15 Signs You Have Been in Korea for One Year

Perhaps the strangest part of living abroad, especially in a non-English speaking country, is that life goes on without you elsewhere. As it is the age of technology it is easy to keep in touch, but I never really feel fully connected to anything that goes on outside of Korea. I am learning to write, read, speak and on occasion think in a different language. I guess you could say I am adjusting to life in Korea. After one year here, I have a few observations.

1) Even after a significant amount of time (1 year in my case) you still look around and say "Holy Shit, I live in Korea"

2) Although the Korean School logic still annoys the mess out of you, you have learned to say..."well, that's Korea for you."

3) You no longer get irrationally angry at the thought of people who seriously believe that fan death is a "thing."

4) You find yourself bowing at random and sometimes inappropriate times, occasionally at strangers.

5) You can hear your English getting worse, or rather becoming a beautiful blend of what we like to call "Konglish."

6) You are no longer surprised when mayonnaise drenched corn shows up with a meal or tomatoes appear in fruit salad.

7) You can be hyper critical of Korea, until you meet a foreign teacher from another part of Asia, trashing your stomping grounds. You quickly turn into a walking advert for Visit Korea.

8) You have frequently declared your love for a random Korean food, which you eat like it is going out of style for a few months at a time. At the moment, mine is Gamjatang 감자탕

9) You no longer stress about the thoroughness, accuracy of your lesson plans. In fact, you can create them in a short amount of time and still manage to watch the new episode of pretty little liars, debate about whether you should work out and  kakao flirt with your latest rando.

10) You can either speak taxi/food or you have decided to finally make a conscious effort to learn some Korean. Cause let's be honest, how cool will it be to flirt with that one super hot Korean American bartender from back home, when you finally go?

11) You have gotten pretty good at saying your goodbyes, considering someone is constantly leaving with a new waygookin in their place.

12) When anyone expresses any type of adversity or issue they are having, you automatically respond with "fighting"

13) You add uh and ee to the end of words like Lunch-ee, Finish-ee and Nice-Uh!

14) You still cringe a bit when your students say "nice to meet you," after a year of teaching them

15) You feel inclined to give the newbies advice, based solely on the fact that you did everything wrong and were a total shit show your first year, so that clearly makes you an expert. A few photos like this, may have even surfaced....

1 Year in Korea: 8 Reasons I Love My Job

August 20th marked one year in Korea for me. That is 365 days of looking around and saying " shit I can't believe I live in Korea." 365 days of asking myself why my Korean isn't better. 365 of K-Pop which is enough to drive anyone mental. It is also 365 days of thinking I made the right decision coming here even if it has it's ups and downs. It is 365 days of not doubting my career choices or my future as an educator and 365 days of knowing pretty amazing expats who have made this experience so memorable. I really wonder what this next 365 days will have in store. I decided to make a list of reasons I love my job!!

1) My kids call me Maggie Moo and we have a pretty awesome relationship. Despite their occasional craziness, I really do love my job and consider myself to be incredibly lucky!

2) I have my own classroom and blast Reggae at all times of the day without interference

   

My latest obsession...

     

3) The staff are pretty awesome.The teacher's bring me random Korean gifts, are super inclusive and really help me with my language skills.

4) I am constantly amazed by the students I work with and the profound things they have to say and do. It's easy to forget that your students are people with opinions and feeling,s when you spend so much time teaching and disciplining them on occasion. They remind me of how complex/confused/angsty I was when I was their age!

sometimes they also remind me that they are still immature kids...tried really hard not to laugh at this one

5)My rent is paid for me monthly. It takes a lot of stress out of "being an adult" for the first time, when you only have to worry about gas/maintenance fees. This means there is a ton of potential to save money in Korea, I on the other hand, like to spend it quickly booking trips to as many places as possible!

6) My school lunches are F&%*@#* awesome...even if eating Kimchi Spaghetti with chopsticks is SUPER difficult!

Kimchi Spaghetti, Bulgogi Burger, Dill Pickes, Sweet Apple & Yogurt, Kimchi and Rice Soup

7) My school encourages me to teach my students about myself, my culture and my hobbies. For as much as people say Korea isn't very open minded, my school is rather progressive. They asked me to explain the cultural significance of  my tattoos to my kids, as well as discussing my back ground growing up biracial and sharing my love of sports.

8) Vacation time. When I first heard that I only had 21 days of vacation I kept thinking, what, that's all? But I soon realized when it was combined with national holidays I really had a ton more vacation time than I thought. I played my cards right and basically had all of February off and still had 7 days left over. During my first contract I managed to travel to: The Philippines, Macau, Hong Kong (3 times),Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and numerous places around Korea.

Even when I'm having a horrible day, I take all of these things into account and I realize just how blessed I am!

First Week Back at School: Gif Time!

My energy level when I walk into school on the first day and the kids are happy to see me...

The first time a student starts quietly talking while I'm teaching......

When they continue talking.....

A drink after work on the first day of school..

After the second day...

When two of my students figured out they were dating the same guy, I sat back like....

When a kid is being a jerk in my class and another student tells them off....

Body checking students at lunch because it's fried chicken day...

When a student tries to sleep in my class after stressing me out

Trying to look busy when the 3rd year boys come in the room to try to flirt with me...

When my co-teacher asks me if I FINALLY met anyone nice to marry over the break

2 days in and I'm already exhausted and sick! Can't wait to see what this semester has in store...

I Don't Always Fight Taxi Drivers....

I like to keep this blog generally positive, but on occasion, something will happen that makes me say WTF Korea? Now, this is no reflection on Korean people in general, but it is definitely a frustrating aspect of my time here as a "Waygookin."

As most people know, Korea is a very homogenous culture. That's not to say that diversity isn't growing, but that's just the way it is. The other night, myself and another one of my friends, who happens to be black, were attempting to hail a cab. Now, cab drivers in Korea are notoriously smarmy, but it is actually illegal for them to refuse you service when they are available.

We weren't outrageously drunk, in fact we were quite sober at this point and just extremely exhausted from a long day of saying goodbye to one of our team mates who is heading home. My friend went to hail a cab and after a few minutes I see her leaning on the window, clearly having some issues with the driver who appeared to be swiping at her face. When I got closer I could hear her say "but why? You have to take us." His response was  to point at her skin tone and say "Aniyo" (no, in Korean). Outraged, I questioned him, at which point he looked at me and said "too dark." I was honestly shocked. We exchanged a few choice words, with him using all of the English swear words in his vocabulary, before he finally got out of the car and got in my friends face, attempting to push and intimidate her. I stepped in and he backed down and got back in the cab. At this point a crowd had gathered around us, mostly Korean, some attempting to look, the rest drunken gawkers assuming we were just more reckless foreigners causing a problem.

I grabbed my friends phone and begin taking pictures of his license plate, at which point my friend requested to see his taxi cab ID to take a picture. He grabbed it and tried to hide it (also illegal) until a Korean man came over and started yelling at him. Finally, he pulled it out, but as I attempted to take a picture he put his hands in front and tried to hit us before angrily getting out of the cab again and charging at my friend. Again, I jumped in between and he shoved me in the face, before bumping me with his chest. It took everything in my body not to hit the man, but I know how Korea works. If you are foreign, (non-Korean) you are in the wrong and will be held responsible. I shoved him out of my face and told him to go away in Korean. He left and my friend and I headed to the police station to tell our story.

I didn't realize how upset I was until I got into the station and I knew it wouldn't matter what I said. Non-Korean= non important to authority figures more often than not. Luckily, a Korean American soldier was there to help us translate to the police officers, who condescended and laughed at us all throughout our report. The main officer asked if any other foreigners had seen. We said we were the only foreigners and the rest were Korean. He shrugged, smirked a bit, sucked his teeth and said "Heemang Opsoyo," (It's hopeless or is no hope). I knew it was pointless then, even after he asked for our ARC cards and phone numbers, nothing would come of it.

Situations like this (especially in a foreign country) make me feel so completely helpless. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Once at a theme park, myself and a group of rugby players (all of whom happened to be white) were told we were "too drunk" to get on a ride, despite the fact that no one was drunk. When we questioned the decision, my friends were told "well your white skin is red, you must be drunk" by a man who was apparently unaware of what sun burn was.  The longer we talked the more apparent it was that they simply didn't "like the look of us." These incidents are so common that people just start to say "oh well, that's Korea for you." Even little things like the fact that foreigners are the only people required to get regular AIDS/HIV testing when none of their Korean co-workers are required (I've had students/adults tell me this is because Koreans are the superior, cleaner race).

Even now, on Korean television, we are still seeing black face as a high form of comedy. Skin whitening is shoved down our throats, we are told if we are even a little tan that we are "too dark" or "too dirty." I don't know many black/mixed/tan/multicultural teachers here who haven't heard from a student or a co-worker that they would be much more attractive if they were just a bit "whiter."

For every racist/crappy person I have met here, I have met Korean people who are equally as welcoming, just, and kind as any other person I've ever met. Like any Country (particularly my own) there are idiots and there are the good folks. In Korea, however, I find it easier to find openly prejudiced people, simply based on the fact that the culture is still quite xenophobic.

In the incident with the taxi driver, I was so angry I couldn't help but cry. My friend on the other hand, seemed completely calm and unimpressed with the situation. I asked her why and she said "this happens to me everyday in Korea, am I supposed to start being surprised now?" I've re-signed to live here for another year and there are so many things that I love about this place, but institutionalized racism,however, is not one of them. Unfortunately, that  is a big part of my reality at the moment.

How's That To Do List Coming Along?

When I have a lot of time to think I have a tendency to compile large travel bucket lists. I stumbled upon a few that I have been working on for years. Here is where I stand to date:

1.  Go ankle bungee jumping
2. Listen to "Seaside" by the Kooks on Brighton Pier August 2012 trip
3. Make a trip to Tokyo for the rugby.
4.Watch the Hong Kong 7's   March 2013
5. Listen to "One Night in Bangkok" in Bangkok  February 2013
6. Finish a plate of Fish & Chips January 2013-Battered Seoul
7. Try Oysters  April 2013 Namdaemun Fish Market
8. Visit 8 new places in 2013 (Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Laos, Vietnam so far...)
9. Learn Korean (still a work in progress...)
10. Visit Indonesia
11. Get two years of experience in a Korean school (Just re-signed for my second year)
12. Twerk on the Great Wall of China
13. Drink wine in Santorini
14. Go to Mudfest
15. Go skinny dipping somewhere that terrifies me  (July 2013)
16. Perform in a play in another Country  (Scotland & South Korea)
17.Visit the Killing Fields in Cambodia
18. Go to Oktoberfest
19. See Chelsea F.C play live
20. See the Kooks in concert  (August 2008 & November 2009)
21. Visit Phuket, Thailand (Hopefully February)
22. Running of the Bulls (although I have since changed my mind about this and I don't think I'm up for it)
23. Go Snorkeling (Mexico 2005, Philippines 2012)
24.Kiss someone from every Country in Europe (Belgium, Cyprus,Finland, France,Germany, Italy,Ireland, Netherlands,Spain,Wales, England, Scotland-clearly I have a long way to go...)
25. Audition for a Singing TV Show
26. Meet Ma'a Nonu!

Trip to Jeju-Photo Essay

Last week was my first week of actual summer vacation, so I headed of to Jeju Island with one of my team mates. It was expected to rain the whole time, but the weather was fantastic. We arrived, wandered around aimlessly before snagging a cab (which was incredibly cheap) and making our way to our hostel.We stayed at the Backpackers Home in Seogwipo. It was honestly one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in and looked like a really sweet, super clean cabin that you would find somewhere in Northern Wisconsin. You cannot drink in the rooms, but that was fine as they have a really cute cafe attached where you can buy drinks in bottles or on tap, as well as unlimited Korean BBQ for $10. Seogwipo (the South side of the Island) was incredibly chill and I couldn't help but notice how friendly (and tan) everyone was.

 A friend took us to try some Black Pork (Jeju specialty) and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Later we headed out to a few bars and it seemed like everywhere we went people knew each other. Very tight knit community and tons of nice expats.

 Somehow I let my very persuasive friend Alisa, rope me into a 6 hour hike in the morning. With minimal effort we found a bus to drop us off right at the mouth of Olle trail 6. The first view from the trail was quite promising

It was really difficult to complain about the length of the walk with such stunning views and awesome statues for my 5 year old self to climb on!

We picked trail 6 because it included 2 waterfalls and I'd honestly never seen one before.

It proved quite difficult to actually get a photo in front of one, so I spent the majority of my time photo bombing Korean family photos and vice versa.

A few hours into the walk we reached an area near the water where adjummas had set up shops. A woman offered me a drink of what I thought was Sikhye ( a traditional Korean rice drink). It was by far the hottest point in the day so I purchased a bowl of the stuff for 1000 won and drank it down. Of course, as is customary with any trip I am on...it turned out to be a Korean cucumber liquor. It hit me pretty fast with the heat and I spent the next two hours tripping over my feet and taking photos of garbage and candy wrappers, trying to make it look artistic.

There were light houses scattered along the coast, this was my favorite.

After 6 hours of hiking, swollen feet, adjumma trickery and tons of photos we headed to the North part of the Island to meet up with friends. We stayed at the Rainbow Gueshouse , which again was an impressively cheap (22,000 won a night) and clean hostel. Although, in reality, I spent very little time thee and slept for a grand total of 3 hours (inside anyway).

This is where "Love Land" is located. It is basically a museum with a series of sexy toys, erotic statues and sexual art.

As much fun as loveland was, it was hard to get over the name. There were very few statues that depicted anything that appeared to be truly intimate, in fact the one statue that I found to be incredibly intimate, shocked me so much that I actually forgot to take a photo of it.

New friends we met in Jeju. These ladies helped me to punish my liver and are very responsible for my lack of sleep during the weekend!

After an exhaustingly wonderful weeked we spent out last day on a black sand beach recovering

Or in my case......sun burning

We were in Jeju for 4 days and I honestly don't think we even scratched the surface. There is so much to do and see, that you could easily spend a few weeks there and still not get the full experience. I will definitely be making my way back. 

A few notes:

1) It is really easy to get around without renting a car. The buses are efficient and the taxis are cheap.

2) Rainbow Guesthouse was in an excellent location for bars and night life and very near city hall.

3) Try Jeju Soju :)