Filed under: South Korea Quarantine, Travel | Tags: quarantine, South Korea, swine flu, tamiflu
Maybe this is example training for us new teachers. Those of us who have taught before know that if you don’t lay down the law the first couple of days, it is almost impossible to undo the damage. That is exactly what has happened here. The quarantine was completely unorganized when we first got here. We were allowed to mingle in the common areas, use the computer consoles, roam freely with or without masks. Then yesterday some new folks came in got strict about staying in the rooms all day, wear the mask, don’t use the public computers, absolutely no smoking, and STAY IN YOUR ROOM. I’ve been content reading, searching the web, and chatting it up with my cool roomie, but this last rule has been extremely difficult for some of the folks, especially since the precedent had been set that we could socialize.
So to remedy this situation they’ve started to lie. The doctor is now telling everyone that hanging out in sunlight and smoking cause the same symptoms as the flu. So don’t do it. I’m not sure I buy that one.
The next step in the quarantine drama is that they are forcing us all to take Tamiflu whether or not we are showing any symptoms. People have objections to this for various reasons. The Tamiflu website claims it can be used to prevent flu as well as treat it, but I would assume the website is also trying to sell as much tamilfu as possible.
Oh yea, and some of the people who had opted to start taking the Tamiflu yesterday have said it is making them feel worse (probably because they didn’t really have symptoms to begin with.) Apparently side effects include diarrhea, vomiting and fatigue. The people who were actually sick that took it said it made them feel 100% better.
They are now saying we are leaving on Tues. no matter what happens, unless someone is sick, which really isn’t ‘no matter what happens’, but well enough. The hagwon says we will be teaching on Wed. I wonder if anyone will be class?
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Ruby Ramblings 
Sorry to hear about your quarantine. Hope you are fed well, at least.
Comment by Book Bird Dog May 26, 2009 @ 5:37 pmBack in 2008, Rodney’s mom came to visit. She brought us all the flu. How nice. But Me, Rodney and Anjana took the tamiflu and felt better the very next day. Sorry you guys are going throught this shit. Love ya’ll!
Comment by Jennifer Duncan May 28, 2009 @ 7:20 pm