Most people won’t understand my title…That is okay; it was not meant to be understood by many. But first I go backwards:
Friday morning two more new guys arrived so five of us were carted to the hospital where they attempted to determine if we were fit/healthy people. My blood pressure was high; which is very unusual and a little unsettling. I have also lost about 20 lbs since being here, but am still huge compared to Koreans. It was very interesting trying to explain to the nurse/doctor that I know I am not of the best health overall; they thought I might not understand what being overweight means to my health.
(On a side note: why is it okay for larger guys to mention that they are ‘fat’ and it can be laughed off, but a girl mentions anything about her weight and it gets awkward-ish for people. Are most women always that sensitive?)
So, after the initial health history and basics they took us for urine and blood tests. They took three vials of blood, but they didn’t wear gloves and barley swabbed us down. It seemed weird to me in America, phlebotomists will iodine for a minute then alcohol for 30 seconds and use gloves. Our next stop was for a TB chest x-ray. They called us two girls into the room gave us shirts to change into and attempted to convey that we needed to remove our bras as well as out outer shirts. While we changed the three guys were being called in to the room to have their x-rays done. The main room door stayed open the entire time and Dr.’s were coming and going in the room. I am large with DD’s the shirt they gave me did not completely fit. I was called up to the machine two Dr.’s stood there and a button popped open and I flashed them. They stared not quite knowing what to do. It was so hard to stifle my laughter at the expressions on their faces, but I did and closed my shirt and took an x-ray.
Friday afternoon was more graduation practice and our last chance at observations since we start teaching Monday. That was uneventful. Then came Friday night… I got my apartment! I will like it once I make it into a “homey” place right now it is just a little depressing and dirty. So I wanted to clean a little before I began unpacking all of my stuff. I vaguely knew where I was and in which direction I should head to get to the “Wal-Mart/Targets” (E-Mart and Lotte Mart). If I had know the short cuts it should have taken about 20 minutes to find it; it took me 45. So I get into the store and realize that I cannot buy anything too large as I do not know how to tell a cab driver how to get back to my apartment. Then I run into Chris (another teacher) who tells me there is a shorter way home. So I follow him. We wander, and wander and take a wrong turn or two. Finally he decides that we could show a cab a picture of his apartment building and maybe get back to our neighborhood. He shows the picture to five different drivers until one finally is able to use his GPS and get us to our neighborhood. I now have a card that I can show the cabbie to be able to get back to my neighborhood.
Saturday was graduation day. The 7Yr Old class moves onto elementary school Monday. They went all out for this ceremony. The graduation itself was 30 minutes, but for the next 4.5 hours there were Korean dance numbers, skits in English; violin and drum performance, a laser light show and finally an introduction of all the teachers at the school. From 1-6 pm it was chaos. Then the real fun began. Our Boss’s treated us to dinner at a traditional-ish restaurant (no shoes, sit on the floor, community eating). They also bought beer, so-ju (spelling must be checked on that), and what is called Korean raspberry wine, but is stronger and actually a raspberry liqueur. Basically, for five hours you are getting drunk with your boss and co-workers (because if you boss toasts you toast with him and her) and in general getting to know each other in a relaxed situation. Afterwards we went to a club downtown, but didn’t stay long. Jeremy, Steven and I left about 2 am…
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