My Korean time is finally drawing to a close. I can hear the sigh of relief from some and the ‘ha, yeah right’ from others.
I have been here for a little over 4 years. I came in August 2007 with a bunch of canadians and that has pretty much been the same way for most of those 4 years.
I have experienced extreme culture shock, hate/love with Korea, falling in love, heartbreak, travel, misery, beyond happiness, a new found intelligence, extreme alcohol consumption and home sickness.
No one can tell another what their time in Korea (or another country) will be like, you really have to step forward and play your own game.
But alas, I will share my experience.
I was 23 years old when I stepped off a plane to live a year in Incheon, South Korea. I am now 28 (and living in a different city, Changwon) so one can imagine how different I have become and, I have become very different. The things that mattered to me then are meaningless now and vice versa.
I was devastated, to say the least, when I first realized that my vegetarian diet wasn’t going to be a smooth ride here. I remember sitting down with my new co teacher at a huge orientation, being given chopsticks (HELP) and what seemed like food scraped from the bottom of the ocean. Seaweed smelled, Kimchi was disgusting, fish still fought for breath and after all that you had to share ?! You had to literally lean over each other to take food from the plethora of side dishes available.
(please bear in mind that I am not being an arrogant westerner, just explaining initial impressions)
I still receive the very same looks of confusion, awkwardness and disgust when I explain that a vegetarian does NOT eat fish or chicken! I am on the verge of becoming a vegan right now but I am holding off until I am in Europe...explaining ‘no eggs’ as well may make me lose my already withering toleration.
Hats off to vegans in Korea.
The first night I went to my apartment (box) was a sad time. I ventured out for food and remember getting completely lost. There is nothing more scary than being lost in a foreign country at night. I found a good samaritan who put me in a taxi, even though the taxi did not want me in there, ( of course I had only got lost...6 steps away from my room which is not a huge fare for the taxi driver) and I found home.
I sat on my floor and cried, a lot.
Working a public school was the easiest part of my life, it was tedious and mind numbing at times but it is still, quite possibly, the easiest job I’ve had and will ever have! All those hours of ‘desk warming’ ( time when you are not teaching you are to spend sitting at your desk) ,together it adds up to months of time, that I wasted when I could have doing wonderful researching makes me want to pull my hair out but alas, regrets are completely pointless.
Instead I discovered...facebook BLAH. The addiction in my life that will drive my partner nuts one day.
After a few days and the first weekend came I met up with people from the orientation and we all tried to work out where each other lived..it was impossible and took a few weeks to get it all organized, after that it was pretty easy. Korea isn’t as scary as you may think; who knew?
From my first year in Korea I developed some of the closest relationships in my life. Those girls know who they are, they are all beautiful in different ways and helped me through that year and the continuing ones after, through email.
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