Wharton senior and Weekly Pennsylvanian Editor-in-Chief Sherry Wang contracted H1N1 while working in South Korea at the University of Missouri Jeollanamdo Summer English Camp. She spent two weeks in quarantine and made a full recovery.
"I actually called my aunt and was like, 'I had the swine flu, but now I'm all good' and she just went, ' You know people die from that, right? Are you okay Sherry?'" Wang said. "It's just very amusing sometimes, because I've had the swine flu, I know how it is, and people are just overreacting. It's really not that bad. I didn't die. Obviously."
College students were brought in from the University of Missouri and Portland State University---more about that here---to teach at five different camp locations in Jeollanam-do, but things didn't go according to plan. Jeollanam-do cancelled some camps in July when three native speaker English teachers tested positive for swine flu.
Anymore it seems the quarantine is part of any new teacher's experience in Korea, and those teachers who came to Jeollanam-do for a short stint this summer were no exception. Going Mobile got quarantined, and got stuck with some drunk assholes. Seth of South Korea Adventure Time was introduced to swine flu as well:
Well three of us have confirmed cases among us of swine flu. Well, it is being said it's confirmed but there' quite a bit of doubt. Probably the phases of denial or whatever.
So we're sorta quarantined for longer and the middle school camp is practically canceled.
Seth, a 19-year-old brought to Wando for a summer camp, was quarantined as a result of those cases, though I'm not really sure how much of a true quarantine it was:
We're quarantined for another week. The three people supposedly infected are in the hospital.
They're bringing in two driers, getting us internet in our rooms (yay!), and we will be receiving at least half of the promised 500,000 won. Those were like my top three concerns really. We can still hike, it's now just like a summer camp.
If the elementary one happens, that's cool, but I'm having fun just hiking and composing music and hanging out all day. Also, if it gets canceled, they're taking us on a tour of Korea, so that might be pretty boss if it isn't rushed.
So all in all, things are well.
We went on a major major hike today.
Another blogger ended up in quarantine on Wando as well, and it sounds like one of the summer camps was cancelled while another one survived. Where's Wando? is another teacher who went to Wando for the summer and, I don't need to tell you again, was quarantined. She has a lot of great entries from July. On the 23rd, trouble was brewing:
Well now it’s getting late, and I have apparently come down with something over here in Korea. I’m praying it’s allergies, but this cough is leading me to believe it could be something viral. I don’t know if that’s the proper term, but I’m going with it regardless. Okay, that’s all for today.
And two days later:
Hey guys! Guess what happened to me today? I was told that I have SWINE FLU. Oh, happy day. If I’m being really honest I thought I was going to cry as soon as our camp director gave me the bad news. He relayed the information with such sadness that I couldn’t help but feel like it was the end of the world.
I got over the sadness in a relatively quick manner, and that previous emotion turned to something related to rage. I mean, really? This whole week they have been testing for swine flu, and I wrote it off as some paranoid scheme of theirs to ensure Korea remained an H1N1 virus-free country. It seems too convenient that when some of us do get sick it just so happens to be swine flu. I traveled for two days straight, with no sleep. The weather on the island was as temperamental as could be. Of course I was going to get sick. But swine flu? Let’s be serious.
So here I am. Quarantined within the quarantine with two other unfortunate souls who have also been turned into social lepers. We are enclosed in a tiny room with nothing but what we’ve brought with us. No one is allowed to come visit us (there are a brave few who manage to sneak past the lacking security into our cave of illness), and we are forced to entertain ourselves with markers, crosswords, and a few movies that have been generously donated by sympathetic campers.
A few days later:
Now, serious topic time: we have been given the options to stay in Korea or go home, and I am having a really difficult time deciding. On the one hand I have been excited for this trip since being accepted into the program, and I can’t bear the thought of leaving after seeing so little of the country. On the other hand I’m honestly exhausted. Not just physically, but mentally.
And when it was all said and done:
Some government workers picked us up from the hospital, and as an unbelievably wonderful gesture they took us to McDonald’s! I kid you not. I got to eat a semi-American meal! They only thing on the menu that was the same was the Big Mac, and that suited me just fine. I also got a Sprite, which I imagine tasted a little like heaven. Oh man, it was a good time.
We had a very warm welcome when we got back to camp, but soon after getting back I found out I have to leave tomorrow. That really sucked. Mentally I want to stay in Korea. Physically I need to go home. Anyway, I can’t spend my last night at camp being sad. No time for that.
Unfortunately for Michelle, Michelle's Magical Journey to Korea was marred by swine flu and quarantine. She also came to Wando first.
I really thought they were kidding when they told us that the first week of orientation we would be quarantined from everyone.
And shortly after arriving:
They are making us stay in quarantine because we have 3 "confirmed" cases of swine flu here. One of them is my friend Christine. They are making us all wear face masks and there is a good chance that they will send us home. They are going to cancel the first camp. If I have to stay in quarantine I would much rather go home. Christine is not allowed to leave her room even though she feels fine (she has a slight cough).Quarantine in quarantine...it gets worse but I am too angry to explain it all right now.
Things weren't going well:
It is very un-nerving that they are going to have a meeting about what to do with us without any US representation. I just really hope they send us home.
. . .
I want to cry for the way that Christine is being forced to stay in a room with 2 very sick people when she probably just has a cold. I hate this place. My friend Susan just called the US embassy and is trying to get more people aware of what is going on but since it is Sunday here there is almost no one working.
Things improved by the next post, though, which talks more about those dryers, hiking, and the Wandolympics, a strange schedule for a group quarantined for swine flu. Like the other bloggers she was given Tamiflu, and though five additional cases were found among teachers there, she didn't catch it. And after the quarantine, she also had a tough choice to make:
I think it would be sad to get all the way here and never see anything. The Koreans really don't want us to leave with such a bad impression of their country and are doing their best to make us comfortable. Right now there are 2 possibilities...we should know the final decision this afternoon. 1) Go on a cultural tour of the country for a week and fly home early 2) camp will continue as planned, we will pick up where we left off and only teach 1 camp and then do the same cultural tours as previously planned (temple stay and tour of Jeju island and Seoul).
Go ahead and read the rest of the thirty entries, if you'd like. Blogs like these are excellent resources not only as documentation of the swine flu quarantines in Korea, but of first impressions of Jeollanam-do and an insider's perspective on the summer English camps in our area. (Kimchee and Coffee put together a neat little slideshow in 2008.) If I find the time and the energy I'll also have to look around for information about the orientation held in Jeollanam-do for incoming public school teachers. I learned the guy who replaced me ended up catching swine flu and was quarantined at the orientation in Gurye county. Perhaps other people have stories to tell, not simply about swine flu or quarantine, but about the orientation process in general.
No comments:
Post a Comment