Still Lost in Translation: Sugar coating it

Dear Gillian Teacher,

Hello. My name is Wendy. Do you know my? I like to studying English with you. Your hair is curly. You are a nice and pretty teacher. Teacher, do you know my sister? I don't know English name. Maybe you know her? She is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ugly! Now do you know? She likes to study but I don't like. So then she is ugly and crazy. But mostly ugly. She is short hair and big face. Do you remember?
Teacher, am I pretty? Thank you teacher. Goodbye.

Kids can be harsh. Korean kids are just brutally honest. I remember from last year having my students point out the littlest flaws I tend to ignore about myself and as I stood in front of the class, having them judge me on my outfit of choice or my hairstyle that particular day. It got to a point where I found amusement out of it and just let them dashingly pick me to pieces. I suppose living and breathing homogeneity could account for their lack of acceptance or approval of the diverse. It's sometimes hard not to fall right in to their norms and visualizations. It's when I receive a diary like the one above or see my students covering up their pimples with little flesh colored bandages (which actually makes them look more obscene) I just thank god I'm an outsider - one of the few times you could probably say that in your life.

Being an outsider or a native English speaker, particularly in South Korea also means you are working even on your days off. For example, this past Saturday I was part of a foreigner group who got driven out to the beautiful countryside by Adam's Taekwondo Master. There were 5 of us, English teachers altogether so Mr. Taekwondo decided to capitalize and bring 2 of his Korean students along. Smart move muscle man!

Moreover, last week was quite an eventful week here in K-town. We celebrated Children's Day, Teacher's Day and my Birthday! I still find it humorous how Children's day even exists. I remember when I was young, I found it unfair that there was Mothers and Father's day, but noooo Children's day! Then my mom would so kindly remind me that, of course, everyday is Children's day. That never really held true for me until now. Children in Korea need a holiday from their everyday life. They are almost in a way, robbed of their childhood or at least by our Western standards. Going to school from 8am-4pm, then attending 3-4 hagwons (private schools) in the evening allows for very little spare time and the free time they do have is intended for homework, I'm sure. It differs greatly from our Western mentality and priorities. I recently had a conversation with my boss about how hard students in Korea work. When I told him that I used to finish school at 3:30pm for the day, he justified it by saying, "Well Canadians have naturally smart brains. Korean's need to study very, very hard to be smart like you". He actually believes this. Mind-blowing.

My birthday fell on a Friday this year so I had a delicious dinner after work with some friends and then rented out a karaoke room, here known as a noraebong. The room was double the size of my entire apartment and came fully equipped with a flat screen TV, microphone, tables, couches, food, soju and beer. It was a great night had by all... from what I can remember :s

It's hard to believe it's almost been 3 months since I've been out here. Time is flying by and I'm enjoying every moment of it. Unfortunately I have been a little ill for the past couple of weeks but I'm sure bar hopping on the weekends isn't exactly helping. Anyways I finally decided to make myself a doctors appointment so I cabbed down to the hospital early before work. I was already preparing myself for a challenging language barrier, but sometimes that makes the journey more rewarding. Let me compare and contrast my visualization of what I imagined would take place and what actually did occur over the course of my visit.

My visualization:
Gillian pays the taxi driver and walks happily into the hospital just in time for her 10am appointment.

Reality:
Cab driver misunderstood my request and took me to the hospital 4 blocks away making me then walk 20 minutes to my desired destination, tired, sweaty and 30 minutes late.

My visualization:
I walk up to the reception and let them know I have an appointment with Dr. Chin at 10am.

Reality:
I get budded by 3 different Koreans and finally get to the front desk where the woman looks at me and immediately runs to get another secretary either because a. she speaks no English or b. she's scared of my curly hair. But probably because she speaks no English.

My visualization:
I am told exactly where to wait and am then shortly after, am greeted by a friendly English speaking Doctor.

Reality:
A woman with the same level of English as my grade 3 students, attempts to take me on, gets my information and tells me "wait 20 hours" (clearly she meant to say 20 minutes...or at least I hoped).

My visualization:
The Doctor walks into the room and completes a basic physical, asking me questions about my medical history and checks my blood pressure, breathing, etc.

Reality:
The Doctor walks into the room, sits down and smiles. I begin to talk (since he doesn't) and inform him about my symptoms and medical history.
No response.
I slow down my speech (thinking maybe I was talking to fast, he couldn't understand me) and summarize what I had already said.
No response.

My visualization:
The doctor prescribes me some medication to help my cough and stuffy nose, then I praise him with a low bow and walk out the door feeling a bit more relieved.

Reality:
He finally opens his mouth and says, "drink warm water with sugar".
When he stopped talking after that, I realized that was the end of his sentence.
I was taken aback, but thought maybe after he checked my breathing he would see I am ill and need some medication.
I then ASKED HIM to check my breathing.
He smirked as if I had asked him something completely ridiculous and then responded with, "Oh no, no you must go to a different hospital to get breathing check".

Reality:
I travelled 15 minutes by cab and 20 minutes by foot to find out hospitals in Korea SUCK and I need to buy some sugar.

Hope your day was better than mine!

Some pics of the past week: