Joji was a man thought to be a woman

So, funny story...

I arrived at Kwangju Christian Hospital (Kwangju  Kidok Byeongweon) this morning after spending last night in Motel Windmill, a reasonably priced "love motel" on Kwangju's motel strip.  I failed to meet up with a couch that I had arranged to crash on, feeling pretty bad that I made my guests show up at the bus stop when I wouldn't be there, having missed my train in Seoul by five minutes. 

I was told by Dr. Kim to go to the third floor nursing department and mention who I was.  I was relayed between several people who had no idea who I was, and who were no doubt very frustrated with my minimal Korean.  Finally I was relayed to the first guy who walked by who could speak good English, Mr. Choi.  Mr. Choi took me around looking for people who would know who I was.  We gathered an entourage of about 4 managerial staff and finally got to a receptionist who had been expecting me (to be fair, I believe Dr. Kim had told them to expect me three days ago.  I didn't have their direct contact so I have been hustling to get my papers pushed through Seoul's bureaucracy in order to get down to Kwangju). 

The receptionist explained to everybody that they had been expecting a descendant of Dr. RM Wilson, Director of the hospital from 1910 to 1926, who would be writing about Dr. Wilson. 

Now, hindsight being 20/20, I can definitely look back and see some flags for the misunderstanding that ensued.  Though Dr. Kim (of Aeyangweon hospital) and I have been corresponding for over a year, our correspondences have been brief.  I believe I thoroughly explained who I was over a year ago when I originally applied to the Fulbright, and then later when I got the grant in April I told him that I would be coming to Korea in about 5 months.  So I don't fault him for forgetting that I was a great grandson of Dr. Rober Manton Wilson.  When he told me that the Kwangju Kidok Byeongweon had graciously reserved a room in the nurse's dormitory, I joked with many friends about getting a beautiful Korean woman as a roommate.  But it did not occur to me that they would have actually assigned me a room in the female nurse's dorm. 

After the 4 men in business suits and several secretaries puzzled over who I was, why I had a Japanese name, and where I was from, I was escorted into Dr. Park Byeongnan's office.  She has the air of a Korean matriarch, and her presence induces a natural deference, even despite her soft feminine features.  Her office with a large Desk and a circle of chairs in front of it.  She explained to me, "we had been expecting you to come here, but we thought you were a girl."  After some discussion, she decided that she could find accomodations for me in a male dormitory, but I would have to come back that afternoon. 

So now I'm getting ready to check out of the love motel a 3:00 and go back.  I will also try to negotiate Korean lessons at the local university, which seem intense (four hours per day) and are heard to be a very good deal at ~1000 USD for a quarter of instruction, something like 200 hours of class time.  In fact, that's a really good deal...

The good news is that I believe that they are only expecting me to be writing about my Great grandfather, not to be volunteering in the hospital.   I do want to volunteer, to get experience, but I think volunteering and taking intensive language classes from the get-go would be a little much for me.  So I may postpone volunteering until I go back to Seoul's Severance Hospital, or until I have more confidence in my Korean and more familiarity with my surroundings. 

I will try to talk with the teacher today about whether I can enroll in mid-session or if I have to wait for December when Winter Quarter starts. 

From now on I think I will sign all my correspondences in Korea "Mr. Joji  Kohjima" to avoid further confusion...