Welcome to South Korea

Good morning Korea

Hello everybody! I am finally getting started with this blog – it’s been on my to do list for about two weeks now. I hope that I can share a bit about my experience here in South Korea – living overseas is something I have wanted to do for certain since the age of about 11, when my mom presented about her time living in Japan in my 7th grade Geography class. I have been so lucky to have so many travel opportunities in the past – from family vacations to study abroad to road trips – and now I'm continuing the trend in my own way. I titled this blog Living the Dream (0630 is my birthdate) because I really am living out my dream – not only to live abroad for a year, but to travel on my own to all of the places I read about in travel books and magazines during my frequent Mankato Barnes and Noble afternoons. I will probably stay abroad for two years, though I am not sure if I will remain in South Korea for a second year. When I return I plan to go to graduate school, so I see this as my last chance to live the backpacker/explorer/vagabonder type life I have always dreamed about. It is a bit scary not knowing what I will be doing next year, but it is exciting also. I want to travel as much as I can, but while in South Korea I want to learn as much as I can about their culture and lifestyle. I am getting thrown headfirst into it, so what better way to learn?

Without further ado, let me share with you some of my initial observations about my experience in Korea. I arrived on August 19th and had orientation until August 27th. Our orientation was a wonderful opportunity for me to make some new friends with the other new arrivals in Korea. Some are first year teachers like myself, some have taught before. Most come from Canada and the United States, but we had a few Kiwis and Brits in the mix. On the 27th I met my wonderful co-teacher Mrs. Lee, who helped me apply for my alien (why yes, I am considered an alien here in this lovely country) registration card, my Korean bank account, and then took me to my apartment. Much sleeping ensued, after a week of adjusting to jet lag and the extreme humidity in Korea.

My city! Gwangju from the mountainside.

I headed downtown on Saturday and enjoyed a day of walking, (some in the rain but nothing my trusty Target umbrella couldn't handle) exploring, and coffeeshopping. (I am making that a verb – I feel of all people I am entitled to use it freely. Definition: enjoying a coffee at a coffee shop, usually accompanied with people watching, writing in a journal, working on the computer, or reading.) I enjoyed wandering and marveling at all the name brand shops, crazy signs, and umbrella toting people. I ended up meeting two university English teachers (Gwangju has three universities) who invited me for drinks. I enjoyed chatting and was grateful to them for inviting me along – they helped answer a lot of my questions but of course only encouraged more.

Sunday I stayed near my apartment – tackled unpacking, organizing, and cleaning along with laundry, preparing for my first day at work, and some shopping. Busy day. I had fun making my apartment a little more homey, there are many pictures from home up on the walls.

I will write more about my school and apartment later, but for now I wanted to share some observations I have picked up while out and about in my new home in Gwangju, South Korea.

Checking out the downtown.

South Korea Top 10

1. Most Popular Cell Phone Ringtone – I think I have heard every possible tonal variation of Pachbel’s Canon in D Major. I have no idea why this song is popular. I also think some people let it ring longer than necessary just to hear the song.

2. No Shame – the adjumas (Korean for ‘old woman’ I don’t know what they call the old men – so we’ll say adjupas) stare shamelessly with piercing gazes. I am tempted to just get right down to their level and stare right back but I’m too scared. I especially love if they are sitting as I walk by and I can see them turn their head as I pass to get ready to stare at the back of me. I don’t think I will ever get used to being stared at, but the good news is that they are all short so I can just look above them as I pass.

3. No Mercy – Driving here is crazy. I don’t know why I haven’t seen more car accidents, because they whip around like they are in the Indy 500 – we were warned that pedestrians never have the right of way. Needless to say, I am very careful when crossing the street.

Hence the walkways...

4. Caffeinated Koreans – there are coffee shops everywhere you turn, and even if you aren’t at a coffee shop there are vending machines on the street to get ‘Korean style coffee,’ which is actually just sugary milky coffee in a small cup. And if you aren’t near either one…no worries, there are entire rows in convenient stores devoted to small little grab and go cold coffees.

5. MN Twins have a twin? I went to a baseball game here with the other teachers from orientation and we watched the Kia Tigers (Gwangju’s team) play against the LG Twins (Seoul’s team). As I walked into the stadium I discovered that the LG Twins have the same logo as the MN Twins. I wonder who came first?

6. HomePlus store = a whole lot of crazy. Picture a three story Wal Mart, complete with a cafeteria, ice cream parlor, coffee shop, McDonald’s, designer clothes, everything electronic, everything handy dandy, perfume counters, grocery store – you name it, HomePlus has got it. I live about 5 minutes away from one and I think I have been there every day since I moved in, just to walk around and observe (it’s a dangerous place though – you go in with two items on your list and come out with at least five.)

7. Dressing down? - In Korean schools it is customary to take off your shoes when you enter, put them in a little locker, and change to sandals, slippers, or flip flops. I have been wearing skirts because it is ungodly hot out, so flip flops feel pretty natural (in the winter I will have to buy some men’s slippers – nothing larger than a size 8 here) but it is strange to see the guy teachers in dress pants sporting socks and sandals.

8. Little Cinderellas - Every day for 20 minutes after 6th period the kids set about cleaning the school. There are kids in the teacher’s room cleaning the windows, sweeping and mopping the floors, dusting, and tidying. Every child has a job in their respective rooms, and they all go at it together for 20 minutes in the afternoon (I have seen some clean in the mornings as well) I support initiating this in American schools – we should give the janitors a bit of a break.

9. Service! – Service in Korea has a reputation for being the best in the world. Basically it means something for free – picture those free samples you get at the grocery store on Saturday afternoon and multiply it. It's most common in bars and food stands – I was at a bar that served its last few patrons (some of the people I was with couldn’t tear themselves away from the karaoke machine…) a huge bowl of Ramen style noodles all jazzed up with vegetables and spices. Another bar served us a plate of fruit after just two drinks. It's their way of appreciating your business and encouraging you to return. Large grocery stores like HomePlus offer free samples at every corner – I tried a great seaweed/tofu something the other day (too bad I couldn’t understand what it was when she told me.)

10. Kimchi. I have to talk about kimchi. Kimchi to Koreans is like peanut butter to Americans – they love kimchi and eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But I think that's where the similarities end. It is a pickled vegetable, stored with the following ingredients – salt, water, hot red pepper seasoning, onion, garlic, some other stuff that I'm sure I don't know about, cabbage and/or radish.  I learned upon arriving that there are different types of kimchi – the name itself refers to the spices it is fermented with and the process it undergoes.  Apparently during the cold winter months, and also during some early part of Korean history kimchi was one of the few foods they could store and have to eat – it is a source of national pride and many Koreans are more than happy to tell me how healthy it is. Radish and cabbage are the most common and traditional. People keep telling me it is an acquired taste...and I really hope they're right. I will also have to keep an abundant supply of breath mints or gum on me at all times while working on mastering this new food.

I should get to some lesson planning now, but I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my new home – it is strange to just keep talking about myself, so please please send me an e-mail or Facebook message and tell me how things are with you! Ramble as much as you want. Take care, I will put up pictures of my apartment and school soon!