I think I quit smoking accidentally. Smoking was the last thing I wanted to do when I was sick, and I still kind of feel that way post-headache. I try smoking when I did before the sickness, like after meals or with my morning coffee, but I can only get through a few drags before I have to put it out.
This is good thing, I guess?
Monday, June 1, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
FRUSTRATED PILL POPPER
I've been battling with one of the worst headaches I've ever had in my life, and I've been fighting it since Sunday night. Teaching kids on Monday and Tuesday was an uphill battle, and it got to the point where I had to call in sick today.
I went to the doctor's office today to see what was up with this long lasting headache, and told the doctor my symptoms, that Tylenol had not been helping, and that I'm somewhat worried because it has been going on for days. The doctor's response was pretty infuriating; all he did was take my blood pressure and tell me something along the lines of, "there are many causes of headaches, like drinking, smoking, eating spicy foods, eating salty foods..." while smirking.
First of all, I'm not hungover. Secondly, a lot of Korean food isn't as spicy as Koreans like to claim--I can handle your (sometimes bland) food, you arrogant asshole. Why didn't the doctor take my temperature at least? Or examine my swollen, blood-shot eyes? Or show some concern as I've had this headache since Sunday. Instead he brushed me off with a prescription for 12 sets of four pills to be taken three times a day. I'm not sure what the pills are or what they'll do, because the pharmacy will never give me any information on what I'm taking, not even information in Korean. (After some google-fu, I found out one of the pills is acetaminophen...I told him Tylenol was not helping!) Korean doctors love to throw medication at health problems in hopes of making the problems go away, as shown by the many, many, many pills other foreigners have been prescribed. I've also seen Korean kids having to take five or six pills at a time when they're sick. I'm just surprised I didn't get a shot in the ass, as that is most common when going to the doctor's, no matter what the health issue might be.
I went to the doctor's office today to see what was up with this long lasting headache, and told the doctor my symptoms, that Tylenol had not been helping, and that I'm somewhat worried because it has been going on for days. The doctor's response was pretty infuriating; all he did was take my blood pressure and tell me something along the lines of, "there are many causes of headaches, like drinking, smoking, eating spicy foods, eating salty foods..." while smirking.
First of all, I'm not hungover. Secondly, a lot of Korean food isn't as spicy as Koreans like to claim--I can handle your (sometimes bland) food, you arrogant asshole. Why didn't the doctor take my temperature at least? Or examine my swollen, blood-shot eyes? Or show some concern as I've had this headache since Sunday. Instead he brushed me off with a prescription for 12 sets of four pills to be taken three times a day. I'm not sure what the pills are or what they'll do, because the pharmacy will never give me any information on what I'm taking, not even information in Korean. (After some google-fu, I found out one of the pills is acetaminophen...I told him Tylenol was not helping!) Korean doctors love to throw medication at health problems in hopes of making the problems go away, as shown by the many, many, many pills other foreigners have been prescribed. I've also seen Korean kids having to take five or six pills at a time when they're sick. I'm just surprised I didn't get a shot in the ass, as that is most common when going to the doctor's, no matter what the health issue might be.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
BUCK YOU, TEACHER
I teach a lot of young kids who have trouble grasping pronouns. This is troublesome because they love ratting each other out, and so when they're trying to tell me something, it will usually come out like this: Teacher! You [pointing to the perpetrator] buck you me! (It's weird hearing really young children yell, "buck you!") They will also say, "teacher! Bad talking!"
If they don't know how to verbally explain what the other kid had done, the offended will mime and moan what happened, like so: Teacher! You [pointing to the perpetrator and making weird moaning noises while miming the offending action] me!
This was cute at first, but this shit starts to wear you down after 11 months. I've taught them the meaning of "I don't care." It's gotten to the point where I'll high-five the perpetrator just so they'll stop trying to get one another in trouble.
Yeah, I'm a great teacher! (This was actually shown in gifts, as I got the most out of all the foreign teachers in my school on Teacher's Day.)
If they don't know how to verbally explain what the other kid had done, the offended will mime and moan what happened, like so: Teacher! You [pointing to the perpetrator and making weird moaning noises while miming the offending action] me!
This was cute at first, but this shit starts to wear you down after 11 months. I've taught them the meaning of "I don't care." It's gotten to the point where I'll high-five the perpetrator just so they'll stop trying to get one another in trouble.
Yeah, I'm a great teacher! (This was actually shown in gifts, as I got the most out of all the foreign teachers in my school on Teacher's Day.)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
DRUNK TEXTS
http://www.textsfromlastnight.com/ is my new favourite site at the moment.
(919): so I was just driving high and I stopped to let a pinecone cross the road because I thought it was a hedgehog.
(919): so I was just driving high and I stopped to let a pinecone cross the road because I thought it was a hedgehog.
ENGRISH
If you're a Korean, the cool thing to do is to wear clothes with English splashed across the clothing. A lot of the the time the English doesn't make any sense, or it says something that if you knew what it meant you probably wouldn't wear it. My favourite to date was an old lady wearing a black t-shirt that had "I Heart Crap" written on it.
WHO HAVE I BECOME?
My last day of teaching is on June 23rd. I'm going to miss several things when I blow this Fudgesicle stand, but there is one thing I'll miss that surprises me the most: my favourite kids. They always brighten my day, even when I'm at my worst (read: hungover). They are so much fun, and we spend a lot of class time laughing at stupid shit. They've inflated my ego because they'll laugh at just about anything I do. (I made the mistake of teaching them the K-I-S-S-I-N-G rhyme, and now they'll always sing it about me and some other foreign teacher, ddong, or a toilet.) I also love how every dispute is solved by a round of rock-paper-scissors. I have gotten into the habit of playing RPS with them, with the stakes being if I win, they're crazy, and if they win, I'm crazy.
But I have to wonder if it's not the cultural and language barriers that are filtering out how these kids really are. Maybe these filters are allowing just the cuteness to shine on through. I hated kids and everything they stood for back home. If I were teaching kids back home, I think I'd get annoyed easily with them because I couldn't fall back on the, "oh, those crazy Korean kids." Also, the fact that my day with kids end as soon as the last bell rings really helps me avoid seeing how these kids really are.
I think I'm going to give my favourites my e-mail address and home address so I can receive stupid letters. Though I might not want to do that because one of my kids threatens jokingly that he's going to throw a nuclear bomb on my mother's house. (We usually spend part of the class describing how we're going to destroy one another's families.)
But I have to wonder if it's not the cultural and language barriers that are filtering out how these kids really are. Maybe these filters are allowing just the cuteness to shine on through. I hated kids and everything they stood for back home. If I were teaching kids back home, I think I'd get annoyed easily with them because I couldn't fall back on the, "oh, those crazy Korean kids." Also, the fact that my day with kids end as soon as the last bell rings really helps me avoid seeing how these kids really are.
I think I'm going to give my favourites my e-mail address and home address so I can receive stupid letters. Though I might not want to do that because one of my kids threatens jokingly that he's going to throw a nuclear bomb on my mother's house. (We usually spend part of the class describing how we're going to destroy one another's families.)
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