The journey has begun

Well here I sit, in Suncheon, South Korea.

I made it.

After years and months of wondering, questioning and worrying I'm finally here.

Having gone through a specific recruiter, Canadian Connection, I was lucky enough to have an orientation period before being thrust into my new life as an ESL teacher. My first week was spent in Gwangju where a group of 50 or so of us were given classes in traditional Korean music, reading Hangul, as well as what to expect in the classroom. We had a number of western teachers come in and speak with us about gender issues, teaching fellow teachers, and the specifics of teaching in either elementary or secondary classes. We were also provided with the opportunity to visit a traditional Korean village, a Buddhist temple and the Gwangju National Museum. All in all, I would say that it was a good way to start the year.

After a couple of days though, the urge to get into town and away from the artificial situation that we had been placed in (being in Korea but only seeing westerners for the majority of the day). On Monday I made my first venture into Gwangju. A group of us went together to a nearby Home Plus (the Korean Wal-Mart from what I can tell). It was made readily apparent that not only was I no longer in Canada but even though I was here to teach english, learning Korean was going to be essential.

I had gone to Home Plus to get a travel alarm clock, some shorts and a couple of shirts that I could wear while playing volleyball. First, a friend and I got lost. We couldn't find the electronics section for the life of us. We made it from ground level to the basement parking garage two levels below and from there to the upper parking garage three levels above ground level. We eventually found what we were looking for but not speaking any Korean meant that we couldn't ask someone where to go. We tried a few times about various things but were left with blank faces and a lot of shrugs. At one point a young woman selling me an alarm clock couldn't stop laughing due to the fact that she couldn't tell us about batteries. We made it there and back, but it would have been nice to be able to speak with the people, even if only a little. Apparently Sucheon city hall offers free Korean lessons that I figure I'll take advantage of. I won't become real proficient with the language, but at the very least I should learn enough to get around comfortably.

The people have been nice. One Korean gentleman stopped me and some friends while at the Buddhist temple so that he could take a photo of us all together in front of the temple. We didn't ask and while he didn't speak english, or we Korean (we could say hello and thank you by that point), a wonderful photo of the four of us was taken. It felt good to be able to at least thank the gentleman for being generous with his time.

Songgwang Sa Temple

By the end of oriention though, it was good to get out and start living in Korea. It was a good way to introduce me to Korea, I was able to try out Korean food, see some of the country side, visit Gwangju and even stay busy playing volleyball each evening. But after a week, the dichotomy of being in Korea but being surrounded by westerners felt too odd. It was time to leave but it was a good experience.

The one thing that I will have to get used to, and that worries me is Korean food. I've been trying new things, especially kimchi, which is the national dish of Korea. Korean's are very particular about foreigners liking their food. They feel that if you don't like their food you don't like them. For me the problem is that their food is really spicy. Then there are the stories of being taken out to dinner by your principal and being given octopus tentacles (freshly chopped from the body) to eat, while they stick to your face. That is an experience I am not looking forward to. On the bright side there is soju, which goes really well with orange juice and man is it cheap. You can buy a bottle for about a dollar.


So far so good.