Airplane Pt 2

At last, the moment you've been anticipating: Hannah completes her second blog post from Korea!

I'm currently sitting in a Tom N Tom's on a sunny Sunday morning, sipping a caramel macchiato and listening to the chill Western music they're playing. It feels like it should be a crisp September morning and not a steamy August one and I should have some glamorous job, like a fashion designer or an editor at some important publishing company. But I am quite content at the moment. I'm feeling quite adult, to be completely honest.

But let me stop prosing and move on to what you really want to hear about: the past 2 weeks.

Let's start with the airplane. Picture a large jet. It has 9 seats across each row in economy and who knows what lavish accommodations in first class. You find your seat and say hello to the single other companion in your section. But it turns out that the seats were double-booked so your single companion moves seats and two different women sit instead. You say the customary "hello, how are you?" And everyone moves on with their lives. It's going to be 13.5 hours.
Everything is just fine, until around the 7.5 hour mark when you start to feel very unwell. You spend the next five and a half hours trying (and succeeding) to not be sick. You are exhausted. Thankfully, the couple who sat beside you came fully prepared for the flight with ginger and Dramamine. It doesn't solve magically solve the problem but their kindness helps you get through the rest of the flight.
Finally, you land. The nausea had disappated for the time being. You stick close to your seat companions through the airport and exchange some contact information. 
After immigration, it's time to get your bags and find your bus to your new home. You step outside and are completely unprepared for the heat and humidity. It must be in the high 30s and feeling like 40 something. You didn't get a chance to grab water. It's not a long wait for the bus, however, and, thankfully, it's fully air-conditioned and had comfortable seats. You let your boss know that you've caught the bus and are headed to Byeollae. He will pick you up at the station and take you to your new home.

There are many things to do when you arrive. The first thing your boss wants to sort out is your phone. So you go to the phone shops and try to get your phone to unlock for a new SIM card. It doesn't. You now get to use your boss's old phone until you get a new unlock code and your Alien Registration Card, which will let you get your own phone plan and home WiFi and a bank account.
By the end of the phone business you are worn out. Your boss kindly takes you to get dinner. It doesn't want to sit well. You just drink the miso soup and ask for the kimbap to go. Exhaustion has set in. The idea of going on a big shop for house things is not a good one. You tell your boss you will make do without bedsheets for now. He takes you to your apartment.

There are still many things to go over for Monday. The nausea has returned in full force. It's been over 24 hours since you slept. Your boss goes out to buy you some water and toilet paper. You're still feeling unwell when he returns. He goes to work for a few hours and you try to sleep. You can't sleep. Your boss comes back around midnight with a cup of hot honey ginger tea from the convenience store. It gives you the sugar and energy you need to get through the rest of the information.

On Sunday, you wake up and check the time: 2:50pm. Oh. You go out to get some things you need for the house, including something to eat. You still feel very unwell. Some cereal, you think, will help. It doesn't want to stay down. It's a rough rest of the day. You go out again to get a couple things from the convenience store that you need for Monday's trip into Seoul for training.
You get about 5 hours of sleep. You are not in a good place health-wise or emotionally. This was not supposed to be this hard. You have to have a medical check at 7:00am.
You feel terrible all day. Everyone at training can tell. You worry that you are causing a lot of issues because your body won't cooperate. But the trainers are very kind about it. They can see how pale you are and do their best to help. At the end of the day, it is decided that one of the other trainees (one of your coworkers) will go home with you and take you to the walk-in clinic. At the walk-in clinic, they check your blood pressure and blood sugar levels (both normal). The doctor says Heat Shock and Exhaustion. He prescribes medicine to keep food down.
You go home and eat some rice. It stays put. You try to sleep. You do for an hour and then wake-up shaking. You text your new friend and she comes over with bedsheets, watermelon, and sleeping meds. Finally, you can sleep.
Each day you feel a little bit better. And on Wednesday, when you ask your training group "where should we go for lunch" everyone is excited that you are finally well enough to think about food!
You spend Tuesday and Thursday at the hotel you were originally supposed to be at. It cuts down on commute time and gives you WiFi to talk to family.
Saturday, you have more training to do at your campus because there are additional classes that you'll be teaching that your weren't trained for at general training. You also take a trip to the big eMart. You finally have bedsheets.

Sunday is tough again. Stress and your stomach do not cooperate well. You have lessons to plan and everything feels like too much. You go to an English-speaking church in Seoul. Everything at it that reminds you of your home church makes you cry. But it feels good to be at church. You go out with your friend for food after the service. You manage to get down one egg and a slice and a half of bacon before feeling like it's not going to stay put. You start heading home and try not to be That white girl crying on the subway. 
You try to get groceries. Your credit card won't work and in trying to get into your mobile banking you type your password wrong too many times and get locked out. Your debit card doesn't work here. You apologise to the cashier and go home and panic cry. Finally you can the bank and sort it out.
Then it's time to go to work and lesson plan. When you get there, your boss asks how your day was and you break down a bit and explain your day in a very watery voice. He is very kind and talking about everything helps. Then it is time to actually finish lesson planning. You do and then head home to rest.

The first week is both long and short. Classes generally go well. You celebrate the end of the week with a small bottle of wine. You deserve it.

This has been a monstrously long post. But that is a rundown on my first 2 weeks. Teaching gets easier each day and each class. Yesterday, I planned out my month for my extra classes so now I know what I'm going to be teaching each week which makes lesson planning easier. I also got a load more things for my house, bought groceries, conquered both the laundry and the garbage disposal bins. Today, I'm going to church again in the afternoon and then I'll come home and prep some food for Monday and probably Tuesday. Another thing, right now our school is having Summer Intensives which means that teaching is starting for most people (not me this time) at about 10:10 every day. So that has also added to the busy atmosphere at work.
I'm going to try to out and explore when I get home. I'll probably come back to this Cafe for some internet as well! I'll leave you with two pictures and, when I come back here tonight, I will post again with mostly pictures :)

The first is in Byeollae and the second is looking at the Han River in Seoul.