Korea is very much a schizophrenia for me. Its culture, values, and ideas are radically different. This is about my one year stay as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in Busan, South Korea. Eating the K-food, riding the K-train, meeting the K-people: life in the K-hole.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Glimpse

Today I realized how important this year-long stay will be.

I was sitting in one of my English teacher discussions. Everyday all the English teachers gather together and talk about well, whatever really. I listen for incorrect English, write it down, then go over it at the end of the session.

Today we were talking about stress. One of my co-teachers was describing how stressed she felt living in England for a month, owed mostly to her unfamiliarity of the culture and her general feelings of alienation. She then asked me whether I felt stressed living here, commenting that I looked stressed when I first got here.

I kind of gave a vague answer because, honestly, when it comes to stress, or any feeling for that matter, it's hard for me to decide what level I'm at (or maybe what level I should be at).

Which then brought me to a broad realization about myself: I am a stressed person. As an introvert I tend to keep my feelings hidden (even from myself), but in that moment it was clear as day: I'm stressed practically all the time now. I suppose it's owed to the fact that I'm in a strange-ass country where nothing is familiar. But I feel like, no, I've been stressed even before this. I've been one giant stress-ball for quite a while.

The last two years have sucked, majorly. I can acknowledge this without too much trouble. Some happy things have come and gone, but, that's just the thing, they're gone. And maybe that's why I'm stressed, I'm worried that things won't get better and that I'll always feel this way.

To get back on point, what I'm trying to say is my trip here in Korea is going to be life-changing important. Being in this country, by myself, with no support from the people I care about or the environment I'm familiar with, this place, this situation, it's an opportunity for me to grow. I know on some fundamental level that, when I fly back to the USA in August 2010, I will a different person. Not in the sense of personality or character, but different in the sense that I'll be more aware. I'll be more aware of what it takes to be happy, what it means to take risks for yourself, what is necessary to get the most out of life. The comfort zones and false securities are nowhere to be seen.

That's basically a lot of vague bullshit but goddamn is it hard to put this into words. All I know is, once I step off the plane and drink in the Bay Area again, it will be like waking up from a long, deep sleep. The perspective will be fresh again.

An-nyeung-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Just Poastin

Well, there I go again, not updating. In all honesty there are times where I want to write something down but I don't have anything to write with, so the thought disappears.

I suppose this is more of a post promising that no, I'm not dead, and that, yes, I plan to update more. I have some pictures I'd like to share, but right now I'm a bit fried from all the Korean I studied tonight (on an empty stomach) so I'm taking the lazy route and saving it for later.

Speaking of which, I have four Korean classes a week now. Pretty hardcore by foreigner standards. From what I hear not many foreigners here make the effort to learn the language, which is a damn shame, yet understandable, considering English is basically the second language here.

My thoughts are scattered right now so I will be lame and say adieu. Err

An-nyeung-hi-gye-se-yo.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

My School

Picture post time!


No smoking? As if.

No student is this happy at any school.

Entrance to the school.


Map of the school.

Track and gym.

The main building.
This...thing? Outside the main entrance.

The main entrance. The sign says "No students" or something to that effect. Students have their own entrance. On the left wall are shoe cubbies; each teacher has one. You can't wear shoes inside the building, so you wear slippers.

A student entrance.

My desk is at the back of the room.

DISCIPRINE! They's in trouble so they gots to write stuff.

I'm not really sure what this is.

View of the city. We're actually on the outskirts.

Some students playing soccer.

Gym.

Way to the cafeteria.

Some benches.

Mechanics workshop.

Moar benches.

Old basketball courts.

A creek nearby.

Way to more buildings. There's a mountain behind the school.

There's more to the school but these are the main sights. I've explored some of the mountain behind the school and it's pretty awesome. Lots of old stuff to find. I'll probably take some pics of that as well.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Chusok Weekend

Chusok is Korea's Thanksgiving, but more traditional. Because of it everyone got a three day weekend. So my coworker invited me to his cabin in the mountains (near Jinju mountain) and, having no plans, I decided to give it a go.

It was a so-so weekend in a nutshell. The scenery was of course beautiful, lots and lots of green mountains, rice fields, rivers, temples...you can see it all in the pictures I uploaded. We stayed in my coworker's cabin next to the river. Pretty nice place, but extremely uncomfortable as there wasn't any bed. For the past three nights I've been sleeping on a hardwood floor with only some blankets and pillows. If it wasn't for the fact that my coworker likes to drink (and therefore I drink) I'd probably be even more sleep deprived.

I say the weekend was alright because, well, firstly, the sleep issue just put a damper on everything we did. I was tired the whole time because I could never get a full night's rest. That, and my coworker and his wife speak very little English, so half the time was spent trying to figure out what they were saying to me. It got frustrating after a while.

It was a nice gesture inviting me though. I got to see many historic and traditional things. I saw a really old village, apparently one of the oldest in Korea (because the Korean War never really reached so far south it remained intact). I saw some really old traditional schools. And I saw Cheonghak-dong (Azure Crane Village), which contains Samseong-gung (Three Sages Palace), a shrine dedicated to the myth of how Korea was created. This was all in Jirisan National Park.

My coworker is an interesting character; he insisted that I call him "hyung nim," which means "older brother." It's a bit weird, but I guess completely normal for Korea; friends call each other as if they were family. It's still a little off-putting though, because this guy barely knows me. He's taken me out once or twice for drinks, and I mean, it's nice and all, but it's just...weird. I don't know what to say to this guy. All we talk about is either:

a) how rich he is, no problem I'll pay for this, drink this soju, etc.
b) this food is good for your health
c) ___ is very very famous
d) you are very handsome

Dear Korea,

OK I fucking get it, I'm handsome.

I know this comes off as ungrateful, stuckup, or whatever you want to call it, but I hear this, quite literally, at least twice a day, and it's becoming a little annoying. And I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if it didn't seem like the sole basis of my relationship with this guy (not to sound gay or nothing). Seriously, this guy wines and dines me because...what? I'm white? American? New? Different? Handsome? He keeps saying I'm handsome.

He's being nice, and I would never say any of this to his face, or to anyone here really, but it irks me sometimes. Will this be the basis of all my relationships with Koreans here, my physical features? I guess now that I think about it, I don't know much Korean, so what other basis could there be?

I know I'm sounding like an asshole complaining about my looks but you get the point. To be honest it's not as big a deal as I'm making it out to be. I guess I just miss hanging out with people who hang out with me cause I'm me, not cause I'm a novelty. Then again I've only been here for a month and a half so maybe I'm just overanalyzing things. Wouldn't be the first time!

Time to sleep in an actual bed. It will be divine.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Dance When Nobody Is Watching

Drum and bass ain't too popular. I was practically the only one there last Friday at the Vinyl Underground and, strangely, I was OK with it. It might have had to do with the fact that I was drunk, but I just didn't give a shit that nobody was there and proceeded to dance (retardedly) until the wee hours of the morning by myself.

I've come to the conclusion that I've become somewhat of a music whore/stickler. Nowadays I look for certain sounds and tune everything else out. The mainstream is boring and has been done before. I'll listen to it, and maybe I'll enjoy it nostalgically, but it doesn't give me the "shiver."

Do you know what I'm talking about? It's kind of like goosebumps hitting you throughout your body. The best song in the world comes on and your whole head flutters, inducing a tingle that shoots down your spine and spreads all over. It's hard to explain, but it's sort of like an adrenaline rush, if I were to compare it to something more common.

I sometimes try to take an outside view of my music, and occasionally I wonder, "holy shit what the fuck am I listening to." And then I get into an internal debate about what constitutes music, what constitutes good music, is the popular consensus on certain genres indicative of the genre's objective musical greatness...and by the time I'm done wrestling with the topic all I can come up with is: music is such a personal thing that trying to apply some sort of standard saying what makes "good" music is futile. Music is nothing more than sound patterns that the brain finds pleasing. The human brain is wired so differently from person to person that which patterns the brain finds pleasing is also different from person to person.

A bit of a sidetrack discussion, but it ties into my weekend. I actually felt pretty OK for my Korean class the following morning; regular naps does a body good. And do I dare say it? Learning Korean is turning out to be pretty fun. I get 1-on-1 teaching with a textbook and everything; not bad for a free class!

Saturday night I went to see a soccer game at Asiad Stadium. All-in-all the Korean teams here aren't too good but being in the cheering section was pretty fun. Pictures are up, just follow the link.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Routine

Oy vhey. I've not updated all week. I will partly blame it on the fact that I don't have internet at my apartment yet, but that will change this Saturday so expect more frequent posts. I have a few update ideas in my head; I want to talk about my school in more depth (with photos) and show what my neighborhood is like (again, with photos). Any other ideas? I'm sure I'll think of em.

Life has become pretty routine all of a sudden. There are some points during the day where I realize, "Holy shit I'm in Korea" but that's fading fast. I'm starting to get used to it here. Wake up, go to work, teach the same old lesson, talk with co-workers, go home, relax, eat, exercise, bed. Rinse and repeat. I'm way too tired during the weekdays to do much of anything else. But that's what the weekends are for.

Starting Saturday I will be taking Korean classes. Its worthwhile for obvious reasons; it'd be nice to say something to someone instead of just waving my hands around, hoping he or she knows English.

Tomorrow night I am going to the Vinyl Underground for some musica. I am being lured in by the promise of drum and bass. Mmmm. Lets see how the Koreans do it here. I can't wait.

The set probably won't be until 3AM-ish but I think it will be worth it. Even if it sucks it'll be nice to mingle with some folks who are into the same kind of music. I will feel pretty crappy for my first Korean lesson though. O well.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Extracurricular

My first few weeks here in Korea have been pretty filling. I make it a point to go out and do stuff on the weekends cause, hell, what else am I gonna do? Sitting around the apartment, while certainly something I'd do back home, feels like wasted opportunities here. I really should make the most of my stay since I'll only be here for a year.

The first weekend, from what I can remember, was bar-hopping. I first checked out a foreigner bar called O'Briens. It's this little Irish hole-in-the-wall with a pool table, a small stage for performances, some couches, and darts. Pretty cool place that I don't mind going to again for a kick-back.

The next night I went to Gwangalli Beach, which is, in two words, fucking awesome. I took a couple of pictures if you wanna see the view. It's a long beach lined up with bars, restaurants, etc. Right out in front is the beautiful Gwangan Bridge, which oddly looks similar to the Bay Bridge from afar. All around is lights, lights, lights with people walking up and down the boardwalk until the wee hours of the morning. I specifically went to a bar called Thursday Party, another foreigner hang-out. It's a pretty cool place; definitely a lot more livelier than O'Briens.

The next weekend I checked out a place called Vinyl Underground. True to it's name the place plays a lot of non-mainstream stuff like electronic music and punk. I went that night specifically cause I heard they were playing Electro/Tech/Funky House. Overall a pretty fun night, I definitely danced my ass off. It was nice to meet some people who were into the same kind of music as me.

The following night I checked out a place called Rock and Roll Bar (or something the rather). Another foreigner hang out similar to O'Briens.

Sunday I climbed a mountain. Yeah, pretty out of the blue. I went with a group of foreigners on a 2 1/2 hike up and 2 1/2 hike down, with plenty of stops here and there; along the way we passed a Buddhist temple, which was pretty cool. Getting to the top of the mountain definitely felt like an achievement. I was pretty much hobbling up the last mile or so. But the view was definitely worth it. You could see all of the city of Busan, the Pacific Ocean beyond and other cities in the area as well. To celebrate our victory we did...well what everyone else here does! Drink soju! For those who don't know what soju is, it's this vodka-like drink that's around 15% alcohol. You can drink a lot and get really, really drunk (not speaking from experience or anything). I took some pictures of that trip, I'll upload when I get the chance.

Hmm what else? Last weekend I went to Gwangalli Beach again, then this club called Club Foxy, which, costing 15,000 won to get in, was basically not worth the trip. It was a very nice club but not really my scene (music-wise and people-wise). Gotta try a little bit of everything though.

Last Sunday I went to Songjeong Beach with some foreigners for some swimming and whatnots. Pretty cool place. They had a surf shop nearby that rented out wind-surf boards, which I definitely want to check out on a more windier day.

That's been pretty much the highlights of what I've been doing outside of work. During the weekdays after work I usually just lounge around, buy groceries, or just walk around to explore my area a little more.

Definite plans for the future include: taking the bullet train to Seoul and ferrying over to Japan. Both are reasonably priced so I hope to do it more than once.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Electronic Technical Engrish Teaching

Being an English teacher has been interesting work so far. I've actually never taught in a classroom before, so the experience has definitely been a work-in-progress. Overall though, I *think* I'm doing as well as one could hope to do with 15-17 year old boys at a vocational high school.

Most students, hell probably all the students, don't have any interest in learning English. Being a vocational high school, these students are not applying to college and so the study of the English language is pretty nonessential to them (in Korea, knowing English well is a must if you want to go to college). Nonetheless, the experience hasn't been as bad as I thought it'd be. I have free reign to teach whatever I want, just as long as my main focus is the practice of speaking the language. Surprisingly these students are pretty competent in English, especially reading. It's the speaking and listening that has been the difficult parts.

I do not have a single class that I teach the whole week. I'm actually teaching a different class everyday, all week. I probably have about 12-15 different classes at varying levels of competency (broke up into levels A, B, C, and D). It's a pretty convienent set-up, but can definitely be tiring at times. Convienent because I essentially only have to develop one lesson plan per week; tiring because teaching the same lesson 2-4 times a day, five times a week, can become very boring.

Also inserted into my schedule are two classes a week where I teach the teachers at the school (optional for them). These lessons are usually at a faster pace because I have less students to deal with and the students themselves want to be there. Overall it's been a good opportunity to try out different lesson material before unleashing them on the (high school) students. I also have four classes a week dedicated to group discussions with the other (Korean) English teachers at the school. These are very informal discussions in English about essentially whatever. My only real job is to listen for incorrect English, correct it, and to participate in the discussion.

Busan Technical Electronic High School is pretty different from my high school back in the States (or any school for that matter). The most obvious difference is the fact that you can't wear shoes inside the building; instead you wear slippers (there's a shoe cupboard near the entrance). I'm not sure if this for traditional purposes or because it helps preserve the wooden floors; it's probably both.

The building itself looks like a typical Japanese high school that you might have seen in anime or whatever. It's a really large rectangular building, 5 stories high with windows streaked across the side of the building on each floor. The main entrance of the building is, interestingly, only for teachers; the students have their own entrances near the edges of the building.

Each day I have to wash my hands and have my temperature checked before entering the building. The swine flu scare here is pretty bad, and rightfully so. Four students at our school have already been infected (no casualities though).

Overall the job has been not too stressful. There are benefits to not knowing Korean because you honestly don't know what these kids are saying about you in class, so it naturally can't bother you (too much). Also, as I mentioned earlier, discipline here is pretty tight. Students are generally very obedient and respectful to the teachers. I always get a nod of the head (or a half-bow) whenever I'm walking through the halls. Very few problems when I'm teaching. And whenever there is a problem, it's always my co-teacher who takes care of it.

The students' attitude towards me has been, not surprisingly, very positive. I don't say this out of arrogance necessarily, but more out of the fact that I am the very first foreign teacher at this high school and, for some, the very first American they've ever met in their lives. My presence also probably breaks up the monotony of going to school and I'm sure they welcome the change. I always get a "herro" in the hallways and some general excited chatter whenever I enter the classroom. This experience is by no means special because I know for a fact that most ESLers have the same encounters.

Korean high school boys are essentially the same as all high school boys, just less unruly due to the strict atmosphere of the school. Upon introducing myself the first week I, without fail, had the same questions asked me.

"Do you have girlfriend."
"How you get so tall."
"Handsome." <--- not a question but besides "herro" I always hear this said to me.

I definitely see myself having fun with these kids. They're (close) to being mature adults, so the topics of discussion can (potentially) be more interesting. They also just say the funniest things, sometimes when they mean to say something else (in English).

"I like hanging out with girlfriend. Bling bling!"
"He is my best friend. He is my pet." *strokes his friend's head*. "He is a guinea pig."
"My name is Harry! Harry Potter!"
"Conner...JOHN CONNER." <---we were picking English names.
"Teacher, you are delicious!"

There will probably be a lot more to come. If I feel like it I might make a text box on the home page collecting all the various quotes.

I suppose there isn't much else to say about school life for now. One thing to note is that Korean society places a lot of importance on rank, so I've been (encouraged) to be especially respectful to the principal and vice principals (and essentially anyone older than me, which is pretty much everyone). This includes nodding your head whenever you see them, saying good-bye when you're leaving (an-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo), shaking their hand with both your hands, stuff like that.

I've been eating school cafeteria food for lunch, which hasn't been half bad. It's actually probably the most decent meal of the day for me since I fail at cooking.

Eating with co-workers is pretty important. Eating with a group in general is very important here. A typical question asked here is "Have you eaten" which loosely translates to "What's up?" Korean society puts a heavy emphasis on group mentalities, especially when it comes to eating (and other potentially social activities). Like most Asian societies, it is collectivistic. Doing what is good for the group overrules the individual need.

There's a lot more to say about this topic. I've been doing some reading as well as seeing the glaring societal differences day-to-day. This is part of the reason I call my experience here so far as a "scizophrenia" (the title of the blog). The society here is REALLY different from the States.

Anyways, this entry has gone on for far too long. I've uploaded some more photos via facebook. If you don't have facebook, I'm planning on using something like flickr to show pictures and link that. I might also just put up (most) of the photos on this blog in an entry one day.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Settling In

My co-teacher Young-min is probably one of the nicest Koreans I've met here thus far. Since the first day I met her she, along with her co-worker Mr. Beck, have helped me find an apartment and buy all the essentials (pots, plates, bed, sheets, TV, etc). They even put me up in a motel when my apartment wasn't available the first night (well, actually, it was a love motel, but hey I got to sleep on a circular bed!). I'd be pretty screwed without their help. A big thanks to Young-min and Mr. Beck!

Fortunately all the essential expenses were covered under the school's EPIK (English Program in Korea) budget, so I'm not out any money. Everything minus the bed was bought at Lotte Mart. Lotte Mart is Korea's version of Kmart or Walmart. So naturally the place is HUGE. I pretty much do all my shopping there, from groceries to clothes, because it's so close to where I live.

I feel I lucked out on my living situation. My apartment, though small, is nicely furnished and in a great location. It's a 5 minute walk to my school and a 3 minute walk to the subway and Lotte Mart. Not many other ESLers have that convenience; some have a much longer commute to work or are too far away from the subway to walk.

Convenience. I have to chalk it up to this country for taking that word and running with it. It always bothered me that, in the States, gas stations or grocery stores or banks or what-have-you were always clustered together. Why is that? To compete with one another? It isn't very convienent for the consumer.

Within a five-minute walking distance of my apartment, I can find: my bank, a PC-bang (internet cafe), a hospital, the subway, Lotte Mart, a gym, a dry cleaner, a hardware store, a dentist, a barbar shop, a motel...the list goes on. Maybe it has to do with my location; as I said it's pretty good. But everywhere I go, at least here in Busan, the business area is always diverse. You'll always find the thing you need within a few blocks of where you are.

School has been a trip. I'll probably save all the nitty gritty details for another post but it's quite different. During today's lesson I kept getting interrupted by these really loud WHACKS outside my class. Can you guess what those whacks were?

I haven't mentioned this yet, but there's a man who walks around the school with a beating stick in hand.

Oh Korea.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Orientation

My orientation took place at Jeonju University ("The Place for Superstars!"). I stayed in a Korean-style dorm with a roommate and three square meals a day. I had classes from 9-5 with breaks here and there. Classes about teaching, classes about Korean culture, language classes, and other general information classes that all-in-all were pretty useful.

The first couple of days were spent getting over my extreme jet lag. The night before was literally a 18-hour journey, including a 12-hour flight, a 3 hour wait at the airport, a 3-hour bus ride, and a 30-ish minute taxi ride. This, coupled with the fact that I was in a near opposite time zone, made me feel pretty zombified.

I was pretty impressed with how well the orientation prepared me. Besides the classes, they set-up my bank account (where my paychecks are direct deposited) and my cell-phone plan. By the end of the week long program I felt absolutely ready live here.

The Korean dorm was very similar to a typical American one. The only noticeable difference, from what I could tell, was the bathroom. The bathroom, like literally all bathrooms in this country, has the toilet and sink in the same area as the shower. So essentially the room itself is one giant shower, with the floor "raised" at the door so water doesn't leak into the next room.

It's a pretty convenient set-up if you think about it. Cleaning the bathroom is a breeze: take your shower, then use the movable shower-head to spray down the bathroom into the drains on the floor. The only down-side is that everything gets wet, so you have to put your toilet paper in something water-resistant.

Classes were surprisingly informative headed by interesting, veteran ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers. There were only a couple classes that I can recall being boring. It did feel like I was back in school again, except there was no homework or tests. Always a good thing.

I had Korean food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Not bad, but definitely different. The Koreans definitely love their kimchi.

I guess there isn't much to really say about orientation. It was definitely a "sheltered" experience because everyone there spoke English and all your needs were taken care of. After classes we usually went out to see the town. There was a 7-11 nearby that many liked to frequent. I still can't get over how you can literally buy a beer and drink it out front.

On the last day we had a Korean traditional dance performance thing. Then a closing ceremony. Then we got on our respective buses (dependent on where you were going) and left. I met my co-teacher later that day. Which I'll talk about in my next post.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Day One

I mentioned in my previous post that I almost didn't make it to Korea. Three days before my flight I got a call from SMOE (Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education) telling me I had no job. It was explained to me, in Korea's finest Engrish, that due to an overfilled job pool SMOE had to let some people go.

It was probably one of the worst moments in recent memory only in that I never felt so utterly screwed over in my life. I quit my job, paid for storage for a year, bought a plane ticket, jumped through all the beaucratic hoops to get my visa, and said good bye to all my friends. I was so shocked by the call that I didn't even argue. All I could do was hang up in disbelief.

I was fortunate enough to get a job through EPIK (English Program in Korea, another government program) due to some last minute positions opening up. I chalk that up to my recuiter, Footprints Recruiting, who, having had a good relationship with EPIK in the past, managed to funnel me over and get me into orientation. Not many people got this deal.

About 100 other people, just like me, were booted this year by SMOE. The excuse? They underestimated the amount of people who applied (due to the recession) and so overfilled their positions too much. This has been the official reason, but it has yet to explain how SMOE managed to sign 100 too many contracts, only to break them later. Someone, somewhere in the bureaucratic soup, royally fucked up.

I'm not going to dwell on it too much. It does paint an interesting beginning to my trip over here. But I am a little uneasy with the fact that the Korean government can basically break a legal contract with me without any repercussions. I suppose the pendulum does swing the other way, though. I can leave at any time and not suffer any legal consequences.

The plane ride over was the longest flight I've ever been on. 12+ hours in coach wasn't the most comfortable either. On the plus side the food actually wasn't that bad and I got a snazzy TV to watch movies on (even recent ones like Star Trek). Considering I got a great deal on the ticket ($515), I wasn't complaining.

I probably watched three movies in a row before my eyes started bleeding out. I Am Legend, which I wasn't too impressed with (The Omega Man is better). The Last King of Scotland, which was pretty good. Then Coraline, which I couldn't finish due to the aforementioned bleeding of the eyes. The seating, like most seating for me, was too uncomfortable for sleeping. It was trippy from time to time to look out and only see blue (blue skies and blue sea). Otherwise, I did a whole lot of nothing on the flight. I really should have brought more books.

Seeing Korea for the first time from the air was definitely something new. The landscape, as I've said before, is very green and mountainous. Wherever there isn't mountains there's farmland or an endless sea of white (buildings). It kinda reminded me of the landscape in Dragon Ball Z, to make an extremely lame analogy.

Once off the plane we had to get a quick medical check-up. Swine flu is apparently a bigger problem here than in the States, and they weren't taking any chances. Once through that it was an eerie walk through the International section of the airport. I say eerie because as advanced and modern Incheon International Airport is, there were very few people walking around. Customs was a breeze. I actually wasn't asked anything specific, just a questionnaire about whether I had any prohibited items (weapons, drugs, pornographic materials?) and if I had any symptoms of flu.

Once in the lobby we (me and other ESL teachers that got the boot from SMOE) met some Footprints staff. Since our situation was special we had to wait around until we could catch a bus that would take use to the EPIK orientation in Jeonju. I spent the time looking around the airport. There were the usual convenience restaurants and shops. My first real holy-shit-I'm-in-another-country encounter was my discovery that you could buy beer for a dollar at the convenience store and just drink it in the airport. Awesome.

Overall the airport was pretty impressive. Granted, I usually use Oakland Airport and that place is definitely a dump, but even still, I could tell it was one of the nicer airports. I couldn't get over how much space there was. Apparently I came in on a slow night; there's usually a lot more people trucking around. I believe it considering how utterly huge Seoul is.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. The bus ride was a couple hours through the night. The bus could only take us as far as a Marriott hotel near Jeonju. We had to go the rest of the way via taxi.

Taxis in Korea. Good lord. If there's ever a specific place I'll die in this country it's in a fucking taxi. These guys drive like maniacs. Besides the fact that Korean traffic is already pretty crazy, these taxis literally run red lights all the time. And there's no seat belts, from what I could tell. And the driver has a TV on the dashboard. While he's on his cellphone.

It was definitely a scary ride, albeit a little fun. I felt like I was in a game of Crazy Taxi.

But I made it. Jeounju University. I'll end it here and talk about my orientation in the next post.

Take note that I posted a link to my facebook Korea album. I don't really feel like posting all my pictures here, so just follow that if you feel like seeing all the perrrty pictures.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Jumping In

Leaving for South Korea has been one of biggest decisions I’ve made in my life. Taking off from SFO almost three weeks ago, all I could think as the plane ascended, flew, and landed was, “This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous.”

And this is ridiculous. But in a good way.

I’ve planned to teach English in a foreign country since high school. It started with a blog about an ESL teacher in Japan who's name escapes me. Overall though, from what I can remember, it was an entertaining and inspiring read. The blog completely engrossed me in the day-to-day life of an ESL teacher in modern Japan, and it just struck me as something truly worthwhile in doing...the idea of immersing oneself in an entirely different culture (without having to spend exhorbant amounts of money to do it!).

Over the years that blog has been stuck in the back of my mind. As I grew closer to finishing my Bachelor's, I read various online forums (mostly the Something Awful forums and Dave's ESL Cafe) about other people’s experiences and became more and more convinced that this thing was for me. I’ve always wanted to travel, but not as a tourist. Seeing the sights and landmarks, while interesting, are not the truly fulfilling experiences that a foreign country has to offer.

I guess I crave something dramatic and different. I crave something challenging, something that’ll (hopefully) mold me into a better, or at least more aware, person.

I figured it would be best to go on this little “adventure” fresh out of college. It’s the easiest time to get away and live somewhere else because your obligations are at its lowest. No marriage, no career, and overall no “settling down” on a particular place to start a life. Since high school, and as time went on, it became more and more apparent that I needed to do this. It became a list of reasons that grew as circumstances changed in my life.

It started as simply wanting to go. Then, it became an economic reason. Jobs are few and far between in the States, and while I’m guaranteed a job at home working after school programs for a couple hours a day, it's just not enough. In Korea, right now, I’m guaranteed 2.0 million won per month, rent free. If you do the conversion it’s really not that much in USD, but considering the cheap cost of living here, combined with the fact that I'm not paying rent, I am saving quite a bit of money.

Another reason to the list is that I’m 23 years old. I want to “see the world” and do adventurous things. I have literally not been outside the country (Vancouver, Canada doesn’t count) and, as much as I love California and the Bay Area specifically, it gets old. As I’ve mentioned earlier though, I don’t want to be a tourist. I see too many of my peers doing that kind of thing. Vacation in Europe, seeing the sites, taking a shit load of your typical pictures and getting wasted 24/7. That’s all well and good, but to me it’s not satisfying enough. It’s not the whole picture. There’s more.

Another reason is personal that I won’t get into too much. But let’s just say we’ve all felt the need to escape for one reason or another. Please bear in mind that if you’re reading this and you’re a friend it is certainly not you that I’m generalizing about. It has more to do with the past couple of years and all the events that have transpired, coupled with what I’ve had to deal with growing up and my utter tiredness of putting up with, well, the current bullshit.

I know that sounds very general but I’m trying to stay away from the emo writing for once. It’s all I did back in high school and college when I wrote and it’s just not that interesting. I also don’t think I have the gall to bear my soul on the internet for all to see anymore.

Anyways. So why Korea? To be honest my first choice was Japan. But, being caught up in the clusterfuck that was my college education, I neglected to read the fine print on the JET application. It read, “deadline is NOT the post mark date.”

So yeah, in a nutshell, my application went in late, which meant I pretty much had no chance of being accepted. JET doesn’t fuck around. It has been getting pretty competitive over the years and will probably continue to be so as the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) industry becomes more popular. I almost didn’t even go to Korea because of the dramatic increase in applications this year (due to the recession, more on this later).

But yes, why Korea. Well to be honest I didn’t know a WHOLE lot about it before flying over here. I’ve read plenty of forums about people living here as TEFLers, but as for culture, language, and etc. it was all a mystery to me. Which was fine, to be honest. Given the reasons above I’d have gone to any developed country that would have had me. Plus, me being me, I sometimes like to do outrageous things like live in a country for a year that I know little about.

I’ve actually learned a lot so far. Despite the many strange, even annoying, things here, there are many admirable features about South Korea. For one thing, it is considered the “economic miracle” in recent history. Starting out with basically nothing after the Korean War, this country has become as developed as they come (or at least nearly so). The subway system (here in Busan) is awesome. You can go anywhere in the city for about a dollar. It’s fast, it’s air-conditioned, and it’s clean. There are high rises and roads being built everywhere, and I mean literally everywhere. One thing that’s nice, at least here in Busan, is that despite the country becoming more urban, the landscape is still very green. It might have to do with the fact that the entire Korean peninsula is mountainous (so all the cities are basically pocketed between these green mountains), but there’s just something, well, Korean about seeing a whole bunch of farmland then BAM six high rises 30 stories tall in a row. I guess it’s a testament to how fast this place is developing.

And the people? I think I’ll leave that to a later entry. Let’s just say that, despite this country being practically a mirror image of the U.S. economically, it’s a near opposite of the U.S. culturally. The reasons are endless: from the way one interacts with strangers, to the way teachers and other authority figures are treated, to the way small things like shaking a person’s hand has all sorts of rules attached. It’s something I’ve been learning and trying to integrate into my lifestyle so I don’t come off as just another jerkoff foreigner.

But yes, Korea has been...interesting. The experience so far have been what I’ve expected. Not so much in content but in generalities, if that makes sense. I’ll touch on this later, but let’s just say that culture shock is beginning to set in...I think.

I will be uploading pictures when I get the chance. There are quite a few. I intend to stay pretty up-to-date with this. There will be a lot to talk about, I’m sure.

An-nyeong-hi-gye-se-yo for now.