Don't Talk to Me

Being a generally introverted person and all around awkward, I hate speaking to strangers. In any country and any language. Small talk makes me uncomfortable. The idea of a long elevator ride makes me panic and anything more than a passive 'thank you' to someone holding the door is just too much. It's a lot of pressure. Back at home, I don't have to do much to avoid talking to strangers. However, in Korea it's obvious that I am here to teach English, so why wouldn't I want to continue doing so in my free time? In social situations, like out at bars or on group excursions, I don't mind. But when I am shopping, on the subway, or walking around, leave me alone.

Teachers will often employ a few tactics to avoid being used for English practice.

Defense 1: MP3 player. Earbuds/massive headphones firmly in place, all noises can be blocked. Even if the volume isn't loud enough to drown out surrounding voices, earbuds send a clear signal that you are not to be disturbed.

Defense 2: Hiding behind a book. We're antisocial and well read.

Defense 3: Sunglasses or eye avoidance. If they can't meet your eyes, there's no way they can start a conversation, right?

Defense 4: Anger. No one wants to talk to someone who looks like they're ready to throw a punch.

While these methods are usually effective, some persistent people get through the cracks. I was once trapped talking to a middle schooler for 30 minutes on the subway. James spoke almost fluent English, but remember that I'm not friendly. He noticed me the second I stepped on the subway. He crossed the car and sat across from me and I continued to avoid eye contact. I had earbuds and my book, but I could see him staring at me in the corner of my eye. He then moved to the empty seat next to me, turning his body to face me. I pretended to be engrossed in my book. Moments later, he started talking to me, loud enough to ensure I could hear him over my music. I sighed and took out an earbud. There was no going back.

Strangely, we were both twins and he went to the same Taekwondo academy as my ex-coteacher. Our topics included school, sports, my insomnia, his gnarled fingernails, and my parents' upcoming visit. He then made an assumption. I paused for a moment then started to correct him. But then I thought better. So in one of my most shining Korean moments, I let him believe.

James: Where will you and your boyfriend take them?
Me: *pause* Oh, you know. *pause* Seoul, and mostly Daejeon. My mother isn't able to travel much.
James: They must be excited to meet your boyfriend.
Me (still hesitant): Ooooh, yes.
James: Where does he work?
Me (by this time I'm more comfortable with my lie): Oh, Mike works in a hagwon in Dunsan-dong. I don't remember the name. We don't talk much about work.
James: He sounds like a nice guy.
Me: Oh, yes he is.

Oh, the lies. If I start a sentence with 'oh' I may be lying. James was a nice boy, and I promised that if I ever saw him around Noeun, I'd say hello. He was probably the best unwanted conversation I've had here, but I'm pretty good at avoiding speaking unless absolutely necessary. Many days I don't speak outside of work, except for broken Korean when picking up dinner, which doesn't bother me a bit.

Perhaps some day I'll be friendly and be more willing to talk to strangers. But I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

Toilet Rating System

Finding a decent public toilet in Korea can be tricky, and I've devised my own rating system for those I do find. Keep in mind Korea is not a third world country, but I suppose toilets just aren't a priority. Restaurants and shops don't have their own facilities, instead you must go out and find a public toilet, usually in the building hallway or on the first floor of an officetel. These are not usually well stocked because no one business is responsible for them.

One star: Stall with a western toilet. Squatters are quite common, but not the easiest to use. Especially when combined with alcohol.

Two stars: Western toilet with tissue. Often there is no paper in public bathrooms, so I've taken to carrying tissues in my purse. On the issue of tissue it's typical to have one dispenser outside of several stalls. If you forget to take some, you're out of luck once you get in. Tissue is also thrown away in small bins next to the toilet. Do not flush your tissue!

Three stars: Western toilet with tissue and soap. Wearing shoes inside the house is dirty, but using soap is not seen as necessary. I consider this to be the trifecta. Hard to find, but everything I need without supplementing with my own supplies. My school toilets are three stars.

Four stars: Western toilet with tissue, soap, and towels. By now I'm used to just air drying or wiping my hands on my pants.

Five stars: Western toilet, tissue, soap, towels, and hot water. Rare, but beautiful. I understand that heating water can be expensive, but my fingers turn numb and stay numb because it's so cold outside and in my school. The Five Star Toilet is hard to find. I think I found one in a Starbucks once, but they are few and far between.

My home toilet is a Five Star, but only if I turn on my water heater...

The Day I Thought North Korea Attacked

As I lay fitfully dreaming one morning, I was suddenly jolted out of bed by a blaring siren. Living in South Korea, my first thought was that North Korea was attacking. Here's a rundown of my panic.

11.00 Immediately, I hurried to the window and not being awake yet, ran into my sliding patio door as I tried to open it. Standing on my tiptoes to see past the apartment building filling my window, I looked to the sky for smoke.

11.01 Seeing no smoke, I ran into the sliding door again in my haste to my computer. I googled "North Korea attacks."

11.02 Finding no recent news pieces, I texted the other foreigner living in my building.

11.03 Panic moves to confusion as the sirens continue.

11.05 I receive a return text and she reminded me of what she had told me when I first moved here. Occasionally, the nearby firehouse will run drills, using air raid sirens.

11.07 The sirens become more than irritating.

11.10 The sirens finally stop. After ten minutes of air raid sirens, I'm ready to shove a pencil in my ear.

There's quite a few reasons why it was ridiculous of me to think N.Korea was attacking. However, having been asleep, I was unable to use my brain. In the end, I'm thankful it was just a firehouse drill and not something dangerous.

In the Era of Instant Communication

I realized that I haven't really given anyone my contact information. So if you wish to reach me:

Skype
Search my name. I'm the only one.

Phone
010 5651 2122. Korea's country code is 82, and you must dial 011 to get out of the US. So, the full number is 011 82 010 5651 2122

Mail
Ji-Jok dong 901-2
Kumkang Plaza 603
Yu-seong, Daejeon Korea
301-330
This is the address of my school.

In person
Go to your nearest international airport. Board a plane to Incheon. Fly to Korea. Exit the airport, get on a bus to Daejeon, and get off at Government Complex. Hail a cab. Tell them "Noeun-dong, Wor-ld-a Cup-p yok." Wait for me there.

Teaching

I've been in Korea for almost a month and have been solo teaching for 3.5 weeks. I feel like I'm still a crappy teacher, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Let me run the numbers for you.

I teach six one-hour classes everyday, which is thirty classes a week. I have 19 separate classes and about 130 students. I have the 5 of the same classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1 Monday/Wednesday, 1 Wednesday/Friday, and 2 classes three times a week. The last 10 are just once a week.

I have to be at work at about 1.30pm. That gives me time to prepare for classes and mark homework. Classes run from 2.25pm until 9.00pm. I have 5 minutes between each class, and dinner from 5.35-5.50pm. 15 minutes doesn't seem like much, but I'm glad to get the day finished as quick as possible.

My school teaches ten main levels of English. Each level lasts six months. In each level, students will go through 2 conversation books and 12 readers. That makes finding the right book for each class a little challenging. However, our program is mostly computer based, so if I can't find the right book, I can do without. However, having the book makes it easier to help kids do book work.

Each class takes one of three general forms. Most classes learn one conversation and two reader stories a week.
1). Introducing the story. This means we learn a new story. So we listen, repeat, and learn vocab. We can role play, speak together, and ask questions for understanding.
2). Comprehending a story. I ask questions about the story, probe for further understanding, ask questions for creative thinking, and do related book work.
3). Conversation book stories. One day a week we learn a conversation story, which is mostly dialogue. This gets kids more involved with speaking, since each can play a role.

So far I have some classes that I love. Others make me want to cry. My boss still has to watch one of my classes on the camera and intervene, even after almost four weeks. Oh, yes. All of my classes are video recorded. It's pretty typical here. But most of my classes are pretty good.

Some of my students blow me away with their genius. I can't believe how brilliant they are, especially given it's a second language. I can tell others are just tired. Korean students work very hard (more on that later) and I know they just hate being in my class. And that kills me. One kid glared at me in the hall today. I've been in classes where I can just feel the hatred rolling off them. Some kids misbehave all through class, making it almost impossible to teach everyone. One class has twelve students: six rowdy boys, and six well behaved girls. The girls are almost entirely ignored because I am so busy trying to get the boys to pay attention, do their work, stop hitting each other, stop screaming. Luckily, I only have that class once a week.

I have other students who like me. And having one student who likes me outweighs two students who hate me, because I know that in the long run, I make more of an impact on the student who likes me than the students who don't. I also know it's not personal. If they dislike me already, they are likely to dislike most teachers. They don't know me well enough to hate me for me.

One class had me worried in the beginning. It was my first time teaching them and the lesson was about weight. Knowing how mean some of the kids are about size, I was apprehensive. But I went in and the kids were freaking amazing. They are super smart and love to act. We acted out the story with one student playing the scale. I laughed so hard. Another class is six boys and two girls. Boys are usually rowdy and have a tendency to misbehave. And six boys could be uncontrollable. But these boys are wonderful. They are rowdy, but always do their work and love to role play in the story.

I find my older classes less stressful. The younger kids are adorable and fun, but they take so much energy. They jump and scream and are always touching me. They want attention all the time and I can't take a minute to talk to one student without three others pulling on my shirt and yelling for me. I'm glad the younger kids have classes earlier in the day, so I have more energy for them. The older kids may have attitude, but at least I can sit for a second.

Most of my students take English names. I have Sarahs, Annies, and Johns - all normal names. However, I also have Joy2, Conan (like the barbarian), Pinky, Raven, TTT Monkey, Soul, Beat, Smith, Random, Kim2, Moto, Star, Smily, and three Lions. If and when I get a very beginner class, I may be able to give them English names. Hello Finnegan and Evie. Perhaps Nessie.

Thanks for the patience on my slow postings. I find that writing makes me homesick and while I still haven't experienced much, I occasionally get pangs. I miss you all!

Apartment Tour

I couldn't get the video to load on blogger, so I posted it to youtube. Also, I accidentally misspelled my username so please know I am not supposed to be biddingang, it should be biddibang...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QNge5C9lCg

Please look!

Home Sweet Home

Sorry guys. I managed to break my computer almost right away, so I haven't been able to update. Ready for a media heavy post? Okay!

I've moved into my new home for the next twelve months, which is bigger than I expected. I live in Noeun-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. I have no idea what my address is. I'll try to find out. It's 15 minutes to the school and most of the walk is through a very ritzy neighborhood. And I mean ritzy by Korean standards. Space is at a premium here, so most people live in apartment complexes. My neighborhood has many large, single family houses, some even with yards. There are also quite a few gardens, tended to by older women. Please take moment to scroll through some photos of my neighborhood. The photos are ordered from leaving school and walking to my apartment, both night and day.


My school is located on the sixth floor. Notice the orange blob in the center. That's where I work.














This is what it looks like at night, when I am walking home.













If I walk this way, I go past a Mexican Chicken joint. I have no idea if the food is any good. But I like going this way so I'm off the main street.














There is a church at the end of the side street, and I am able to use it as a landmark for finding my way. It's like walking towards god. It feels philosophical, in way.


















This is an animal clinic. Sometimes they have adorable animals inside and I'll take a detour.













The street in front of my building. The church is just to the right of that garden. There is usually a pile of garbage sitting on that corner. More on that later.












The lion above the door guards the entrance to my apartment, keeping out riff-raff.











Up three flights is my apartment.

NOTE: Video will not load. I'll try a separate post.


I have a total of one fork, three spoons, one glass, plus a few assorted bowls and plates. The washing machine won't work unless a dumbbell is placed on a particular button. The fridge is still sticky. If my neighbors use their washing machine, it sounds like a monster lives in my bathroom drain. I need to buy basic things like dishes and a bedside lamp, but it really isn't bad. I have a fan and an air conditioner. And my laundry patio doesn't flood like a lot do. But since my fridge is back there, I'm thankful it doesn't.

Koreans don't typically use dryers, which suits me fine since I air dried about half my clothes at home anyway. Also, the small apartments don't have ovens, which I may miss. Luckily, the teacher downstairs has a small one, so I can always use hers.

I know some of you are anxious to know about the actual teaching, but I still haven't had a full week of classes. Wednesday was election day, so we had the day off. I'll try to update on that towards the end of the week.

Expectations

I had a lot of expectations about moving to Korea. I expected to be lonely. Homesick. Scared. I expected I wouldn't make friends for a long time. I expected to feel extreme culture shock. I expected to feel lost and confused in a strange country where I don't speak the language. I fully expected I would panic upon arrival and regret my decision to move 5500 miles from everything I know and everyone I love.

And I did feel all of those things. However, it was not when I expected I would. Instead of it all hitting me as I was leaving, it happened several weeks prior. I spent ten gut-wrenchingly miserable days trying to think of any way to get out of it, convincing myself that I was making a huge mistake. All I could do was obsess about how I wasn't brave enough to make such a big change in my life. I told myself that I would be okay if I didn't go. I could still live with my parents and work 12 hours a week as a janitor. Even though I literally wasted the last year of my life, depressed over being unemployed and nearly friendless (thank you everyone for moving out of Oregon), I tried to tell myself I could still continue do it. That I could find a job. That the last year and 75 denied applications were just a fluke.

But I made it through. Talking to current teachers helped, but it didn't pass until what I knew overcame what I felt. I knew I should do this. I knew it would be amazing. I knew that I couldn't pass this up because I scared. I became ambivalent about going, mentally exhausted from too much research and too many emotions. I was distantly anxious, but I didn't have it in me to care enough. Even at the airport, as I left my family and friends behind at security, I wasn't engulfed in the clammy fear I expected. When I left for my trip last year, I spent the first 30 hours feeling like that. But this time I knew I would miss them and was okay with it. I was sad, but not consumed.

Now that I have arrived, I am still waiting for those feelings. Perhaps it is because I have done little solo wandering, but so far I am almost unphased by the differences. I have experienced zero culture shock. Everything has fascinated me. It is so different from anything I've experienced, but I love it. Admittedly, I've been really lucky. I have been placed at a wonderful school with helpful teachers and a caring boss. I was able to talk to some other foreign teachers before arriving, so it's not all new. The foreign teachers I've met have all been welcoming. And I know that not everyone has had it so easy.

Since it has been so easy, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. My life is a balance and I don't know if I've reached the correct balance yet. Is this smooth transition making up for my pre-departure freak-out? Or because it was so easy, is there something terrible in store for me?

Please don't misunderstand me. There are hard spots. I have to learn a completely new job. This is probably my biggest worry. I don't know the system, I don't know how to teach, I don't know anything about kids. But it feels like the struggle to learn any new, difficult job. I have to make a completely new set of friends, but the teachers I've met so far are great. I know almost no Korean. I haven't slept much since arriving, which I think is a combination of jet lag, nerves, and the cement mattress in my hotel.

And I know that this excitement I feel now will fade to acceptance and finally annoyance. The bright lights and crazy traffic, which I love now, will start to irritate me. Real homesickness will set in and I'll desperately want to see my family. The kids will eat at my soul. But by the time that happens, I expect to be prepared and have to tools to handle it.

Greetings from Korea!

I have made it safely to Daejeon!

I arrived at PDX at 5.45am, Sunday morning, with my family and Val in tow. We were met at the airport by Emily and Sean, who are such wonderful people that they woke up at an ungodly hour and drove up to see me off. I'm so lucky to have friends like them. And I do have many fantastic friends who have been great helping me prepare for this journey.

After many tears and more hugs than I've willingly given in the last six months (outside of goodbye hugs, of course), I went through security and to my gate. This took me to the bowels of the Portland airport, to the end of the terminal and down a flight of stairs to a place I didn't know existed. This is where commuter planes live. I don't think it could hold more than fifty people. It didn't even have room for carry-ons. I had to give it to the attendant before boarding.

So I flew to San Francisco, went through security again, and found my gate. I wasn't looking forward to the twelve hour flight to Seoul. It was long and uncomfortable, especially since I was in a middle seat. When the meals came, I tried to eat t-rex style, keeping my arms in as much as possible so I didn't elbow those next to me.

The flight wasn't all bad. I was fortunate enough to be seated next to someone also going over to teach. What are the chances? There must have been 350 people on that plane, although upon exiting, I discovered there were a few other teachers. But it was great to talk to someone about to embark on the same adventure. He also kept me from another freak-out, bless his heart. While I didn't even feel the stirrings of a panic attack, imagine the annoyance of those around me if I had spent the entire flight crying.

I slept a good part of the flight, but it too uncomfortable to be restful. And there was turbulence towards the end, which nauseated me to the point of wanting to vomit. However, I could only wake up enough to acknowledge it, register how miserable it felt, and fall back to sleep. When I finally did wake up for our second meal, just the smell of the food brought it back again.

After landing, I breezed through customs and picked up my luggage, still accompanied by Awesome Plane Friend. It was in the Customs line that I met Airport Friend, who, with the help of her friend, helped me figure out how to get to the right bus and use an ATM. I handed out my email like it was going out of style. I would rather have someone think I'm an overeager creep than miss out on making new friends.

I got on the bus and headed to Daejeon. I wanted to watch the scenery, but it was dark and misty, so I didn't feel bad about sleeping through most of the drive. When the light came on and woke me up, I wasn't sure where we were. I briefly saw a flash of the Daejeon city logo and knew I needed to get off at the second stop. I did so and still wasn't sure if I was in the right place. But after about twenty minutes (my bus arrived early), my director found me and took me to a hotel. I believe I am in a fabled Love Hotel. My room is normal, but the hallway has a sweet glow in the dark ceiling. I don't immediately go to bed, but once I did, I slept like the dead for a solid four hours.

And that, dear ones, is the tale of my journey to Korea. Tune in next time for "My First Day in Korea!"