Daily life...

After a little more than a month, it has finally begun to hit me that I'm officially a resident of Seoul, South Korea.  Although this is my reality, I still get a thrill of excitement at the thought that I'm actually here.  As time goes on and I become more settled, I find myself noticing some pretty interesting things about being here.

First of all, I am absolutely loving teaching.  As much I would like to say that this is due to my altruistic love of enriching the lives of children and shaping the youth of Korea, I'd be lying if I said either of those things.  I like my kids, don't get me wrong.  They're incredibly entertaining and very different from kids in America.  The level of respect shown to teachers in this country still takes me aback, and the attitudes and levels of maturity are on a completely different plane than in America.  All these things are great, but honestly, what I'm loving is the complete absence of stress from my life since I took this position.  For starters, I teach 24 hours a week which boils down to 4 classes one day, and 5 classes every other day which means on any given 8 hour day, I have 3 or 4 free hours.  I'm coming from a work schedule that generally had me working a minimum of a 40 hour work week, plus a second bartending job on the side, so the 24 hour work weeks feel like a permanent vacation.  Furthermore, I'm only supposed to work 22 hours, so I get 2 hours of overtime a week on top of it all.  My teachers are constantly asking me if I'm doing OK, or if 'all this work' is too much for me, to which I have a hard time responding with a straight face.  What's more, the Korean culture not only allows you to sleep at work, they encourage it.  Some schools even have a teacher nap room--mine doesn't, but I do have my own classroom where I can turn off the lights and sleep in a quiet dark room.  Point being, my days consist of some teaching, a fantastic Korean lunch, and at least a 1 hour nap.  Because I have so much free time every day, I never need to worry about lesson planning after school, so I'm literally working and then coming home.  At 4:30, the day is over.

On one of these many stress-free work days, I tried to determine when the last time I've been so completely calm was, and I decided that this is the first time in my life.  I've been worried about getting good grades from about 1st grade all the way through college--stressed out and sleep-deprived--then was worried about if I would get a job, then I got a sales job which was incredibly stressful as I was constantly worried about making quota or dealing with beaurocratic crap, or I was in the service industry, where I was constantly scrambling to get enough shifts.  So, yes.  Finally, at 29 years old, I feel like I can breathe easy.  It's pretty amazing.  While I would normally say that this is probably doing wonders for reversing the aging process, I'm pretty sure the soju is counteracting any of the good benefits of this lack of stress.  However, the constant flow of endorphins makes it all worthwhile :-).

So, while this is all wonderful, it's not all rainbows and butterflies.  Now that I'm in a routine and have some down time during the week, it gives me a lot more time to miss Nate and other people and comforts of home, although Skype is pretty much amazing. What's great though, is that I'm a 5 minute subway ride from a few of my friends, and since I live in Seoul, there's always something to do!  So, when the loneliness kicks in, it doesn't stick around for too long.  Admittedly, without my friends, this experience would be nothing.  The people I've met here continue to amaze me, and sometimes I have to actually look at a calendar to prove to myself the short time I've known them.  Being in a foreign environment and not knowing the language and teaching for the first time, it's all very humbling.  I think all these factors combined with some generally amazing people has put our friendships into hyper-speed.  I feel like the level of friendship I have with a few of my friends would take years in a normal American situation.  It's quite an incredible feeling and difficult to describe, but it's certainly one of the coolest aspects of being here.

Anyway, daily Korean life.  Let's see... at first, it was really flattering being treated like a movie star.  People stop what they're doing to stare at me everywhere--whether on the street or the subway or a restaurant, and my school is no exception.  It's been a month, and the girls still SQUEAL and jump up and down and whisper to each other every time they see me.  As I said though, while initially flattering, it's getting old.  Any day that I walk to lunch or the bathroom, girls will follow me and say "Tee puh nee? Tee puh nee teacher?  Teacher?  Teacher?  Tee puh nee? " until I finally turn around, to which their reaction is to scream and jump up and down and run away.  It sounds cute, but try dealing with it 15 times a day.  Or, they'll actually muster the courage to say "Hi-ee"  and if I say "Hi" back, again, they utter an ear-splitting squeal and run away.  Also, any time in class I ask if there's any questions, inevitably, at least one student asks me something completely unrelated to class, such as  how I get my hair to look the way it does or why my eyes are a weird color or if my earrings are really Chanel.  It's actually kind of off-putting because I'll be talking about verb tenses, and it always throws me off. Needless to say, they are rapidly overcoming their shyness.  Be careful what you wish for I guess.

In other news, I finally mustered the courage (and the vocabulary) to venture to places on my own that require me to speak Korean, namely restaurants.  It wouldn't seem like that big a deal, since you would think you could just point to an item, but it's not that simple since I don't eat pork or beef.  I have to actually special order things, but first, to avoid confusion, I have to enquire as to whether or not the items I want contain said meat products.  It's nothing fancy, but last week, I tried it out for the first time, and it went perfectly!  No confused stares, comprehensible responses to my questions--it's pretty satisfying to know that the few bits of vocab and sentence structure I've learned actually work.  It's now to a point that I find myself wanting to go to restaurants just to try out new things, even when I have no desire to eat.  Hopefully I'll get over that before my pants don't fit any more...  What's funny though, is that my friend, Alicia, is adopted Korean.  She's actually taken Korean lessons and makes a huge effort to use the language, but where I get stared at, she gets glared at.  It's like, people are mad that she looks Korean but doesn't know the language.  Or maybe they think she's dumb?  Anyway, it seems like there's always some confusion when she tries to order for us, but they try so much harder to understand me because I'm clearly Western.  It's kind of a weird cultural thing I guess.  Another great tool when trying out your newly-acquired Korean skills is Konglish.  Yes, Konglish.  This is when you say English words the way a Korean would read them.  So, for instance, I have a hard time pronouncing the Korean work for chicken, but if I say "chee-kuhn" they get it.  I have a hard time using it because I laugh at how stupid I sound, but it has helped me in some tough situations.  Also, my chopstick skills are amazing, and I wake up every day craving kimchee.  I think I'm slowly becoming a real Korean ;-)

So, those are my observations for the time being.  I'm heading to China the first weekend in May, and I can't wait!  It's unbelievable that an exotic place like China isn't any bigger of a deal than a trip to Chicago in the states.  I'm sure I'll have lots of new things to report after that!  Take care, everyone.

XOXO

Tiffany

Pictures of my new home!

Buddhist temple at the entrance to the campus

Entrance to the high school

Standing on campus facing the school playground in the distance

Office I share with 5 other English teachers

My English classroom :-)

Weeknight night life in my neighborhood--it's always bustling!

Street food stalls lined up on my street

Close up of a street food stall.  Everyone huddles in and eats there.  Best and cheapest food ever!

My bathroom.  The shower isn't separate, so everything gets wet.  Makes cleaning super easy though.  P.S.  Ugliest toilet seat EVER.

Kitchen

Different angles from my tiny yet fabulous apartment :-)

Sweet Buddha, I'm a teacher!

Among all the excitement of being in a foreign country and meeting so many incredible new people, it is easy to lose sight of what I officially came here to do—teach English! My first day of teaching was last Thursday, and thus far, it’s been an adventure!

To back up a bit, the last few days of my orientation were pretty rough. We learned a lot about Korean culture, and one of the key elements was that things change very last minute and we are just expected to “roll with the punches” as they say. To illustrate this point, some pretty upsetting things occurred the last few days of training. First, my good friend here got kicked out for failing the drug test. I realize that’s a pretty serious offense, but the treatment she received was pretty brutal. On that same day, 7 people from my training class were told that they got moved out of Seoul and into the middle of the countryside. Needless to say, we were all very apprehensive about where we would be placed, so the atmosphere was really tense over the last few days of training.

I, however, got extremely lucky! I am currently residing in Gangnam, which is definitely one of the best possible areas to be! It is south of the river and is basically the haute couture part of Seoul. This is where people come to buy their Dior and Gucci and drive fancy cars. It’s also the place to come for the best clubs and bars. This is what I’ve been told anyway. I’m one of few people in the entire program that got placed within central Seoul, so this makes my placement even luckier! The only downside of living in this area is that everything is more expensive. Food and such are still cheap, but not as cheap as in other areas. My apartment is really small (about twice the size of my Paris apartment for those of you that saw it), but I can walk to my school in less than 5 minutes, and I am in the thick of all the action. Everyone else I’ve talked to has a pretty substantial commute—one girl even travels an hour and a half every day—so again, I’m very lucky. I am, however, under a constant microscope. As a foreigner, I get gawked at everywhere I go, and Koreans are not at all shy about staring. Because I’m so close to my school, I see my students outside of class constantly, so I need to be on my best behavior at all times i.e. no getting blasted on Soju and stumbling home. But not to worry—on those nights, I just stay with friends :-)

So, teaching! Wow! It’s been craziness. I’m teaching Freshmen at an all girls private Buddhist high school. It’s so different from anything in the states for sure. There’s a huge temple at the entrance to the school, which is the first thing I saw last Wednesday when I went to meet my new colleagues. The position itself is quite different from what we were prepared for, but then again, I seem to be the exception to every rule thus far. In training, we were taught how to co-teach with a native Korean English teacher, meaning that we aren’t entirely responsible for the class, and we are certainly never teaching alone. How large a role we play in the classroom is left entirely up to the Korean co teacher. I, however, do not have a co-teacher. I am entirely responsible for my class and represent 15% of their total English grade. As someone who has never taught before, this came as a bit of a shock, especially when they told me Wednesday evening (the day I arrived at my school) that I would be teaching a full day on Thursday. Every other person I talked to didn’t even begin co teaching until Monday. By this point, I had already taught 10 classes. I am also the only teacher in the entire school that has their own classroom. In Korean schools, teachers move to the various rooms while the students stay, but I have my own room which is connected to my office, and the students come to me. So, yes, I seem to have gotten the cushiest native English speaking position in all of Seoul, but also the most responsibility.

Teaching itself has been pretty good. I’m actually pretty impressed with how well my classes are going, although admittedly, we’re only doing introductions for my first 5 days which isn’t really teaching. The classes that I have are divided into beginner and advanced. Normally, all the classes are blended and you have to employ different teaching techniques to be able to teach all the levels together, but I only teach one at a time (again, cushy). Thus far, I’ve only taught beginner classes, but I only have each class once a week, so I only need to plan two lessons for each week, a beginner, and an advanced. Because each class has 20 students and I teach 5 classes a day, I am responsible for roughly 500 students. I find this number overwhelming, especially given that I need to learn their names—Korean names—which are incredibly long and difficult to pronounce.

The biggest challenge in my classes is that culturally, the ideal female student is expected to be silent. Apparently, I have a class of perfect Korean girls, because they do not talk. At all. Clearly this is an issue in a class entitled “English Conversation” where my sole duty is to get these girls talking. Last week, I saw 200 terrified faces staring at me, silently pleading with me not to make them speak. Seriously, these girls are terrified to speak in front of me. I’m hoping my advanced students are more talkative, but it has not been easy. I made two girls cry last week. As an introductory activity, I had the students create nametags and illustrate them with things they like to do. To prepare them, we drilled and practiced saying “My name is ________” and “I like __________” We went over all the different vocabulary and I had them pair up and practice before they made their nametags. Then, all they had to do was introduce themselves to the rest of the class using these two expressions. One girl had tears falling out of her eyes and was shaking so hard I could hardly understand her when it was her turn. Another girl came up to me, bowing profusely, begging me not to make her do the activity. Needless to say, it’s pretty rough. I really want my class to be one that they look forward to attending, not the one they dread all week. The expectations for these girls are really high—they attend classes 6 days a week, they attend school from 7:00 AM until 4:30 PM, then they attend private academies from 6:00 PM-11:00 PM EVERY DAY. This doesn’t even take into account the obscene amount of homework that they are given daily. High school is also the time when they prepare for their exams, and the pressure on them to do well is unreal. It’s insane. Point being, I want my class to be one hour a week where they can relax and have fun, not cry. Hopefully they’ll relax a little as time goes on.

My colleagues have been fantastic. It’s obvious that they want me to be happy. I office with 5 other English teachers, and any time I ask a question to the room at large, all 5 of them will converge and start talking in rapid Korean, and then give me the most thorough answer possible to the most basic question. They also say that the students are the same way in their classes as they are in mine, and that they’ve heard nothing but positive things from the students, so that makes me rest a little easier.

I guess the long and short of it is that I continue to be very very happy here, and things actually seem to get better and better. I realize this is a new position, but I really am enjoying teaching. The days fly by, and it seems to really suit my personality. More updates to come.

XOXO
Tiffany

Confessions of a Waygook

I'm here!!  I'm actually in Seoul, South Korea, on the other side of the world and I still can't even believe it.  I have so much to say and not the vaguest idea of where to start.

OK, to begin, probably the most important question is whether or not I like it so far.  To which my response is YES.  I don't even have the words to begin to describe how happy I am to be here.  I seriously feel already that I am a completely different person than the one that boarded the plane in Minneapolis one week ago today.  So, speaking of the plane, I guess that's a good place to start. 

The flight was actually fantastic.  It was easier and seemed shorter than my flights to Europe, which is completely illogical as it's more than twice as long, but the fact that I had an entire row to myself probably helped.  Seriously, the airline gods were smiling upon me that day, clearly, because that NEVER happens.  So, the flight was easy, and for any of you that are coming to visit, I would highly recommend Singapore Air.  

Anyway, so I got here a day too early to go to orientation, so I had to fend for myself for the night.  All I will say about that experience is that it's a really good thing that people bow in this country a lot, because it seems like exactly the right thing to do when you are the epitome of a stupid foreigner that doesn't speak one syllable of the language.  Literally.  I had at least 3 conversations that consisted of a person trying to communicate something to me, me staring completely blankly back, and then them saying it again, this time with hand gestures, and me staring blankly back, and then them saying it again, with hand gestures and incredibly slowly, and me still staring blankly back, and then the person finally walking away.  So, yeah, the bow just seems really appropriate.  Like, with each bow (because I usually do it several times) I'm saying internally "yes, I know, I'm very stupid, thank you for your patience."  

Anyway, I'm not even sure how to describe Seoul.  I envisioned this place that was so densely populated that you couldn't even walk down the street without being shoulder to shoulder with people, and it's totally not like that.  There are definitely times when it gets that way, like, on the subway, but thus far the actual streets aren't like that at all.  I haven't gotten to go to too many neighborhoods just yet because our training schedule is incredibly intense, but our training facility is in the center of Seoul.  Anyway, I swear, this city was made with me in mind.  Everything is open all the time.  You're 5 steps away from bustling activity at any time no matter where you are, you can buy liquor at all hours of the day, there are street vendors every two steps, karaoke is central to the culture, and it's CHEAP.  Of the three neighborhoods I've been to, they all have a completely different vibe, which is so cool.  Hongdae is basically the college area of town, so it's got this incredible energy.  It's full of dance clubs and crowded bars, and it's really bright and colorful.  It reminds me of all the pictures you see of Seoul with the bright neon lights and everything.  Then Itaewon is basically the foreigner ghetto.  That's where you find all your Western stuff and English speakers and bars that have pool tables (!!!!) and Bombay Sapphire martinis **big smile**  But, without question, my 2 favorite things thus far are Noraebang and Soju!!  

Noraebang are karaoke rooms, and they are as ubiquitous to Korean culture as happy hour in the U.S.  BUT, a Noraebang is your own private room.  So, you gather up all your pals and go into this room, and sing all night long!  It's, like, my own personal heaven, made even greater by the fact that you bring your own alcohol.  Which brings us to Soju!  I had never heard of this before I came here, but it is this alcohol that tastes like water except a little crisper with maybe a hint of a minty flavor??  It's hard to describe, but it's DANGEROUS because it is incredibly strong, I think comparable to Everclear maybe? and yet so tasty!  So, you can get this stuff absolutely anywhere, including the convenience stores that are every 5 paces here, 24 hours a day, for the bargain price of 1000 won, which is equivalent to roughly $.90.  Yes, you read that right. It's less than a dollar a bottle.  So, clearly, this leads to drunkeness.  No problem!  Stumble out of the Noraebang, and fall head long into a street vendor, parading his wares of delicious street food that's also insanely cheap and delicious.  Heaven??  I think yes!

But what would the Noraebang be without a crew of friends!  I think this is what has made this experience so fantastic thus far.  First off, as you all know, I was feeling incredibly confused about the direction my life was taking prior to coming here.  I've always kind of felt like something was just missing, or, I don't even know what, and I feel like I have fallen headlong into this massive group of people that are exactly the same in that regard.  What's so great is that, everyone is so incredibly open-minded and accepting to begin with, and when you couple that with the fact that we all arrived in more or less the same boat as far as not knowing anyone, it has made every second of meeting people amazing.  Point being, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to do.  The clarity of it all is just so refreshing.  Also, it's this unbelievably diverse group of people.  There's something like 7 or 8 countries where English is the native language, and those countries are all very well represented.  I'm in training right now, so we're all in this big dorm, and it's just so awesome walking through the halls and hearing all the different accents and terminologies for things.  It's like, on top of learning Korean, we're learning all these different versions of English as well.  Also, there are a surprisingly large number of people here that are Korean American, and then of course white and black, too and other Asian ethnicities.  So, it's just, this sea of colors and accents.  It's just so cool and I've never had a comparable experience before now.  Also, with those different ethnicities, listening to peoples' stories about their upbringing is just so eye opening.  The cultures around the world are just incredibly different.  We stay up for hours just talking about our backgrounds, and I hang on every word. 

So, I really do get along with everybody, but my new close friends are the best ever!!  One of the first people I met here is Alicia and she and I just clicked right away, so I spend as much time with her as possible which is mostly at meals and after training.  She's from San Francisco, she's Korean but adopted, and she's hard to explain.  She's a writer and has this incredible style.  I guess she has a lot of traits of people from SF, but I've never been, so I don't know how to describe her other than to say she's awesome--incredibly generous and kind, unbelievably open-minded.  Then there's KK--his name is African so KK is the easiest form of his name.  He's from Uganda originally, but his dad is in the UN, so he's literally lived everywhere.  Josh is another Korean from Seattle who is just incredibly sweet and considerate, and also an incredibly good person to have around since he actually speaks the language.  Kahlid is this teddy bear of a black man from North Carolina who literally can't utter a sentence without everyone dying laughing.  And then there's Andryos, who you have to meet to believe he's for real.  He's from Brazil and the second I met him, I asked if he'd be offended if I called him Jersey since he looks like he stepped off a taping of Jersey shore.  Seriously.  Works out every day, wears skin tight clothing, gelled hair, does the fist pump, giant diamond studs in both ears.  The man wore head to toe skin tight denim yesterday.  I was afraid he was going to rip his sleeve if he tried to fist pump.  But he's awesome.  Super funny and nice.  And entertaining.  Clearly.  So, in this group, I am the minority.  I am the only caucasian which is both incredibly humbling and an entirely new experience. So, these are my closest friends, but there's quite a few others that I really like as well, and let's face it, we'll be here all night if I go into detail on all of them.

Anyway, the training has been brutal.  It's 12 hours every single day, so I'm feeling very disconnected from the  US right now since I haven't been able to really talk to anyone, but I think initially that's probably better anyway because you need to just throw yourself out there and immerse yourself in this new life.  I move in to my apartment on Wednesday and while I'm very excited to not feel like a transient anymore, I'll be pretty sad to not be surrounded by my fellow teachers anymore.

OK, there's so much more to say, but I'm getting really tired so I'll leave it at that for now.  I absolutely love it here and spend every single day excited for what is yet to come!

XOXO

Tiffany

Saying Goodbye

With about 3 days to go until the great Korean departure, reality has still not hit me.  I spent the beginning part of this week in Wisconsin to leave my car with my mom and to say my goodbyes to a few friends and family, but even as I said my final goodbyes, it still hadn't sunk in that I wouldn't see these people for over a year.  I'm wondering at what point I will fully realize what I am undertaking?  I hope some semblance of reality kicks in soon, though, because I haven't even BEGUN packing...

Anyway, I feel strange and very disconnected from reality right now.  I'm really trying to live fully in each second, but everything around me seems so hazy and unreal.  Maybe it's a defense mechanism or something, so I don't realize how desperately I'm going to miss some people in my life.  There are brief moments when I have complete clarity, and I experience horrible heart-clenching feelings of panic at the thought of being without Nate, but then just as quickly, they disappear.  It's weird...

More than anything right now, I'm trying to prepare myself for being in a place where the tiniest comforts of my life will be absent.  I worry what kind of effect being in a place where I can't even read street signs will have on me.  You really don't think about things like that on a day to day basis, but even when all that gets too overwhelming, how will I order a gin martini to lull the reality of it all?  Hopefully, I'll meet some amazing people right away that won't be embarrassed when I have to resort to crude sign language.  Yes, these are the deep thoughts that occupy my brain at present.  I just keep telling myself that thousands of non-Korean speaking Anglophones go to Korea every year and have fantastic experiences...

Well, that's all I have for right now.  The next time I write a new blog, I will be residing in Korea!

XOXO

I'm going to Seoul!

My first ever post of my first ever blog!  It's a big day here in Minneapolis...

I have decided to start a blog to document the incredible year that is ahead of me.  I found out a few days ago that I have secured a teaching position in Seoul, South Korea beginning February 22 of this year.  This has been an incredibly long process of collecting documents, becoming TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certified, deferring student loans, and generally just making some huge life changes and soul-changing decisions about the path my life was taking.

Mostly, I'm unbelievably excited.  I can't wait to be in a foreign country, experiencing a new language, culture, food, and making new friends from all over the world.  I would say that travel is my dearest passion in life, so the idea of getting paid to travel is pretty amazing.  Well, strictly speaking I'm getting paid to teach, but, you get the idea ;-)

So you'll notice I said mostly excited.  The small part of me that feels anything other than excited feels sad and apprehensive.  I've been with my boyfriend, Nate, for over 4 years, and it's hard for me to imagine being away from him.  He's been pretty awesome about the whole thing, but it's still hard.  Yes, we will stay together, and no, I'm not worried about it.  I also know from experience that there will be things I will miss that I won't even be expecting. 

To back up a bit, this is my second extended period abroad.  I spent an amazing year in Paris back in 2005, but looking back on it, I realize how poorly I spent my time there.   I went as a student with zero money--which is difficult in a city like Paris that has cafes and fashion boutiques on every corner.  What I regret is that I spent so much time dwelling on what and who I missed in the United States and my lack of funds.  Yes, I had no money, but neither did any of the starving artists that lived in Paris back in the early 1900s.  I lived in Montmartre which, in my opinion, is the most magical area of Paris. The only way to describe myself was lucky, but I didn't really feel that way at the time. Point being, by the time I got my head together about the experience, it was over, and I have spent the last several years feeling unfulfilled and angry with myself for not making the most out of such an incredible experience.  No offense to my amazing friends and family back in the U.S... I missed them all terribly.  But what I realized upon my return is that true friends and family will still be there when you get back.  You can miss them, but that relationship won't really change.  I know this is pretty basic, but it's a revelation I wish I had had while I was there.

So, I tucked the Paris experience away and tried very hard to make a fulfilling career for myself back in the U.S.  Travel, though, for those that really love it, know that it's not that easy.  A love for travel gets under your skin, and it's impossible to compartmentalize that.  But I tried.  I went down the sales track and stayed on it for almost 5 years.  Eventually, however, I realized that I was deeply unhappy and had to make a pretty drastic change.  At about this same time, I was contacted by a recruiter for EPIK (English Program In Korea) and the rest is history!  That was about 6 months ago, and it is amazing how alive I have felt since I stopped doing what I was 'supposed to do' and started listening to my heart.  (Yes, I realize how cliche that sounds).  I have absolutely loved learning about Korean culture, and I am so grateful that I figured things out in time and will be given another chance to do what makes me happiest.

Anyway, that is the past, and now it's just a waiting game until I begin my training on February 22nd!  My pledge to myself this time is that I will soak up every millisecond that I am in Seoul.  I am allowed to miss my family and friends and my Nathan, but it will not monopolize my life nor will it prevent me from making the most of my experience.  I will take lots of walks, keep my eyes wide open, and fully embrace the good, the bad, and the completely unforseen.  I predict a very different gal will be blogging by the end of this year :-)