Yes my friends you read correctly I am sick! It was bound to happen. Actually I think last year around this same exact time I found myself sick when I was living in Spain.
Last night before going to bed I felt my throat starting to get itchy and I knew I was coming down with something 🙁
And sure enough when I awoke this morning I felt like crap. And it got worst as the day progressed and my students become more and more annoying LOL.
My mentor teacher took me to the doctors after school and that experience left much to be desired. She was there to help translate but the consultaion lasted about 5mins. The doctor asked about my symptoms and I told him I had a runny nose, sore throat but no cough and my eyes were really watery. Then he proceeded to stick a camera down my throat which was connected to a monitor. He told my mentor teacher something and then she asked me if I wanted a “shot”.
The conversation went as follows:
Mentor Teacher (MT): Do you want to get the shot?
Me: A shot?
MT: Do you want shot?
Me: (still not understanding) a shot? what is it for?
MT: You don’t want to get shot?…in your arm?
Me: Why do I need a shot? (still confused)
MT and the doctor then have conversation in Korean. Then the doctor says something that sounds like “prescription” and my mentor teacher tells me we can go.
I pay 3,700 won (less than $4) then we head to the pharmacy down the hall. On the way she explains to me that the doctor said something is wrong with my throat. We brainstormed for a minute until we both found the correct translated word which was “swollen”.
I told her I was confused because at home they feel your lymph nodes and take your temperature. So I didn’t understand what the shot was for after speaking with the doctor for 2 minutes. She told that Koreans generally get shots in addtion to pills because they feel that the shots work faster. Then she said we can go back to have them take my temperature. We do this and it is normal.
Then we go collect the pills at the pharmacy. This cost a total of 2,100 won (less than $3) for 3 different types of pills to be taken 3 times a day for the next 3 days. She also told me that the doctor was a little afraid to touch me since he most likely has never had a foreign patient before. And that the next time I need to go to the doctor we can go to an English speaking doctor. I get dropped off to my apartment with my meds in tow and she tells me to get some rest.
I hate being sick. Most importantly… sick in a foreign country 🙁 I really just want some of my moms chicken soup right now but that is not going to happen.
Anyway. I was going to meet up with my language partner tonight but had to cancel. He is awesome though. He told me I needed some chicken soup and that I should order some food to be delivered for dinner. I had to remind him that my hangeul is not even advanced enough for that lol. So he offered to help me have some food delivered. He told me to give him my address, the number for some restaurants and my order. Less than 30 minutes later I had a delivery guy at my door with my seafood soup
It cost just a total of 5,000 won (less then $5)! And you are not expected to tip in Korea. The delivery guy spoke to me for about 10 minutes and I have no idea what he was saying. But I gathered based on his body language and the food on the menu he pointed too, that he was trying to tell me what to order next time.
I think my friend might have told him I was sick because one of the dishes he pointed to, he held his stomach.
So maybe…(shrugs).
Check out this video to see what I order and what the medicine the doctor gave me!
