3 weeks in...

Kimchi. Iced Coffee. Hiking. Spas. Shopping.

Just a few aspects of the Korean culture that I can definitely get used to. But then, there's Spam. Koreans absolutely love their Spam. Not only do they add to every dish possible, Spam gift baskets line all the grocery stores. Hence the title of my blog. It symbolizes two parts of my Korean life: 1. The one part of Korean culture I really can't seem to grasp. 2. My adventures in Korea being a vegetarian. Unfortunately for you, this is my first time writing a blog, so bare with me. Fortunately for you, this is probably the only posting that I will actually be touching on the Spam subject.

Week 1:

14 hours later, I'm in Seoul, South Korea. Hard to believe. Trying to deal with the time change. After getting settled into the hotel, my friend and I decided to go out and have our first Korean cuisine experience. We walked around Seoul and actually had trouble finding Korean food, and not Western food. Finally, we chose the place next to our hotel. We get the menu, and luckily there were some rough English translations. Without knowing it, we were at a Korean BBQ restaurant which specialized in beef. So i picked the only vegetarian option, which was some sort of soup. My friend picked a soup with beef in it. Our soup comes out, still bubbling. Shortly after my friend started to eat his soup, the entire Korean staff came rushing over to our table. There were at least 10 servers crowded around our table with very concerned looks on their faces. The only one who could speak English kept saying, "No no no! No no no!" They were pointing at my friends dish. They took it away, leaving 8 Korean staff members staring at us. Still not exactly sure what was wrong with it, the English speaking server continued to repeat, "So sorry. So sorry." My friend insisted it was okay, but the language barrier was in our way of conveying that message. Not sure if he should be concerned for his health after already taking a few bits of the soup, they brought out another soup that looked completely identical to the last. Stomachs rumbling, we decided to dive into our soups. The Korean staff eventually trickled away from our table, we enjoyed our first Korean meal, and walked away with a good story.

The rest of week 1 was filled with minimal sight seeing, and lots of training. There were about 20 of us in training together, a good group of North Americans and two Koreans. While we were all strangers at first, we were forced to get to know each other real will during our medical exam. After the first day of training, we were sent over to a medical clinic for what we thought would be a basic medical exam. False. The majority of the medical exam took place on one floor of the clinic. One open room where we waited to have something that sounded like our name called out. Sometimes the Korean nurse would escort you to a mysterious door, showing you into a dimmed room where the doctor sat. Other times, you would have your test done in the wide open. Let's not forget that all the women were forced to change into hot pink tunic robes. And the men into purple robes and purple capris pants. The medical exam consisted of: eye exam, EKG, hearing exam, chest x-ray, doctor consultation, blood test, urine sample, and a dental check up. After 3 hours, let's just say we didn't feel quite like strangers anymore.

After our final mock teaching, I had successfully passed training! But the Friday was far from being over. I was put into a call van with a Korean man who took me to the bus station. He bought me a ticket to Gwangju and signaled me to find platform 14. Trying to manage my all my luggage and find the right bus in this crowded bus terminal, I was feeling scared. The bus left in just a few minutes. Finally, I saw a bus near platform 14. I got on to find a bus filled of Korean faces staring at me. "Gwangju?" I said. They nodded their heads. Phew! I was on my way to Gwangju, South Korea. Gwangju is a town in 3.5-4 hours south of Seoul. It's the 6th largest city in South Korea, population 1.5 million. I caught a few z's on the trip, but my mind was busy racing with questions and concerns about what my life would be like in Gwangju. I got off the bus and was met my an employee of Chungdahm who helped me with my luggage. He was Korean, but spoke a little English. He took me to my apartment and then informed me we were going to my branch to meet my co-workers. To be honest, I was freaking out. Why is this apartment so small? What if all of my co-workers are Korean and don't speak English? What if Gwangju is a dump? What am I doing? All my worries were eased the moment I walked into my school- "HELEN!" There were two Korean girls behind the desk that greeted me with excitement and smiles. I soon learned that I was working with four American boys and was to be the only girl teacher. I met Kim, my branch manager, JoAnne, a desk worker, and then the four other English teachers. The students were equally excited to meet their new teacher, since they had already started class and had a sub the first week. My students were jumping up and down trying to get a look at the new American girl teacher. So adorable. To say the least, I was very relieved after meeting the gang at the Namgwangju Branch.

Week 2:

I work for a company named Chungdahm Learning, a large English academy that has over 40 branches throughout Korea. Most are in the surrounding areas of Seoul, but there are three branches in Gwangju. I work at Namgwangju- which mean South Gwangju. As you may know, Koreans take education extremely serious. These students are the hardest working kids i've ever met. In general, Korean kids go to school during the day, and then attend private academies after school, called hagwons. There are different types of academies the students go to, English being the most common: Math, sports, music, or other languages. I even have one student that goes to one to learn magic! The parents of Chungdahm students pay big bucks to send their students to us two days a week. I teach two classes a night, each for three hours. 4-10pm. The classes focus on reading, writing, and listening skills. I also teach a class called Speaking and Writing on Wednesdays from 7-10, but it's my favorite. I show episodes of The Cosby Show and Hannah Montana and have the students practice their listening and speaking/ acting skills. The kids range from 3rd grade- 8th grade. They are all extremely intelligent and polite kids. The material is a little tedious, but classes stay busy between quizzes and group projects.

I live in an apartment building a 10 minute walk from work in a quiet neighborhood called Bonseon-dong. The apartment isn't the most spacious, but has a nice living room and kitchen area. After spending all day Saturday unpacking, I felt like I could get used to this place. I hung up pictures of friendly faces on the walls, which made me smile. I live in the same building as my co-workers and some other American teachers from other English academies in Gwangju. I surprisingly adjusted to the fact that my shower is my entire bathroom. The water is hot and that's all that matters. Day by day, i'm getting more comfortable with calling apartment 307 home.
That first weekend, my branch manager planned a branch excursion to Boseong Green Tea Plantation. One of the best parts was the drive on the way to Boseong, driving through the Korean country side. It was so green and mountainous. We hiked to the top of the mountain the plantation was on, which led to a breathtaking view of the Ocean. Little did I know, we'd soon me swimming that water. After munching on soft-serve green tea ice cream, we headed to the beach in Yulpo. While the sky was a bit overcast, the water was surprisingly warm. After our dip in the water, we headed into town for a green tea bbq. That's right! All the food in the area is green tea inspired. So we had a proper Korean BBQ, which means you take your shoes off at the door, sit on the floor of a low table, and cook your own meat at the table. The pork and duck were raised on a green tea diet! I had green tea bibimbap, a famous Korean dish with rice, veggies, egg, and red pepper paste! Yum.

Week 3:

Lucky for me, after only a week of teaching, I had a four day weekend. The Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, was last weekend. I took the opportunity to meet up with my new friends from training and see more of Seoul. I took a bus up to Seoul and did just that. I had a great time visiting with friends, exploring the beauty and nature that Seoul offers. One day, we strolled along a river until we found Baegun Lake. Our last day there, we hiked up Surisan Mountain. Koreans love hiking. Let me rephrase that: Koreans above the age of 55 love hiking. It's unbelievable. Sorry Mom and Dad, but when I was taking the subway home from going out at 5 30 am, these 70 year old Korean men were hitting the trails. So we get off the subway at Surisan Station and fail at reading the Korean maps to find out to get to the bottom of the mountain. Luckily, a kind Korean man could understand us saying, "Surisan" and decided to show us the way. He would walk us about ten minutes, then try to give us directions in Korean. Despite nodding our heads yes, our faces must have told him we had no idea what he was saying. So he walked us about 30 minutes to trails. After an hour of hiking up beautiful trails, we reached a little landing. We couldn't believe our eyes. There was an outdoor gym half-way up this damn mountain! Not only do these old Korean men climb mountains, but they pump some iron on the way. It was a full outdoor communal gym- weights, treadmill, and more. (These outdoor work-out stations can be found at all parks and most bus stops. Nothing like seeing an elderly Korean woman breaking a sweat while she waits for the bus.) Well we hiked to the top! Between the trees, we only could manage a little look out point, but it made it worth it!

Now I'm back in Gwangju, and about to start my third week of teaching. I will wrap this up with a great teaching moment. I was teaching my middle school girls about female spies, and we were talking about a particular spy during WWI. Our outline highlighted the occupation of this particular spy: an exotic dancer. So I write on the board, "She was an exotic dancer." I tried to hurry onto the next supporting detail, but couldn't catch a break. "Teacher teacher, what does 'exotic dancer' mean?"

That's all for now folks and thanks for reading. Until next time...