Incidentally, the funeral was a few days and took place at the local hospital. Hospitals are so different here. They have more of a casual, community hall sort of feeling compared to the sterile, clinical, formal atmosphere of hospitals back home. Your family is expected to come and care for you, bathe you, feed you and do the duties nurses do back home, so there's lots of people just hanging around. When I got tested for my Visa renewal, there were elderly women squatting on a towel having a picnic lunch in the main waiting area. I had to pee in a Dixie cup in the bathroom (filthy, no toilet paper or soap as usual) then navigate past these women without spilling the goods on anyone. But, no one batted an eye.
The hospital doubles as a funeral home. There are special rooms where they lay out bodies for viewing, beside shrines of photographs, fruit, snacks and soju bottles. It is the families responsibility to prepare and dress the body. Again, this is different from home, where nurses or funeral home staff take care of this stuff. (I wonder what people here do, if they don't have any family?) Adjacent to the body viewing room is a restaurant-like room, with a buffet of fruits, meats and boiled octopus on ice. Even though I didn't at all know my co-worker's mother in law, another teacher said we must go and pay our respects, so we drove there at lunch, said hello briefly to our co-worker, who was obviously busy and distraught, and then ate a bunch of food with some people I assume were relatives . Personally I felt uncomfortable just showing up uninvited, then stuffing my face, but I guess it was the polite thing to do?
Anyways, getting back on topic... Sick days are fairly sacred back home, especially if your job contract allows for them, and usually it's no one's business if you are sick, hung over, depressed or just having personal problems. But because sick days are unusual in Korean culture, some schools are a bit hesitant in 'allowing' you to take them, and try and rush you to a hospital for 'proof'. Luckily, my school is ok about this stuff, as long as I take them on days when I don't have classes. (Technically you should have a co-teacher, and the co-teacher should be able to lead the class with or without you because you're there to assist them, but, oh well).
As luck will have it, my annual winter flu (sore throat, fever, migraine, general grossness) seems to have hit just in time for exams, so I am taking 3 sick days to convalesce (or "take a rest"). The first time I went to a doctor in Korea was also my last. I knew exactly what the problem was, because I've had this problem numerous times before. But the doctor just slapped my stomach, chuckled, and said I had gas and should eat better. (Um, usually they need to take a physical sample, test for the bacteria and prescribe an antibiotic). Then although he said there was nothing wrong with me, he prescribed a million pills and said don't eat for a day, just take 5 pills each hour.
So, never again. Instead, I am laying in bed watching documentaries about how the world is doomed, trying to force my dog to snuggle me (my heat won't turn on again.. why???!) and eating 죽. Juk, by the way, is one of my favorite Korean comfort foods and fantastic when you're ill. It's just rice boiled with extra water, and things like chicken, seafood, mushrooms and ginseng in it. I learned to make it, and it's tasty. Mine wasn't as pretty as this, but was equally full of warm mushy goodness.
I'm also making x-mas cards to send home.. hopefully in time, but maybe not. So email me your mailing address if you want one!
Panda Bear- Take Pills
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