Back to Suwon.

On Wednesday, I woke up early and went to the National Police Hospital to do my health check. I did this last year when I first arrived in Korea, so I didn’t think I would have to do this again. However, because I went back to the States on vacation, it was required. Luckily for me, the hospital was only 20 minutes away by subway, so I arrived there in no time.

When I walked in, I went to the information desk and asked where I should go for the foreigner health check. The man pointed me in some direction behind him, and moved on to the next person. Helpful. I wandered in that direction, eventually going down a hallway. I had NO idea where I was going, and there were so many different signs at every doorway. I finally just decided to choose one and hope that someone spoke English.

I walked in and there was a younger man at the counter. (Normally in Korea, that means they probably speak a little bit of English, since the language is becoming more popular to learn, especially around University age.) After giving him my passport and telling him I needed a foreigner health check, he asked me to call someone who could speak Korean. I called the secretary at my school, since she is working this whole week. When she answered, I asked her to talk to him. They worked everything out, and it turns out, I was in the right place after all! Apparently, the man was checking to make sure I needed a foreigner health check for working and not a foreigner health check the military. Those are two different things, requiring different tests. I’m really glad he double-checked!

Once I was checked in, I went from room to room, with NONE of the doctors speaking English! They didn’t use any hand motions, and they talked really fast, so I had no chance of trying to understand anything they were saying. In the first room, they weighed me, checked my height, and tested my hearing and eyesight. In the next room, they took a full-body x-ray. In the last room, they took my blood and did a urine test. When I finished everything, I was sent back to the original room where I was checked in. The same man helped me. When I was standing at the counter, he was giving me my passport back and giving me information about when to pick up my test results. I immediately started feeling dizzy and sat down right away. I think it was from the blood test, because I’ve never really handled blood well.

The man came out from behind the counter and gave me some water. He took me to a room where there was a bed and told me to stay in there for a few minutes and rest. I stayed in there for about 15 minutes until my head stopped pounding and until I cooled off some. When I started getting dizzy earlier, my whole body got hot really fast, so I’m pretty sure I almost passed out. Scary. Anyway, I drank a few more cups of water, and then left the hospital. After that, I went home and took a 3-hour nap. I was completely wiped out after that health check.

Around 2:30pm, I left my apartment and headed to Suwon. I was going to my old school to visit Darren and my previous co-teachers. The only person who knew about my visit was Amanda, and she kept it a secret! Now that I live in Seoul, it takes me FOREVER to get back to Suwon and to Johnny’s area of town. While that is really lame, I REALLY love living in Seoul!!

After a 30-minute subway ride and an hour-long bus ride, I finally arrived in my old neighborhood in Suwon. I stopped by a donut shop to get some donuts for the teachers. When I walked into the school, Darren and Gun were so surprised to see me! It was really great to catch up with the teachers and see some of my old students! The students were so surprised and so many of them were taking out their phones and asking for pictures. I felt like such a celebrity! When the teachers had to teach, I sat at the front desk with Darren and caught up with him. It was great to see him.

When classes were finished at 7:45pm, Darren, Amanda, and I went to a local BBQ place and had some dinner. We stayed there for a few hours and ate and drank and just talked. It was really good to see both of them and to catch up on the last month. They are planning a work dinner for Abby, the new girl who replaced me, and Darren asked me if I would go. I’m so excited! That will be fun. At around 10pm, I decided that I should probably head home, since it was a long trip back. Darren ended up paying for our dinner, so that was a really nice surprise! I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again soon.