Oh Korea, Today was Not Our Day!

Do you ever wake up and just know it's gonna be a bad day?  That was my day.  I should have just gone back to bed.  I got up this morning like I always do and turned on my hot water heater so I could shower.  I normally give the heater 10 or 15 minutes so the water can get super hot.  I gave it about that much time this morning, but when I hopped into the shower (which mind you is actually just my bathroom because there is no shower stall just a shower head pointed over my entire bathroom) the water was freezing.  I waited a bit longer and tried again and waited and tried and waited and tried.  After having the water heater on for an hour, I couldn't wait any longer to shower.  I needed to meet a friend at 10:15, so I had to get ready. Thus, I took an ice cold shower to start my day.  On top of that, my internet simply would NOT work this morning....frustration number 2.

I met up with my friend, Dolee, at 10:15.  He was going with me to the orthopedic hospital in my neighborhood to translate in case the doctor didn't speak English.  I was so glad that he was going out of his way to help me, and as we walked and talked, I thought perhaps the day was looking up.  We get to the hospital, put my name in and find out there's gonna be an almost 2 hour wait.  But I really needed to have my ankle looked at, so we just decided we'd sit down and wait it out.  After about an hour or so of sitting and talking, I hear someone screaming Korean and just absolutely freaking out.  I look up and see this old Korean man at the front desk, screaming at the receptionist and then pointing at me and totally freaking out.  It didn't take me long to discover that he was so furious, because I had apparently been talking too loud.  Don't get me wrong, I know I can talk too loud.  But I couldn't believe the way this man was acting.  He was yelling at the top of his lungs and slamming things around on the counter and demanding that the front desk assistants come tell me to be quiet. 

Needless to say, I was irate!  If this man wanted me to quiet down so he could watch the Korean soap opera that was on, all he had to do would be walk over and ask for me to quiet down.  I know I can get loud.  I would have apologized to him and then quieted down.  But instead, this guy made a huge scene; probably the biggest scene I have ever seen in my life.  My Korean friend, Dolee, just sat there next to me so embarrassed that this man had caused this huge scene and apologizing over and over and over.  It wasn't Dolee's fault so I just told him not to worry about it.  The guy had an issue with me, not Dolee.  This kind of thing happens all the time in Korea to foreigners.  My co-workers, friends and I have been shushed on buses, in restaurants, in shopping centers, at doctors' offices, any public place you can think of.  Koreans are very, very quiet in public.  And generally speaking, I try to respect aspects of Korean culture that are different from my own.  But I can't see the harm in having a conversation with someone in a public place, so I have a really hard time standing/sitting quietly next to my friends in public places.

About an hour after the drama with this Korean guy, I finally got called in to see the doctor.  The doctor actually ended up being great, and he spoke really good English.  He looked at my ankle/foot and decided that I should have a couple X-rays done.  My X-rays revealed that I have 2 small cracks in 2 different bones in my foot.  Since I fell almost a month ago, the doctor said they have kind of started to heal on their own, but I still need to wear a brace and be careful.  He said that I can't run, exercise, or play soccer for at least another month, potentially longer depending on how fast the bones end up healing.  Some more really annoying news on an already entirely annoying day. 

My doctor was unhappy that I had waited so long to come see someone about my ankle, because he said it could have started healing improperly, which could affect walking/running/etc. for the rest of my life.  The reason I hadn't gone to the doctor for my ankle is because my bosses kept telling me that they didn't think it was necessary and that I should try these alternative methods of medicine.  Then after talking to a bunch of other people, I found out that the bosses of many, many private English schools deter their employees from going to the hospital because the bosses pay teacher's medical bills out of their own pockets; it's a lot cheaper to go to an acupuncturist or a family doctor than it is to go to the hospital.  So bosses, mine included, try to encourage their employees to seek medical attention at places other than a hospital.  This news, also, really ticket me off.  I had trusted what my bosses had been saying, thinking that they had my best interest in mind, only to find out they had their pocketbooks in mind.

So, overall, it has been quite a frustrating day!  Before I came to Korea, numerous people that do or have lived in Korea told me how nice the Korean people were to Americans, because we have this bond of helping them in their toughest moments, and they appreciate us coming to their country to teach their children.  I don't know what these people were talking about.  I have met some great Korean people while here, so don't think that everyone I encounter is terrible.  But there are a fair amount of people that I encounter on a daily basis that simply do not want me here and want me to remember that I'm a foreigner.  I can usually laugh it off and move on, but today was too much.  I'm leaving all of my negativity from the day right here on this blog.  I intend to wake up renewed, refreshed, with a positive outlook on life again and thinking that people are generally good.  So don't worry about me.  I'll be ok.  I just had to get it out!

Hugs and Kisses from Halfway Around the World!!!

It's ALL About Him,

KendallCooke