English Teacher musings

Deciding to have a baby in South Korea is fine.  Doesn't bother Joseph or I a bit.  We have no questions regarding when the baby is born and what to do from there regarding paperwork, etc.  for passport information, etc.  It seems pretty cut and dry.

What we have yet to learn is all the stuff that happens before you get pregnant and during pregnancy.
Since we are so far having a bit of trouble getting pregnant we have not found information for foreigners for this.  Also, this brings along more questions than answers at this point.



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We are considering me asking our current school for me to work part time or if they don't like that idea, I could stop working and either find a part time job or a university position job (less hours to begin with).  This would allow me to be able to go to a doctors office and get things going in that direction. 

With our hours how they are by the time we finish work it is 6pm and it would be at least 6:30 by the time we arrived at any doctors office.  Most are closed at that time.  The women's hospitals are anyway.  For the kind of appointments we would need thus far.

For instance, I decided to have blood work done to test my thyroid and I had to go to a different clinic on Saturday because the Women's Hospital I am a patient at is not open past 5pm on weekdays and not at all on Saturday's.  This poses a bit of a problem and we are considering our options which, are few. 

Money wise, we would be fine with me working part time as all of Joseph's money goes home each month anyway so if I were to work part time instead of what I am now my paycheck would be for the months bills and food, etc. and the remainder we can save part of it and use part of it for doctor bills.  It is something we are kicking around. Since both of us are under contract it is difficult for our school to say "yeah sure...go ahead and quit and be a mom..."  Especially since I have only been there 3 months.  It would be a good idea for them to keep me but work my part time so I could go to doctors appointments or something if I needed to.  Working in Korea as an English teacher it is important to understand that we get NO days off unless it is scheduled by your school.  At home I could take a day if I needed it to go to the doctor but here I cannot.  I have to be on my deathbed sick to stay home and for sick days, I get only 3.  For the entire 14 month contract. 

Needless to say, this is a quandary and we will solve it like any other issue that comes up: together.