Korean Job Discussion Forums

[adverge]

I'm currently enduring the second bad cold in the 2.5 months since I have arrived here.

In Canada I never got sick - maybe once a year.

I'm so miserable right now I want to chop my nose off just to relief the pressure. My chest hurts, my head hurts, my throat hurts, my sinuses hurt - basically just everything hurts.

I also obiviously cannot sleep as I am posting this at 4am.

Has anyone else experienced sickness like this after arriving?

I have been eating a fairly healthy diet (the odd trip to McDonalds but that's it). I work long hours and am generally exhausted a lot so that could have something to do with it.

Also, I worked with children in Canada but never got sick like this even though I know schools are breeding grounds for disease.

Half the kids at my school are sick too. Tonight a girl couldn't keep her head up off her desk she was so sick. I tried to send her home to get some rest but she refused to leave.

Could pollution have something to do with it as well? I live in Daegu and except for the horrendous stench coming from the pipes in my bathroom it does not seem that polluted.

[kingplaya4]

I am not the bastion of health myself, but almost never get sick in the fall or summer usually. I only got one cold that was fairly bad this summer, but I've had two other very minor ones, but it still surprised me being that this has all occurred in the middle of summer. Sleep deprivation is bad on the immune system, and I'm guessing Korean kids may catch things more readily than they should (you know all of them above elementary school age are always tired).

I'm sure the pollution is not good for this sort of thing, but I highly doubt its the main issue. I wonder if there are certain colds and viruses that are more prevalent to Asia than they are to North America? Maybe we need to catch a few things before we get immune to asian viruses...who knows.

[wylies99]

3 keys to avoiding colds-
1) Lots of vitamin C
2) Lots of sleep
3) Avoidance of a--holes who have colds and think nothing of coughing on everyone else.

My problem has been #3.

[james the cat]

Unfortunately, it is a natural for teachers to be always sick in their first year or two of teaching. After a while you build up a resistance to 'kid germs'.

I remember my first few years teaching...actually, my first few years on sick leave....

[heydelores]

You are probably exposed to different virus strains here than you were at home. My first few months here, I was sick all the time. Now it only happens on occasion. (Unfortunately, this is one of those occasions. Yuck!)

[Demophobe]

타코나...Tacona...a pretty good masking medicine for when you can't bear the cold anymore.

[Mowie]

I am also suffering from a cold. Last week, several of my students came to class with a cold. I feel like a hypocrite complaining about mother's who send their children to class while sick, and i am teaching while sick.

Normally, I find that i suffer less from allergies here, but have more colds. Cold/Flu viruses should be basically the same worldwide as theymigrate from one are and spread globally. That is just a thought.

OP, there is also the "Daegu Cough" to catch. Not sure that it is specific to Daegu, but that's what the locals told me.

The worst part is the weather is great and I can't enjoy it.

[tzechuk]

[wylies99]

BTW- I was talking about adult a--holes coughing on everyone. Kids don't know any better.

[adverge]

Thinking about it, I get sick every time I go to Europe or America. I went to New Jersey in April for five days and was sick with a cold for two of them. And New Jersey isn't even that far away from Canada - about a 22 hour drive from my home.

Makes sense when you think about it, even though I always thought the world was so small now with international travel that the viruses would get around more.

Sooooo tired of being sick right at moment.

I spent the entire day coughing and hacking in the teacher's room and dragging myself around but it wasn't until 10:30pm that the director asked me if I were sick (even though I made several big shows of coughing in front of him).

My kids were great today though. I couldn't even stand - I had to sit in a chair for my elementary classes but they all behaved and I had them reading out the questions and asking each other right from the beginning instead of me asking them. They kept asking if I was okay, it was very sweet.

I also had to send one of the girls home today she was so sick she couldn't keep her head up off the table. I physically took her downstairs and told the receptionist to call her parents. The poor girl was pale as a ghost. No idea why her parents sent her to school.

[Muffin]

I really sympathise with you.

A couple of years ago I caught 13 colds in one year! Once your immune system is down, you seem to get trapped in a cycle. That was in the UK by the way, not Korea. I tried all the usual vitamin C, echinacea with no success. Finally I went to a Chinese herbalist and they recommended ginseng and honey and I really found it boosted me. As we are in the land of ginseng you could try that.

Strangely I have not suffered too badly with colds here (two in five months so far), but have had other health problems and constant insomnia.

Apparently colds are most commonly transmitted by hand (of course by coughing and sneezing too) and if your hand is contaminated with a cold virus and you touch either your eyes or nose it will quickly be transmitted.

Working with kids, it is wise to wash hands frequently or use sanitizer and avoid touching your face if you can.

[kermo]

It's not just the new country that can make you sick-- it's the freakin' plane ride! Being stuck in close quarters with all that recirculated air with germs from all over the world... definitely takes a toll.

[Novernae]

[philipjames]

I used to get one cold after another in Korea. However, about a year ago I started taking a multvitamin every morning after breakfast. I don't think I've had a cold since.

I recommend that everyone take a multivitamin each morning in Korea AND get a flu shot before winter sets in. The flu here will absolutely and completely knock you off your feet. And guess what - you still have to go to work.

Multivitamins. plus flu shot equals a survivable Korean winter.

That's my experience.
Good luck.
Jameson

[red dog]

I got a bad cold shortly after making the jump from Toronto to Seoul, and again when I travelled from Seoul to Mumbai a couple of years later. I'm prone to colds in general, but those seemed especially bad and I got the feeling it was a reaction to the pollution.