Poked and Prodded

Apparently Peace Corps uses DHL to mail medical packets to people applying from overseas.  I'm REALLY happy about this! Instead of having to wait like 2 weeks to get the kit from the time they put it in the mail it only took 2 days! So I freaked out about not getting into see the doctor for nothing. 

Luckily I was able to get an appointment at the International Clinic at Seoul National University Hospital on Saturday.  This is the clinic that another applicant had been to, so they already knew a lot of what goes into this particular medical kit.  I also, happily, met another PC applicant at the clinic who had been emailing one of the nurses for a couple of weeks to make sure they new exactly what was needed.  This is great for me because all I had to do was tell them that I needed the exact same thing as the other woman.  And since they will be processing all of our stuff at the same time I'm pretty hopeful it will all go smoothly. 

However, this did turn into a 8hr ordeal.  I had to catch the bus at 6am to get down there (yuck!) and then I was early and had to wait for them to open.  The other applicant was supposed to be the only person before me but because her consultation took so long they told me I had to go last that day.  I got into see the gyno, eventually saw the doctor, had a ton of vials of blood drawn and got the polio-booster that I needed. I made it out of there around 2pm.  I did have a little trouble because I didn't realize I couldn't eat or drink anything for 8hrs beforehand.  Well, apparently that only effects of test, thankfully.  So I'll be going to the doctor near me tomorrow to have the TB skin test done.   

This actually wasn't too bad though.  There were a ton of other foreigners there who I got to talk to and it was great talking to the other PC nominee.  We both have to go back in 2 weeks to pick up our results and go over them with the doctor, so I'm hoping to run into her again.  We also exchanged info which is great.  It's good to know there is someone here who is going through the same process/stress that I can talk to.

I'm going to the dentist today, in about 2 hours, which I'm dreading and just really hoping they don't find any cavities/anything else wrong. I've heard everyone there speaks English, so, again, I'm hoping it goes smoothly.

And I've actually decided that I am glad to be doing all of this here.  Yes, having to travel farther for English speaking doctors and having to wait 2 weeks for them to be in the office is a little frustrating.  Still, it's worth it.  Medical treatment in Korea is much less expensive than it is at home, so I'm happy to be saving some money :)

So, dentist today, doctor tomorrow, and test results in a little under 2 weeks. Totally doable.  And hopefully everything is done correctly and I'm totally healthy! 

Added Stress

I've been going through the application process from South Korea.  This hasn't really added any stress or been a problem at all until now.  Now I'm into the medical part of the application.  I was nominated last week and had high hopes of receiving my medical kit in the mail this week and getting to the clinic on Saturday.  No such luck.

I had an email from the medical office yesterday (Tuesday in the US, Wednesday here) asking me to verify my address.  So, definitely not getting the kit this week. Hopefully next week.  Not really a big deal.  Except that there are few places I can go here that have English speaking doctors and are open on Saturday's, the only day I can go.  The one place that I can go is in Seoul and was a hospital with an international clinic. Perfect! Except, I come to find out, the family medicine doctor, the one I need to see, only works every-other Saturday.  Know what Saturday he works? That's right, he works this Saturday.

So, unless I can find another English speaking doctor, I have to wait 2 weeks.  The other problem is that I could have gotten everything done at that clinic in one day for not that much money.  There is another English-speaking family doctor near by, but he's sure to be more expensive and that would be going to different places for every part of the kit: the physical, the gyno, and the dentist and all for more money. Or I can wait and not finish this thing for several weeks, which may be what I do.  The problem with that is that I would have to go to the clinic 2 Saturday's in a row and I was planning to be out of town every-other weekend next month, so it would really push back when I could finish everything.  I'm glad I'm in Korea, except that doing this from home would be sooo much easier!

I'm just going to look at this as an exercise in patience.  It will all work out eventually anyway.  I like to get things done right away, but I'm going to roll with the flow on this.  I'm flexible with a lot of things, but when I feel like something is under my control, that it's something I can or should be able to get done, I like to get it done and out of the way.  Move forward.

Lesson learned: become fluent in the language so I can go see whatever doctor is around. Anyway, it looks like I'll be working on this for a while and I'm going to try not to stress too much about it.  Once this is done I will (hopefully) move on to the next step.  Fingers-crossed!

Un-nominated? Please, no!

Due to a major miscommunication, I had a minor freakout last night.  I had been planning to go to bed early since all of this is keeping me up at night thinking rather than sleeping.  I'm so glad I stayed up.  I had emailed my recruiter (?) earlier in the day to inform her that I needed to change my availability.  I was no longer going to be available to depart as late as June, 2012 and needed to change the month to May, 2012 for my latest departure date.  This is because if I am invited to serve I want to return to home in time to start school the next fall.  Unfortunately there was some confusion over this.

She thought I would no longer be able to leave in February, that I couldn't leave until May.  So, freaked when I received an email saying that she would email Washington to start the un-nomination process!!!! Bring on the panic attack!!! I'm really happy with everything about my nomination and definitely don't want to loose it, though I do realize that if I'm invited it might change anyway.  I immediately emailed her back explaining that I can leave in February and crossed my fingers she would get the email in time.  I also called a couple times and ended up leaving a message.  By that point in was about midnight here and I knew I wasn't going to sleep until I knew what was going on.  Luckily, my message reached her in time to halt the un-nomination process. So relieved!

Anyway, not everything is back on track, thankfully.  I'm waiting to receive the medical packet so I'll start in on that soon.  I'm hoping it reaches me sometime next week.  I found out there is an international clinic not to far from here where all the doctors speak English, so that took some stress off.  I had a bunch of medical tests when I arrived in South Korea last year and I was fine, so I'm hoping nothing has changed.

So far, the waiting has been that hardest part.  Patience is a virtue I need to cultivate.  Playing the waiting game for the next several months is going to be really hard!

Peace Corps

So, some of you know this, some don't, but I've made the decision to apply for the Peace Corps.  I decided to start this blog as way to help me keep a time-line of my application process and (if I'm invited) to serve as a way to share my experiences with all my friends and family at home and whoever else may be interested. Wish me luck!

P.S. In case anyone notices all the 'if''s here, I'm trying really hard not to jinx myself. Better safe than sorry :-p