I’m gonna be a Ninja.

        One of the things keeping my from updating this blog the past few weeks is a new addition to my daily routine: kung fu/tai chi lessons!!  Interestingly enough, kung fu and tai chi are Chinese martial arts, not Korean.  Korea’s national sport is tae kwon do and black belts are not a big deal here because so many people have them.  

Before coming to Korea I wasn’t really interested in learning any martial art except tai chi, because that was the only one that seemed really peaceful, edifying, and noncompetitive (I don’t think that’s actually true, but it seemed that way to me).  Then I came here and one of my co-workers was able to introduce me to a Korean kung fu expert who gives lessons and has a gym within walking distance of my apartment building!  

Thus, I started kung fu/tai chi.  I combine the two, because apparently they are based around the same foundational moves, which I am learning right now.  It’s all a little fuzzy to me because of the language barrier.  I have now learned the bow stance, horse stance, chicken stance, wild goose stance, and tiger stance.  They are all absolutely as awesome as they sound, though I'm afraid I butcher them terribly due to my lack of coordination and awful posture.  

At this point the main part of my lessons is stretching.  I can say the Korean word for “pain” now (stretching hurts!), but I get better every day!  My master is always really encouraging and tells me via google translate, “Great improvement, short time.”  Which I think says more to the fact that I started out with essentially no flexibility whatsoever than to any great skill on my part.  

Our google translate conversations are always a favorite part of my lessons.  My master’s (I honestly don’t know his name and refer to him as Master Shifu or Mister Miagi) main English phrases are “Training!”, “Many difficult?”, “Stretching!”, and “Until today.” which means the lesson is over.  When he realized that I was interested in learning some Korean and could also help him with English he wrote a long sentence into google translate that came out something like, “It hard Korea unless Korean American actor English I help and strive together.” Then he shook my hand, so I think we agreed to help each other with our respective languages.  

Besides the different stances and stretching I have also done a lot of kicking in my lessons.  I am expected to stretch my hand out in front of me or to the side and then kick my palm with the sole of my foot without my leg bending.  Try it.  It’s annoyingly hard, at least for me.  Thankfully I will most likely be able to avoid situations where kung fu kicking is really a necessity... Unless, that is, I develop a super hero alter ego! : DDDD

(Yes, Kimi you will be my Alfred!)

Subway Sojourns

Some of my favorite observations of Korean culture have taken place on my two subway journeys to Seoul (I thought about adding Seoul to the title of this post, but I believe there is such a thing as too much alliteration).  The first time venturing underground and trying to navigate the few hours and several transfers to Korea’s capital was absolutely baffling.  I have been on trains and subways in many states and in London, but the language barrier makes a HUGE difference.  

Not to be over dramatic, but on that first trip the universe conspired against an easy journey to Seoul.  First, we got off at a stop that we thought was where we needed to transfer, but it was actually a stop with the same name plus one syllable.  Then when we were in the place to make the transfer to line 4, there was no line 4.  The numbered stairwells skipped from 3 to 5.  Helpful Koreans with a bit of English knowledge pointed us in the right direction eventually.  Next, we reached a stop that we had been told not to leave the train at.  Unfortunately, it was the end of the line for our train so we had to leave and again reevaluate our position.  Overall, though it was a long, confusing, and tiring trip, the feeling of triumph upon arrival at “Seoul Station” was definitely worth it though.

One of the best parts of riding the subway is watching the people who come through with items to sell.  One man gave a long (Korean) speech on his product, which turned out to be glue.  He also had a board with half a dozen items glued to it, to show the effectiveness of his product.  That one was pretty popular with my fellow riders.  Another man came through with magnifying glasses, and more than one person attempted to peddle socks, which are possibly as popular in Korea as kimchi (that is saying a lot).  My favorite salesperson was a man with a product I couldn’t identify.  He spoke about it at length and I thought it was some sort of newspaper or information packet.  Then to my total surprise, he lifted his pant leg and slapped himself on the leg with it several times.  What he was demonstrating I will never know.   A passenger standing across from me found my reaction extremely amusing, but couldn’t explain in English.

Another interesting hobby within the confines of the subway system is reading and trying to understand Korean shirts.  I don’t think that I have ever seen a shirt here that has Hangul writing on it, but shirts with English words are all the rage.  It seems that matters very little what the English words actually are.  For example, there was a shirt that proudly said “QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE.” It was worn by a man.  Then there was a shirt that simply stated, “Saturday” it plain font.  Another man sported a lovely T-shirt with “John Deere” written in cursive across it.  My absolute favorite (that I remember, I didn’t take note of a lot of them) was worn by a woman and said, “Dress Your Believe in a Different Golf.” Yes.  I want that shirt.

The Universe, Earth, Asia, South Korea….

When people ask about where I live here I never know exactly how specific to get.  Obviously, I live in South Korea.  The province I live in is called Incheon.  I don’t really understand yet how much of Korea Incheon covers.  Within Incheon there are lots of towns (I guess that’s the right word).  The town that I live in is called Yeonsu.  

Yeonsu is not exactly beautiful according to normal definitions, but it definitely has it’s own charm.  Walking down the street you will see tall buildings with signs on their outsides for restaurants and shops on every floor, not just ground level.  You will most likely see dozens of bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.  I really don’t understand how they all survive.  It also has a strange mixture of western chains, (like Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, and Mcdonalds) traditional Korean stores and restaurants that sometimes require you to sit on the floor, and hybrid places that want to appeal to everyone.  These hybrid places are the funniest, because they often have signs and advertisements that pretty obviously came from Google Translate or really just don’t make sense.  For example, in my apartment building there is a pizza place called “Mr. Pizza.”  Above the sign is the enticing catchphrase, “Love for Women…”  One nearby bar is called “Touchdown” and it’s logo is, “Drink Beer.” There is little second-hand language subtlety!

One of my favorite places to go in Yeonsu is a little coffee shop on the bottom floor of my building, called “Whoever” (Yes, my life could potentially be just like Friends).  Coffee  shops here are ridiculously expensive!  Mint tea that comes with a few pretzels cost over four dollars and frozen coffees are five.  Whoever is great though because the employees are friendly, there are tables outside, and there is a take and leave book and movie shelf that has some great English books!

The building I live in is called “Irriom,” which interestingly enough means “name” in Korean.  So I live in a building named Name…  As far as I can tell no one uses street names or addresses here, but gets around by telling taxi drivers well-known landmarks.  The landmark for my building is a huge underwear store (the store is huge, not the underwear) called BYC!  There are ten floors in Irriom and a small garden on the roof : )  

My apartment is one big room which includes a tiny kitchen.  It’s perfectly comfortable and I am very attached to it.  Even with only two suitcases of stuff, I have somehow managed to create a cluttered and messy environment!  Also, there is a crack in my wall.  If you have seen Doctor Who you should know that I stay away from this due to fear of being erased from space and time, but it is also my favorite aspect of my apartment.  

I sincerely hope to start writing in this blog more frequently!  I have a lot more to say  about Korea and my life here : D

On Food and Finding Things

One of the things that I expected to be most difficult for me to adjust to in Korea is the difference in food.  I like cheese and carbohydrates.  I could literally live forever on tacos, dill pickles, ramen noodles, cheese, and bread.  Eating things with faces, bones, veins and all that other good stuff has always been hard for me.  

What I didn’t expect is that when I came here I would just never be hungry!  I think that it is an effect of the jet lag, but in my first week in Korea I ate about one meal a day and was not been hungry at all.  One day all I ate was a donut (It was national donut day in America apparently haha).  The food that I have had has been quite good!  Sometimes spicy enough to make my eyes water, but still good.  

Last Saturday I took my first trip to the grocery store just a few blocks away.  It’s called Lotte Mart and is like Walmart on steroids.  I only ventured onto three floors, but there had to have been at least four or five stories of… stuff!  Each floor was like it’s own department so I had to go down two walking sidewalks to find the food floor.  I was entirely overwhelmed and I just sort of wandered around until I found the Korean version of ramen noodles.  I also grabbed some Oreo-like cookies and a two liter of coke.  That was all I got that trip!  The necessities of life… : D  

Sunday night I had a great cultural/social experience with my Korean Co-worker Kyle and some of his friends.  We went to a restaurant where the center of your table is like a small grill and you are given plates of bite-sized pieces of meat to grill!  It was really delicious and fun, though I am embarrassingly bad with chopsticks.  

The main thing i have noticed with Korean food is the vast variety of ingredients!  One day for lunch I had a ‘Korean salad.’  It did have some lettuce in it, but there was also rice, peppers, scrambled egg, onions, and probably a hundred other things I couldn’t name.  Even when the dish is more simple there are at least ten things on the table that you can combine it with or eat separately.  It is definitely a different experience and it’s kind of beautiful.  My favorite Korean food right now is called Kimbap which is a delightful sushi roll filled with tons of stuff like rice, spam, carrots, cucumber, pickled radish, and egg.  

My other expected difficult in living here is finding things.  I am the first to admit I have an awful sense of direction.  I have spent hours driving around Orlando just trying to get on I4.  It’s not even that I am unwilling to ask for directions!  What I get from a typical directions conversation is something like this:

Me: “How do I get to I4?” 

Other Person, while gesturing and pointing in every direction: “Oh, you just need to get on the East Boulevard southbound by the 7-11!”  

Even if what they are saying makes perfect sense to normal people, it goes to my brain like math.  Then when I have gotten directions that I don’t understand I still nod and smile and thank the person for helping me.  The struggles of a people-pleaser!

My first couple days of work I was able to share a taxi with a co-worker.  This was great, but I realized the day he went on vacation that I had just been following him and had no idea what exactly our building looked like. So, I left really early and made it to the general area.  Thankfully, it only took a few times around the block and going to the seventh floor of one strange building before I found the school I work in!

Coming home the next day I entered what I thought (and still sort of think) was my apartment building and I decided to walk the stairs to my sixth floor apartment.  Well, it was definitely not the right stairwell and I ended up at a locked door.

Finally, I had an adventure taking the bus home by myself on night.  I’ve had my share of bus adventures in America, but this was different in that I couldn’t read the bus map, much less ask someone for help.  My co-worker told me where my stop was and said I needed to get on the 6-1 bus.  So of course I got on the 6 bus.  I don’t know why I decided just to get on the first bus that came.  Anyway, I rode and rode looking out the window for landmarks I would recognize, since I had never been to the bus stop a few blocks from my apartment.  Suddenly I realized that I was the only person left on the bus and the landscape was barren fields and abandoned cars.  The driver pulled over on the side of the totally empty road and started yelling at me in Korean!  At first I just sat there hoping he would magically decide to take me somewhere I knew, but no, he kept yelling until I left his bus, at what I assume was the end of the line.  So I crossed the street to the bus stop for the other direction and this time I actually waited for the right bus!  Overall, it was a nice little adventure in a string of nice little adventures, of which I’m sure there will be many more to come.  : D

The beginning...

They say international travel is like going through a blender with your eyes taped open and the circulation cut off from all your limbs.  

Ok, no one says that.  But, it kind of is horrible!  The trip to Korea was my first solo international travel experience and I really missed the companionship of my family or mission team members.

I said goodbye to my parents and Tabi at the security checkpoint around 5 AM monday morning.  I only slept a few hours the night before, out of restless excitement and worry that I would somehow miss my flight, then I didn’t sleep at all on my five hour first flight to San Francisco because it was morning and I wasn’t tired.  Everything really went quite smoothly as far as checking in and finding my gate.  I was bored and couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep at the San Francisco airport, but I was able to play around with my Kindle some!  

The twelve hour flight from San Francisco to Seoul was very confusing time-wise.  We left at 1:10 PM from San Francisco and arrived around 5 PM the next day, but as far as I could tell it was never dark outside.  All the meals were at entirely random times and were either lunch or dinner, I suppose.  That flight was probably the eleventh circle of hell.  A place where you cannot sleep because a shrill Bangladeshi child is kicking or pulling your seat, while intermittently screaming in your ear about something happening on whatever movie she is watching.  I was too exhausted to try to get to know the people sitting next to me, but also unable to lose consciousness for more than a few minutes.  

That may be an excessively dramatic rendering of my flight, because, although it was pretty miserable, it was still an interesting experience and didn’t make me less excited to be heading to Korea.  On arriving at the airport it was surprisingly easy to get through immigration and claim my luggage.  Finding my bus and figuring out how to use a pay phone were my next adventures and I discovered upon calling the school that hired me that I would need to call again from my bus stop because the director was detained by a family emergency.  

I knew my bus stop would directly after the Incheon Bridge, which is the longest bridge in Korea, however I couldn’t get off the bus with all my luggage before the driver closed the doors!!  Thankfully the Korean people are amazing and, as I struggled to get off two stops (I don’t know why I didn’t get off at the next stop…) later, a Korean girl about my age grabbed one of my suitcases, lugged it off the bus, and started walking down the street with it (did I mention it was raining quite hard?).  She spoke great English and told me that she would walk me back to my stop and wait with me for someone to meet me!  She also let me use her phone to call the school to send someone.  It was very encouraging to meet someone so incredibly kind and hospitable.

Due to his family emergency, the director did not come to get me at the school until almost three hours later (about 10:30 PM).  I was absolutely exhausted, but I sat in on two classes and got to see a bit of how the school was run.  I also got to meet my fellow teachers, who are awesome!  

It was a relief to get to my apartment and get to sleep that night, but due to a mixture of jet-lag and crazy lightning and thunder/rain coming in through the window I had left open, it wasn’t the most restful of nights.  Wednesday morning Richie, my director, came and took me to open a bank account and eat my first (in Korea) traditional Korean meal!  

Then work began!  I taught six classes that first day and I literally had no idea what I was doing.  My schedule was changed and given to me about ten minutes before my first class started (on the original schedule I had had another hour before teaching), so I somehow gathered my curriculum and nerve and made it through the day!  The kids all seemed really fantastic.  Obviously, they were not perfect robot students, but as a whole they were quite respectful and studious!

After work that night I got to hang out with my fellow teacher, Devin, and meet some other ex-patriates working and living in Korea.  Thursday was much the same as Wednesday, except I taught a few less classes and was able to get a better grip on what I was actually doing.  Yesterday was definitely my best day of teaching so far.  Although I taught seven classes (it was that many classes because Devin was on vacation, but he had helped me out a lot the day before with preparing for classes I was teaching in his place), I was also able to prepare much better based on my experiences of the previous two days.  Emma, the other female American teacher, was also a great resource, helping answer any questions I had.  

Friday night ended with an employee dinner at a Korean fried chicken restaurant of some kind.  There were eight of us who attend and it was a great oppotunity to get to know the people I work with!  The chicken was great and I even ate some of the caterpillar larva soup!  Ok, so maybe I only had one bite of caterpillar larva.  That’s still far more culinary risk than I am naturally inclined to!

Sorry if this post is longwinded and long overdue!  I have been writing it in tiny spurts the last few days, but it is harder than I imagined to gather my thoughts and put them into type.  I miss home and all of my family and friends a ton!  I like living alone, but it is more difficult than I thought.  Overall, I am having a great time in Korea and I can’t wait to see what the next following weeks and months bring : D

“Caley’s going to Korea??? Whaaa..?"

Well.  I am going to write a blog while I am in South Korea for the next year and I feel that it would be best to start out with a FAQ section regarding how this all came to be.  The answers should encompass the story fairly well, while the story alone wouldn’t answer everything.

Frequently Asked Questions (in no particular or particularly sensical order):

What are you doing in Korea?  Teaching English as a second language to 8-13 year olds at a small private school!  

Are you going to be in the “bad” Korea?  Nope.  Couldn’t go there (to North Korea) if I tried.  South Korea is very safe and relations between the two countries are pretty good right now from what I hear. 

Are you scared/nervous/excited?

The part of my brain that feels fear may be damaged, but no I’m not scared or nervous at all!  I am extremely excited and ready for this move!  Though I’m fine now, I fully expect to be overwhelmed with apprehension and nervousness as soon as I sit down on the airplane that will take me to my new life. 

Aren’t you going to miss your family/America/me/taco bell?

Yes, yes, yes, and Seoul got a Taco Bell last year, so no.  I’ve known since I was seven years old that I would not be a hometown American girl.  As a Cross-Cultural Studies graduate it should not be a huge shock that my next step involves moving to another country.  I am sure that I will miss many things, but I am excited for the adventure and challenge of adapting to an entirely new sphere of life.  Also, South Korea has one of the fastest internet connection in the world… So hit me up on Skype!

Do you speak Korean?

Nope.  Well, I know a few random words such as; pencil, God, love, to read a book, to eat food, silly, etc.    It’s not necessary for the job that I will be doing.  Howeverrr, I really really really hope that I learn Korean while I am there!  

How did you get this job?

I was searching for a job in West Palm Beach through PBA’s network and I scrolled by a job teaching English in South Korea.  A few days later I went back to research it some more and ended up applying with an organization called Travel and Teach.  They did a phone interview with me (from Canada!) and said that the experience I have working with children would be very helpful in getting a job teaching.  So essentially this organization created a profile for me and contacted me when a school was interested in interviewing me.  I did a phone interview with the director of a school in Korea and accepted the job a few days later!  This all happened surprisingly fast!

Do you know how to teach ESL?

I have no formal teaching experience, or English as a Second Language experience.  The school assured me that I would be trained in Korea and said that I didn’t need to pursue any kind of certification while here.

Are you going through some kind of ministry or organization?

Travel and Teach is the organization that connected me with the school and has been the intermediary between us.  Once in Korea I hope to find ministries to connect with in a volunteer capacity.

How long will you be there for?

My contract is for one year.  I leave on Monday (May 30th) and my start date is June 1st.

Can I come visit you?

Yes!