Worst feeling ever - 배가 너무 아파요

From my 'one to two men' euphoric trip to Dobongsan ... to the worst feeling ever... How can things just change so suddenly?
I am not really the kind of girl (or should I say 'woman' by now) that is really afraid of having pain. When talking about psychological pain, I have learnt within time to deal with it by writing it 'off' my mind or by talking about it in stead of cropping it up. When talking about physical pain, I don't really mind bumping my head of other parts of my body to some object, wall or floor - colorful body as a result - because I already accepted long time ago the 'clumsy' genes I inherited from the male part of my family ;p. But there are a few kinds of pain left that I really can't bear, and of which I am really afraid of : having needles in my body, having cramps in my feet or legs or having stomach ache.

I have been suffering from a strange stomach ache since Saturday morning. I just woke up with it and it lasted for 2 hours and just disappeared like that, otherwise I would not have gone hiking on my own. That would not be wise at all. So I didn't really pay much attention to it. Sunday, I had some minor aches during the afternoon, but I thought that was because I was hungry so I ate some bread with milk because I was going to have dinner with a friend anyway in the evening. But as from 5pm Sunday on, the stomach ache became a continuous one, up until today.
I still went to dinner that evening though and had some light noodle soup. I actually wanted to study for my Korean class because we have test on every Monday, but I didn't manage to do so. I just got my test results back and I wasn't so happy about it.

So what did my stomach do? From Sunday 5pm on, non stop, my stomach just went crazy and I felt all of the energy being sucked out of my body making my face so pale that even most native Asian women would envy me because of that temporary perfect pale complexion ;p...
I have tried several things to ease the pain, like rubbing some Chinese esoteric spicy oils on my tum - giving a temporary nice warm anesthetic feeling - I have been drinking a shot of Jägermeister to ease the burning - strong liquor is also used as a 'digestive' - I have been drinking lots of hot water and sleeping on my stomach.

But nothing really helped. It just felt like something being stuck, burning, but I really have no clue what I have been eating wrong. Maybe it's just of the gradually changed eating habits from having neutral home cooked meals in the USA to mostly spicy Korean food everyday. Not to even mention the amount of delicious cup noodles I have been devouring, and kimbap and ready made sushi bun. But I still think it's because I am not used to eat spicy everyday.
And then there's the bread : I not used to eat industrial bread because I have been making my own bread everyday since 2 years with my bread maker... That can also be a reason.

Anyway, I just went to school on Monday, did a bad test, went for lunch with people of my class although I didn't really felt like it, came home, studied for 1 hour and then just laid on my bed because it became unbearable. By that time, I really felt miserable.
Being alone and sick in a country that is not your home, is the worst feeling ever in my opinion. You don't really know the language, don't know where to go, there's nobody close near you to comfort you, it's just on your own. Meanwhile, you just hope it will get over soon. And hope it will not get worse in such kind of state that you have to be hospitalized.

By Monday evening, I knocked on my neighbor's door, she's a Korean Canadian with whom I can talk in English. I asked her if she knew a student doctor where I can go for a checkup. But she advised me to got the pharmacy first to get some medicine based on the description of illness and then maybe go see a doctor. It was really kind of her to join me to the pharmacy and doing all the talking, because the only thing I could say to the pharmacist was : 배가 너무 아파요 (My tummy or stomach hurts a lot). The pharmacist advised me not to eat bread, ramen or spicy food for the following days and gave me some medicine for one day. Best thing to eat when the stomach is upset, is eating 죽 (rice congee).

My neighbor took me to an eatery where I could order some take out congee. Back at my room I felt much better of having 'healthy' food in my hands and devoured half of it, took my yucky medicine - that looked like granulated dried yeast I use for my bread - and then went to bed. I think that was around 9pm. From then on, I just stayed in bed until this morning.

And now... I just got back from school, with the stomach ache but less worse than yesterday, just had the other half of my congee, so to be short... I am still "half" alive and kicking =). Feeling much better right now, the pain has diminished, but I am not 100% recovered yet. So better be careful with the food from now on. I don't want this happening to me again. Ever !!!

Just took my last part of the medicine and hope I will be fine by this evening. Really want to study right now, because I have lost so many precious hours. 아자아자 Fighting !!!