Annyeong Hasseyo from the land of the morning calm
This journey began with a very physical reminder that the past is gone and the future awaits. It was very early in the morning, My Mom and I were sitting in the airport, waiting for our flight to Portland, Oregon, with about 8 hours of sleep between the two of us. We decided to look at some pictures on my camera, after three going away parties ( I miss all of you!!!) I had over a hundred pictures of loved ones... through a combination of unfortunate button choices we erased every single picture on my camera. We stared at each other, horrified. The full impact of what we had just done took a minute to sink in. It was awful, but somehow seemed apropos. A new journey, a clean slate, an empty camera ready to be filled with new adventures.
I thought that I would be in Oregon visiting my brother for a couple of weeks before my Korean Visa came through and my flight was arranged. (Mom was only visiting for the weekend) As usual Life asked for my flexibility and I ended up staying in Portland for a month and a half; forced to re-join the service industry (GAHHHHH!) to make a few bucks and spend a lot of time just hanging in Limbo. Thank goodness Tim and Catherine had an extra bedroom and plenty of love for an extended houseguest. As much as the Limbo thing messed with my head a bit, I cannot express enough how fantastic it was to get to spend so much time with my brother and get to know more about him and his life in Portland. But time passed, as it tends to do, and the Visa and plane ticket both arrived, I made my last non fat extra hot no foam two pumps of sugar free vanilla latte for an overindulged and demanding mall person, Hugged Timo and Catherine a million times, repacked my bags and got on the plane to destiny. How does one pack for a year long trip? Four seasons, a business casual wardrobe, and everything from hiking to dressing up.... Well, passengers are only allowed two bags of 50 pounds each to be checked. That is not nearly as much as it sounds, especially if one has decided to bring a ridiculous number of books and CD's. Hey, we all have to prioritize, right? Also, I have been told that finding clothes in my size will be difficult here, so I really worked on having a complete wardrobe. All in all I ended up with two checked bags of 47 and 52 pounds respectively- and two carry-ons that I could barely carry-on. My travel pack was all books and CD's and must have weighed 70 lbs! It was really ridiculous, but it worked! (and was a work out, my arm muscles were sore the next day) Everything arrived safely and I feel very prepared. The flight from San Fran to Seoul was 13 hours and then I got onto a bus to take me the rest of the way to Cheongju. All told I traveled for about 20 hours from Portland to Cheongju, South Korea. Piece of cake. I felt very comfortable navigating in a 'foreign' situation, after last year, I think I could manage anywhere. The assistant director of the school, Sunny, picked me up at the bus terminal and took me to a hotel which will be my home for a week until the teacher I am replacing leaves and I can move into my apartment. This kind of hotel is generally referred to as a Love motel, and is where Koreans go to have love affairs. This sounds sleazy to western ears (and the vending machine in the hallway is actually a bit sleazy) but it is a very clean, safe and nice place. I have a computer with internet access, A Ginormous flat screen TV with 90 channels (about 6 that sometimes show english programs Plus CNN), a fridge, a UV mug sanitizer, hot and cold drinking water dispenser, any toiletry you can think of and a light show on the headboard. It also has the traditional in-floor heat called Ondol (ON-DOLL), pipes with heated water run under the floor making it nice and cozy. As nice as this place is, I am excited about getting into my apartment and getting settled and unpacked. I have not had much trouble with jet-lag, but seem to wake at ridiculous hours (4:30 this morning!) and haven't been very hungry- my belly is jet lagged.
My first day here, Sunny picked me up at the hotel and we went to the school. It is a very nice school with a large library, many classrooms (all named after ivy league schools) and a very complete curriculum. There are two other foreign born teachers, both canadian, and two korean teachers. Each class alternates between foreign and Korean teachers. Frankly the actual teaching looks quite easy. Pretty much you just guide the kids through their workbook exercises. Class control and keeping parents happy are the main challenges. Here in Korea, kids go to school all day until 2 and then head to various private lessons until god knows when. The private schools are called Hogwans (HOG-Whan) and parents pay a lot of money for their children's lessons. My school, Reading Town, is in an area of town that has a lot of Hogwans. The competition is fierce and keeping kids enrolled is very important. Most of the classes are very small, ten or less students. All of the kids are called by their english names, Harry, Jessica, Frank. My school has two floors of the building, one is for math and science and one is for english. I will be teaching M-F from 2:30 to 7:30. Each class is only 40 minutes, so after checking homework , going through the day's lesson and assigning stars for good behavior, they seem to pass quickly. I met with the Director of the school who was very nice, although he doesn't speak much english! Sunny translated for us. I gave him the present I had brought (children's books) and he said "oh I don't have anything for you, hold on" and searched through his desk till he found a pack of unopened Hall's cough drops which he presented to me with a big smile and a chuckle.
The teacher I am replacing (Jeffery) had a going away party over the weekend and I was able to check out the english teacher scene. We went to a bar called the Pearl Jam, one of the bars in town that is mostly foreigners, mostly english teachers. I was a little nervous at first, as everybody in the bar seemed to know everybody else, but I stuck it out and met some very nice people, including a woman (Constance) I really connected with who is from Kentucky originally. We are already planning a Derby party. She was relieved that SOMEONE understood that Derby is important! I also met a couple of Kiwis (New Zealanders) who seem nice too (Bronwyn and Mike). I am relieved to have met some people that I relate to so quickly. A lot of english teachers seem to think going to get drunk every night is way fun and that's not really my scene. I mean, every once in a while, but come on! So, everything seems to be going swimmingly. I start teaching on Wednesday, (Today is Monday) and will sit in on more classes today, and spend tomorrow preparing for lessons.
I know a lot of you are excited to vicariously eat many strange things, but I really haven't eaten much Korean food yet. I have been out twice with folks, but both were Jeffery's going away shindigs and he chose the Outback steakhouse, and a burger place. I was the only one that wasn't freaking out over the cheeseburgers. So far I have loved everything Korean I have eaten, except for the canned pine bud drink. It tasted like Pine-Sol to me! I have really been loving the Kim-chi and dol sot bi bim bap. It is a bit harder to communicate here with gestures than it was in Southeast Asia. Once I get a few more basic words under my belt I'll be allright, I keep wanting to speak to people in Thai, strangely enough. This morning when I pointed to the noodles I wanted on the picture menu, the owner of the shop seemed dismayed and tried to convince me that it wasn't what i wanted but of course I had no Idea what he said. Till the food arrived and the bowl of noodles was covered in a layer of ice. He must have been trying to warn me that the dish is served cold. I thought it was delicious if a bit surprising, I reassured him when I left that it was "mashissossoyo", delicious! He still looked unsure until I gave the thumbs up, which he returned.
The time difference here is GMT +9, which translates to Louisville being 10 hours behind us......
I love you all and hope you are well.
Willow