According to the ear, nose, & throat guy, ultimately I
have nasopharyngitis, which is inflammation of the mucous membranes in the
areas that extend between the oral and nasal palate, as well as allergic
rhinitis? Which is hay fever, which I knew because I’d be at death’s door in
fall and spring in Chicago, though not so much here. I could be wrong on names,
particularly the last one. Funny: he knew the Latin names of the conditions and
other medical terms, but words like, “change,” or “cause” sometimes eluded him,
lol. Oh, and other funny aside: no one else spoke English but another patient:
the receptionist kept speaking to me in Korean, never even slowing down when it
was clear I didn’t understand her. I was being tortured by breathing steam in
and out when I heard the girl say, “Jennipaw? Did you understand what she asked
you?” I first went Monday, then back today, Thursday, this time before work,
and there she was again! She’s a college student who, like a few of my
students, wants to be an announcer or news anchor.
This is all from my hacking cough which I thought was
another cough that turned into a bad cold on top of it. The nasopharyngitis one
makes you more susceptible to viruses, and while I FINALLY have my normal voice
back, I’m still coughing violently when I occasionally cough, and still have
infected mucous. So he upped the antibiotic, and added other things that I
couldn’t tell you about when I take them because the pharmacist didn’t notice
my lack of comprehension when it came to her steady stream of Korean either. So
apparently according to the doctor, cold air is a problem, as well as pollution
and the other allergy-causing stuff in the air, particularly now, so instead of
wearing a 4M mask when the air quality is particularly shitty, he said I should
wear them every day, as it’ll help protect against this. I also need to gargle
(which he acted out sort of, twice). I’m also going to try to find a neti pot here
in Korea—so far, pharmacists have none, and they’re pretty new here. All it’ll
take is a better internet connection than I had at the café I went to after the
appointment to find it on there, I hope.
I’ve had no coffee all week because I’m sleeping ok and
don’t want to risk any caffeine interfering (well, except the weaker black tea
I make when I first get up). Tomorrow or Saturday I may have some because I
don’t have to worry about getting up early.
Birthday was great fun, Koralia and her husband Simon
marveled at the fact that I’m not British since I think like one (drink like
one? Lol), named me an honorary Brit, and vowed to help me figure out how to
get my visa there, even if it means marrying a cute rich guy, which she seems
to think exist there.
Koralia and Simon likewise let me stay at their place AND
stayed up with me before we turned in, keeping a steady supply of good 80s/90s
music coming on so I’d get up and yell the lyrics. I had them play my standard
“Love Me” by Elvis, but it has been a while so I didn’t do as good a job as I
usually do.
Oh and 1 of classes, the biggest and most difficult, threw
me a surprise part of sorts on Friday: they wrote all over the board, turned
off the lights, and gathered around the door to yell various birthday wishes,
from what I could understand, lol. I was given a lovely eraser, note, pen,
several beads and pieces of candy. Then my little Phonics class read the
birthday calendar in the hall, saw my birthday had been Friday, and on Tuesday
they gave me a stuffed Daisy Duck doll (one of the girls had one & I of
course got all excited because I LOVVVED Daisy when I was younger), plus this
cute little wooden toy they had painted themselves, that uses a string tied to
a ball below a paddle to make all their little heads go up & down like
they’re eating—a bit like Hungry Hungry Hippos.
This is Aaron’s last week, I’m seeing him on Saturday, I
hope, since I couldn’t last weekend due to busy weekend and my terrible
illness. I’m still not recovered but am much better. Hopefully by Saturday will
be even better off.
The only other news is that there has been serious drama at
work. 2 teachers left, Sandra and Jessica, and were replaced with Marry and
Yuna. Yuna was sexually harassing Dylan, but has since cut it out. Now the only
real issue with her is that she always looks slightly inspired by Heath
Ledger’s makeup application, as her lipstick is always on her lips and/or smeared on her face. The real issue has
been Marry. The thing is, I feel for her, since my first time at a hagwon was
hell, and being a Korean teacher at one is that much harder because of all they
have to do. So I’m not sure if she was
just struggling under a new job/first time teaching or what, but she really
resisted help, dug in her heels (I wouldn’t know ANNNNNYTHING about that), and has taken to being VERY rude
and disrespectful to Sue, the owner.
One thing to remember/learn is that, thanks to Confucianism
influence, age, seniority, and sex are the big markers for respect here. Korean
has I just learned FOUR conjugations depending on your position relative to the
person you’re speaking to, starting with when you speak to those lower than
you, your peers, and TWO that demonstrate respect. Sue is not only the owner,
so seniority, but the oldest person here, so she is owed every little bit of
deference. Sue actually speaks to all the teachers in Korean with the 2nd
highest respectful level, in short showing them loads of respect by not just
speaking to them with the peers conjugations, but the one signifying respect.
To use the one for lesser people is NOT considered rude, either, at all. So
it’s kind of a big deal that Sue does that. Marry was lashing out when she felt
she was getting picked on, and was using the lower form of conjugations to
speak very rudely to Sue. The other night when I came to the teachers’ office
after my last class, Sue was in there, speaking very calmly, Anna was trying to
be conciliatory, and then the Korean teachers were shocked and very angry.
They’ve said they’ve had issues with her doing that several times, and they
have been truly shocked and extremely angered by how rude she is to everyone,
especially Sue. I will never forget when Anna was telling me everything that
had happened, and said that Marry is a cunt. Anna lived in Australia, where
that term isn’t nearly so loaded as it is in the US, but she’s familiar with
its meaning too. She said she never thought she’d ever have reason to use it
that way, and has prayed every night to God to forgive her for her terrible
language.
Marry keeps coming back, surprising us all that she would
show up—we all know she’s leaving now, but it all just came to a head, so Sue
is desperately trying to find a new teacher. Jessica, one who had left, may
very well come back to help out until a replacement is found (she left because
she’s working on getting to the US this spring).
Wednesday when we came in for the teachers’ meeting, Anna
and Jennifer were outside, but Sue, her husband Mr. Choi (who is the nicest
guy, to me at least, and when he found out my birthday was Friday he got me a
supreme box of these traditional Korean cookies that are awesome, and the rest
of the teachers a more generic version that was still eaten up. They were SO
good, and great for bribing students. As are pokemon stickers), and Marry were
in the office with the door closed, but everyone was yelling. There was another
argument last night, another bit of stern speaking from Anna today, and then I
came in from my 3rd evening class to find Marry is crying. Sue has
been in and out, speaking to her very calmly and nicely, Anna too. No idea what
happened, Dylan and I never know until someone fills us in, lol. So we’ll be
getting a new teacher, but no idea when, and until then, apparently, there will
be plenty of drama here. She breaks so many social norms here that Dylan
seriously thinks she is North Korean. An interesting theory, and really could
be a good explanation. I feel bad for everyone going through it.
