First Day in Korea

Well, it's about 6:00am back home in California, it's about 10:00pm here in Korea, and only God knows what time my body is on. The last thing I know is I slept fitfully for about 7 hours from Los Angeles to my connecting flight in Taipei, and the best I can figure is, that was about 19 hours ago. But, whatever, I am so full of adrenaline that at this point it doesn't really matter.

I am now in Seoul where the corporate offices for the English school that hired me, DYB (stands for "Do Your Best" which is "Choisun" in Korean), are housed, and am at a temporary apartment until tomorrow morning when I'll be taken to Suwon, a suburb of Seoul about an hour southwest. At that time I'll meet my fellow teachers and staff, meet the kids I'll be working with, and be able to lay down all the luggage I've saddled myself with in my permanent apartment. One of the most difficult things about preparing for this journey was, "What the heck do you pack for a year???" No doubt in my 150 lbs of luggage I've still forgotten something mandatory, and even things I DID remember are now suddenly not in my possession. For whatever reason, odd and sundry toiletries were somehow removed from my luggage - things that - apart from my razors - I couldn't have with any reasonable forethought have determined would be threatening to any security personnel. So, I lose a toothbrush - at least I got my luggage. And my health. But, I don't have a towel, and if my experience at my temporary digs is any indicator, I need to get myself to some kind of Korean Kohl's post-stat.

A very nice Korean man struck up a conversation with me as we were waiting for our flight from Taipei to Seoul, and he's lived and visited many places, namely South Korea, China, and the US. He was just coming back from a 3 month trip to Los Angeles where he was pursuing meetings with various business professionals about his aspiring importing/exporting business. We were sort of trading our stories about America versus other cultures (I mostly listening, of course, because my international travels were no where near as extensive as his) and he said something that I thought was very interesting: Korea is a land of extremes. Extremely cold winters, extremely hot summers. The people, he said, are extreme in their pursuits and their passions. Children and adults sleep very little because there's so much work to do, and so much fun to be had. Even North Korea is extreme in it's need to be separate from the rest of the world, and South Korea in it's earnest desire to grow and succeed as a world power. He also said he felt that since South Korea is such a burgeoning place, it has learned to glean the best from Japan and America and become its own entity. From Japan, they've adopted a similarity of efficiency, style and sensibility. I'll give you more efficiency examples later, but as for similarities of style, the elevator in this building makes a sound like a slot machine when it reaches your floor. It gives one that "life is a videogame, and I like it!" feeling. And most food items try to entice you with animated characters and bright primary colors. So, of course, "Food is fun! I want to buy this!" From America, he said, they've adopted a sense of openness and expression in their opinions and feelings. He also said that of all the places he's been, the United States is the place he thinks has it the most "together", and the place he thinks is most worth striving to match. I am not running an advertisement, by the way, but I thought this uncensored and unprovoked commentary was very interesting! Those were his words, not mine. After having been here only about 6 hours, seeing the lights and magic and meeting people who've welcomed me with open arms, I can say for certain that I'm not in the United States - and don't know enough about Japan to comment - but I know there is something here I like more than the US, and something I desperately miss. It will take me some time to figure it out. And this was the reason I came - to experience something totally different. And even after only a day, I'm amazed at the welcome reception I've received...

But I'm also wondering what in the world I've gotten myself into. I am already homesick, namely when I begin to think, "I'm not going to see my family and friends for a year... How am I going to do this?" But, remarkably, I have an incredible sense of peace about it. I know that God ushered me into this experience, and I know there will be blessings, and I know there will be hardships. Such is life. But one thing is certain: I will be in His hands, and so I have no need to worry about it. Just walk it out. I am also already so thankful for the internet since it's such an obvious and immediate connection to those faces I miss, and I am very grateful to have a connection in this room on my first night. I wasn't anticipating that.

So I invite you to "walk it out" with me, and I am ardently praying that I'll have something worthwhile to say or to show you. I read so many of these blogs (2 in particular I pored through more than once) before making the decision to come here, and I'm wanting to document this experience for those who know me (and care to read it!), but also for those who don't have any clue who I am, but want to know about whether they should take the leap and teach English in South Korea. So, again, I hope and pray this is worth your while. If not, it is at least a cathartic and public journal entering exercise for me.

Pictures to come, videos to come (I hope - depends on whether or not I splurge and buy a digital camcorder! Though I am at the home of Samsung) and assuredly some silly ramblings of mine. Let me leave you with some verbal snapshots of my last how-ever-many hours, since I haven't actually taken any pictures yet:

1. Both in Taiwan and in Korea, people wear those hospital face masks just casually walking around. In the Taipei airport, there were several posters describing the symptoms of H1N1 and why you should see a doctor immediately. Before landing in Seoul, there was a little cartoon of a sick coughing man going to the doctor and getting treatment before the nightmare scenario of "what could have been" - killing everyone around him. I couldn't read the characters, but I got the drift. We could call them crazy, but the only H1N1 breakout they experienced was because of a native English speaking teacher. (Granted, that last fact comes from my driver, so I can't verify it, but he sounded very adamant and knowledgable!)

2. Children ride bikes around here at ungodly hours, and everything is open 24 hours, and nobody is ever afraid. Ever. I think crime is non-existent here. (However, again, that statistic is from my driver.)

3. Korea is beautiful. I was shocked as our plane flew low over the coastal landscape, and even as we drove deeper into the city, how lush and green and hilly it is. It reminded me (and still does) very much of Honolulu even in the most urban parts.

4. I am terrified to go get food because I have no idea what's on the menu, and even if I could read it, I'm still thinking I'm going to order the stupid American thing. The street signs here are all in Korean and English, but when it comes to eating out, that's an entirely different story. Since landing I have had two canned espressos and a frightening-looking-though-very-tasty fried chicken wing from a mini-mart attached to this apartment building, though I'm surrounded by restaurants. I guess I have to give myself some grace since it's day 1. I also walked around for an hour trying to find someplace that would sell me a hair dryer, and was reduced to trying to deduce from the window displays what they sold since Korean still looks like gibberish to me. But I will learn! Good friends have given me dvd's and books, and I will open them..... Eventually. And even though my hair dryer doesn't work, I walked into a hair salon nearby with wet hair and pantomimed hair drying, and the owner generously let me dry my own hair with his hairdryer and brushes for 5,000.00 Korean won. (That's only a little under $5. I know I still got ripped off, but in the moment I totally didn't care.)

5. Koreans are generous and wonderful people. I can already tell. I have walked into 3 stores now where the personnel haven't spoken a word of English, and here I am the totally American looking, totally irritating, totally ethno-centric English speaking tourist, and they have been nothing but gracious and accomodating. That speaks loads about their culture, and though I am absolutely a stranger in a strange land, there are much stranger lands to be in.

I shall now try to sleep. Am very excited and hopeful about seeing the school and its inhabitants tomorrow.