So, for many who have known me. It's no secret that I've been sick rather frequently in my short stay in South Korea. I was ill before getting on the plane, having been prescribed antibiotics before leaving the United States. Whatever I had cleared up for a week or so, but came back for a day to knock me back into a phlegm ridden fiend. It cleared up again, though I still had swollen glands, nothing particularly unusual and easily ignored.
Three days ago I came down sick AGAIN. Plegm, runny nose, tired, and weak. This is MUCH more frequent that I've ever been sick over the past four years. There are many things in my mind that give good reason for me to be in my current state. The change in climate, new job stress, and a dramatic change in diet, all these things can (and likely have) challenged my immune system in a way that I've never experienced. But yesterday was the last straw. I resolved to dare the local pharmacy for some medicine to end this once and for all.
The pharmacist was like most Koreans, she spoke a few English words, but the majority of our conversation was mimed. Eventually she understood I needed something to clear my throat and nose, and selected a product. She indicated I should take it three times a day and that sounded reasonable to me. I thanked her profusely and went on my way. At home I discovered (to my delight) the pills were divided into day and night (as indicated by color and sun/moon symbols). Happy to have something to relieve my pain I popped a nighttime pill in my mouth after dinner (around 7:15pm) and went about my business. As I was going about the dishes I felt the drugs take hold, having lived a life that typically avoids medicine I said to my empty apartment:
"Huh... I feel funny." (this is about 7:30pm)
I left the dishes unwashed and climbed into bed. I did my best to motivate my self to do something, anything, as I have many things to do. But I nothing seemed to come of my best efforts. At last I surrendered myself to the throes of the medication (whose side effects I cannot read) and curled up on bed.
8pm, I was out cold. This is unprecedented
At around 5:50 am (today) I stirred, shifting to find me alarm (and was alarmed) to discover how long I had slept. To be fair, it's the longest night I've ever slept in South Korea. Perhaps it is the longest night I've slept in the past year or more!
Needless to say, I sincerely hope this medicine will clear out my cold. I admit I feel a little better (though I was wary about the daytime pill I took this morning) and I sincerely hope to continue to improve. Though I confess I am amazed at the simple, rather blind, trust I pay towards my Korean pharmacist and our ability to communicate through mangled Konglish and mime. But like most Koreans so far, she was surprisingly positive and admirably helpful. So thank you Korean Pharmacist!
Here's to my health... I hope it improves!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
On an unprecedented ATM experience....
So there are many things in South Korea that will take a while to get used to:
Traffic patterns, Kimchi, not being able to read, etc.
Among the things that I am eager to getting used to is paying my bills. Here in South Korea I have discovered a new way to pay bills that I had never imagined before: paying utility bills at the ATM.
Koreans have constructed special ATMs that can not only read your bank card and bank book (more info below), it can also read your bills and pay them directly from the machine.
The only quirk is figuring out which button on the machine is "Pay my bills magic box!"
It only took me 3 tries to find it.
But I found it! And all I had to do to pay my expenses was to simply insert my bank book, tear off the bottom of my bill, and feed them into the machine. The machine calculated both bills, printed a statement on my bank book, and presented a transaction slip. Easy as pie (on the third try)!
So that's how I pay 90% of my bills now, via ATM at my local bank. Why is this so fascinating to me?
Well one, is that my bills all come with the same sort of detachable slip that can be read by an ATM. That is a marvelous convenience for two different companies to utilize and ensure people pay them.
The more interesting thing is to realize that I, as a functionally illiterate foreigner, am able to pay my bills without knowing a lick of Korean.
Granted I would have enjoyed an English option on this particular ATM (most other ATMs have English language options), even still I was able to pay my monthly bills without help and little inconvenience. I can imagine that presented with the same situation back home (being illiterate and paying bills) would be considerably more difficult.
So that's my take on ATMs at current. They have an interesting amount of options that are extremely helpful, in addition to being considerably more sophisticated than ATMs back home. I look forward to actually knowing what all the buttons mean, it will allow me to bank with more confidence. Even still, with the run of my current experiences, I look forward to learning how to wire money back to the States. Putting me one step closer to being self sufficient in South Korea!
Appendix:
Bank Book: In South Korea, people are issued Bank Books as well as check/debit cards when they open an account. The Bank Book holds all of the account holder's information and when fed into a machine, can be used to have full statements printed across it's pages. It's a convenient and compact place to keep all your banking information, and it's small enough to fit in most wallets. You just have to be careful not to lose it!
Traffic patterns, Kimchi, not being able to read, etc.
Among the things that I am eager to getting used to is paying my bills. Here in South Korea I have discovered a new way to pay bills that I had never imagined before: paying utility bills at the ATM.
Koreans have constructed special ATMs that can not only read your bank card and bank book (more info below), it can also read your bills and pay them directly from the machine.
The only quirk is figuring out which button on the machine is "Pay my bills magic box!"
It only took me 3 tries to find it.
But I found it! And all I had to do to pay my expenses was to simply insert my bank book, tear off the bottom of my bill, and feed them into the machine. The machine calculated both bills, printed a statement on my bank book, and presented a transaction slip. Easy as pie (on the third try)!
So that's how I pay 90% of my bills now, via ATM at my local bank. Why is this so fascinating to me?
Well one, is that my bills all come with the same sort of detachable slip that can be read by an ATM. That is a marvelous convenience for two different companies to utilize and ensure people pay them.
The more interesting thing is to realize that I, as a functionally illiterate foreigner, am able to pay my bills without knowing a lick of Korean.
Granted I would have enjoyed an English option on this particular ATM (most other ATMs have English language options), even still I was able to pay my monthly bills without help and little inconvenience. I can imagine that presented with the same situation back home (being illiterate and paying bills) would be considerably more difficult.
So that's my take on ATMs at current. They have an interesting amount of options that are extremely helpful, in addition to being considerably more sophisticated than ATMs back home. I look forward to actually knowing what all the buttons mean, it will allow me to bank with more confidence. Even still, with the run of my current experiences, I look forward to learning how to wire money back to the States. Putting me one step closer to being self sufficient in South Korea!
Appendix:
Bank Book: In South Korea, people are issued Bank Books as well as check/debit cards when they open an account. The Bank Book holds all of the account holder's information and when fed into a machine, can be used to have full statements printed across it's pages. It's a convenient and compact place to keep all your banking information, and it's small enough to fit in most wallets. You just have to be careful not to lose it!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Be it but a moment to breathe...
So far my life in Korea has been characterized by a whirlwind of activities, events, and experiences. If I'm not working, I'm traveling. If I'm not traveling, I'm seeing other teachers around town. If I'm not with other foreigners, I'm at home working on lessons. If I'm not working on lessons, I'm planning on traveling. And somewhere in there I fit in sleep, food, and the occasional contact with the motherland. Almost every waking moment is crammed with some sort of activity, seeing someone, going somewhere, doing something.
With few exceptions, this week being one of those exceptions. This week my obligations have suddenly dissipated, leaving me with an exceptional amount of free time. I was informed by my co-teacher that this week is Mid-Terms for the entire school. So all my regular Middle School classes are being handled by him. I only have to teach two after school classes during Monday and Tuesday. I'll still have a full set of classes at my Elementary Schools later this week. But I suddenly have a good eight hours of nothing but office time for three days straight. Not only that, but with lessons already prepared for this week, I don't even need to prepare for Middle School classes that are after Chuseok!
So am I getting ahead on planning?
No, I'm blogging,
But who can blame me? All work and no write makes Mg a rather pathetic excuse for a blogger.
Anyway, it comes to characterize something I've discovered about my life in Korea. Namely that as an expat I'm either doing a million things at once, or next to nothing. It feels like I'm in a stop and go traffic jam, only I go from 0 to 60 and back to 0 almost often enough to make me sick! It's hard to establish rhythm in Korea, a blessing and a curse. There are moments of spectacular fun and activity, where I couldn't enjoy myself more. And there are sleepy Sundays where there is nowhere to go and nothing to do, days that are lonely and long with plenty of procrastination.
I sincerely believe every person needs a certain amount of time to fritter away. It's kind of like meditation, an act with essentially no purpose, yet people derive great benefit from it. I am a champion of wasting time (just look at how many pages I've written in my novel since I got here: 0) but I am unaccustomed to having opportunities to waste at such odd and irregular times. But I guess that characterizes a lot of expat experiences in Korea, which is why they warn teachers to be flexible. Things change on a whim around here (or at least it seems that way when you have no idea what half your coworkers say)
But that's what life feels like right now in Korea, 0 to 60 then 0 again. A stutter-step, stop-go experience with only a few random moments to breathe.
But man is it fun....
With few exceptions, this week being one of those exceptions. This week my obligations have suddenly dissipated, leaving me with an exceptional amount of free time. I was informed by my co-teacher that this week is Mid-Terms for the entire school. So all my regular Middle School classes are being handled by him. I only have to teach two after school classes during Monday and Tuesday. I'll still have a full set of classes at my Elementary Schools later this week. But I suddenly have a good eight hours of nothing but office time for three days straight. Not only that, but with lessons already prepared for this week, I don't even need to prepare for Middle School classes that are after Chuseok!
So am I getting ahead on planning?
No, I'm blogging,
But who can blame me? All work and no write makes Mg a rather pathetic excuse for a blogger.
Anyway, it comes to characterize something I've discovered about my life in Korea. Namely that as an expat I'm either doing a million things at once, or next to nothing. It feels like I'm in a stop and go traffic jam, only I go from 0 to 60 and back to 0 almost often enough to make me sick! It's hard to establish rhythm in Korea, a blessing and a curse. There are moments of spectacular fun and activity, where I couldn't enjoy myself more. And there are sleepy Sundays where there is nowhere to go and nothing to do, days that are lonely and long with plenty of procrastination.
I sincerely believe every person needs a certain amount of time to fritter away. It's kind of like meditation, an act with essentially no purpose, yet people derive great benefit from it. I am a champion of wasting time (just look at how many pages I've written in my novel since I got here: 0) but I am unaccustomed to having opportunities to waste at such odd and irregular times. But I guess that characterizes a lot of expat experiences in Korea, which is why they warn teachers to be flexible. Things change on a whim around here (or at least it seems that way when you have no idea what half your coworkers say)
But that's what life feels like right now in Korea, 0 to 60 then 0 again. A stutter-step, stop-go experience with only a few random moments to breathe.
But man is it fun....
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