What was I thinking?

Waygookin is the Korean term for "foreigner." Today I was reminded of the fact that I am still very much a foreigner here in Korea. [Sometimes I seem to be so comfortable here that I forget about that minor detail...]
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I made it through half a semester without crying at school. This is significant improvement compared to last semester, where hardly a week seemed to go by without tears. Today, the tears returned to Cheongryang...

The cause: Overwhelming feelings of helplessness + exhaustion + feeling under the weather +undue stress/anxiety

So, I had to get a medical check-up at the hospital. This is a standard procedure for Native Teachers. For some reason, I didn't even think twice about going to get this check-up done by myself at the hospital across the street from my apartment. I figured it would be more convenient because of the location. Why I didn't consider the language barrier, I'm not sure.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I quickly realized that I was unprepared for this challenge. I had no idea where to go (fortunately, my co-teacher had written something in Korean for me to show people). I could not communicate hardly at all with the workers. I felt very helpless. I couldn't eat breakfast because they wanted to take a blood sample. The check-up seemed to take a long time and I did not enjoy being by myself.

After completing the medical exam (successfully, I think), I had to rush to school to administer make-up speaking tests to several of my students. Because things took longer at the hospital than expected, I was late giving the exams to my students. This wasn't a major problem, but definitely added to the stress I was already feeling.

As soon as my last student finished her exam and left the room, I couldn't keep the tears from streaming down. Unfortunately, my co-teacher was still in the room... and I felt ridiculous. She was very kind and understanding, though... along with several other teachers (word spreads like wildfire at my school). I'm thankful for all of their concern and care. And I'm thankful that school finished early today due to mid-terms. I'm thankful that I could have coffee after school with Kang Bo-gil. And I'm thankful that tomorrow is a new day.