Stranger in a Strange Town

It seems funny to think that Korea is known as the "Land of the Morning Calm" (also sounds like the name of a Yogi Tea?) since so much about Korea seems to be about change and "bali, bali!" (hurry, hurry!) I nearly get plowed down in the subway on my way to work, and little old ladies continually cut in front of me when queing for the bathroom.

Although the lack of common courtesy (in my Western eyes, at least) can be frustrating at times, it seems to be the way Koreans have found so much success in recent years. They have the 13th largest economy in the world, and Seoul was just named the globe's 3rd most expensive city. This is a huge leap from the 1950s, when Korea was one of the poorest countries in Asia - nowadays, the technology boggles your mind...I can use my thumbprint to get into my office and people watch TV shows on their cell phones on the subway commute home. It's the most wired country in the world, and South Koreans have the world's 2nd highest IQ (after Hong Kong). However, they also work at least 12 hour days, scoff at holidays, and children attend school on Saturdays. I guess there's always a price to pay.

My life here is a bit more slow-paced, and I'm happy to say that I enjoy more than the 5 or 6 hours of sleep my elementary students get on a nightly basis. I'm still not completely settled in - there were a few problems with my housing (the first studio CDI showed me was tiny, dark and depressing) and I ended up spending 3 nights with my friend Jenna in her matchbox studio apartment, sharing a single bed. I'm now in a temporary apartment, if you can call it that. Like many Asian countries, space in Korea is tight, and my "room" is roughly 300 square feet or so. I live very close to the subway, down a series of back-alleys in what seems to be a very local neighborhood. I have yet to see any other foreigners near my apartment; there is an older Korean lady who sets up her fruit stand near the entrance to the subway each day, selling a basket of apples for 3,000 won, and the wrinkled couple who have a little grill and sell fried meat on a stick to passerby. There is also what looks like a track around the subway station, where young people rollerskate and middle-aged women power walk near the water run-off that collects directly beneath the station (I have yet to see an actual park in Busan).

My room is little more than 4 white walls, a bed, and a stove but it gets good light and I'm lucky enough to have a small washing machine. Bathrooms in Korea are a curious thing: there is no tub or enclosed shower, just a shower head directly over the sink. You have to turn a knob - one direction and the sink turns on, the other direction and the shower head turns on (too many times I have forgotten to turn the knob as I went to wash my hands and had the shower soak me just as I was about to leave the house). I have to also remember to shelter the toilet paper to keep it from getting soggy, and re-locate any toiletries I want to keep from getting wet.

Most Koreans still sleep on a yo, or mat, so finding sheets in Korea has proved impossible (I am told I may be able to buy them on an American army base, but the price could be close to $100!) Luckily, I brought my REI sleeping bag shell, and have been sleeping inside that atop my bare (and extremely hard) mattress. Perhaps all my back problems will be solved after a few months here...

I am at the end of my 2nd week of teaching, which has been really fun. I have a fairly intense schedule, probably the most rigorous at my branch, with the most hours and a very wide variety of classes. I teach a 3-hour class at 4pm, which consists of elementary school kids, and then another 3-hour class at 7pm, with middle school kids. The elementary school kids are usually the most energetic and absorb the English language at a much faster rate - plus, they're adorable. Teaching is a highly respected profession in Korea (with such a huge emphasis on education) and students usually refer to me as "Teacher" - as a kind of title, I suppose. Only with their accents, it sounds more like "Tee-cha! Tee-cha!" as they attempt to get my attention.

One of the more bizarre aspects of my job, and Korea in general, is that we are constantly recorded. "Closed-Circuit TV," or CCTV, is installed absolutely EVERYWHERE in Korea and you are always being watched. I have a camera set up in the corner of my classroom, and my Head Instructor reviews my work on a weekly basis. I don't mind that too much, but the important thing to remember is that I'm always being recorded - which means private conversations with co-workers before class or phone conversations at your desk afterwards. When I explained to my students that we don't have that kind of surveillance (yet) in the States, they were shocked and baffled.

"But, but...what happens without CCTV?" my student Danny asked. This is the kid who informed me that he even has CCTV in his HOUSE. ("Who watches it?" I asked. "Your parents?" He seemed stumped. "I don't really know," he admitted).

Although there are only 3 other American teachers at my school, we have a half-dozen Korean staff as well. Monica, our receptionist, has become our fast friend and she is truly one of the most adorable girls I have ever met. She is always styled from head-to-toe: patent black ankle boots, colored tights, short dresses belted at the waist. Her English isn't quite conversational, but we somehow manage to communicate, mainly using her cell phone's dictionary. This has resulted in some hilarious translations...for example:

We are in a bar near PNU, and Jenna and I order a pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea for the entire group. I pour her a glass, and she sips it tenatively. After 10 minutes, her drink sits untouched.

"Do you not like it?" I ask, pointing to her drink.

She looks confused.

"The drink," I say. "No good? You want different drink?"

She quickly pulls our her Chanel bag and reaches for the cell phone, punching a word into the dictionary.

"It's...." she begins, holding the phone's screen up to my face.

I read the text: "Poisonous, toxic, substance that can cause death," it says. Probably a pretty accurate description of a Long Island, actually!

My new apartment might actually be located at the same subway stop as Monica's, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with her more often. She has big goals to improve her English and visit the States, so spending time together will hopefully help her in those endeavors.

My life in the last 3 weeks has seemed anything but calm, much more bali, bali but it's been exciting and new and different, and those are always wonderful adjectives to describe life.