Night Three: All Quiet on the Waegook Front
What a wild 24 hours it’s been. I think the range of emotions, frustrations, and over all miscommunications in the last day has been enough to fill a Brett Easton Ellis novel with enough fluff to pad 600 pages. Spirits seem a lot higher tonight at almost midnight now that most people are getting a clear line of communication between ourselves and the representatives at the MInistry of Health.
Dr. Lee, a very likable fellow who speaks absolutely perfect english, came around giving out 10 day rations of Tamiflu to everyone. The idea is this: we’re going to spend the next seven days here and continue our prescribed medication outside for an additional three days. This way everyone who is symptomatic gets treated, as well as those who develop symptoms over the seven day course will also have an additional three days of medication. Considering how much Tamiflu costs even here in Korea, I consider it a win win. Thoughts of pocketing the pills and selling them next to the adjummas streetside float through my head, but then give way to rationality and clear way out of here and these pretty little pills seem to be the ticket for now. So down they go into the belly as of tomorrow morning, hopefully the side effects don’t affect my sex drive or lust for video games.
In other news, the mood around here seems more upbeat. People are laughing more than they were this morning or last night, yet the balconies are unusually silent from the usual mass of chaotic smokers and soju smugglers passing the hours in conversation. I think some are sticking to their rooms, determined to spend the next 168 hours watching TV and catching up on the latest episodes of CSI. A good choice I may add, as I hated the show but suddenly found myself fascinated this evening when Morpheus from The Matrix popped up as one of the main characters. When the fleck did this happen?
On the communication front, it’s nice to have an actual doctor who listens to our concerns doing the rounds, taking the time to talk to us each individually and listen to our concerns. It’s taken three plus days but it’s better than hearing orders barked from down the Confucian pissing pole. Everyone’s mood is a lot better, and if things keep moving this way I doubt we’ll see flaming TP rolls flying off and poop balloons tossed at our captors. I’m not sure who we can thank for that, be it the embassy, friends and families, fellow sympathetic readers, or the general good karma of sick humor. None the less, Dr. Lee put it best when he said (paraphrasing, of course): “We know we can’t stop you from having fun and socializing, we just want you to get healthy and happy fast.”
Here’s hoping it works. Seven days and counting!
