The Real Adventures Begin

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I had a very exciting weekend, and there are a few other things I would like to write about as well, that I sort of stored up while I was feeling too sick to write clearly. I finally started feeling better about a week ago, so it's time to write, write, write. 


On The Delight of Kalbi


On the first weekend that we were feeling better, Will and I decided to go to a kalbi restaurant. Kalbi is a very interesting and amazingly delicious food. You go to a restaurant and you sit on the floor (at least we did) and there's a low table and they bring out a huge bowl with coals in it and a grill and set it in the middle of the table underneath this metal chimney. Then they bring you seasoned raw pork and a bunch of sides, including some greens in a delicious spicy dressing, onions (if you ask for them), sliced garlic, this amazing sweet corn, steamed egg, soup, and a few more. They also bring you lettuce leaves and a red sauce with lots of garlic in it. You cook the meat on the grill yourself, in small pieces, and you can also throw the garlic and onions on the grill. You then put some of the red sauce on one of the lettuce leaves, put meat and some vegetables on it, wrap it up, and eat it. It is an explosion of flavor in your mouth that I cannot begin to describe. This meal is often accompanied by Soju, which is a clear, very inexpensive but surprisingly delicious Korean liquor. A meal for 2, plus an entire bottle of Soju, costs 22,000 won, which is about $20. Not bad at all.

On the Horrors of Subways, Stairs, Duffel Bags, and Korean Hotels


Will and I took our first trip to Seoul this weekend. Saturday morning we took the 2-hour train ride with a couple of other foreign teachers. We ate lunch with the other teachers, and then decided to go off on our own and find a hotel. We took some time to figure out the Korean subway system, which is quite simple, but still a subway system and still Korean, so it was confusing at first. When we go to our stop, we already had aching knees from all the stairs in the train station and subway stations we had had to climb. We followed the directions given to us by one of the other teachers... and could not find our hotel. A few miles later, we finally found it, but were told that we could not check in until 8pm. That meant we were stuck carrying our luggage for about 4 more hours. As we were already tired and sore, we were a bit cranky, but it was nothing that a few antics in a nearby Starbucks couldn't solve. 

A Stroll Down Nostalgia Lane... Which Looks Surprisingly Like a Dark Korean Alley


Since we couldn't check into our hotel, we decided to take a trip to Hannam Village in Itaewon. Hannam Village is the military post where Will used to live 11 years ago when his mom was in the army. After I bought a red hat from a street vendor, we walked down some dark, narrow, back streets that Will remembered going down as a kid. We managed to avoid being run over by cars and scooters, and eventually got to see the building where he lived, but they wouldn't let us enter the base because Will's I.D. card expired when he turned 22 in August. We were sad we couldn't enter the post, but quite happy to be in Seoul and decidedly less cranky than earlier. 

On International Cuisine


Exhausted and hungry, we decided to go to a Turkish restaurant. Aren't cities delightful? We ate wonderful kebabs, the most amazing pita bread, and absolutely delightful Turkish coffee and Turkish Delight. Soooo good. And Will even learned to say 'Thank you' in Turkish (which I will not write here as I have absolutely no idea how to spell it). 


On Discovering My Native Language


To make a  very long story slightly less long, we successfully checked into our hotel after 8, watched a total lunar eclipse, and went to sleep exhausted and sore. The next day we made our way to St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, headquarters of the Orthodox Metropolis in Korea. 


Walking into that church was an interesting sensation. First of all, it was very different to walk into a room full of Koreans and realize instantly that I had something very important in common with each and every one of them - the Orthodox faith. Second, despite the fact that the service was in Korean and I understood very little of it, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of familiarity. I recognized the music, the smells, the gestures, and the icons, and I started to tear up. After thinking a bit I realized why: I had just heard my native language for the first time in 2 months. No, Korean is not my native language, but the gestures, smells, music, and sights of the liturgy are. As the room filled with Koreans, Americans, and Romanians, I realized that we all spoke the same language. 


After the service we were invited to a Korean lunch in the Parish Hall. We sat with other English speakers, who made me feel at home and invited me to sing in the choir (which is absolutely beautiful, by the way). I'm very happy with my visit to that church, and I plan to go again at Christmas and at least once a month from now on. 


After lunch Will and I sat with the priests (one of whom was from Seoul, and one of whom was visiting from another province) and talked about teaching. Father Jeremy said that the most important thing about teaching children is to love them. Father Athanasios told us that the church disagrees with how much children are pushed to study, and that brings me to my next topic. 

What children? Here we have only future university students and successful professionals!

Korean children study a bit more than American children do. Actually a lot more. Actually a ridiculous amount more. The children we teach go to public school in the morning, then to a private school, then to us, then to another private school. They are in school from the morning until 8-10pm, and THEN they do their homework. Sometimes when I get frustrated with the children, I remember how long they've been in school and I transfer my frustration to the Korean system of education. It is always important to make learning fun for kids, but it is especially important here, when the children pretty much spend their whole lives in school. I want to teach them well because I want their time in school to be worth it, but I also want to give them a break. I want to let them rest, let them play. Anytime I feel I've combined play with a lesson, I feel that I've done my job. 

On Being in Korea

I gave a lot of students speaking tests a couple of weeks ago and I'd like to write about what I learned from that, but we have another one coming up in a couple weeks, so I think I'll wait and combine them. 

To summarize the past couple of weeks, I think now that Will's here and now that I'm finally getting well, I'm starting to do what I really came here to do. I'm discovering new foods, observing the culture, meeting new people, seeing new places. And I have to say... I absolutely love it. 

(A blurry iPod photo of the lunar eclipse.)

A Few November Photos

Written update coming soon. For now, enjoy the pictures. 

A Few October Photos

Quick Update to the Last Post

1. I have a sinus infection, but the doctor gave me medicine, so I'm hoping it will clear up soon. Hasn't been a fun few days, but I'm starting to feel a little bit better.


2. Will is, at this moment, on a plane from New York to Seoul and should arrive in 8 hours. He will then take a 3 hour bus to Jecheon.


Prayers for recovery and safe travel would be appreciated.

The Real Wait is Finally Ending

Dear Readers,


I apologize for not writing for the last couple of weeks. This is because blowing my nose, drinking dozens of cups of tea, and boiling water over and over again to inhale the steam are not very exciting things to write about. In fact, you're probably already bored. I am about midway through my SECOND bad cold (that came before the first one was all the way out the door) and have decided that I should probably go to work wearing a face mask and latex gloves and insist that all my kids bathe in Lysol before they come. That may be an exaggeration, but I assure you, it is only a slight one. 


There are pros and cons to being sick in Korea vs. in America. Pro: There's a walk-in pharmacy on every block and if you tell them your symptoms they'll give you the medicine. Con: Few of the pharmacists speak English. Pro: Medicine is cheaper. Con: The labels are in Korean so I can't find what I need. Pro: The grocery store, where you can buy tea and tissue, is close by. Con: I have to walk there in the cold. Anyway, I'm going to try to be healthy after this cold and keep my immune system armed and ready. The school has been understanding about my illness and I've missed a few classes without a lecture, but I'm ready to be well now so I can be a better teacher.


Speaking of teaching, I should probably mention how that's going. It's both very rewarding and very frustrating at the moment. I have a lot of fun sometimes, and the classes where I expend the most energy dancing, singing, and looking like an idiot are my favorite. The classes where my kids make me feel like an idiot are my least favorite. I think most of my kids respect and like me, but a few bad apples can spoil the whole barrel (a principle that has never been scientifically explained to me, but I'll accept it on faith), and a few kids have made a couple of my classes a daily, 40-minute, miniature hell. I'm having trouble with one class where about 4 out of 7 kids seem to have no respect for me whatsoever, possibly because I don't speak Korean, or possibly because 2 of them don't seem to respect anyone. I'm having difficulty dealing with that, but my solution today was to get my kindergarteners to teach me how to say "be quiet" in Korean, so I could yell it at my other class when they started acting up. Their reaction was priceless, but then they kept demanding that I say it over and over again, so I'm not sure it was a complete success. My kindergarteners are lovely, smart children, and I'm very fond of them. One of my afternoon classes is reading a storybook with parts they can act out, and I've enjoyed helping them turn it into a play in class twice a week. I jump around, and dance, and sing, and speak dramatically, and act like a fool, and we all love it and have tons of fun. 


It's really hard to believe that I've been here almost a month. I still don't always know what's going on. Today we ordered books for December, and I was very confused while trying to act like I knew what I was doing. We'll find out in December how that worked out! I still forget my CD player almost every time I head to class. I'm glad Will is coming soon so HE can be the clueless new teacher. 


Speaking of Will, he IS coming! I promise! Actually, he should be arriving in Jecheon on Friday night. There have been delays from the FBI, from the Office of Authentications at the State Department in D.C., from FedEx, and there was almost a delay from the Immigration Office here in Korea, but I just emailed him his Visa number, and he should be able to fly out of the U.S. on Thursday morning. Fingers crossed, toes crossed, praying fervently, etc. etc. etc. He will arrive on November 18th, which is exactly one whole month since I arrived in Jecheon. I never thought it would be that long until he arrived, or that the whole waiting process would be so incredibly frustrating. It's hard to believe that when he steps off that bus and I look him in the eye, the waiting will be over. This waiting has been going on since March in various forms, whether it was waiting for information about the program, waiting for my documents, or waiting for his documents. Waiting is exhausting, and I'm ready for it to be over, so our real adventure can begin. 


I've enjoyed my little pre-adventure adventure, but I'm more courageous, more fun, and more myself when Will is around. And in 3 days, it will begin, so watch out, Korea, here we come!


Observations for the Week(s)
1. It's very hard to discern laundry detergent from fabric softener in the grocery store when all the labels are in Korean, and a very helpful lady may chatter at you in Korean and then hand you a huge jug on sale that you know you could never carry all the way home. If you are shy and sensitive to people's feelings, like me, you may carry that jug around the store for 5 minutes, until you can sneak back, look around carefully, and then replace it on the shelf. You will then buy a jug that resembles laundry detergent as quickly as possible and try to exit the store without being seen. 


2. The easiest typical "American" foods to find in Jecheon are: fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers (though you'll find shrimp burgers and fried squid patties, too), and things resembling waffles (both real Belgian waffles, and AMAZING waffle cookies that you can buy in any convenience store). 


3. It's very humbling to be in a country and not know their language. It's harder to think judgmental thoughts about the people I deal with. "Oh, he's so stupid, why doesn't he understand what I'm trying to tell him?" Nope. I'm the one who doesn't understand. It's highly uncomfortable and probably very good for me. However, I am trying to learn the language, and I always say "thank you" in Korean.


4. I don't realize how long I've been here until I look around me when I walk down the street. The trees that were such beautiful colors when I arrived are now either covered in dead leaves, or completely bare. The weather changed from too-warm-for-a-jacket to would-really-like-my-coat-and-scarf in the last couple of weeks. Perhaps soon there will be snow on the mountains - so exciting!!!


5. If you leave the house feeling pretty and then go to a kids' school, be ready to have your vanity stomped on multiple times. I left the house one day feeling that I had just found the perfect flirty red lipstick, only to be told that a. I look like a monster b. I look scary and c. it's the perfect Halloween costume. Better to play it safe and dress in drab colors and just feel ugly when you leave. 

A Week (and a Half) of Wonders

The last time I posted was my first morning in Jecheon, so since I have now been here for almost 11 days, it's time to write again. 


My first few days, I stayed in a hotel and observed other teachers at the school. I watched them teach and learned about the textbooks, the school's systems, and the kids. Monday, I started teaching on my own. I teach kindergarten (6-year-olds who go to school only at Wonderland, instead of going to a public school in the morning and coming to our classes in the afternoon), and 4-6 classes in the afternoon. I work from about 10:45 to 7:30 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday I teach until 6, but sometimes stay to prepare for the next day. 


My students are adorable. Some classes are hyper and rowdy, and some individual kids are hard to keep focused, but I think I have things fairly well under control... for now at least. Right now I'm the new teacher, so they listen a little better than they will in the future, I think. Two kids in my class have already cried when I threatened to punish them for misbehaving... I felt awful. I didn't know I was that scary! Most of the kids in my classes are very smart. My kindergarteners and some of my other classes speak English pretty well, but some of my classes speak and understand very little English. I'm currently working on thinking of ways to teach them that go beyond their books. Some of the classes are required to use certain books that are not appropriate for their level, so it's up to me to try to figure out how to make that work. I've had a little success, but I'm hoping to have more in the future. The teachers there say that the school's directors are a bit frustrating. I'm going to have to learn to stand up for myself - something that doesn't always come naturally to me. 


A week ago, I moved into my apartment. It has a bedroom with a bed, table, and tv; a bathroom with a washing machine; a kitchen with a fridge, toaster oven, and 2-burner gas stove (no oven!); and a... wardrobe room, I guess? That's right, it's just a room with a wardrobe and no other furniture. Maybe I can get into Narnia. The bedroom and kitchen are cute, but the bathroom is pretty dingy looking. It has a beautiful view of Jecheon and the mountains. The main problem is... it smells. It smells horrible. And I don't know if it's mold or the pipes in the bathroom, but it's driving me crazy and I'm afraid of getting sick from whatever it is. I don't know what they can do to fix it, but I'll be talking to the school directors about that. 


I haven't really done anything exciting yet, due to Jecheon's (or pretty much anywhere's) lack of exciting things to do by oneself. Once Will gets here I should have more exciting things to report. Trips to Seoul, paragliding in the mountains, hiking, new restaurants we tried, etc. 


Speaking of Will, you may be wondering when he will come to Jecheon. So am I. He has called the FBI several times and their latest answer is that his background check "has finished processing and will be mailed next week." Why not this week? "It's finished processing and will be mailed next week." Why? "It's finished processing and will be mailed next week." Have I mentioned that I'm not fond of the FBI at the moment? Next week will be 10 weeks after he sent it in - and it's only supposed to take 8 weeks! He has plans for getting it to D.C. to be apostilled and over to Korea much faster than usual, but it will still be at least 2 weeks before he can fly out. This means that he will arrive after the teacher he is replacing has already left. My job will be to convince the school that he really is coming and that if someone can just take over his classes for one week, he will get here as soon as possible and everything will be fine. Meanwhile, I am grateful for Skype and a job to keep me busy. 


Random Interesting Tidbits


My middle school girls asked me ALL about Will and I believe they have a crush on him already


One of my 7-or-8-year-olds in my first afternoon class was wearing a shirt one day that said "I have a great pressure of work today." I want one. 


Not very many people in Jecheon speak English. And when the internet said it was a tourist town, they meant a tourist town for Koreans. So I will have plenty of chances to become immersed in the culture here. 


My students call me "Rachel Teacher" because our recruiter told everyone my first name, despite the fact that I signed all my emails with my middle name... Sigh. So I'm Rachel again. For now. 


There are two things from the U.S. that I really miss (besides Will). Diet Coke is not to be found in Jecheon, though I found Coke Zero once. And Netflix streaming is unavailable, along with every other U.S. video/tv streaming service, such as Hulu and Amazon Prime. 


Korea loves American crime shows, so if you want to watch American TV, you pretty much have to choose between CSI, Law and Order, Bones, NCIS, The Closer... Since I never got into that genre I'm a little tired of it. 


Did I mention the city was beautiful? It's surrounded by mountains that you can see from anywhere in the city, and the autumnal trees on the streets are gorgeous. There's a large vegetable garden behind my apartment building that wonderful to behold. Anytime I feel lonely, stressed, or homesick, looking at those mountains makes me feel better instantly. (I wish I could post the pictures I've taken, but I sort of accidentally left the camera/computer cord at home... Oops.)


I'm really glad I'm here. 

Fun in Jecheon

Hello, Everyone!

I arrived safely at Incheon International Airport around 4:30pm yesterday. I expected to be met at the airport, but ended up using a payphone to call the person who was going to meet me and was given (slightly confusing) instructions on how to get on the bus instead. The bus drivers spoke no English, but I managed to get on the right one and arrived in Jecheon around 11pm. The recruiter, the school owner, and the school supervisor met me at the bus stop and took me to my hotel, where I will staying until I move into my apartment on Saturday. The hotel is nice, with the glaring exception of having no wi-fi and of being so overheated that I feel sick. When I arrived last night I felt terribly lonely and just wanted to go home.

This morning, however, when I opened my windows and saw the sunlight on the city and the mountains, and walked outside into the crisp autumn air (61 Fahrenheit, currently), I felt much better. I found wi-fi down the street, and bought a large bottle of icy cold water. So nice. Then I was picked up and taken to the school. I will be teaching 7-year-olds in the morning and older kids in the afternoon. The kids seem really smart, and when I observed a class of 6-year-olds, three of them came and leaned on me (one of them called me "mommy" the whole time, and another one wouldn't stop eating paper). They're rowdy and loud and fun and I think I'm going to love them. I met some of the other teachers, too, and they all seem really nice. I ate lunch at the school (my first meal in Korea) and it was delicious. I'm very jet-lagged, so forgive me if this blog isn't quite up to my normal standards - I feel like I could fall asleep with my head on the desk right now!

I think the nights are going to be lonely and weird for awhile, but I have the days to look foward to - being surrounded by Korean kids and English-speaking teachers. Now I know I'll be fine until Will gets here (and after, of course).

I start teaching for real on Monday, I think, so I'll write again soon after. Thanks for reading!

Anastasia in Asia... Alone.

I have great tidings of progress joy, sadness, busyness, and hopefully some courage.
. 


Progress - If all goes well, I should have my Visa AND my plane ticket by tomorrow afternoon (Friday, October 14th), and I should be departing sometime this coming Monday. That's right, THIS Monday. I am supposed to be arriving in Korea on the 18th (Tuesday), and right now it looks like that's actually going to happen.


Joy - I am actually going! I have dates! I have all my paperwork done! Like, real done, not fake done like all the other times! And I am very excited, and so glad to be getting out of Macon (I love it so, but it's high time I moved on) and into the beautiful Jecheon City. 


Sadness - I am ready to go... Will is not. Will has yet to receive his background check from the FBI. (They need to hurry up!) The school in Jecheon wants me to arrive on October 18th, and for Will to arrive on November 1st. The FBI says to expect his background check late this month or early next month... After which he must send it to D.C. So I may be in Korea for 2-4 weeks without Will. Sadness. :-( 


Busyness - This weekend, I must SHOP and PACK. I did some shopping at home over the weekend - I procured a lovely, chic wool coat and some snazzy new boots, as well as some practical walking shoes. (I've been told I look like a real teacher now.) Now it's on to the little stuff - a supply of makeup, some travel bottles, the usual. Then, I must figure how to pack an entire year's wardrobe into 2-3 suitcases... What fun! 


Hopefully, some courage - Am I nervous about going by myself? Yes. Worried? Yes. About? Navigating the airport, finding food, finding my way from my apartment to the school, meeting new people, starting my job, simply being in a country with NO previous acquaintances... I'm terrified. At the same time, there's a tiny little voice that tells me that I can do it. That I'm strong, that I'll adapt. Of course, that voice sounds just a bit like Will's voice... But I'm telling myself that, too. This is a chance for me to prove myself... to me. 


And of course, there are both small and great comforts... A beautiful landscape, Skype (anastasia.dunlop, if you want to find me), good music on my iPod, the anticipation of starting new books on the plane, the prospect of an adventure, and the knowledge that I'm going where many others have gone before. 


Let's do this thing. 

We Have a Contract! ...Again!

Many of you are probably thinking that Will and I have left the country already, or wondering why we haven't. "Hey, weren't they supposed to leave yesterday?" Well, yeah, but now we have yet ANOTHER target date to arriving in South Korea. We now have a new contract with not Osan Wonderland, but Jecheon Wonderland English Institute. Wonderland English Institute is a chain, and while Osan could not wait for us to arrive, Jecheon can... at least until October 20th. We ran into yet ANOTHER (I feel like I'm overusing that phrase...) document issue. Will took my FBI check, which took SO LONG to arrive, to Atlanta to have it apostilled, only to learn that since it's a "federal document," it has to be sent to D.C. ... which takes 2 weeks. The school also wants to wait on Will to get his visa in the U.S., and he still has not received his background check. So... we are waiting... still... It WILL happen. (I say to myself daily...) We are both impatient to leave, to leave Mercer (since we are not students and kind of don't belong), to leave Macon (as dear to us as Macon is, it's not our home anymore), to leave his parents' house (as kind as they've been, it's getting a little claustrophobic for all of us). 

In the meantime, Will and I are researching our new location - Jecheon City. Jecheon City is a tourist city because of its beautiful mountains, historical sites, pretty lakes (or lake... not really sure), and ski resort. It's a small city surrounded by mountains and fields. Its average high temperature in October is 67 degrees Fahrenheit, in November it's 52, in December 39, in January 35, and in February 40. It snows a bit, though not a whole lot. Any of you who know me well know that this excites me A LOT. Will, on the other hand, is a bit less excited by the prospect of cold weather. He will whine and complain, but I will continue to dance in the snow. The downside of this is that I now have to buy winter clothes. 

So while I'm tired of waiting, I'm extremely happy with where we've been placed. I will post more updates in the coming weeks. 

Readying

Well, I might as well start writing, seeing as Will (my longtime boyfriend and longertime best friend) and I are supposed to be in Korea by September 20th, which is the Tuesday after next, just 12 days! Really more like 11.5 days, since Seoul is 11 hours head of Macon time. Things are going to start moving very fast. 


Tomorrow, Will is going to Atlanta to get our diplomas and my background check apostilled by the state... now that we finally know what to do with that. We will then FedEx those documents to Korea, and they'll have everything they need from us in order to get our E2 Visa number. Once they get the number, we will send our documents to the Korean Consulate in Atlanta and set up an interview... for me. (Will still doesn't have his FBI check... I'll address that in a minute.) I will go the interview and pick up the visa the next day. We are trying to convince the people we are working with that it would be a good idea for Will to go without his visa, since he has 90 days to get after he enters SoKo. We still don't have plane tickets, so I'm anxiously waiting to hear what day I actually leave. It will probably be next Saturday or the day after. 


I now need to find a very large suitcase and stock up on certain makeup and toiletries and favorite foods, and pack it all up, and I'll be set. The weather is about the same there as it is here right now, so no drastic wardrobe changes are needed.


Now. How am I feeling about all this? Well, that's a good question. I'm happy everything is coming together, but at the same time, the worries that I might not actually get to go have not completely departed. That, and I worry that I'll leave important things undone or unpacked or unbought. I'm also just starting to re-examine the feelings I have about actually being in the country, not just getting there. It will smell like fish and other unpleasant things. It will have strange foods that I cannot immediately identify. It will have subways and signs in Korean and tightly packed crowds. I'll have to learn how to bow, to eat with chopsticks without my hand cramping, to not leave my chopsticks in my rice, to not write names in red ink, to not wear sunglasses in front of my boss, to shield my cup with my hand when I drink in front of Will. I will mess up. I will be extremely embarrassed, and forget that they have all seen Americans make stupid mistakes. 


But I'm also so very excited to immerse myself in another culture. I have never had the chance to do that before. Where I have had smaller opportunities, shyness and fear of embarrassment have stopped me from taking them. That's about to change. In the coming posts I will blushingly post all my faux pas and write about how people reacted, how I reacted, what I learned about myself, other people, American culture, and Korean culture. 


I hope that in this year I can share with you all laughter, embarrassment, knowledge, opinions, and most of all, great stories. Thanks for reading.