How is this for transitioning?

So, my last post was put up 7 days before we left Sydney and I am so, so sorry for not putting up anything else. It's been the most ridiculous transition ever. I'm not even going to go through it all but will highlight parts of it and return to others as I continue to process it all.

Leaving Sydney
Leaving was weird. I really struggled the whole time we were in Australia to make friends. Of course, I always loved J's friends but I never had any luck making my own organic friends until just before we left when I met Crystal. We both met each other out of need: I needed someone to talk to and she needed someone to cry with (she just came down with whooping cough and got dumped). All it took was one night over pizza and I realized I had found my sarcastic soul mate. It's funny how just one friend can make all the difference because on that last day in Sydney, we went out to an art museum and I really, really felt sad to be leaving. I really want to go to more museums with Crystal. I really wanted to make plans for ice cream the following week (we've bonded over many scoops). I really didn't want to leave my one and only friend. I thought I would be so happy to leave and yet I found myself so sad. I didn't cry when we got on the plane but I did cry a few days later...

Arriving
We arrived in Seoul and it was ridiculously cold. Like, colder than I remember cold being. I was so looking forward to winter and holy cow, I got some winter! It was wonderful to return and find so many things just as I remembered them. My TMoney transit card still worked (and had money left on it!) and we hit up a few of our favorite places as well. We saw some old friends and really just fell right back in to life there (for the first weekend that is). But it soon hit me that things had also changed and weren't the same. The train took longer than I remembered, it was colder than I remembered, it sucked being bumped into everywhere and no one said sorry, I forgot how frustrating it can be when you want food and don't know where to go because you can't read anything! I quickly spiraled down, down, down into a wallowing heap of "I want to go home" (as in, back to Sydney).

Hell Week
Of course my desire to go home was not in anyway helped by the fact that our first week back in Seoul was not easy. It was hour/hour training and prepping for classes and studying my freaking mind out. Neither of us had any idea how that was going to effect me but wow, it was awful. Remember, in Australia I had been out of work since September and had pretty much been doing nothing. In one weekend I went from that to 6am-11pm study, study, study, work, work, work!! Training was tough mentally, physically and emotionally. I was struggling hard to keep myself together. I fell apart nearly every morning just out of sheer fear that I would fail and that I bore sole responsibility for coming here and that it was all a mistake, and, and, and.... You get the picture. Total. Mental. Breakdown.

Bad News
But I made it through training (amazingly) despite my poor trainers and my utter exhaustion and ridiculous triple time culture shock. And I thought that maybe I could do this. Until we left for the train station following our last training session and while checking my email I found out that there had been an emergency at home: Jeremy's grandpa had a stroke and was in the hospital. We found out the night before we left Sydney that Grandpa had a cancerous tumor on his neck and would be going in for surgery the following week but some complications with his blood pressure and medication eventually led to a stroke and in his frail state they were unable to operate and were yet unsure how he did as he was still sedated. It was horrible. We hadn't even signed our contracts yet or even made it to our city. It was absolutely awful and we were both crying. We had just seen him two weeks before and he was happy and healthy and jovial as usual. It was scary for us and we were torn about what we should do: go home or try to stay? We had such poor internet access that we couldn't make a decision so we headed to Busan anyway and planned to sort it out the next day.

Coming "Home"
We spent our first week in Busan living in a love motel (a seedy establishment rightly named for it's purposes) where we desperately tried to get information from home about Grandpa's condition while simultaneously trying to start our new jobs (we had only two days to prepare) and find an apartment. As the week progressed we learned that he had come out of it fairly well with some memory loss and a little paralysis but doing okay. However, it was unsure as of yet whether they could operate or not. As the week drew on, we learned that it wasn't possible due to the location and the complexity of the tumor and that they would instead try to do radiation first and shrink it. I am still unsure as of now whether they have been able to ascertain whether the cancer has spread elsewhere.

Meanwhile, our jobs were taking off and we were getting used to our school. I was still struggling emotionally and trying to figure out where my loyalty should be: here at my new school or back in Brisbane with J's family? Also, to throw another wrench into the system, I found out that my grandma from home would be starting chemotherapy for her own cancer in March and that too made me nervous. A big part of this whole "move to Korea" thing was to put ourselves in a financial position where we could go tot he US and spend some time with my family who I haven't seen for nearly 4 years but specifically with my grandma who has been doing poorly for a good portion of that time.

It was a hard transition. Neither of us really knew where we fit and we were so busy trying to figure out our schedules, classes, find food, catch up on sleep and just get our heads around all the changes and big events that neither of us had anytime to even think about our new "home town". It took us two weeks to find an apartment which was exciting/scary/disappointing/vilifying all rolled into one. It was an up and down process to say the least but we found one and are very happy. I will definitely write more about this later and post pictures.

Settling In
After finding a home, we moved out of the red light district and immediately into the dust pit. (Apartments do not come cleaned here which is at least some relief to me because after all that cleaning, I refuse to lift a finger for the tenant after us.) But it's a beautiful dust pit and one that we both feel is suitable to our needs and lifestyle. But it fell on me to find the furniture which was a hassle and a half! I am still so amazed with myself. I can't believe I was able to find used furniture from a store, negotiate prices, set times and delivery dates, communicate our address (which btw, I didn't know), and make it all happen without the aid of cellphones or a single Korean translator. Yes, I did that all on my own with just a small phrasebook. A giant pat on the back for me. Seriously. It took about a week and half to find all our furniture but now we have pretty much everything we need and I'm content.

However, it wasn't easy getting that done. I came down sick the very day we moved in which made me a very miserable cleaning partner/furniture hunter/food gatherer/teacher/girlfriend. I was also trying to figure out my classes, get to know the kids, arrange effective seating charts, get to know the teachers, and sort out a bagillion other things like meet up with my bestie Ceri and an old high school friend, Josie (both of which I did). It was yet another exhausting week. And then there was the disaster in Japan which caused a whole lot of other drama and stress like, which way is the wind blowing because I don't want radiation poisoning?

Are you seeing a pattern?

Three weeks sick in Indonesia + 4 weeks manic moving + 1 week insane training schedule + 2 dying grandparents + 1 week in a motel + 1 week cleaning + 2 weeks with a new job + 1 nuclear meltdown....

Crash!
And yes, I fell sick. As in really, really, really sick. That cold I caught the day we moved in? Yeah, it became pneumonia within a week. I went to see a doctor two weeks ago who said it was a cold and sent me off with Tylenol... A week later, with a horrible, horrible cough and me not being able to sleep or teach for very long before I fell into fits of uncontrollable coughing, I went back to the doctor. I was pretty sure already that it was pneumonia which in itself doesn't seem like such a big deal (I've had it before) but here it is a big deal and there really isn't an outpatient policy with it. That and the doctor said the only way to treat it is with penicillin (which I'm allergic to). Not at all true but it's hard to convince a doctor that there are alternatives... After being prescribed some weak antibiotics that not even he was convinced about, I went home and failed to sleep yet again. The school wasn't giving me much help either and wanted me to still come in and teach, but Thursday morning last week was the final straw. I didn't sleep at all and I was absolutely miserable. My whole body hurt and the cough was so hard I actually peed my pants. So I took a tip from another teacher and called an English speaking nurse who got me in to see a specialist that very hour...

Who then demanded I be hospitalized because it actually was a really bad case of pneumonia. Which is where I have been for the past six days: laying in a hospital bed, reading books on tuberculosis and trying to sleep. Let me tell you, it was no vacation. I swear I was put in a bed next to Linda Blair of The Excorcist fame. No kidding: the woman was chained to her bed and was moaning and screaming all.night.long. She was miserable. I was miserable. It was painful for everyone. Not to mention I was a walking spectacle (the only foreigner staying in the hospital) and I had no one to talk to. I mean, no one. The nurse who helped me had other things to do so I spent most of my time hiding behind the curtain in my room because anytime I stepped out from behind it I would get some serious stare downs (and usually not in a friendly way). I was also followed on a few occasions by visiting family members who thought it would be awesome to send their kids after me while I tried to eat my lunch in peace for an impromptu English lesson. Kids are cute and in some ways I didn't mind, but really, when you're in the hospital, the last thing you want is to be a tourist attraction/puppet show.

The doctors and staff were cordial enough and helpful as much as they could be. Improvement in my health has been slow and after three days of some seriously antibiotic loading, my white blood count actually went up which is generally not a good sign so they wanted to keep me longer. In fact, I finally gave up and checked myself out today--they wanted me to stay for two more. I figured with all the sleep I was missing due to my possessed neighbor, the stares, the lack of hygiene, the fact that I couldn't shower, I was uncomfortable, and that the rooms were hot as hell at night, I might as well go home. I would probably get well just as quickly there if not more so AND be a bit more comfortable.

So that's where I am. And what does a 6 night stay in a Korean hospital cost you without insurance? Roughly $1,300. A bargain I guess by western standards but it's not really comparable which of course is a story for another time (this girl should get some rest). I can't wait to tell you all about the differences between Korean hospitals and what I learned about affordable healthcare. :)

Oh, and by the way, I guess this is as good of a time as any to formally announce that I'm considering med school after Korea and will be spending the year studying for the GAMSAT. Who knows if I'll do well or follow through but it's an option on the table and one I'm keen to "give a go".

There you have it! My wonderful life and our new beginning in Korea!