Thursday, April 16, 2009

Staying healthy in Korea

As a teacher, I have always been exposed to more than the average number of bugs - and have fallen prey to more of them than I like.  Over the last few years, I have really worked to lower my chances of getting every cold that my students bring into class with them, and I have been fairly successful.  In my classroom in Colorado I use clorox wipes all year long, my students wipe their desks down after almost every class - and most of my students enjoy letting me know that they think I am crazy - though they are just as happy to try to prevent any sickness they might get from someone else sitting in their desk.   
Then comes Korea. Now, in all honesty, I have been relatively healthy here too, despite the fact that my students are ALWAYS sick!!  At home, students do come to school sick, but it is nothing like here.  At least once a week I wish I could send a kid home they are just that sick.  That is highly unacceptable here though, and so we all put up with hacking and sneezing and germiness.   I don't have clorox wipes to disinfect everything, and eventually all of those germs catch up with me.  Currently I am trying really hard to not get a full-blown cold that has been nagging at me in the form of a scratchy, sore throat all week.  I have been trying to get extra rest, taking my vitamins, eating well...but the problem with teaching is that you are talking all day, and by the end of the day (for me - 9:00) I feel terrible again.  
What I have noticed about Korea, is that when I get sick, I get sick for a LONG time.  Plus, it seems like someone around me is always sick, so it is a cycle in which I am constantly trying to stay ahead.  Wether it is because we are just not used to the viruses here, or because our immune systems are constantly barraged with new viruses, all I know is that it is exhausting trying to stay healthy.  I need a sick day...oh yeah, I don't really get any this year.  Oh, well - maybe I will kick this without the full-blown cold developing.  Positive thoughts!  :)

No comments: