So, today I was sitting in my Korean class...
(Did I mention that I am taking a Korean class? It's all part of trying new things, relishing life in Korea, leaping tall buildings with a single bound thing that I promised myself I'd do in 2007. You know, the new me.)
...when I realized that I'd have to go the RE tomorrow morning for my cd2 scan. Since I have to go in the morning, and my class runs from 9-1, this meant that I had to tell my teacher that I'd be late for class. Now this wouldn't seem like a big deal, but the teacher is VERY strict about us only speaking to her in Korean, and it was only the third day of class, and I really don't speak Korean, so this presented a problem. We had already learned the word for doctor, so I looked up another few key words in my handy-dandy dictionary, and "then bravely shuffled up to the teacher.
"Teacher?" I said.
"Yes?" She replied, smiling benevolently.
"Tomorrow...I...go...doctor...9...return...10...OK?" I stammered.
"Doctor?" she said, pronouncing it rather differently than I had.
"Yes, doctor" I said, using my original pronounciation.
"Doctor?" she said, once again changing the pronounciation.
"Yes, doctor" I said, stubbornly sticking to my guns.
"Doctor?" she insisted rather firmly, emphasizing her new pronounciation.
"OK, doctor." I replied wearily, giving in, and pronouncing it her way.
"What name?" She asked.
I stared at her oddly. Why on earth could this woman care what my doctor's name is?
"What name?" she insisted.
I told her my doctor's name. She looked confused.
"Where?" she asked.
I promptly forgot everything that I knew about locations in Seoul. I was by now sweating profusely, and wishing desperately that I had just waited until tomorrow, and then told her that a dog ate my homework, thus making me late for class.
"I don't remember." I whined.
"What you do there?" She asked. At this point, I started wishing desperately for death, or at least alien abduction. Did I mention that there were a room full of people? Was I really supposed to tell her that I planned to drop trou and be probed? I stared at her desperately. She couldn't be serious, could she?
"What you do there?" She asked again, rather insistently. I didn't know what to say or do. Everyone was staring at me. Finally, I realized that I did have the hospital's info in writing in Korean, on my hospital ID card. trying to be discreet, I pulled it out and shamefacedly showed it to her, while cursing the day that I was born.
"Hospital!" she shrieked.
"Test, only test", I lied, trying desperately to draw this conversation to a close.
"Oh, test. I thought you said {insert word that sounds very much like doctor}"
"I said {my original pronounciation of doctor}"
"OH! I thought you said {her original pronounciation of doctor}. It means office. I was asking what was your job."
Will someone please shoot me now?
6 comments:
Oh Sara, I feel your embarassment, but as a bystander, I have to laugh at the Fawlty Towers hilarity of it all!
hilarious! you know, infertility IS kind of like a job. I know I feel like I'm in my RE's office as often as I'm at work.
What if she had continued to think you said office, and you went on to explain that "what you do there" is allow a man to put a camera- tipped wand up your hoo hoo!
How do you say hoo hoo in Korean?
so funny, but I feel for you! How difficult is Korean? Does the langage has several tones? I lived in Thailand for a while and the langage was a nightmare -- 5 or 6 tones and I am completely tone deaf! Good luck with everything
That's funny! The thing with RE appointments is that sometimes someone will start worrying if there is anything wrong with you because of all your time off to see a doctor. My boss thought I had some serious illness cause I took time off for (lap) "surgery".
I am s-o s-o-r-r-y for laughing, but that was hysterical!
If it makes you feel better I once was trying to tell my Spanish professor that I was embarassed, instead I used the wrong word and told him that I was pregnant. (How I wish I could say that now!)
Thank you for visiting me, and for the thoughtful comment. Hope you don't mind, I'll be stopping in from time to time.
hahaha! daily ultrasounds ARE a job!
i'm a wannabe world traveler so i'm a little envious of your living overseas. as horrible as those moments can be, looking back on them they are always the moments that authenticated my circumstances for me, reminding me i am a foreigner in a foriegn land figuring it out on my own. i tend to remember them very fondly; earned badges of my experiences. without those moments, you might as well be on the disney cruise simply watching korea slip by. no doubt you're in no danger of that, it must be a tremendous adventure!
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