How to work and teach with tonsillitis

I'm actually doing much better now with all my symptoms practically gone. But it took some time and I didn't get off work that much when I was feeling like crap. Instead I trucked through my class loads and stuck it out. Working when sick in Korea is a given and you pretty much have to do it or you will look like a sorry person to your Korean colleagues. Here for you is how I got through teaching with tonsillitis and generally feeling horrible.

For one I learned that you need to pair down your lessons so that they are easy to get through and give the students stuff to do. When I came in and felt my worst I had a craft waiting to be made and so handed it to them early. I explained to my classes I wasn't feeling well and that if they worked hard and helped me out I would reward them with candy. Sure, bribing isn't the best way but in some situations it's handy. Thankfully the adjacent Korean homeroom teachers came in and told the kids to be good to me. That helped a lot!

When I took the day off I think that helped show the students I really was sick, because the next day they looked concerned. At this point I decided not to speak to my classes and keep my voice at rest. How was I to get through my lessons without speaking to a group of 2nd grade kids?

I put up a mini-whiteboard in front of the chalk board and used this as my "talking board." Also I made a short and to-the-point PowerPoint explaining my situation and asking for their cooperation. I also outlined what we were doing so they knew how to stay on task. I shortened my lessons to book work and then a game I could play with them that I could get away without speaking. It went well and I did my best to not stress myself.

That's the other big thing, stress. I think when one is sick they tend to really not want to work, but when made to things can get stressful. "How will I do this?" You probably think as your head is pounding and throat aching. I have to say just relax and let the classes flow. Don't hold the kids up to high expectations on behavior. In general you just want to get through the day and hopefully the target pages you need done. You can go back to your regular teaching self after feeling better.

I must also say that I got the most sympathy from the low-level students. Even one of these kids who is notorious for being a goofball, came up to me and patted me on the back. That was very sweet!

So don't put your stress out on the students, as they are just there and it's not really their fault. Find some filler games, worksheets or activities that won't require too much work on your part.

Since the homeroom teachers helped me out a lot I gave them a cold coffee drink as a thank you. They were very surprised to see this, and I think it showed I appreciated their effort. Even the Vice Principal at the school asked me if I was doing better everyday (she did it again today), and sometimes told me to go to the nurse to get my temp checked. So Korean people will definitely feel for you and want to help you, but prefer you work through it.

That's how I got through a week of a aches and pains at work. I'm glad to be better now.

Tonsillitis is not a friend

I'm home sick with Tonsillitus and swollen lymph nodes. I've had sore throats before but this takes the cake. Also I hate being home sick from work, as that is really taboo in Korea. Thankfully it was just my high levels today and not the 6 classes set up. Also I have work for the kids to do in my place. 

I hope to rest up and medicate so that I can return to work tomorrow. I might teach without speaking...how that works exactly I'll figure out. Maybe make Powerpoints with instructions on it. Fun! 

But really, my throat aches, my ear feels like someone is trying to bash it in and swallowing leaves something to be desired. On top of that I don't have any chicken soup in the house or the ingredients to make it, so I'm going to scramble my resources and see if I can find something outside later. 

Don't get sick people!

Spring morning

I am happy it is Spring, finally. I am not happy I have some kind of sinus congestion thing.

Tom needs to go to the vet for his check up and I want to prance in the park. I hope some of those things happen this weekend. :)

Haircut to Make my Mom Proud

For years now my mother has been pushing me to do something with my hair. Mostly she just wants me to try out bangs. Well, mom! I finally did it! We'll see if I keep up with the style. First I actually have to try and do them in the morning.

You'll notice what getting over the flu and having a cough looks like to the grown adult.

(Good picture Joy~) At first she had the bangs primped to come down straight, then we played around and put them on the side. I got some hairspray and going to give this a try when styling. I guess I need to get a hair straightener or use my blow dryer to get the effect. For now I can't take these things to Korea so that will have to wait.

Bonus: Winter pics....it snowed here...ta da..

Powerless and Dry

Today we had a power outage here, which lasted a good chunk of the day. It left us building a fire in the fireplace and staring at the wall. Although, I kind of enjoyed that bit of nothingness and the lack of electrical buzz around me.

My condition has improved as I no longer have headaches and fevers. But I developed a cough, which I hope doesn't develop into a monster one.

Since the events of the day ate up my energetic time to pack I will have to get on that tomorrow. I already know I am over my maximum, but I have my plan. This is to pack my suitcases and take an extra small box with me. The airline I am taking, Singapore, allows for any excessive amount of luggage to cost $110. I already did a comparison of what it would cost to mail my extra stuff and the price of the airline fee turns out to be a lot better.

The fire in the living room today was toasty and dry and I hope this was helpful towards my condition. I am already starting to crack out of my vacation haze and understand that soon enough I will be in a room full of giddy children. I am also finding myself in a funny state where I miss JH, but then know I am going to miss it here and my parents. However, I am so grateful for both and all their love. :)

American Bug

I have caught the flu, and it hasn't been fun. I managed to get a little planning done for my first week back at work but then this bug hit me. It's got me all paranoid I won't be able to fly back to Korea next week, but already I am showing signs of getting better.

All I have to say is I haven't had severe headaches like this in a long time. American flu's really kick your butt.

Cheonan Memorial

Today is the memorial for the 46 sailors who lost their lives when their ship sank due to an explosion. They are still determining why but of course it is speculated that it was North Korea.

At work today around 10am the school played the live broadcast of the memorial when they were doing the moment-of-silence part. I was in my 4th grade class and they properly stood up and bowed their heads. Although a few snickered and made remarks when the Korean President came on screen. Altogether they were well behaved and seem to recognize what was going on.

Tomorrow is our open class, again, this time with the parents as spectators. Since Monday I have been coughing and last night it kept me up now and then. Today my chest felt heavy and I was still coughing. My face showed this when I came in to work and I was promptly asked about my health. I politely said I didn't feel good. Then a few moments later requested to see a doctor after my classes. They understood and asked if I could teach my classes, and I said that is no problem. I coughed around the office and showed my pale face, which was convincing enough to get a half-sick day. I told them that I didn't want to be coughing in front of the parents so really want to get better.

I finished classes and went to the doctor. I came home and put in some laundry then settled down in front of the TV.

As it turns out the memorial was still going on and nearly every channel is broadcasting it. They really don't spare anything. They laid out pictures of the dead sailors and the families came up and gave their respects. You can see close ups of their mourning. Later on they carried the urns to a mass grave area and the families came up and with their hands put in the dirt.

It is really sad and tragic and also hits home on how much Korea has suffered and continue to do so.

My condolences to the families affected by this tragedy. Your pain and loss is mine too as I share this country with you.

*For an interesting analysis on this situation check out BBC's article.

First Week Wrap Up

Hello everyone. Here is the part where I say sorry for not posting too much,  which is due to exhaustion from my first week back at work, unpacking and catching a cold.

The first week back at work wasn't really that bad. I recall my first week teaching in Korea and in comparison this was piece of cake.

To understand what I am doing these days here is my new schedule:

• Mon: 2nd Grade x2, 6th Grade x 4 = total of 6 classes (4 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.)
• Tues: 2nd Grade x2, 6th Grade x 3 = total of 5 classes (4 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.)
• Weds: 2nd Grade x1, 6th Grade x3 = total of 4 classes (4 in the morning)
• Thurs: 2nd Grade x1, 4th Grade x3, 6th grade x1 = total of 5 classes (4 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.)
• Fri: 2nd Grade x1, 6th Grade x3, 4th Grade x1 = total of 5 classes (4 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.)

That turns out to be that I am teaching 2nd, 4th and 6th grades. There is another foreign teacher at the school and she takes the other classes. This also means I have two Korean coteachers.

My new school is a bit different from last, whereas we do not have our own English classroom. Instead we travel to each class carrying a basket of our supplies. This is one aspect that I am going to have to get use to as I can't decorate a classroom or use certain kinds of supplies. But what I am noticing is that the attitude of the students is a bit different when the teacher visits their classroom. They seem not to be as excited to learn English or in the mood.

But I am starting at the end of the semester and so the kids are ready for their holiday break and to graduate.

The biggest upset and hurdle I faced last week was teaching 2nd grade. I have taught this age before but not on a daily basis and with a class size of 36. So it is a new ball game. Also I tend to not really understand what 2nd graders want. So I went through a few rough patches but I think I understand now what it is about. Planning will be key and making sure they aren't bored with the storybook materials (required part).

The coteaching part seems to be okay this time around. The main coteacher, I guess since she does most of the talking and coordinating, is actually an older woman. So I tend to agree with her and try not to stress her out. The other coteacher is quiet as a mouse especially when we are in the teacher's room. Teaching with her though doesn't seem to be a big deal.

What's new this time around is that I have to take lesson planning seriously. I am required to hand the lesson plans in promptly and have them reviewed. To me this is no big deal since a teaching job should require lesson planning. I do feel sheepish that I never really accomplished this at my last school due to miss-communication. The general classes don't really require a whole lot of brain work to make the lessons. Really you just end up copying what is in the teacher's manual and then pepper it with games and activities.

Last week was a rush of getting use to the new schedule and coteachers. Along with all this I had to crank out my lesson plans for the weeks to come. Thankfully I only really have to plan till the 24th since my vacation starts at that time.

But in January I will have winter camp to teach for 2 weeks. They already had a plan drawn up but after checking it out I realized it needed more materials so I spent a good chunk of time fattening up the winter camp agenda.

All in all, I can say that I really like my new school and coworkers. Including the house this job is really great. Of course nothing is perfect and the flaws in this job are that it takes me 40 minutes to walk to school. Mostly because I am a slow walker, so if I walked faster I could get there in 30 minutes. That and not having an English classroom are the only weaknesses in this job. But hey 30 minutes of walking near a river and past some trees is fine with me. Exercise plus nature enjoyment.

I have lots more I want to post with more stuff from Japan. But as I said I have a little cold and still need to get things squared away in my home. Till then...

Seoul Land

Saturday was hot, but for some reason JH and I went to Seoul Land. Since I just got my International Drivers license in the mail he let me drive from Gangnam to Seoul Land. I have been getting use to driving here in Korea more often, but I will save those details for another post.

Parking at Seoul Land was interesting, due to that it seemed they just painted the parking stalls with fresh "women only" symbols. It's part of this new campaign to make Korea safe for women. Within the expat opinion circle we think it is kind of silly. It sure was a site at the parking land to see nearly every space meant for women. I guess it is one step closer to a safer world.

Do you see that? Not a cloud in the sky.

Get on the elephant train and you are ready to go.

Hmmm...

Get off and buy some tickets.

Enter and get the wristband.

Hmm this looks familiar like it is from Epcot Center or something?

Shop-N-Joy~!

Rides!~

Here's the story: We rode two rides. This one (the water flume ride) and a pirate ship that rocked back and forth. After the pirate ship I was sick and dizzy. I tried to get better but it didn't really work. I think it was a combination of the heat plus head spinning dizziness that did me in. We went home and left the rest for some other time.

I think I would like to go back to Seoul Land only on a cool day or in the evening. Also nearby is a zoo, I think that would have been nice too. I use to be a roller coaster rider when I was a kid, I guess those days are gone now.

Korean Over-The-Counter Medicine

Winter is that lovely time of the year when you wear more than one layer of clothing and have to spend 5 minutes getting your coat and everything on before you leave the house.

It is also the season of sneezing, coughing and runny noses. As a teacher one of the benefits is that you pay for a portion of health insurance. This means that you can go visit a doctor without the typical hassle one might encounter from a doctor back in America. For example, when I needed to visit a doctor back home if I had a bad flu I would have to go to the open clinic. Where I would sit and wait for an hour to see a Doctor. The fees would have been high too, I guess it depends on what insurance one had in America. (I had none)

Anyways, visiting a doctor here is not so hard. But like the post-office and Bank the doctor's office closes around 5pm here, that is for the English speaking doctor. So to get to him in time I have to request to leave work early.

The week before last I developed a cough and requested to see the doctor. But the doctor told me I didn't need medicine.

To this day I am still coughing. And within the past few weeks I have been to pharmacies getting non-prescription medicine, or over-the-counter meds.

Pharmacies here are not like the one's back home, where you walk into the drugstore and there are rows and rows of shelves selling over-the-counter products. Here a pharmacy usually has a few self-care things in the front, such as band-aids, toothpaste, vitamins but to get to the drugs you need to ask the person at the counter.

Apparently the "over-the-counter" drugs here are found behind the counter. Access to drugs like Tylenol can be given to you upon request.

With the use of my cell phone's dictionary I was able to retrieve a few cough medicines from the pharmacist.

Now for you is a pictorial review of the medicines I have collected.

Neocol-F are like cough medicine in pill form. These have the drug Guaifenesin, which is good for clearing you of snot. But it also dehydrates you, so drink a lot of water.

I would say this drug is effective at slowing down the cough rate and making things feel a little clearer. But I am still coughing so it isn't a miracle cure.

The next drug is called Hardy Cough F tab. I could not find any Internet info on it. But I asked BK what the difference is and he said this one is a lot stronger than the Neocol-F. I could definitely feel more of a difference with these and when taken at night I don't wake up coughing. But like I said I am still coughing, so still not a miracle cure.

And for a runny nose I found the medicine CONTAC Gold is similar to the American brand Contac drugs. It has a decongestant in it Phenylpropanolamine to clear up your sinuses. This drug worked really well when I had a non-stop runny and sneezy nose. I have also tried to use it to clear up the snot riding down my throat to stop the cough, but without success.

All of these medicines had no serious side effects except dehydration like I mentioned before. Also they were all pretty cheap coming in at 2000 Won (1.50 USD). Of course there are only about 10-12 tablets inside, which isn't a whole lot.

In general, if you can't get to a doctor here in Korea for ailments such as the cold or flu you can try to get these over-the-counter meds to help you feel better.

But the best medicine of all (rest and chicken soup) can only be found if you got the time and a can.

Anyways, hopefully my cough will start to go away. It isn't terrible just annoying.

Past Me

*Warning, staying indoors with a cough and going through old photos will produce a contemplative mind.

Anyways, as I said I was digging through the past and while I was doing it I thought I would expunge some of this voyage onto my blog.


Seven years ago I was still into skater shoes and long unmanageably - long hair. Actually seeing that hat makes me miss it a lot. This picture was taken in Sacramento when my Mom use to live there.


Jump to Spring 2007 and you have caught me when I was finishing my last semester at college and an image of me while I was sick. This is me just as I was finally diagnosed and on the right medication. I was very skinny.

But then the drugs I had taken made me turn puffy. Here I am shown 3 months later at my graduation ceremony.

And so warp further into time and over a year later you can see me a happy girl enjoying herself in Korea.
This blog post could be probably deemed too personal to post. But whether people want to admit it or not, living abroad lends itself to contemplative moments. Bo Kwan is running around in Busan with his training fleet, and so I am on my own.

I am sure if we all look through our pasts we can see that we have all gone through a lot and come so far.

Allright, well looks like the weather is getting colder and colder...sigh.

GEPIK Workshop

Today I went to Bundang for a GEPIK Workshop for Foreign Language Assistant Teachers. It was held at Dankook University.

To get there I took a bus, which was a lot faster than transferring 3 or 4 times via the subway.

Anyways, the first part consisted of a behavioral management lecture. The guy was Chinese - Canadian. His lecture wasn't too boring and actually very informational about how we can become better teachers instead of just babysitters. The emphasis was making the classroom a constructive and positive environment. I got a few ideas out of it and hope to improve my teaching style.

But I do have to say that it is kind of hopeful of him to think that we will all go back to our schools and adjust to to his suggested style of teaching. For starters, at our schools the only people to collaborate with our the Korean coteachers. So unless we have good relationships and the language barrier is not so bad, then changes are possible. But when I go back to my school it will be a bit of a task to collaborate with my coteacher on the teaching methods they talked to me about. However, I will try and also see if she is willing to learn some new things.

Anyways, I didn't stay for the second half because I woke up today with a cough. And then I proceeded to get a headache later on, which I still have. So I jumped on a bus and came home for rest. Fridays are the longest and most tiring days at my school, so I want to try and reserve my energy. Plus, they gave us a booklet with all the lecture material inside it, which I can just read.

All in all, it was structured okay and I think was a good way for us teachers to feel comfortable teaching here. I got to meet some other foreigners along the way.

Well, back to resting.

Stepping In

Feeling better today but have some tummy issues as leftovers of the flu. Hoping it is not a mini-flare from Crohn's / Colitis.

I think it is actually a reaction from the drugs the doc gave me.

Ah well~!

So I thought I would share my experience of visiting the Elementary School in Sanbon.

I was taken there by my recruiting agency via car. The ride there was very interesting because we got out of Seoul and I saw some mountains. As we went along he pointed out certain areas and told me what was interesting in them.

When we arrived at Sanbon / Gunpo I could see that it was slightly different from Seoul. There were mostly tall apartment complexes with tree lined streets. Of course there were the other streets with shops and businesses. But around the school it was mostly residential. It really felt like I was far away from Seoul. But all in all I got a homey kind of feeling.

We parked next to the school, which was this 6 story building made of bricks. In front of the school was this large dirt field with a playground. It was still early in the day so the kids were inside in their classes.

Walking inside I immediately caught site of the classrooms. Behind closed doors with little windows I saw rows and rows of children doing their lessons. I could here the kids laughing and crying.

We had to go up 5 flights of stairs. As we went past each floor I took a glimpse of the classrooms. It seemed as we went up each level so did the age of the students.

On one floor the students were all sitting up straight and quiet. I saw a teacher walk around the classroom and his hands was what looked like a stick. Immediately I recalled the discussions of how Korean teachers here discipline children by hitting them. But to see this kind of image face to face, was a little shocking.

Yet, I accepted it as what it was.

On the fifth floor I was taken to the English learning room, which had bright posters on the walls with English words and sayings. I met my coteacher who appeared nice. We all sat down and they went over my contract.

Next was the interview.
We all went back downstairs and entered the principles office. I didn't really expect this, but quickly realized that it made sense. Inside the room were plush cushioned chairs. We all sat around a coffee table.

To my right was the Principle and in front of me was the Vice Principle. I didn't do much talking. Instead my recruiter talked to everyone. But they did have specific questions for me. I would answer the questions and then the recruiter would translate.

It felt professinal and also very official. I was of course feeling achy because of my flu, but tried not to show this.

They were mostly concerned with these things:

• Will I stay for a whole year.
• Housing
• Starting in November

I was fine with everything and said I would stay a whole year.

As of now they don't have any housing yet, because they only have a week to find it. But they said that if they can't find something decent they will let me live in a hotel or do a homestay, before I move to my permanent residence. I was okay with this, too.

After the meeting we went to a room where we went over the contract with the coteacher. I agreed and signed it.

Then we went to the fifth floor again and I was shown my office.

A real office! With a desk, computer and chair! Not the square inches I have at the hagwon, I was really excited!

Anyways, it was time to get going and so we said our goodbyes and left for Seoul.

All in all, I am still mystified by the experience and hope that when I start it goes well and I make the right impression first.

Took it~

Woke up with a sore throat.

Went to the interview anyways.

Liked what I saw.

Took the job, ironed out the details in the contract.

Went to the doctor. He said I was too sick to work.

Went to work, was told no one can cover for me.

Felt like crap...fever, sore throat, achy, the works.

Taught my first class, tried to rest and not speak.

Kids started to play.

Knock on door.

"Go Home"

"Why you couldn't have enough courage to tell us No, that you can't work, now you could have made the children complain that their teacher was resting and not working."

Pissed of the supervisors.

Went home.

Still feel like crap.

Hoping this doesn't tarnish my supervisors decision to give me the release letter.

Oh soup time.