Weary, nervous, scared, etc

It's now less than a year until I apply for the T.a.L.K program. My brain is already pushing me into panic mode for many of these reasons:

Health Concerns. Most of the recruitment sites (even though I'm going straight through the government program instead of a recruiter) state that you need to make a health report. I'm fat. Oh my god I'm fat, but I am fat because of me not being able to afford my thyroid medicine. I eat healthy, I do minimal exercise (blame game part 2: my rheumatoid arthritis sucks and I can't afford the medication for my DMARDs either. Yay Walmart paycheck!), and my vitals are quite healthy for a person of my size. No diabetes, no high blood pressure, no cholesterol problems. I'm just fat because I can't take the medications that make me less lazy and be in less pain.

Will Korea give a care about this? I'm sure if I am able to try to save a couple hundred I can go to my doctors and ask for a year's prescription. I'm fearing how much that would really cost in the long run though. I've seen pictures of hefty teachers in Korea. Obviously they take them, but are my two medication conditions going to keep me from teaching? The more serious of the two is my Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'm almost in constant bodily pain, but I work a movement heavy job and I still deal with it. There are days where I may limp and just be in the worst pain ever (un-medicated, of course.) Will a Korean reviewing my app seeing I'm "crippled" by my arthritis consider me a risk to their program?

I try not to complain about my pain and the only visual aid people would ever have to me being in pain is me probably limping or shuffling. This is why I really hope I can still be on my DMARDs if I get accepted into the program. To change it I will have to force myself to exercise more than I do now. It hurts to bend in ways my hips deem insane, but if it's the way I have to push myself to lose a little more weight then I will do it. This is motivation I do have, but in small amounts. To say the least I'm afraid of inflicting more pain than I am right now.

I'm just deafly afraid that if I get accepted and go do my physical they'll laugh at my blood tests (high RA factor and my thyroid issue) and send me packing back to the United States. I'm not considered disabled in the United States, so I'm not exactly protected by the ADA here. I'm certain the same goes for Korea too. Will I have rights and not be judged because I have an inflammatory disorder?

I guess I'll post about this at the ESLcafe and face the wrath of judgement and potentially good advice.


At the end of the month I'll be applying for my passport. Whew... and in about January I will be going to get my CRC done. This moves all too fast. Daehanminguk here I come.


-Lisa