As promised the day of the Health Check up has arrived. I needed a little buffer time so that I could think of it as funny instead of tramatic
Sooooo, we leave the apartment at 7:40, and what do you think we do? Walk to the Hospital. We get there at 8am. This is the earliest we have had to do anything since we got here. We all thought that we might oversleep, but no worries, we were all up well before our alarms. Still getting used to the time difference. Anyway, back to the day I will never forget (HeeHee!) We walk up to the counter and ask for a Health Check Up and hand the man our passports. None of us know how to say Health Check Up in Korean and our translator has not arrived yet, so we went back and forth trying to explain what we were needing. Each of us tried to say it slower, that didn't help, we tried to get a little louder. For some reason, understanding words in a foreign language is not helped by talking slower and louder or by hearing it from different people. Finally we found it on the form in front of us and we were on our way to the 2nd floor. We waited til our names were called. We heard "Mernenrnne Godoodne" and we knew it was me! (Daniel is lucky, everyone already knows how to say "McDonald") Bravely I walk into the room, where there are many little stations and some chairs where more people were waiting. The nurse asked me a question, I said I don't know, she asked again, and again I said I don't know. We both smiled at each other, and then I called Caleb in to help. She asked him a question, he said something like "School, need Health Check Up." The Nurse looked at us funny, we called Sally and she talked to her on the phone! Yay, Sally! So she called all the rest of us in there. She did body measurements, how big around are you, how tall are you (take off your shoes! which makes sense I know, but when you don't know what you are going to be doing it is not as obvious!!!) Then we got our eyes checked. Get ready for funny. For all of you who don't know, I have a lazy eye, which means one eye has great vision and the other eye not so much. So the first eye checked, I could only see down to line 3 or 4, the second eye checked I could see nearly to the bottom of the page. Everyone was laughing, when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Not just our group, but the nurses, and the people that were in the seats waiting. Just in case you were picturing these stations being closed off, they were not, they are just set up around the room. Next was the blood pressure, (all you nurses out there, don't read this part) My blood pressure was pretty high, we will not talk specifics. I was then ushered to the next station, hearing and color blind check??? The hearing I am sure of, we put on headphones and say which side the sound is coming from. I NAILED IT! Then we had say what numbers we saw in pictures, I pretty much nailed that too. Then it was time to meet with the doctor. He looked at my chart, did not try to say my name. Pointed to my Blood Pressure Reading and said something that corresponded with his hand going up in the air. I took that as my Blood Pressure was high! I said ok. Then he pointed to my vision test results and one finger went up and the other went down and he sort of smiled at me when he said it. I smiled and said "different, I know." Then he shooed me out of the room. So far, so good, I thought. Then I had to get a EKG, I think. Anyway, it is not like I envisioned getting my EKG done. Shirt up, shoes off, they attached these cuffs of some sort to my ankles and wrists, then they put all the little monitors around my heart. Took the test, then unattached me. This would not be my first time disrobe. After this I had to pee in a cup. The Nurse gave me a cup and marked a point on the cup of how full it needed to be. I already had an idea of what to do, because earlier we had seen a guy carrying a cup of pee down the hall and to the lab. So I went to the lab and the sent me to the bathroom to pee in my paper cup. FYI - the hall is lined with chairs, with people waiting for their various kinds of doctor appointments. I go into the bathroom and try to pee in the cup. First hardship, we were not able to eat or drink for the previous 12 hours, so not really producing a lot of urine. Second hardship, I have horrible aim, I wasted pee, because I just couldn't get it in the cup. There has to be some technique, but I have not mastered it, because I have only done this a few times, and it has been a long time. Not like riding a bike. So, I am just trying to fill this lidless paper cup and it is just not getting to the line she marked. Finally, Christine said, "Well this is as good as it is going to get" which means she didn't make it either. So, I decide that is all they are going to get on mine too. Look around for toilet paper, there is none. (I had been told that in some places you have to get the toilet paper before you go in the stall, but as of yet that had not happened and I had been looking. Why in the world would they do that in a hospital of all places????) Anyway, I had no choice, I just had to leave. I went to wash my hands, while holding my paper cup of pee, guess what, no paper towels. So here I am, looking for paper towels, holding my cup of pee, and Eureka! I find them, NO, wait, thats toilet paper, BOOOO! So I do what anyone else would do, I take my cup of pee, down the hall for my walk of shame, with wet hands holding the paper cup. I take it to the lab, nope thats not where it goes, they usher me back into the room with all the medical stations, still full of people and I give it to the nurse. Hope she knows which one is mine, because Christine hands hers to the nurse right after mine. Then the nurse sends us to the lab, where they again usher me out of the lab and we have to wait. She finally calls "Mernenrnne Godoodne" I think, at least that is what Kathrine and Caleb told me, and a new nurse takes my blood, a little prick and a little blood and it was over. Now time for the chest X-Ray. Downstairs I go, Kathrine leads me to the right room. Once called, I am taken to the X-Ray room where the nurse tells me to disrobe, except this time she just stands there and watches. Oh well, you gotta do it! She takes me to a stand up machine and I get my chest X-Ray done. Then she motions for me to change back into my clothes. Then she leaves. When she comes back, she looks at me like why are you still here and shoos me out. I go pay for this time of torture and humiliation, but I am not done yet. I have to get by blood pressure checked again, it is a little worse. Now I am done and we can leave the hospital. No, wait! We have to wait for the bust to come get us and take us to emart to get photos done.
Unfortunately, we get there before they open so we have to wait to get our photos done. They finally open and we go to a photography studio, not like going to Walgreens to get our passport photos. He positions us in a seat, has us turn our heads just so, lean forward just so, don't smile too much, fix your hair a little bit, there you go perfect! SNAP! SNAP! $20 bucks and 20 minutes later, 6 new photos of yourself for all the documents we might need.
Then its back to the apartments and we are done with our responsibilities for the day!
Wednesday, it was everyone for themselves. Christine, Daniel and I got together at the Coffee Tree for a little while. Christine and I went to the bank and went shopping. Kathrine, Christine and I met at the Coffee Tree in the evening. I used the ATM for the first time. It was a pretty non-eventful day
Next post, we will get to go to the school for the first time!
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