thesasstronaut-blog

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My coteacher got me a going away present! The two little bears are cell phone charms. :)

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Accidentally put this on the wrong page. Derpderp

Last day of classes. I still have camps and 3 weeks of being at school, but it was the students last day of the semester and we had a staff dinner. My coteachers bought me a cake, I made speeches via the morning broadcast and in a staff meeting and then my coteachers gave me some skin products and a card. At our staff dinner the school gave me flowers and 20,000won (about 18usd) as “travel money”. Bitter sweet day but had a lot of fun. It’s always nice to chat with my coteachers over dinner. Unfortunately, my head CT from last semester was super busy today and couldn’t come to the dinner. I will see her tomorrow though since we will be the only suckers left at school.

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Had a great fourth of July hanging out in the park and being super American. We brought snacks and drinks and played with a lot of strangers dogs. I bought some sparklers and fireworks from SDot (an amazing stationary store, so I'm really proud I made it in and out without buying anything BESIDES fireworks) and launched them in a mostly empty baseball stadium. We made friends with a few Koreans who sat near us and later who watched our fireworks display - they wanted to try their English and we wanted to pet their dogs. Win win. Thanks to L over at theneverendingwanderlust for the great pictures!

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Today is a struggle not to cry. Last day of classes with my 5th grade and my 6th graders have been writing me notes. They have been finding me in the classroom and hallways and a whole class waited for me after class and mobbed me with letters and questions in English and Korean. So cute. Some of them will take some translating. One boy wrote in Korean that he spoke Korean well so I should learn it. Bahaha that's your job Jihu! It's going to be a rough last few weeks (1.5 weeks of class and 1.5 weeks of camp/summer reading class).

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The other picture mentioned.

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Hey guys. Sorry the sound isn't better. There was too much going on for my poor little camera phone to pick up. I just thought this guy was so great. Unfortunately you can't hear many of the cheers. And it turns sideways part way through haha oops. But this guy is so fun to watch that it's alright.

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Had a kind of rough day at school today but it was followed with such a nice evening as to have all stress removed. In honor of the Fourth of July (though it's still the third here and in the US), we donned red white and blue and opted for a 'Merican game of Korean baseball complete with fried chicken, beer and ice cream. 

 We saw our home team, the Samsung Lions versus the LG Tigers. Although teams have a home city, they're always named after the sponsoring company here. 

We also got stupid headbands with lions on them and the tshirts that the dancers (the Pink Ladies, like in Greese) were wearing, which were pleasantly only $5. 

Korean baseball is fantastically fun (and only $9 per ticket). I will upload some videos in the future of the cheers - they have a different one for each player and their all carefully orchestrated by an actual cheerleader. As in, the cheerleader leads the crowd in cheers... as it should be. And he was so great that I tried to get his jersey numbers to put on my jersey (I saw someone else with them and was so jealous. Where did they get them?!) 

Instead, I got a player named 이지영 (LeeJiYeong)... Whose name I chose 100% because a girl in the audience had a sign that said (in Korean) "LeeJiYeong is the best JiYeong" and I thought it was really funny. 

The game was great, especially watching the cheers, and the seventh inning during which we went from tied at 5, to losing by 3, to winning by FOUR. Really exciting 7 run inning! We actually left at the end of the eighth because buses in Korea stop around 10:30 and we didn't want to get stuck in an exodus and miss the last one. 

The niceness of the evening was topped off by a really sweet Korean guy who very politely let me off the bus in front of him on the way to the game and wound up on the same bus on the way home (now in a Lions jersey). When I swiped my bus card, I was out of money and without skipping a beat he told the bus driver he was paying for two people and swiped his card for me. In a country where bus etiquette leaves something to be desired, this was an exceptionally nice end to my evening. I thanked in profusely both getting on and off the bus.

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Went on a cupcake making date with K for her birthday. It was awesome. I took better pictures with my real camera, but I need to find a charger for it before I can upload anything. 

This place was really cute. It's called Dan Hana, and its in downtown Daegu. When you get there you choose what flavor cupcakes you want- you can do 4 for 6,000krw or 6 for 8,000krw. That includes any one icing flavor and you can choose what piping tip you want with it. Then you pick out your decorations which are stored in little boxes with prices on them like a bead shop. 

All the decorations ranged from 150krw (about 15 cents) to 2,500krw (~$2.50), even the really elaborate stuff. I chose mint chocolate, blueberry, strawberry and mocha cupcakes and strawberry frosting. K got melon frosting and we grabbed an extra bag of mocha frosting for 1,000krw extra. 

The pride and joy of my cupcake making was my winged soju bottle cupcake, though I'm also pretty fond of the lion. The one with my name on it may have just been me using up the rest of the decorations. Haha 

They also provide a cupcake box for you at no extra charge so that you can take your cupcakes with you. I didn't eat any of them yet, so I'll have to let you know how they are later. 

For four cupcakes, decked out to the nines, it ran about 12,000krw. Expensive for cupcakes, yes, but it was great fun and a good way to make a unique present. They also have cakes.

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On MERS in Korean pt. 2.

I got cut off by the end of the school day but wanted to add a second post because I think the first one seemed pretty bummed. (Also because I bought a thermometer on the way home and don't have a fever so am feeling a little less panicked). I wanted to take a moment to talk about my coteachers today, because even the one I don't always get along with was heaven sent today. If nothing else, I got very lucky with my CTs in Korea. I already mentioned the shower of tissues I received immediately when I started crying. My coteachers have no idea how to react to crying - which is fine because I find it funny and that makes me less upset. I'm not proud to admit, but this is the second time I've cried in school. I don't generally cry very often, but when I do, it's in inappropriate situations, like at work. Living in another country can be pretty taxing, even if you totally love it most of the time. My blessing today was that my coteachers were the only ones in the room when I lost it. I explained through tears and tissues that I didn't think I had MERS but that it was scary being sick when something like that is going around. I explained that I was frustrated not knowing how to find a good doctor especially when your selection of doctors is cut down to only those who speak English... Sometimes even to those that have English speaking staff, since it's difficult to explain what your problem is over the phone and using Google translate, to make an appointment. I also said that I worried about not knowing what medications I was being given and that if I didn't go to the doctor at all that I would get worse or spread my illness. To my surprise, it was the CT who I don't get along with who offered up a lot of support. She lived in the US for a few months and she told me that while she was there her daughter got sick (asthma) and that she had a very hard time finding a doctor and was very worried being away from home. She said that she would talk to the head office and ask if there was a doctor they were comfortable letting me go to tomorrow. While she didn't say anything, my other coteacher was immediately on the phone and I heard her asking about English speaking doctors. Again, they eventually found me someone who works near the army base and who the head office was willing to approve. After work, I was one of the last to leave, but one of my coteachers got out of her car and ran over to give me an umbrella since it started raining. It's days like this that I'm very thankful for my placement and the good people at my school. Sorry about these hanging letters... My phone wont let me get rid of them; dbthe

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On MERS in Korea

It’s a bit of a frightening time in Korea right now. A lot of people, both Korean and Waygook (foreign), are quite frustrated with the Korean government and their handling of the MERS outbreak. I thought I’d take a moment to write about what it feels like “from the ground” as I’m not really sure what’s being said in the US or international media. I also want to vent my own fears and frustrations at the moment, because I have had a rough day.

The main outbreak of MERS began in Seoul. It is spreading quite quickly due in large part to the norms of Korean society. Korea is a society of people packed close together in busy cities. It is a society where family is honored to the extent that family members are expected to visit and even stay overnight with their loved ones in the hospital. It is also a society where taking a sick day is highly, highly frowned upon - even when you work in a school and your illness is very likely contagious. 

This has been a frustration of most foreigners I know - if you are truly sick, in our estimation, the best thing you can do for your students is stay home and get better. In Korea however, taking those sick days can be quite difficult and the judgement that comes with time off can be a little harsh. I have taken one sick since being here and the guilt I felt in doing so was enough to make me show up for all minor illnesses since - though some days I’ve been reduced to laying at my desk with a mask on, or taking a nap in the nurses office (both perfectly acceptable work behaviors here).

I find it hard to be hard on the Koreans who have spread the illness. They have expectations on them and a tremendous amount of societal pressure to not show weakness and not to shy away from their responsibilities.

Anyways... this all relates to the big news in Daegu last night, which was that we have our first confirmed account of MERS. Furthermore, the patient has been going to work for about 10 days now since visiting a family member in Seoul - and he works at a public office in Daemyeong, which is about 2 subway stops away from me - I visited a friend there last night.

For us foreigners, I think there is an overwhelming feeling of not having control. In the US, even if all we could do was make a fuss about the government and hospital handling of the situation, then at least that fuss would be heard. Here we don’t have much voice - for me it’s been a great relief to hear my coteachers start sounding mad about the situation.

Today was rough for me because in addition to the news of MERS moving to Daegu, I am sick. The reading material available on MERS is lacking somewhat in specificity, but given my reading of the symptoms, what I have is almost definitely not MERS. My main, and possibly only symptom is inflamation of my tonsils. I went to an ENT clinic a few days ago and got a butt shot (funny story which I will tell another time), which was probably steroidal (no one told me what it was in English, good times). I felt hunky-dori for the next 3 days, until today when my throat irritation is back. My best initial guess was strep or tonsillitis. I did not feel well taken care of by that clinic.

So today was sort of petrifying for me. If I do have strep throat or some forms of tonsillitis, I need to be on medication to shake it. In fact, if I don’t get antibiotics, it could lead to bigger problems. So I scheduled myself a doctors appointment - with the bulk of MERS spreading happening in hospitals, I wasn’t pleased about this, but I saw few other options as finding English speaking doctors outside of hospitals is not very easy (as I found in my search for an ENT). When I went to schedule to leave early for my appointment, I was told by the school that I should “delay”. I was not looking forward to cancelling my appointment and I was deeply frustrated in being told I wasn’t allowed to seek treatment. The reasons I was given were “the man [the Daegu patient] used a public bathroom near there” and “it is a big hospital. there will be people from Seoul there” and “you might be misunderstood” (to have MERS and it would look bad for the school, I assume).

I stewed on this for quite a while and was still stewing and deciding what I wanted to do about my appointment (Yay! More talking on the phone with people who don’t speak my language!) when one of my coteachers asked me if I was OK... and I lost it. I started crying and suddenly I had tissues raining on me from multiple tissue boxes and my CTs just generally not knowing what to do with me. They spoke to the main office for me and eventually they were able to find a doctor that apparently speaks English and is approved by my school as lower risk. I see her tomorrow.

Once I was outed as not feeling well, some of my stress and fear came to fruition, as one of the other teachers in my office asked my CT in Korean if “perhaps... Danielle Teacher has MERS?” Additionally, though I rationally know these symptoms aren’t listen among those of MERS, I still have a little voice in the back of my head saying; “what if it is? What if you’re that guy? That guy that’s going to work the whole time and seeing your friends and working in close proximity to children and the whole time you are a walking contagion?”

I guess I’ll find out tomorrow... weird to think that I hoping for tonsillitis right now.

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Korean grocery stores always cheer me up because they take stuff to other stuff and give it to you free. Here’s free face masks with face wipes and free paper towels with seaweed snacks. Why not? Also, K with her bamboo wife.

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I didn’t know that “The Emperor’s New Clothes” had a death scene…

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I just passed a pair of Korean girls wearing headbands with Korean on them. I couldn't read it from a distance, so as they approached I was reading the syllables out loud to myself "ne... Saeng.... il..." And by this time I am staring right at them and probably audible, but have figured out that the headband says "my birthday". So, I say happy birthday to her in Korean and she says thank you in English and my weirdness turned into a kind of cute moment.

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I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything, so, on account of having dumped all my phone pictures to my computer so that my phone would function properly, I have photos from our weekend trip to Busan. We went for Holi Hai, but I actually think everything other than Holi Hai was more fun. These pictures are all from our trip to the water temple (save the ice crea- with real gold, because why not?- and the toilet which was in our hotel room and gave me a good laugh).

It was a really beautiful weekend, weather-wise. It’s been a bit colder since, but we got to pretend it was real spring for a couple of days.

Not sure if she winds up in these pictures, but there was an ajummah in a wetsuit harvesting some sort of clams (maybe?) in the water there. Kind of funny.

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Today, my coteacher told me three times that my hairpin made me look like a flamingo, before figuring out that she meant flamenco dancer.

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Just posting the few cherry blossom festival picture I took on my phone before bed. Most of the blossom pictures are on my camera, so you'll get those later. :) Top left is me, K and Gu Junpyo (or, the actor that played him in Boys Over Flowers, rather) telling you to go to Baskin' Robbins... Which is a reasonable request because the have Avengers ice cream cake.

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That green though! Spring has come to Daegu.