Entry #3 during COVID
On February 7, 2021 by Keturah HaferkampOur department director will re-enter South Korea today. She will arrive with her husband and their 2 young children. Their family are our upstairs neighbors.
Another new professor and her family moved in days ago and then out of the blue she fell and broke her knee! She had to have surgery the next afternoon. Her husband and 2 year old daughter obviously were NOT expecting this. She remained hospitalized overnight and is home now, recovering.
COVID-19 TESTS
In Chicagoland if you’re needing the PCR test and do not have lots of time to wait on results then we found a clinic in Schaumburg to be quick and easy. The nasal swab is still no one’s favorite thing (and for some reason they swab both nostrils. Why?!) But the lab returned our results within 1 day. Miraculous.
https://primecarephysicians.org/covid-19-testing-info-1
At the airport the morning of our flight we learned that the lab failed to match the names exactly as listed on our passports (they’d left out our middle names). We learned this at the check in counter. The attendants turned us away… we could not immigrate if the names did not match… 🙃
I mentally prepared to return home. Call them, the lady behind the desk suggested. So we did. Would you believe that the folks at Prime Care re-sent our test results to both us and the airline with the corrected information applied?! And within an hour.
Amazing. 😲 The airline printed our new documents and allowed us to check in.
WORK and QUARANTINE
Like healthcare workers, it has been a difficult time for educators everywhere. Colleagues both in the states and abroad cite difficulties accessing vaccines; fear of being exposed to the virus; frustrations with administration; with general organization regarding in-person instruction solutions; or challenges with student care.
Quarantine has given us a chance to figure out how to make online purchases. Since we are basically on house arrest for 15 days we use the time to learn new things. For me that has meant a solid 50 hours of figuring out online shopping and internet banking in Korean. On the first try I learned a LOT but failed miserably and ordered nothing at all. Several tries later I succeeded and ordered what felt like the entire internet! So.many.boxes.everywhere. 😳 I think we finally succeeded at setting up the bank account so that the system registers it as a legitimate certified space for purchasing. It’s a blessing to have food and other essentials.
Quarantine is also a good chance to work on class preparation. My husband also continues work at his job, but since his status is changed he is free to work the hours he chooses. That is a treasure considering the big time difference. We praise the LORD.
HOME
The situation is less fluid now for our family which is helpful. Time has a tendency to do that. We are thankful and continue to pray for continued grace and mercy in the days ahead.
We received word the day before yesterday that we have been put on a new meal train. Such a blessing to be cared for 🥰 by our community here.
And I cannot state enough how incredible Jet Zone is. I remain impressed. We are not jet lagged at all. That is truly amazing.