I am alive, somehow!

So sorry that I have been MIA for so long. My last week of break I took a trip to Japan to visit Ike -- more on that trip soon!

But, unfortunately, the last night there (Thur), I started to have some back pain and severe and sharp stomach pains! This made my travels home the next day pretty painful -- 2.5 hour bus ride, 2 hour flight, 4.5 hour bus ride. On Friday aches had spread throughout my body. Saturday morning I woke up with a fever, and very stiff body. Well, after talking with mom, we decided I might have malaria and that I should go to the doctor to get a blood test. Oh, what an experience that was!

My host dad took me to a small clinic in town. None of the nurses spoke English, they annoyingly asked for my foreigner ID card repeatedly, but surprisingly the doctor spoke a decent amount of English! After asking me a few basic questions and punching my back to see if my spleen was enlarged (uhhhh, did he WANT it to burst?), and taking my temp via my forehead, it was time for the urine (aka "piss" as my host dad called it) and blood tests. The doctor ended up sending me home with "medicine" (which turns out to basically just be tylenol) for a bladder infection, even though I have none of the basic symptoms. And telling me that the blood test results would not be back until Monday. Well, I spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday pretty miserable in bed -- fever cycling through, throbbing headache, very sharp pain in my abdomen near my spleen, and very achy -- I was moving like an arthritic old lady! My diet had been reduced to cream and rice based soups by my host mom. Fun times. I couldn't read because of the headache, so I watched TV and movies on my computer, but half the time couldn't even look at the screen because the light was irritating. Not too fun!

It was decided I should stay home from school on Monday, which was the first day of the new school year. I kinda wish I could have gone, as from what I hear from other ETAs, it was pretty hectic! One girl's desk had been moved, and the teachers had boxed up all her stuff, then lost the box! I hope they find it soon! It seems like many ETAs didn't have to teach today as the schedule is still being finalized, as is the case at my school. I woke up Monday morning feeling pretty crappy -- I had woken up in sweats the night before, and I was very stiff in the morning with a slight fever again. However, after a couple hours I was feeling FANTASTIC! I made myself lunch and was lesson planning all morning. After waiting around all morning to hear the results from my blood test, my host dad called to tell me that the regular part of the blood test results were finished, but that the malaria part would take another TWO TO THREE DAYS!!!!! Good thing I was feeling better. If I still felt like I had one foot in the grave, I think I would have just booked a flight home and said to HELL with this health care system! However, around 3pm I started to feel extremely tired, so I laid down for what turned into a 2 hour nap. After waking up around 5:30 I still felt pretty crappy. Malaria conditions can cycle like this, but hopefully that is not what I have. I'm hoping it's just this damn bladder infection, but if that is the case, then I need to get my hands on antibiotics, even though my original doctor tells me that is not what I need, but everyone else (including a doctor from Seoul) tells me that that is what you need for a bladder infection.

However, I was told we were going out for dinner tonight! So I get into the van and see a cake. I whisper to Jun-ho "Why is there a cake?" He tells me that today is my host mom's birthday. Fabulous. No one told me, so now I feel silly for not having a card or anything. (This has been a pretty common occurrence from other ETAs families, so I hear. The parents' generation based their birthdays off the lunar calendar still, so it's "difficult" to predict the exact date they will be far in advance. Thankfully, the kids all use the solar calendar now.) Anyway, we went to the same restaurant we went to for Jun-ho's birthday last fall. (We didn't go out to eat for Jun-eun's birthday. I can definitely tell who is the favored kid in this family.) Of course the family starts off by eating the cake FIRST!!!! The kept asking if my stomach wasn't up for eating cake when I just left mine to eat after my meal, and I said no, it felt fine. Also, cakes always come with a plastic knife, candles, and party poppers. Well, there were 2 of the poppers -- so naturally both the boys should get to pop one. Well, the host dad did one and Jun-ho the other. Poor Jun-eun! Seriously, they don't even hide that he is not equally liked as Jun-ho (well, at least by the host dad. My host mom is pretty fair I think). The 3 of us adults each got a very small glass of red wine, to which my dad exclaimed "I have been waiting all day for alcohol." Don't worry, this is completely normal behavior for adults in Korea, believe it or not. The whole family just started giggling, like they do when he stumbles into the apartment completely wasted on a regular basis. Drinking just has a completely different aura here. And, as is normal in Asia, the food did not come out all together. Well, 4 of the 5 dishes came out practically at the same time. Who's food didn't come for another 15 minutes? My host mom's -- the birthday girl. Of course, no one waited for her food to start eating. It is normal to start eating once the eldest person, or in my family, the host dad, starts eating. I often try to wait to start eating my meals until my host mom sits down at the table, but am constantly harrassed by my host dad to start eating immediately.

Anyway, I am not going to school again tomorrow. Mrs. Song told me that the schedule still isn't fixed, so I wouldn't be teaching anyway, and wants me to stay home and rest. What a crazy start to the new school year this has been!!!