Health and well being

Four pills four times a day for four days.

If  I were to write a list of the top five things that I like about  working in South Korea, health care would definitely be close to the top. Its fast, efficient, and ridiculously cheap.

There are few places where one can walk into a clinic with no appointment, see a Dr (often a specialist), be accompanied to the on site pharmacy and plied with a pile of individually packaged drugs, all in under an hour and for less than NZ$20.

Dental care is also very very cheap. My friend recently got a wisdom tooth removed for the grand total of  NZ$10. I plan taking full advantage of this. The other fabulous thing is that Oriental Medicine is not considered 'alternative' and therefore is subsidised in the same way as conventional medicine. For the past few months I have been having weekly acupuncture and cupping sessions. Dr Park is awesome and often sends me home with packs of herbal tea, which he brews himself, and pearls of wisdom such as 'JiNi, you have humidity in your bones, this is why you have pain'. I knew all those years of living in damp old Aro Valley would get me in the end! Humidity or no humidity my weekly appointments are doing me a world of good. I'm sleeping better, my back pain and stomach cramps are less frequent and my joints don't ache. There's something to be said for a form of healing that has been around for thousands of years.

As fantastic and as easy as the SoKo health system is, it has created a very easy attitude to health. Coming from NZ, where you only go to the doctor if you are 'really sick' and where the concern about building resistance to antibiotics is high on your GP's agenda. I have never met any other group of people who are so prescription and hospital happy as the South Koreans. My Korean co-workers and friends are constantly popping off to the hospital (handily located next door) for any minor aches and pains or coughs and sniffles.

The prescriptions are comprehensive, to say the least, and come conveniently packaged in little dose packs. I have never taken so many pills, in such as short space of time. A few months ago, I got what a thought was 'a bad cold', I was prescribed a total of  64 tablets over a four day period. I was never told and still have no idea what they were,.Patient information isn't really a primary concern. Doctors will generally take your vitals, ask a few questions, form a diagnoses and treat with little consultation. They're also not hesitant to admit you or send you off to surgery if they decide it necessary. Painkillers via IV drip and injections in the bum are also surprisingly popular.

By comparison, with its forever growing waiting lists and the extreme cost of specialist care, New Zealand seems almost third world.

War? We've heard it all before.

'So...Emma Teacher, North Korea, should I worry?'
'Hmmm....North Korea, they're silly but I don't think they are so silly'

When the news of North Korea bombing Yeonpyeong Island reached my staff room the response amongst my Korean co-workers was one of mild frustration and amusement rather than major concern and anger. Judging by the international news coverage and the many messages of concern (thank you, I was very touched) it seems that the events were more hyped outside of Korea rather than inside. Not to say that it passed us by completely, it's more that people seemed relativity unphased/unsurprised. Most Koreans that I have talked to want reunification and know that conflict will be part of the process. Technically the war is not over, this is just prolonged armistice.

Funnily enough the most interesting reaction to the North Korean attack came from my class of 7 year old boys. In the days following the attack, totally unprompted (Not that these little toughnuts need any kind of motivation to fill they sketch books with guns, tanks and jets.) they began to draw very animated pictures of South Korea blowing North Korea to smithereens. When I talked to my Korean co-teacher about this, her reply was simple: 'Jeannie, we have a bloody history'

In search of Cats.

Real cats?
Yes real cats.
AND you can hug them?
Yes.
AND drink tea?
Yes.

Daegu Cat Cafe, It was just a rumour, a friend of a friends co-worker had once gone there. I had to find it. Its no secret that my fondness of cats goes beyond ridiculous. I miss my Lola-Meow a lot, and the withdrawal has been tough.

It took a little finding but after a couple of phone calls, talk of a Mexican restaurant and one dark ally the treasure was unearthed. Cats real cats, cuddly kittens and fluff balls galore, not to mention tea, coffee, beer and banana smoothies.

Happiness is a cat in the lap and cuppa in hand.

An apple for the teacher

I'm constantly surprised at the respect that teachers, even the pretend ones such as myself, are given. Almost every week one of the parents has some kind of treat (usually edible) delivered to the school for us all to enjoy. On one occasion one of the five year old's was sick at lunch time, not really a big deal I thought. By mid afternoon we were all noshing down on fruit waffles sent in by the mother to apologize for us having to deal with their marginally ill child.

Chuseok - Korean Thanksgiving is being celebrated this week, which for me simply means three days off work, but for Koreans its about as big as Christmas. All day Friday and Monday gifts from the parents were flowing into the office, usually large gift baskets/boxes filled with foodie items such as rice cakes (see above) or yummy smelling soaps and things. Feeling overwhelmed and amused, as I was handed a huge box of dried seaweed, I was told by one of my co-workers that if I thought this was something  "I should wait for Teachers Day". A whole day dedicated to honouring teachers? Now that really is something you wouldn't get back home!

Photos are go

It took me most of a night to figure it out but I did it! Photo albums from my trips about are now available by clicking on the tab to the left. They're largely unedited and I'm still in the process of adding captions - bear with me I'll get there.

Rocking the Hanbok

Next week is Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, so this week we had a Chuseok party at school. All the preschoolers and teachers dressed up in Hanbok, played games and made and ate song pyeon (steamed rice cakes). By the end of the day the kids were about as excited as we were exhausted aka the party was a success.

Korean traditional dress - Hanbok consists of a poofy petticoat with a long over skirt/dress (usually pink for unmarried girls and red for married women) on top you wear a little fitted jacket. The great thing about Hanbok is that the quantity of fabric means that its comfortable and flattering on all. The downside of which is that its quite hot and somewhat cumbersome to wear when entertaining 45 preschoolers during an unusually hot autumn day.

Laughter is the best medicine

The great thing about teaching young children is that it reminds me to laugh. One of my favourite classes I have is Saturn class (all out pre-school classes are named after planets) they're a group of eight, 6 year old boys. They're boisterous, loud and cheeky and I usually walk out of class feeling like I've just survived a natural disaster. But I love them. Every time I teach them I laugh. One of them is always doing something that is, usually unintentionally, hilarious. I can be having a rubbish day, fed up with lesson planning, report writing and questioning why I decided to do any of this at all. But, after 40 minutes with Saturn, I may still not be feeling like a box of birds but, I would have laughed at least once, which does wonders for the soul.

One of 'my boys' is a really good drawer. He likes to draw 3 things, jets, guns and dinosaurs. The other kids are great, they'll look at Sam's drawings and go nuts, pretending to be scared of one of his dinosaurs, they'll shriek and hide under chairs. Either that or suddenly I have class full of fighter pilots and machine guns. I love this, their imagination and creativity is fantastic. I feel like such a task mistress having to pull them away from their imaginings. I remember playing 'pretend' for hours as a child, we were everything from forest animals to French war heroes, the lunch bell ringing or home time at the end of playmate was always such a disappointment.

One of the things that I really like about Arche - my school is that its reasonably well rounded with an emphasis on play and creativity. By comparison to NZ standards there are a lot of expectations put on the kids and by proxy their teachers to work hard and achieve well. I am constantly stunned by the amount of home work and extra curricular activities my students do. Its nice to work in an environment that gives me a degree of space and freedom to make the lessons as enjoyable and creative as I can. I'm sure my kids will agree that I don't always succeed but at least I'm giving it a go.

Teaching should be full of ideas instead of stuffed with facts.

~Author Unknown