Ms.Sicky

As many of you know, I have been sick a few times already since arriving here 3 months ago. Fellow teachers told me about their difficult times with the winter weather and different germs here in Korea, and how many of them were sick for months when they first arrived. I have to admit before I came over I was not worried about this as my “teacher” immune system has gotten pretty tough back in the States. Just about any Daycare fully loaded with snotty nosed children could not make me sick after being a Developmental Therapist for 3 years.

Oh, how those good times are behind me!

This is now the third time I am sick in the past month or so and it seems as soon as I get rid of a cold, another one comes swooping in a week later. I suppose I have my 12 beautiful little germs to thank that I teach everyday in Kindergarten, as they are often showing the same symptoms as I am. No matter how many times I wash my hands or teach them to cough in their elbows, I am still reaching for the toilet paper every 2 minutes. (They don’t use tissues over here, they just have big rolls of toilet paper in the classroom, the ROUGH kind that your nose eventually begins to HATE.) As the weeks have gone by, I feel as though I have become a walking germ. I have become the gross teacher who every now and then has to spit in the trashcan due to post nasal drip. The beauty of it is, since my kids have what I have, a few of them I see choking on their mucus and I have begun to encourage them to spit it out. I figured this would help them in the long run to get rid of their cold, and make my working environment not so contagious anymore. But now our classroom feels like it should be quarantined! Just today during circle time I had two children getting up to spit in the trashcan, four getting up and down up and down continuously blowing their noses, and just about everyone coughing. Myself included. I looked around at the scene around me, and couldn’t help but say out loud to all of them, “We are so gross.” They laughed so I decided to laugh a little, but mostly out of horror. Our one bottle of hand sanitizer reached its end this morning, and so I frantically found some more realizing how germ-filled our room was. So after each little nose was blown I would hear, “Teacher, can I do the stuff?” My answer is always yes. YES, YES, YES. Do the “stuff” every time.

Working so much, and living in this fancy and fabulous city, I cannot let these colds hold me back! Even though I have traded in my wine for a hot cup of ginseng tea on most days, I still need to keep up with this city. You think any of these Korean Gangnam ladies let a little cold stop them? No, ma’am. They strap on their 4 inch heels, throw their Louis Vuitton bags over their shoulder, button up their fur coats and keep it moving. Sure, they may also put on a face mask, but that’s just the courteous thing to do! (If my kids wore more of their facemasks at school then maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess!) So I figure, lets fake it ‘til you make it. So I strap on my boots, my warm glamorous Asian coat, and hide my red nose in my stylish scarf. I’m not going to lie; I have seriously considered purchasing the face mask…..after all I don’t want to be the germy American who isn’t keeping her sickness to herself! Do as the locals do, right? Adapt to their customs?

I am now going back and forth to the pharmacy, rubbing lotion on my raw and red nose, and stuffing tissues in every crevice I can find; pockets, purses, pencil cases, you name it. I know that this phase of me being so incredibly susceptible to new germs will fade eventually but not right now. So, until then I will just be the girl with the unrelenting cough and the red nose. But hey, at least its December now. If I look like Rudolph, then people can just call me festive!