Two Weeks In

“Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.” - Seneca

I have to admit, I've never been into blogging. I'm horrible at keeping journals! When it comes down to it, the difference this time is that I want to somehow find a way to bridge the distance and keep people involved and somehow closer. I can only hope that this will achieve its purpose.

Why Korea?

It’s been two months since graduation and now a new chapter begins in earnest. Since early May, I’ve often found myself wondering why I chose Korea over Japan. I’ve taken two years of Japanese and lived there for 6 months, achieving a certain level of fluency, whereas I do not speak a single of Korean. Though I love to learn about different cultures, Japan had always had a very special appeal to me, whereas I have never felt particularly drawn to Korean culture. Finally, the JET program came with certain prestige and name recognition that an after-school academy in Daejeon, ROK certainly does not have.

On the other hand, the decision was not random and there were important factors that led me here. First and foremost was the issue of North Korean defectors (though ironically over the past couple months, the pull to academia has only grown stronger and right now the history route seems much more likely route for the future). I wanted to get an idea of what Korean culture was like, what the shift from North to South Korea would look like.

The personal pull was, surprisingly and in many ways, even more important. I knew coming here that I had family close by, that I wasn’t shut off, separated by borders or oceans. After finally beginning to break out of a shell of seclusion, cutting myself off so completely seemed quite risky. Of course choosing instead a country where I don’t speak the language at all is a questionable alternative, but knowing there are people I am close to nearby was far more comforting. For so long I've been perfectly comfortable being secluded and far away, the fact that I wanted to be close to people so much made it a very appealing choice.

First Impressions

I got on the plane and knew I was leaving but it was only as I was walking through Incheon Airport, after a 13 hour flight, looking at the pictures of Korea all over the walls that I realized where I was. After getting in at 5 a.m, getting my bags, going through customs, I got to see T & C at the airport, for the first time in a year and a half or so. I will never forget sitting on my computer, in one of the rows of chairs outside the Coffee Bean, and them popping up behind me. It was such a pleasure, even if we were just sitting at a stupid airport.

After a couple hours, I had to get on the bus to Daejeon. Which I almost missed because it was just so... sudden. On the drive down, I couldn't help but notice how green it is here. Overcast and raining but bright and lively. It was Sunday morning, there was little traffic and it seemed that was all there was, the vibrant green flora covered in the gray mist.

When I got into Daejeon, my school director picked my up with his wife and walked me to the hotel I would be staying in before I could move into my apartment on Thursday. I have to say, not being able to understand a single word of what was being said was both fascinating and infuriating... though exhausting either way (the long trip probably didn't help). In the same vein, I am constantly amused by what people feel the need to explain, for example stopping at a gas station to get gas because the tank is almost empty. And then other times, 10 minutes of conversation that I would like to be aware of are left unexplained, like what is going on with my hotel room that I would like to get to so I can put my bags down and change. It makes me wonder how often I have done that to people with French and English and if you are someone who has suffered that, I am truly sorry.

Monday, my director picked me up at 11 to go to the school. I sat in on a few classes with other teachers while waiting for the classes I would be teaching and went to lunch (Shabu-Shabu, always wonderful) with two of the teachers. And then I got to meet my classes when they started at 3. Of course by 4-5, I was starting to fade and by the time my last classes came around I was struggling to stay awake. During that first week, I taught some of the classes and just watched others until Thursday when I the teacher I was replacing left.

In teaching, my greatest frustration has once again been the language barrier. When there is a problem, when it comes down to it, there is nothing that I can do and even if there is, someone who speaks the language will do it much better. This feeling of helplessness is quite nerve-racking and also applies when they speak to each other, I can't even understand what they're talking about, which is quite unsettling since they can say whatever they want... Of course the point is for them to just speak English but sometimes that is rather difficult to achieve.

I feel that, what bothers me more than difference between how the Koreans approach teaching and what I am accustomed to is the way the foreign teachers talk about the Korean approach. Granted, I haven't had much opportunity to witness stark differences between the two in two weeks and perhaps after several months, I will be doing the same thing. Still, I know that the approach is different, and I expect that at times I might even be shocked. I know that it is impossible for me not to prefer one way or the other but from there to calling their approach stupid or inefficient seems misplaced. It is not for me to say or judge when I am coming to their country to teach in their schools. As the outsider, it is first for me to accept and adapt, even if I disagree, what right do I have to tell them they're wrong?

It makes me wonder what I would do, if I thought of something that they could do more effectively. Would I just say, "it's not the way they do it" and so I should just adapt or is there a way to offer advice without being arrogant and degrading?

With these thoughts, I conclude my first post. Hopefully I will maintain some consistency and post often enough.

~ Elyssa ~