Making Korea My Home

(Written yesterday, Friday Oct 2nd)

I have been here for 11 days now. The first week I lived in a motel and a co-worker’s apartment, and as of this past Tuesday I have moved into my own apartment. Things have been going really well. I feel that it was just yesterday that I left home, yet it has felt like I have been here for a long time. I have made good friends, become comfortable with getting around on my own (well, somewhat…), learned and explored a bit of Korean culture and language, bargained for fruit and vegetables on the street, have been introduced to kimchi and soju, and completed two days of teaching.

Although I of course miss friends back home, I have also quickly made good friends here. There are 3 girls that have really taken me in and have been great support in the past week. I lived with Kayleigh who has been here for 8 months for the few days, and her home has become my second home. If I am not at my apartment or at school, I am at her home. I took Heather’s place at school; she has gone home for a month but will be back to Daegu working at another school. Mel does not work with us, but is good friends with Kayleigh and Heather, and frequently lives at Kayleigh’s house as well. Both Heather and Mel have been here for over 2 years. They are teaching me about the Korean ways, introducing me to downtown Daegu and many wonderful restaurants and shopping, making sure I do not eat any shellfish, helping me get around the city, and basically are great company. Between the 4 of us, we cover an extent of the world. Kayleigh is from England, Heather is from Canada, and Mel is from New Zealand. Not only have I been learning about Korean culture the past week, I have been learning about many other cultures. It is interesting to learn about each one’s home life. Our culture is similar (at least compared to ), but language and use of words can vary. Example, in a small purse for us is called a handbag and a wallet for us is called a purse. I love that I have met people from all over the world.

On Monday I shadowed Heather to all her classes, so I had a feel for what to do when teaching. However, teaching my own classes began immediately on Tuesday. I have 4 classes on Tuesday and 8 classes on Wednesday. Every morning I teach 2 classes of kindergarteners, all the same students. I adore these children! They are incredibly cute and currently my favorite class. However, after teaching preschoolers for a year, and knowing how tough they become, this might change. Yet. Since they are so cute, it is hard to ever get really mad at them. My other kids range from 8 years old to 13 years old. This could mean they are really 7-12 year-old in Western age. In , a child is born at being one year and a person gets older at the New Year. So a child who is born a week before the New Year could become 2 years-old a week after birth. This makes it very difficult to judge children’s ages. My 6-year-old kindergarteners could be 4-5 years-old Western age. It’s a crazy concept. Learning the routine of each class will take some time; yet, my first two days went quite well, despite only having one day of “training”.

Outside of teaching we adventure to downtown Daegu or downtown Chilgok. Daegu is the main city I live in and Chilgok is my neighborhood, like is in . Dowtown Daegu is amazing!! I still have lots to see, but so far it is fantastic. I have ate at a few restaurants, both Korean and American, gone to the theater (yes, there are a few movies in English), and explored some bars. With every Korean meal there is kimchi- a very spic type of cabbage. It is way too spicy for my taste, but maybe this will change after a year. They add spice to everything. I have not seen any actual American-named restaurants in Chilgok because it is so small. Downtown Daegu has many American-named restaurants though, such as Outback Steakhouse, Starbucks, and of course McDonalds. I enjoy eating at other various restaurants though. Then there is Soju, a very cheap type of vodka that everyone drinks here- it tastes much better than vodka back home though. Most people will just sit and take shots of it. The girls will often make it as a mixed drink, but that is not the typical Korean way. Also, you never take a drink without others taking a drink with you, and you never pour your own drink. These are just two rules of drinking. There are many other rules you should follow when drinking here, especially with a Korean. I cannot drink nearly as much as people here, but since I am new they are lenient with me J.

I have done random this and that’s on my own recently. I learned that if I want to buy produce on the streets, that I will get an abundance of it. I came home with 3 very large apples, 1 head of lettuce, 6-7 cucumbers, and about 10 tomatoes. It was ridiculous. Since I probably cannot eat this all before it goes bad, I might resort to buying produce at a small grocery store where it will be more expensive. I also learned yesterday when buying bananas at the store that I cannot take the number I want. I ripped off 4 bananas because I did not want all 8 in the bunch, but that got me in trouble and given funny looks.

I went running for the first time today in almost a month. It was tough to get out the door, yet it felt great to run again. There is only one place to run around here, and it is along a river. The path is next to a busy road, so I cannot get away from people. I focused well though on my running which helps make me feel more alone. I am sure I looked silly though. Many people bike all over town (for transportation), but I have not seen one person running. I would like to possibly join a gym though so I can continue swimming. There is a gym a block from work, but it does not have a pool. There is a YMCA though downtown Daegu, so I might check that out. It also has Korean language classes which I would love to look into. I have been told one can learn to read quickly. Speaking is the more difficult part. It has been hard to learn even basic words here, but I have been told I should not stress about it much because I have only been here a short time. I just want to learn so much…

Since this is already ridiculously long, I will write more later on what I am learning about Korean culture.

Check out pictures on:

http://myjourneyinkorea.shutterfly.com/