5 Countries in 2 months…

I’ve been living in Asia just shy of two months now, and I can hardly believe all that I’ve seen and done in that time. I left Canada on June 19, 2007. My journey to South Korea was approximately 20 hrs long and had me seeing three countries in one day. Fortunately, I had safe and smooth travels along the entire journey (minus a few missing items from my suitcases).

As soon as I arrived I was put to work in my hagwon, beginning with orientation. I spent my first week in Korea observing fellow teachers and familiarizing myself with the school’s curriculum. After a few short, seemingly long, days I was let loose into the classroom. For my first month of teaching at YES Youngdo in Sunae, Bundang (NE of Seoul) I was assigned to four senior classes and one junior class. I enjoyed my first month of teaching, but it took a couple of weeks to get the hang of things…especially when I had my superiors sitting in on my classes to observe.

After being in Korea for only a couple of weeks, I was flown to Fukuoka, Japan where I processed my Korean work visa. I had a great couple of days there. I was able to view a few Buddhist temples (they’re everywhere in Asia), was grossed out by a rather large and disgusting bug in my tiny hotel room. But then again I only paid $50 US for the night, and the hotel was directly across the street from the main subway station.

Since being in Korea I have spent most of my weekends traveling around Seoul. I’ve been to the Seoul Tower (kinda like the CN Tower in TO), the Seoul Park Zoo, Insa-dong (a traditional arts’n’crafts market, Itaewon, the electronics market, several temples, and today I stumbled across a traditional Korean village. For the most part, I have completed my sightseeing with friends I have made during my time here in Korea. However, I have on occasion traveled alone. I find South Korea to be surprisingly safe. I feel safer traveling around Seoul by myself than I did back home in Winnipeg.

**Note: All of the pictures I have been taking during my time in Korea can be found by clicking on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Jennine.Best

I have truly been enjoying my time here thus far, even in the midst of teaching an intensive month of English. I went from teaching mon-fri, 2-10pm (5 classes), to teaching mon-fri, 845am-8pm (3 classes). I have found myself extremely exhausted during the last number of weeks; however, what I have found the most frustrating is my lack of voice practically since arriving here. I unfortunately got sick with a chest/sinus cold early on (within the first week). While I’ve long since recovered from that cold, I never regained my full voice afterwards. But it also doesn’t help that I’m talking for 9hrs/day. Thankfully I only have another three days left in the intensive term, and then I plan to go to Taiwan for a week (one of three week-long holidays I will get during my time in Korea). It should be an adventure because whenever I travel locally with the friend I’m going with, we always seem to manage getting lost or ending up on the wrong subway train. For example, a few weeks back we realized that we had taken the train in the wrong direction. We spent the next 10 minutes debating which track we had to be on to get back to the stop we were just at. Then when we arrived at that stop my traveling friend/partner started to second guess himself as to whether we should be taking the train one more stop (after already getting off the train). Then, at the very LAST minute he decided to jump on, leaving me behind on the train landing. It was humorous watching all the Koreans stare in confusion and laugh. It wasn’t a big deal though because we had our cell phones with, and then we reunited at the next stop.

Today I had a great time at the Traditional Korean village that I stopped at. While walking around I came across a ‘naming room,’ where you could pay 3,000 Won (aprox. $3.50 CA) to find out your Korean name and have in drawn in hangul. I almost never stopped, but I’m glad that I did. It was very interesting and a great experience. So, my Korean name, based off of my English name, is : Jae Min Choi. “Jae” means ‘present’ or ‘being.’ “Min” means ‘jewellery’ or ‘Gem,’ and “Choi” is my family name and it means ‘high mountain,’ ‘stubborn,’ or ‘one of the popular.’ I also got to try and my name in hangul using a traditional Korean calligraphy brush (I need some work). I have learnt very little Korean since getting here. So far all I know is ‘thank you,’ ‘here,’ ‘how much,’ and a few of the foods that I like. I have thankfully managed to get by with minimal consumption of seafood. My favourite Korean food is Galbi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galbi). Mmm…good. Oh, and their national drink, soju, is also reasonably good…in moderation.

Thankfully, I’ve adjusted to Korea’s culture reasonably well, and haven’t exactly had to deal with ‘culture shock.’ I also haven’t had to deal with much homesickness, likely due to my college days spent away from friends and family. I have however dealt with it in small amounts, for example, when a close friend passed away a few weeks ago, when I broke things off with my boyfriend at the time, and when I missed both weddings and birthdays of those closest to me.

On another note, I found a really great church, and thus several Korean friends, about a month ago. I’m really enjoying my time there, even the 40 minute subway ride that it takes me to get there, and I’m feeling my faith challenged yet again.

Alright..that’s my update for now. Sorry, that it took me so long. Life has been crazy since getting here, and there always seems to be LOTS to do.

-J.