but it's an idea for encouraging students to utilize their skills outside of class and on their own terms. Which is what my student certainly need, to incorportate their language skills in a sphere larger than their classroom life.
Tangential learning is a fascinating idea and has been forcing me to look at my lessons with greater clarity. Asking myself, "what do kids benefit from these acitivites? What can they take away at the end of the day?" I'm willing to admit that many of my lessons at current don't have a great deal of well defined take aways, but now that I'm more aware I can change that. It's a lot to think about and it has even greater potential for educators to anaylze their pedagogy as well as imagine more entertaining ways to teach.
For those of you gaming enthusists or who just want to see what kicked off this train of thought for me, check out the link below! It's an interesting series of videos, I highly recommend them to anyone interested in games or media.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/tangential-learning
In this episode, the folks at Extra Credits remark on the divide between mainstream video game and educational game industries. Though the focus of Extra Credits is on video game development and industry, I found the discussion to open up my mind to a great deal of questions about the use of games in education.
As a foreign teacher in South Korea, there is a great deal of emphasis on using games in the classroom to educate and motivate students. In some cases foreign teachers are instructed to simply "play games with the kids" which seems well and good, but has some issues that Extra Credits has helped me consider.
In their presentation on Tangential Learning, they note how many educational games have the promise of fun but very quickly devolve into dry lessons where players get assulted by knowledge. This is an experience I have a tremendous amount of empathy for because as a kid I experienced this frustration. I can still recall the deep anger and frustration I felt for having been forced to play Math Blaster, as opposed to playing fun games like Super Mario World. Granted I know my parents were only trying to better my grades and get me to learn my multiplication tables, but man it sucked!
As a teacher using games in my classroom, I have to wonder if my students face a similar experience. Many of us foreign teachers use games in our classrooms, especially Powerpoint games. Many of these Powerpoints have great animations and themes that are from popular culture, but they're all basically the same. Powerpoint games are almost all quiz games of some form or another, choose a box, answer a question. Sure we may use a different theme, package, or soundpack, but for many of these Powerpoints it's SSDD (Same Sh*t Different Design).
Not that I'm criticizing these games for being quiz games, it's what they're meant to be. I realize many teachers have devoted their time to developing incredibly elaborate and impressive Powerpoint games, games that kids enjoy. I'm incredibly grateful for their efforts and skills in preparing these tools, and I will continue to use them in my class when I need an activity to spice of my lesson (and keep kids in their seats).
However, when a student finishes a bomb game(or any quiz game for that matter) do they really take anything away from the experience? Sure we got to do something flashy and entertaining that provides and exciting break from the average class, but did they really get to exercise their English (or their minds for that matter)?
This is what I find most compelling about Extra Credit's episode on Tangential Learning: the idea that games can plant seeds of intrigue and information into their content that will inspire learning outside of the gaming experience.
As an English teacher in Korea, I can't go more than a week without hearing, reading, or noticing some discussion or article commenting on the struggles of the ESL program here. They cover a wide variety of issues from training, to program goals, institutional structures, and cultural complications. It's an enormously complex issue which I don't want to get into here. However, if I can think of one thing that I feel my students desperately need to improve their English, it's the interest and opportunity to explore English outside of school. I have met few students who have even the slightest idea of how vast and exciting exploring a language can be. It's the unfortunate truth that school is hard work for Korean students, and mandatory English education is one of the most difficult parts of the experience. I don't know anyone who likes be forced into learning something. Hell I still resent learning about math and American history because it was required. Not that I didn't benefit from those classes, but I loathed it.
I suppose what I'm trying to get at is a discussion of how we as teachers can develop our games to last longer than the time students are in class. To create educational experiences that leave intrigue in our students' minds. Now that certainly is no easy task. Tangential learning in mainstream videogames is often accomplished through allusions or historical framing, games that refer to real world ideas and persons or are based on history. Incorportating these little Easter Egg style tangents into a classroom experience is very difficult as allusions are based upon references that are often culturally specific. If I were to refer to Ariadne's golden thread as a metaphor for education, none of my students would know that allusion is to the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. (Or maybe they would, I've no idea how much Greek mythology Korean kids get exposed to these days)
Many teachers use cultural icons as a way of inspiring class participation. Putting up picture of K-pop idols and cartoon characters to illustrate dialogs and grammar, and these techniques can be effective. Yet, do these nuggets of entertainment carry the lesson beyond the classroom experience, encouraging kids to think and explore language on thier own?
Another option came to mind as I was pondering this idea the other day. I recently discovered a free online language education website called Duolingo. It's a free website that offers courses in French, German, Spanish, etc. structuring lessons and topics into short chunks. It builds like a game, with various skills and lessons broken into short lessons where a learner listens, writes, and reads new words. However, if the student gets questions wrong, they lose lives. Lose three lives and you have to restart the lesson. However, following the game structure, Duolingo also has a points system that can be redeemed for health potions to recharge hearts in a lesson, or ways of winning more points off of lessons completed. When I first began exploring this I thought to myself, "man this would be great for Korean students!" It's simple, free, and can be used on a PC as well as a moblie phone. It'd be awesome to develop some simple lessons for kids to use outside of class, their progress can be objectively charted and schools can opt to reward students who accomplish their tasks. Granted no such course currently exists, but it's an idea for encouraging students to utilize their skills outside of class and on their own terms. Which is what my student certainly need, to incorportate their language skills in a sphere larger than their classroom life.
Tangential learning is a fascinating idea and has been forcing me to look at my lessons with greater clarity. Asking myself, "what do kids benefit from these acitivites? What can they take away at the end of the day?" I'm willing to admit that many of my lessons at current don't have a great deal of well defined take aways, but now that I'm more aware I can change that. It's a lot to think about and it has even greater potential for educators to anaylze their pedagogy as well as imagine more entertaining ways to teach.
For those of you gaming enthusists or who just want to see what kicked off this train of thought for me, check out the link below! It's an interesting series of videos, I highly recommend them to anyone interested in games or media.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/tangential-learning
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
PHOTOTPOST! Geumjong Mountain... again
Geumjong Mountain is a modest mountain range that runs north to south near my branch of Busan. In fact, the mountain itself is about a 10 minute walk from my house! Atop the mountian are the restored remains of an ancient Korean fort with a circular wall that runs across the top of the mountain for many miles. This wall is much like Hadrian's wall near Scotland (similar in that it's at the top of a hill and therefore is only three feet tall) Nonetheless it's a neat experience that I as able to enjoy with my friends Kat and Rosie. We hiked a signgifcant distance from Beomosa Temple up the mountain to the North Gate, and from there all the way to the cable car near Onchanjang. Not sure how far that is in kilometers, but it took all afternoon and we barely made the last cable car off the mountain as dusk fell. Aside from the fierce, biting winter winds at the top of the mountain, it was a gorgeous day for hiking and I greatly enjoyed exploring the paths along the fortress walls. Take a look!
All in all, a great day. Can't wait to hike it again! Though I'll be sure to dress more warmly next time!
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| Entering Beomosa Temple |
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| More Temple |
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| Looking down! From the Temple! |
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| At the top of Geumjong Mountain! |
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| That's what I call a view! |
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| On top of the world with Kat |
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| Rosie is a champion! |
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| It's another epic hiking adventure! |
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| Not the best night shot, but still had to capture a bit of the night's city lights! |
All in all, a great day. Can't wait to hike it again! Though I'll be sure to dress more warmly next time!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
My first Korean ER experience
So I went to the ER last night, and I must say I am ambivalent about the experience.
Yesterday, I found myself struggling to breathe in a way I've never felt before. Harsh coughing, raw throat, light headed, metallic taste in my mouth, all arriving in the span of five minutes or less. Needless to say when it didn't go away after 20 minutes and I felt light headed I decided it was time to test 119.
Dialing 119 is easy and immediately gets a response. However, when the Korean operator discovers you're a waygook, they automatically put you on with a volunteer translation hotline. I admit, the transition was rough and it took several minutes of struggling to hear the operator over a glitch in the recorded message before I was able to speak to someone (there is something unnerving about calling an emergency number and not being able to get in touch with someone who speaks your language). When we finally were able to speak the operator was friendly, understanding, and asked if I needed him to call an ambulance (turns out the translators are not connected to an emergency agency, but they will call one for you). Feeling only slightly stronger than before, I decided I should see a doctor and asked my operator where to go. He recommended Pusan National University Hospital.
PNU? Hell that's next door! I thought and quickly got dressed and hopped into the first cab asking for "Pusan Dae Beyong-won" the driver nodded and we sped off into the night.
Well, to my surprise, Pusan National University Hospital is NOWHERE NEAR Pusan National University (Damn you IRONY!!!!!)
No PNU hospital is near Toesong Subway... two stops from Busan Station, on the other side of the city. But $15 cab rides aside, I was simply happy to be at a hospital.
PNU hospital is one of Busan's finest hospitals. Yet, for a country so committed to English education, finding people capable of helping an English speaker after 5pm is surprisingly difficult. However, after 20 minutes of miming and calling various translation hotlines, I got signed into the ER and verified my insurance.
Korean ER's aren't like those back home. I was surprised by how many people were there. Most of the beds were full of various patients, some old, some young, many with family members bringing them snacks. The adjusshi in the bed opposite me nibbled on kimbap as he sat with his IV.
I've honestly had few encounters with hospitals myself. So when I got set into a hospital bed in the ER I didn't know what to expect. I suppose I should have anticipated the small bed size, but being six inches too tall for Korea doesn't always settle in until your feet are hanging off your hospital bed.
There were a couple hospital staff members proficient with English. They explained they'd do several tests to verify my symptoms. Given how long it took for me to get to the hospital the wheezing had subsided, but I decided I'd come to far to not get checked out. The hospital did several blood tests, some cardiographs, an chest x-ray, a CAT scan of my lungs, even gave me an IV drip for my time there! All in all I was in the ER for about three hours. By the end of it, I was feeling better, but no closer to finding out how I'd gone from healthy to fearing for my life in less than 10 minutes.
Given my hospital stay had already cost me $200 I decided I was healthy enough to go home and do all the follow up tests in the outpatient center the following day. My ER doctor wanted to keep me for various blood tests over the next six hours, but I declined since my lungs were my concern and they were feeling better. My doctor assured me she would make a note of my condition and invited me back the following day for tests with the cardiologist and a pulmenology specialist (which I'll write about another time). I took the subway home feeling a little miffed that I'd come no closer to discovering what had suddenly sent me spiraling into a sickly state but I had a great deal to reflect on as well.
Modern Korean medicine is excellent and thorough, they don't waste time to test you and eliminate possibilities right off the bat. Though learning what the results of those tests are is difficult with many doctors who do not speak much English. In this manner I must say I'm extremely grateful to a PNU hospital cardiograph technician who said his name was Pill. He was the only person that night who spoke fluent English and we chatted a bit about his time in Maryland as he showed me my cardiograph results and why the doctors were interested in them. He not only was able to show my what they were testing, but also describe why they were concerned in a way I found reassuring. Having answers is empowering and feeling like you know what's going on is very important in being comfortable in a medical situation. Pill (if that is your real name) I salute you for the only person I felt had bedside manner (at least in my language).
Secondly, I'm grateful for my medical insurance. Not that I didn't wrack up significant fees at the ER, but insurance helped cover a significant chunk of that. In a similar vein, the expenses I did incur are very manageable. I've heard horror stories of uninsured friends back in the states who found themselves in tens of thousands of dollars in debt over medical emergencies. Though I don't have a strong stance on healthcare benefits and insurance, I am grateful it comes with my job here in Korea.
However, I've come to realize the tenuous tightrope I walk on here in Korea. I've lived in Busan for several months now and I've taken my good health for granted. I was totally unprepared for a medical emergency and found 119 lacking in the help I needed. The translator was friendly and helped as best he could, but he was from Seoul and had no connection to emergency services. This left him at a disadvantage for helping me in Busan find a hospital. Though he did recommend a good hospital, had I known it was so far away I'd probably have chosen a different hospital. I suppose the moral to me is one I'd like to pass to all my expat friends, do your homework. It's scary living alone when no one near you speaks your language. I realized if I had aliphatic shock in my apartment, no one could help me. That is a scary, helpless feeling. So I suppose, know your area, know your hospitals, and decide on what you'll do in an emergency before it happens. (here ends my PSA for today)
Yet, more than anything I'm happy I had a cell phone. Not just for calling 119 and looking up PNU hospital for the cabby to find, but for texting. During my ER ordeal I was able to keep in touch with a close friend who kept me company throughout the experience. Though that might not seem like much, just that little bit of company, of presence, is so reassuring and helpful. Especially, in a situation where trying to communicate your needs is so difficult! That meant the world to me then and now.
Thus was my Korean ER experience (hopefully my last) complete with konglish, cuts, scrapes, and the old ajumma cleaning lady sweeping up discarded plastic caps and tubes with her ordinary straw half-broom (not what you'd expect in an ER, but someone has to pick up). Obviously, I'm doing better and went to my follow up appointments today (more on that later). For now though I figured I'd share being in a hospital bed in Korea.
Stay healthy out there kids!
Yesterday, I found myself struggling to breathe in a way I've never felt before. Harsh coughing, raw throat, light headed, metallic taste in my mouth, all arriving in the span of five minutes or less. Needless to say when it didn't go away after 20 minutes and I felt light headed I decided it was time to test 119.
Dialing 119 is easy and immediately gets a response. However, when the Korean operator discovers you're a waygook, they automatically put you on with a volunteer translation hotline. I admit, the transition was rough and it took several minutes of struggling to hear the operator over a glitch in the recorded message before I was able to speak to someone (there is something unnerving about calling an emergency number and not being able to get in touch with someone who speaks your language). When we finally were able to speak the operator was friendly, understanding, and asked if I needed him to call an ambulance (turns out the translators are not connected to an emergency agency, but they will call one for you). Feeling only slightly stronger than before, I decided I should see a doctor and asked my operator where to go. He recommended Pusan National University Hospital.
PNU? Hell that's next door! I thought and quickly got dressed and hopped into the first cab asking for "Pusan Dae Beyong-won" the driver nodded and we sped off into the night.
Well, to my surprise, Pusan National University Hospital is NOWHERE NEAR Pusan National University (Damn you IRONY!!!!!)
No PNU hospital is near Toesong Subway... two stops from Busan Station, on the other side of the city. But $15 cab rides aside, I was simply happy to be at a hospital.
PNU hospital is one of Busan's finest hospitals. Yet, for a country so committed to English education, finding people capable of helping an English speaker after 5pm is surprisingly difficult. However, after 20 minutes of miming and calling various translation hotlines, I got signed into the ER and verified my insurance.
Korean ER's aren't like those back home. I was surprised by how many people were there. Most of the beds were full of various patients, some old, some young, many with family members bringing them snacks. The adjusshi in the bed opposite me nibbled on kimbap as he sat with his IV.
I've honestly had few encounters with hospitals myself. So when I got set into a hospital bed in the ER I didn't know what to expect. I suppose I should have anticipated the small bed size, but being six inches too tall for Korea doesn't always settle in until your feet are hanging off your hospital bed.
There were a couple hospital staff members proficient with English. They explained they'd do several tests to verify my symptoms. Given how long it took for me to get to the hospital the wheezing had subsided, but I decided I'd come to far to not get checked out. The hospital did several blood tests, some cardiographs, an chest x-ray, a CAT scan of my lungs, even gave me an IV drip for my time there! All in all I was in the ER for about three hours. By the end of it, I was feeling better, but no closer to finding out how I'd gone from healthy to fearing for my life in less than 10 minutes.
Given my hospital stay had already cost me $200 I decided I was healthy enough to go home and do all the follow up tests in the outpatient center the following day. My ER doctor wanted to keep me for various blood tests over the next six hours, but I declined since my lungs were my concern and they were feeling better. My doctor assured me she would make a note of my condition and invited me back the following day for tests with the cardiologist and a pulmenology specialist (which I'll write about another time). I took the subway home feeling a little miffed that I'd come no closer to discovering what had suddenly sent me spiraling into a sickly state but I had a great deal to reflect on as well.
Modern Korean medicine is excellent and thorough, they don't waste time to test you and eliminate possibilities right off the bat. Though learning what the results of those tests are is difficult with many doctors who do not speak much English. In this manner I must say I'm extremely grateful to a PNU hospital cardiograph technician who said his name was Pill. He was the only person that night who spoke fluent English and we chatted a bit about his time in Maryland as he showed me my cardiograph results and why the doctors were interested in them. He not only was able to show my what they were testing, but also describe why they were concerned in a way I found reassuring. Having answers is empowering and feeling like you know what's going on is very important in being comfortable in a medical situation. Pill (if that is your real name) I salute you for the only person I felt had bedside manner (at least in my language).
Secondly, I'm grateful for my medical insurance. Not that I didn't wrack up significant fees at the ER, but insurance helped cover a significant chunk of that. In a similar vein, the expenses I did incur are very manageable. I've heard horror stories of uninsured friends back in the states who found themselves in tens of thousands of dollars in debt over medical emergencies. Though I don't have a strong stance on healthcare benefits and insurance, I am grateful it comes with my job here in Korea.
However, I've come to realize the tenuous tightrope I walk on here in Korea. I've lived in Busan for several months now and I've taken my good health for granted. I was totally unprepared for a medical emergency and found 119 lacking in the help I needed. The translator was friendly and helped as best he could, but he was from Seoul and had no connection to emergency services. This left him at a disadvantage for helping me in Busan find a hospital. Though he did recommend a good hospital, had I known it was so far away I'd probably have chosen a different hospital. I suppose the moral to me is one I'd like to pass to all my expat friends, do your homework. It's scary living alone when no one near you speaks your language. I realized if I had aliphatic shock in my apartment, no one could help me. That is a scary, helpless feeling. So I suppose, know your area, know your hospitals, and decide on what you'll do in an emergency before it happens. (here ends my PSA for today)
Yet, more than anything I'm happy I had a cell phone. Not just for calling 119 and looking up PNU hospital for the cabby to find, but for texting. During my ER ordeal I was able to keep in touch with a close friend who kept me company throughout the experience. Though that might not seem like much, just that little bit of company, of presence, is so reassuring and helpful. Especially, in a situation where trying to communicate your needs is so difficult! That meant the world to me then and now.
Thus was my Korean ER experience (hopefully my last) complete with konglish, cuts, scrapes, and the old ajumma cleaning lady sweeping up discarded plastic caps and tubes with her ordinary straw half-broom (not what you'd expect in an ER, but someone has to pick up). Obviously, I'm doing better and went to my follow up appointments today (more on that later). For now though I figured I'd share being in a hospital bed in Korea.
Stay healthy out there kids!
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