A Day of Firsts
Here's a few of the "firsts" from today
- My first visit to a Korean ER
- The first time I've thought, "Oh, so THIS will be my most embarrassing moment!"
Okay, so only two firsts. But still. Such an embarrassing day. I was sick, and the embarrassing part came in attempting to explain the various symptoms of my sickness to people who don't know very much English. I don't want to be gross or graphic (I've had to be that most of the day, I'm a little tired of it), but I'll give you a brief window into my conversation with my boss this afternoon.
Setting: I'm doubled over on the chair in front of my computer, having severe abdominal cramps. My boss, and three Korean teachers are huddled around me. Donovan is sitting on his chair two-ish feet away. Jason is behind the partition in front of Donovan. There are various other people milling about.
My boss: "When did you take the medicine from Kylie?"
Me: "Just a few minutes ago - groan - I'm still very sick."
My boss: "What was it for?"
Me: (having lost dignity previously...progressed to as-tactful-as-possible bluntness) "It's to help you stop pooping."
My boss: "Poop, poop, poop, poop...." (Said while tapping her chin and staring off in space - she doesn't know this word and is trying to jog her memory.)
My boss: "Songsangnim, blahblahblah poop?" (Songsangnim = teacher, blahblahblah = Korean I don't know)
At this point Jason speaks up and says, "DUNG." This word works in both languages. All the Koreans in the room give a little gasp, nod their heads in unison, and say, "Ahhhh."
My boss: "Okay, hospital."
Not sure if I've already mentioned this or not, but hospital=doctor's office here. So I went to the hospital with my boss - almost just went with the helpful male, but someone wisely changed that plan. He drove us. But no, we went to a real hospital. To an emergency room, even. I was not that sick. But to protest would have been far more difficult and required more energy than I had. I have medicine. And Korean "cures," - like drink only boiled water - though many people told me this, it switched from "boil it first," to "drink it warm" more than once, so I'm still kinda at a loss. Also, no cold water and no soda. When we got back, my boss talked to her mother (the owner of the school) who talked to the ajuma (cook, in this case) and had her make me some rice porridge. Again, Melissa - the hero, the saint, that she is - not only went downstairs with me to face the dreaded rice porridge music, but convinced my boss that I needed to eat it upstairs to I could finish preparing for my next class, and then ate more than half of it for me. I tell you...a true friend.
That's my day. Hope I didn't gross you out too badly. I assure you, it was much worse than that, though. Oy.
