And its only day two . . .

     Well the pot roast turned out to be delicious . .  . the next day. We spent the evening smoking cigarettes in the stairwell and drinking "white beer" and soju while discussing the best and worse of Korea. Apparently I have avoided a lot of the pitfalls most Americans encounter when coming to this country on an esl endeavor (english as a second language), which i must "thank my lucky stars " for.  I have heard some real horror stories about abusive hagwons (private teaching institutions) and some shocking cultural differences that can be quite traumatizing if one is not prepared. Its not that it is everywhere, I am just made to be aware from the start that we are not in Kansas anymore. The teacher I am living with shared with me a colorful story of her first and second year in South Korea. 

      It involved a wretched fight with her old boss over last months pay and a legal document they unknowingly signed claiming that if they did not complete their year contract, no matter what the circumstance, they would have to leave Korea FOREVER and never, ever come back. (dramatic, I know) They fought it, and won and are still here- six years later. The following year she was put into a nice house with her sister and they lived happily until they came to alarming conclusion that their korean welcoming party was a man who had a serious and committed ritual of masturbating out their window on a regular basis. She said she new she was sexy when she washed the dishes, but this was extreme. Apparently it got much worse when he began to, for lack of better words, expunge his bowls on their lawn whenever he was discovered by the young American women. This was not OK. They also fought for this. They called the police which replied casually "oh, it must be the heat." So they moved. The advice to be headed here is that it is best in Korea to live in large apartment buildings which are EVERYWHERE that have posted security guards which eliminate any possibility of this sort of thing happening  . . . . again I repeat they are still here, six years later. There was another story that I was told that could be best summed up with a man, a pig, a hammer, and a pick up truck and I think you can draw your own conclusions. needless to say: there are no guns in Korea with out complicated and arduous permits, which is a good thing, right? 

   I have made a shocking accidental discovery that even Oprah exists in Korea. My temporary roommate leaves the TV on 24hours a day so that when "mama's not home" her babies (dogs) have company. As I was getting ready this morning I heard here familiar voice emanating through the family room . . . is that Oprah or God? I am still unsure if I was relieved or alarmed. 

 

So here I am in Korea

    It is not true what they say . . .  Korea does not smell like Kimchi. The air seems clean but I was unnerved at encountering a few woman covered in from head to toe in cloaking garments including face mask but was assured that it is purely a cosmetic attempt keep their porcelain white skin.  I have, however, been instructed to not drink the water.  

   The teacher assigned to my "acclimation" took me on a short walk from school to lunch. On the way we past many street vendors selling brightly colored fruits, vegetables and wares. We stopped into a little place that she informed me was the equivalent of a Korean Diner. The menu was immediately handed to us by the server and was a piece of paper that listed each dish in Korean, prices with a pencil for checking which dish you would like. The teacher quickly checked a few boxes and handed the menu back to the server.  I noticed people were staring at us from behind there large slurping spoons as my company talked loudly on her cell phone as and I inspected my silver chop sticks. Lunch arrived as pickled kimchi, radish, soup of soy and spinach, and an entree of a bowl lunch of cold noodles and vegetables, and boiled egg on a bed of crushed ice. She told me to mix the entire bowl together ice and all. The ice at first seemed strange in a dish but I realized it was the perfect way to create a sauce in a dish meanwhile keeping it very cold. It was delicious and unlike anything I had ever tasted before. 

    We walked back to the New York School for English and I saw the school for the first time. It is a colorful building in teal, mustard, and orange. We take off our shoes before entering any building and replace them with "house slippers". There is a coed bathroom. I meet the other english instructors, who are charismatic and all seem happy with their jobs (which is relieving). One instructor asks me how my first 24hours are going in Korea and I say well in which he replies "well did you eat scrodem? Cause that's what happened to me my first day here." Which I found to be a very peculiar introduction but he assured me it was entirely accidental. We ended up making plans later that day to have some "dog soup" but not the ribs those seemed to be to expensive. 

    I sat in on some classes. The morning class of kindergartens was a "multi-media" class where the students interacted a power point game. Let's just say I saw a fox eat sin. The class ended with some fun time of commercials on utube but all that we watched were stopped in the middle/beginning due to inappropriate content which was hysterical in itself. Afternoon class was for the older kids and class consisted of conversational english and a well balanced blend of seriously learning and outbursts of laughter. I discovered today that it is complicated to understand the age of a Korean person for they are two years older than we would consider them to be: one year for the year you are in your mom's belly and the other is calculated when the Chinese new year begins. This is confusing to me but the notable part of this is that the 6 year olds look like 4 year olds and the 8 year olds look like 6 year olds and so on. 

    I am staying with the American instructor who has been incredibly  informative about my transformation into Korean life. One of the more peculiar components of this culture is that it is completely unacceptable to smoke as a woman in public. Now if you are in a bar it is fine, but people will be offended if you are smoking on the street- which means one is often encountering women in stairwells and restrooms puffing down a quick one. She said that it would be a typical response of a women who was caught red-handed with vile cigarette in hand to throw it down stomp it out and cough like it was the first inhale of smoke they had ever had. She also said however that it is perfectly fine for woman to drink and get as drunk as they want . .  . strange. When I inquired about female reproductive here care she said you were more likely to encounter abortions over birth control- it was cheaper. 

   In the apartment I am staying is home the teacher's two dogs: an enthusiastic Pomeranian and what she titled as a "tweeny weeny" dog (between mini and regular wiener dog size) which is funny to me for matters that should not be discussed here. 

   Tonight I will be enjoying the least authentically Korean dish imaginable: pot roast, curry and beer prepared by my American host. An eclectic beginning to say the least.

Coming Soon!

This is a blog I am setting up to give my friends and family (and anyone else) a forum to keep in contact with we while I am abroad. As I will be moving there in a few weeks, more info will be added in the future.