Korea so far...

March 26, 2011 was the day I stepped on the plane in Cleveland and headed for Seoul to start my newest adventure.  I had had many adventures previously, like the five day trip to Israel just one week previouslyJ, but this would be the first time living abroad for an extended period of time (not counting the one month I lived in France in 2007).  March 27^th kind of got lost somehow as it was now March 28^th 5 AM when I touched down at Incheon International Airport.  Of course 5 AM was still 4PM according to my body but it really didn’t matter – I was ready to sleep anywhere I could lay my head.  That morning I was given the textbook I would use, shown my apartment, and told that I should be ready to teach the next day.  Welcome to Korea.

That was five months ago, almost exactly, and the journey from there to here since then has been filled with small adjustments here and there, learning to adjust from normal everyday life in America to normal everyday life in Korea.  Some of those adjustments have been quite small indeed.  For instance my grocery shopping routine has shifted from Walmart once a week to Emart once a week – the Korean look-a-like version that actually bought out Walmart stores in Korea in 2006.  Here the biggest differences are carts that have four swiveling wheels instead of two, and smooth ramp-like escalators that allow your cart to travel upstairs rather than just you.  Oh yeah, that’s pretty Korean too – everything is up.  They don’t typically have the ground space that a Walmart would fill in America so instead they build up: two stories of products (groceries downstairs and other stuff upstairs), followed by 2 or 3 additional levels for parking. 

Of course parking for me is not an issue since my transportation consists of an environmentally-friendly, swagger-unfriendly, tops-out-at-50-MPH scooter (maybe 35 or 40 if you have somebody on the backJ).  This is one transition that has been slightly annoying but mostly just fun.  The annoying part of owning a scooter instead of a car is the storage factor; and of course the weather factors too.  I’m always double checking how much stuff I have to lug home from the grocery store knowing I can only take as much as I can fit on my scooter.  And if it starts raining, well, I guess it just adds another wrinkle to the day.  But honestly the scooter that I bought from a friend about two months ago is one of the most practical and helpful decisions I have made here in Korea.   Prior to that I was relying on public transportation which in Korea, is one of the most reliable and convenient worldwide.  However, the scooter still cuts the time in half or more every time I go anywhere and provides a much more enjoyable ride (I say this not only because riding a motorized two-wheeler is fun, but also because riding a Korean bus is decidedly NOT fun due to the incessant and sudden braking that produces a headache in no time).   

Another adjustment that has held its own set of challenges has been the adjustment into a full-time teaching role for the first time. Not only is this my first teaching gig, but it's also my first exposure to the Korean education system where things are done slightly different than in America. My classes consist of about 40 students with a wide variety of English competency. I have nine different classes totaling around 340 students that I see twice a week. Although each of them have English names (or transliterated Korean names) it’s still impossible to memorize very many, even over the course of the semester.  Building relationship is thus very difficult and even basic interaction with students is severely limited due to the class structure and teaching methodology they are used to.

Perhaps the greatest challenge in teaching has been trying to teach material that demands student production (conversational English) to students who are used to learning in a test-based, fact transfer educational system.  However the teachers at Taesung high school have been very accommodating to me in many ways and give me a great deal of flexibility to rearrange the class structure and material in ways that allow for more group interaction and student production. Nevertheless I still feel a bit frustrated in trying to implement effective conversational English into the existing Korean educational system. But frustration is not all bad especially because in this case it is forcing me to think through philosophy of education and teaching strategy. It is also teaching me general relationship skills and how to communicate and cooperate with coworkers and with another culture.

As with any life situation, the most intriguing aspect of living in Korea has been the relationships here in Korea. Although Koreans certainly share some commonalities in terms of worldview and everyday living, they also possess a great deal of individuality and uniqueness just as every people group does. It has been very intriguing for me to talk with various teacher friends and other Koreans and to observe what types of mannerisms or perspectives they seem to share with their people and what things are unique to them as individuals.

Getting to know my Korean teacher-mates has been somewhat of a double-sided coin.  On the one hand it seems that Koreans are extremely community minded and very welcoming.  They are also somewhat intrigued by foreigners – especially Americans (not to mention 6’3” Americans who play basketball).  So there is definitely a desire to build relationship and to learn about each other.  However another difference in the Korean culture is their emphasis on reputation or surface level respect.  Looking good, or bringing a positive impression to the table, is very important in the culture.  For that reason many Koreans have hesitated to speak to me simply out of shame in their English conversation abilities.  That might sound strange given the fact that I’m living in their country, however English has been a point of emphasis in Korean education for some time which means that most Koreans have some expectations for themselves or for others (especially teachers, and most obviously English teachers) which creates a natural barrier around me.

However many at Taesung have broken that barrier on multiple occasions and I have enjoyed building relationships around different interests with many of them.  One of the most enjoyable times I have had in Korea so far was my trip to Tongyeon Bay with the teachers.  This was an overnight trip to the southern part of Korea where we toured some of the historic sites and saw some beautiful scenery around the islands of the southern coast.  Opportunities such as this, to build relationships with people of a different culture are very fulfilling to me and that is one of the biggest reasons I decided to come to Korea to teach. 

(It certainly wasn’t the kimchi J)