Expats in Korea

It's funny, but I've practically turned into an extrovert in Korea. Every foreigner is immediately visible, and I've begun randomly saying, "Hello," to everyone in the subway, street, grocery store who looks like they'd understand the next several words to come out of my mouth. I met a woman, Jen, who's about to start her Master's in Canada, while attempting to find the correct exit from the Hadan subway station. I gave her my name to look me up on Facebook. She's lived in Korea for four years. I've met a few people through the South Korea FB network, but it's easy enough to approach a foreigner under any circumstance and you end up exchanging info right then and there. Like I would randomly walk up to a stranger back in Vegas or Chicago and say hi. Right.

On a related note, I began "formal" Korean lessons with my co-teacher. I know you can survive just fine knowing nothing but "hello" and "excuse me," but I'm determined to learn the language anyway. I'm pretty good at reading the characters and am getting more fluid all the time.

Reflections

What I need to do most, right now, is consider carefully why I'm here and what I want out of the experience.

I like Korean food, but sometimes...

Lunch today consisted of breaded chicken, cream of broccoli soup, and fruit salad (and the inevitable kim chee and rice, this time with peas). There were cherry tomatoes in the fruit salad, but I suppose that was acceptable. No seafood, noodles-- and definitely nothing with eyes. It was lovely to have some milk product in the meal.

Another Teaching Post

Taught third graders for the first time today. They haven't yet had the excitment of learning English beaten out of them. It's refreshing. ALL of them are still into learning. Our kids here are well-behaved anyway. I heard horror stories from other teachers where the kids have to punch themselves--hard-- in the head when they do something wrong and the rest of the class counts out loud. It's crazy. All we do here is have the kids clap a certain number of claps, to get their attention focused. Anyway, I must find some Sing-Alongs for them on YouTube, and perhaps teach them some fun childrens' games or tongue twisters or improv. I could have a lot of fun with this job. Just gotta be creative.

A Slight Problem

I'm so used to getting paid biweekly, that it only just occurred to me that I'd only be paid at the end of the month here. Hence, I am down to my last 50,000 KRW. Fortunately, I will soon get my plan fare reimbursed which will put a cool 1.3 million KRW in my account. Too bad it isn't as much money as it sounds...

Flesh Eating Medicinal Fish

...the Cherry Blossom Festival was nothing to mention, flowers were gorgeous, of course, petals swirling through the breeze like pink faeries, but other than that just a lot of people, walking, eating hot Ramen in the middle of the day, probably spicy, cheap ice cream bars. The only real thing was I met a couple of girls on the way, who I proceeded to have a lovely lunch with and ordered what we thought were individual soup bowls and ended up being full courses. After which we wandered the streets. Attended Easter Mass (it was Easter, I'd forgetten). I felt like a complete idiot, not understanding the rituals OR the language.

But the cool bit was the last part of the evening.

Tonight I discovered the phenomena of "Doctor Fish." I thought my friend was joking when she said you put your feet in water and little fish eat it. But, no, she meant it in all seriousness (now that I think about it, I have heard of this before, where I don't remember).

All I know is I saw a sign for a "Book Spa Cafe," thought it might be relaxing, and next thing I know I'm drinking overpriced cold strawberry juice (you have to order something off the menu to get the spa, which is 2,000 KRW), lathering rolls with butter and a bit of strawberry jam and prepping myself for the lovely experience of getting my feet eaten by minnows. It tickles like crazy, especially if you lift your feet off the tub floor so the fish have access to the bottom of your feet. I squealed like anything at first and kicked my feet around so the fish couldn't find hold-- but I was much better by the end and could hold myself still for a few minutes at a time.

Whole new meaning to the prhase, "Food for the fishes."

Art and Flowers in Seoul

On a secondary note, today was a dismal failure to reach Seoul, but I will not be stopped tomorrow. Tomorrow, cherry blossoms and international art galore! Korea appears to be chock full of cherry trees, all in full blossom, beautiful pink and white loveliness, and I don't have to travel for THAT, but I do want to take video of the festival and see all the people. City of ten million. Gotta be some interesting characters scattered among them. People, it amazes me everyday, are really so interesting....

I know, I'm neglecting my blog

I am just writing to say that I am keeping a detailed journal. HOWEVER, I have had a difficult time accessing the website. Would post more now, but must prepare for tomorrow's trip to Seoul!

Edit: Can now consistently access blogger site and will be much more punctual in updating journal.

Is there a Korean term for "kawaii"?

Japan may have its "kawaii" culture, but Korea is pretty cute, too. They like Hello Kitty and giggle a lot on their TV shows, and their subway Smartrip cards are shaped like teddy bears and hearts and cartoon whales. I don't mind, I like cute culture. Of course there's the sophistication, too, but there's no denying the, well, cute is really the only word for it. It's a good thing.

Lost

Okay, moment of despair here. Well, despair is really too strong a word, but it’ll serve my basic purpose.

I feel so lost here. As big as the city is, I feel trapped in my small corner of the downtown area. I don’t understand enough to get around on the transportation system, and I’m hesitant to get lost (still worried about my budget and taxis). The few Americans, Canadians I’ve met have spent years here, however, and still don’t speak the language. So I figure if I make a real attempt at learning the language, I’ll be much better off at the end of one, two years. Still don’t know how long I intend to remain abroad.

A Note on Korean Currency

Handling Korean currency is very similar to handling the Dot Com Monopoly money. Even when you’re down to your last $1 bank note, it’s still $1 MILLION. That way, even though your grandmother/best friend’s little brother's obnoxious 10 year old cousin is sitting on every square but the Luxury Tax and owns hotels from The Strip (purple) to Desert Inn (green), somehow its not as depressing that you’ve only got your One (Million) Dollar (s). Note: I know foreign money ISN'T Monopoly money, but who can take a thousand ANYTHING note seriously? But back to the point: You have one 1,000 KRW note. Which seems like quite a lot, doesn’t it? So here I am carrying around 40,000 KRW and thinking, I’ve never carried around $40,000 (hah, like I’ve ever held ONE thousand dollars at any given time), Wow, that’s a lot of money. And maybe it is here. An ice cream bar is 1,000 KRW. A trashcan is 8,000 KRW. Really, who can make sense of those kinds of numbers?

I Begin My Work as a Teacher

Taught my first class today. Nice to get into that routine, after the endless hospital, immigration office, and bank visits. The kids are adorable. It’s a bit difficult to know how to teach them, though, because language education starts so much earlier. I can’t teach the 5th graders, for example, like I would 8th graders—but, by 5th grade, they’ve already had two years of English language, just like 8th grade American kids. It’s a balance I’ll have to understand. I hope I make a good teacher. It’s not exactly a trait I possess naturally.

I Arrive in Korea

Am sitting at my new desk, in my new office. This morning was a whirl of excitement. Got my health check (drug test, blood test, chest x-ray), opened up a bank account, met my principal, was shown to my classroom and given textbooks to study, ate lunch (beef and vegetable soup, kim chee, rice, tempura eggplant, pickled vegetables), and met a Canadian named John who promised to introduce me to some Koreans and Canadians. I guess he’s lived here for two years now. We’re supposed to meet up in front of the E-Mart at seven, because I have absolutely no contact information yet. I haven’t even seen my apartment.

On the whole, I am grateful to have even MADE it to my home town. I nearly missed my transfer flight to Busan when I discovered, an hour before departure, that my light left from a DIFFERENT airport than the one I currently had my feet planted on. Yay! Just what I wanted, not an hour in a strange country, and already I had to figure out the transportation system. Fortunately there was a bus that left for the other airport at just the moment I needed, and I managed to convert a few thousand of their currency with the little cash I had on hand. Thirty minutes before departure, I arrived at the airport, whisked through security—only to be held up by the presence of one aerosol can that security determined to be hairspray (it was actually my mace that my mother had bought for me years ago, never used once, but got in the habit of carrying around anyway, didn’t think would be a problem shipped under). At precisely 8:16, my flight leaving at 8:30, I sprinted to my gate, arriving at 8:19. Eleven minutes to spare. Awesome.

The rest of the day proceeded smoothly. I met my teacher, got a brief tour of the elementary school, got into my apartment, unpacked, ate…hmmm, lunch consisted of soup, rice, kim chee, pickled cucumber, and….some sort of beef dish, I guess. Korean food appears to be mainly rice, kim chee and other pickled veggies, a soup (often seafood), and a beef/veggie dish.

Oh! And I met my first non Korean friend, a Canadian who’d been living in Korea for two years, teaching of course.

Update:
Apartment is lovely. Big room with desk, chair, couch, and bed. Two big closets and a third smaller. Sliding door opens to kitchen area, small table, and washer/dryer. And a bathroom, although with no proper shower. Koreans just use a showerhead. More space than I have at home, although the kitchen isn’t as nice as ours.

Sleep now, although jet lag has yet to catch up with me.