Korean Job Discussion Forums

superacidjax · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Location: Seoul

What is this, day 2? This is getting old very quickly. They should let us sit this out at home. It's kind of silly to lock all of us up together -- that's a sure way to increase the spread. Instead of 2 or 3 cases, we're going to have 20 or 30 cases and be stuck in this place until July!

No smoking on the balcony? WhyTF not? What, are they afraid we're going to get cancer too while we're being exposed to swine flu? I find that this whole quarantine business is pretty dumb given that we've already been around the country, in the subways, etc.. are they going to round up everyone with whom we've had contact? Where's the hotel front desk staff? Our shuttle driver? They ALL should be in here too. Even our trainers should be here. They were in contact with us just as much as everyone else!

I found my own room and it's bigger than I expect my apartment to be, so I guess I'll just sit back and enjoy the prison vacation.

Rusty Shackleford · Joined: 08 May 2008

Where did you catch it? My school is asking if I left the country. But I'm guessing most of you caught it in Korea, right?

superacidjax · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Location: Seoul

superacidjax · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Location: Seoul

Just got my Tamiflu ration.. Hurray! I feel terrible, but at least I've got some music..

Underwaterbob · Joined: 08 Jan 2005 Location: In Cognito

Swine flu has killed how many people? The regular flu kills how many people? This whole thing is blown out of proportion.

superacidjax · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Location: Seoul

Draz · Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Location: Land of Morning Clam

Man I would love to have permission to just lay around and do nothing for over a week right now.... man.

dean_burrito · Joined: 12 Jun 2007

I think the 9 day quarantine is a bit of an over reaction. But I think you're a lot better off there than if they had sent you all to work. There would likely be a lynch mob of parents outside the schools along with the media. A simple stay at home probably would have sufficed.

xCustomx · Joined: 06 Jan 2006

If you are a teacher in Yongin and you went to the Korean culture "workshop" last Wednesday, then you may have been exposed. All schools in Yongin this morning received a notice to look for symptoms by their native teacher.

I told my co-teacher I've made attempts to eat a lot of kimchi lately, so it's impossible for me to get the disease. She just smiled and said "that's good. You should be OK then" I didn't bother to get into a debate about kimchi and how it's a remedy for every possible disease

superacidjax · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Location: Seoul

Wow, this just turned into a big mess. schools all over the place are being shut down for a week.. anywhere we've contacted is closed off. Wow. All over a fairly minor flu. I feel like sneezing on some pigs just to keep things interesting.

roadwork · Joined: 24 Nov 2008 Location: Goin' up the country

farrepatt · Joined: 27 Jan 2008

My wife and I were at that training in Yongin. I thought the confirmed Swine Flu case was for someone in Gangnam? Hopefully the Yongin note was just a precaution. I'd be really annoyed if I had to go into quarantine for a week.

superacidjax · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Location: Seoul

Gangnam was were our group's hotel was when we arrived last Sunday, but last Friday, we scattered to our schools throughout the country. We just stopped in for a visit, but now every school that we went to (there weren't kids there at the time, just the director and a few staff) is now facing the quarantine. Some were in Daegu, I was in Ilsan, others in Bundang and all across Seoul. If your school is affected, you're director would let you know. If you came into contact with any of us, you'd probably be here already or your director would have called.

If you haven't heard anything, don't worry (yet.) Our information is a bit incomplete at the moment..

flint · Joined: 11 Apr 2004

A friend of mine who works for EPIK got an email this afternoon saying:

"This is to let you know that ALL foreign teachers who enter the country after May 11, 2009 are required to do a home quarantine for 7 days before returning to school.

During the quarantine, you are required to stay home and wear a mask if leaving the house temporarily to run errands such as grocery shopping. At the end of the 7 day quarantine, you must visit a public health clinic for a final checkup."

Consider it says May 11th and today is the 25th I find it a little strange, but hey it is Korea.

karmarooster · Joined: 11 Jun 2008

i'm really concerned about this.

SWINE FLU PANIC + XENOPHOBIA = TROUBLE FOR ALL OF US

they are going to quarantine many more people, and label this as a 'foreign' virus that threatens 'pure' korea.

koreans will be scared of us because they will think we are contagious. wait till this is all over the news.

however, maybe it won't make the news because of everything with NK nuke test and Roh jumping off a cliff. we'll see.