Culture Wandering: Korea: The blonde has arrived

I think I had a sign announcing my blonde arrival to Korea on my forehead.

Four hrs after my flight was booked, I finished off packing and left our family home in Waterloo by about 3:30am. Freaked out all four hrs of my night, tossing and turning, stumbling downstairs in the middle of the night to pack some flax seed only to drop and explode it all over the floor. Flew from Toronto to NY where 20 min before my flight to Korea I got called over the gate loudspeaker, immediately thinking back to Greece and wondering what I could have screwed up this time. I understood there was some luggage and paper issue between the muttering in Korean and calling higher ups, but finally got on the 13hr flight.

Never take a that long a flight. Unless absolutely necessary. Or you're coming to see me. By the halfway point I was in a semi-conscious state of naps, tv and music. An employee got me onto a bus to Cheonan, and then the school director, or "Monster Steve," picked me up from the bus station to show me my apartment. Some English, but not much. Now Cheonan was built around a huge, brilliantly bright downtown area, but then a lot of people ended up moving to my area, and a newer, trendy downtown has been created around it. The apartment isn't huge, but it's definitetly big enough for me. Below me, I was introduced to an American couple, Ashley and Kasey, who started at Trinity Academy two days before me. Instead of catching up on my huge lack of sleep, they invited me out for supper and drinks since my first day in Korea was a national holiday! No school! There is an unofficial expat hangout called Banana Bar where I got to meet more English teachers. We all had a great night out, wandering the streets and eating out at one of the many windowless downtown restaurants. We are quite the spectacle in Korea, and as we walk down the streets it's nearly impossible to not be started at or called at in broken English. Discovered the shower that night. When I got home, trying to turn the cold water tap to hot, it turns out that the tap blasts the shower on, which hangs overhead. I was still in my going out clothes, now totally soaked.

Jessica Teacher started her first day of school with no training, no knowledge of my classes and no preparation. My first class was a group of little kindergartens who spoke absolutely no English. The best a few of them could do was robotically sing and bop along to the ABC's on youtube. And some knew BINGO. We played with flashcards and read an alphabet food book.... but I honestly think they've never seen or eaten most of those American foods. All the kids run around the little school like crazy, screaming and laughing. Some follow me around in packs, some hold my hands or run up to me and grab my waist, and some younger girls like to touch my "yellow" hair. Kids don't have much discipline in English classes I learnt after I followed Steve to his classes I'll be taking over, and co-taught a bit with him. On breaks, the teachers prepare for their next class, printing quickly and chatting.

The food culture is incredible to say the least. We frequent the millions of coffee shops or the 7/11's, and in the evening have gone out for suppers. Food is community oriented, so you order one dish for the table that ends up being a huge spread of god knows how many different kinds of foods. There's usually a stove top in the middle of the table for us to roast our veggies and meats on, or into a stone black bowl to boil it into a giant soup. Always with slippery, metal chopsticks. The coolest restaurant so far had the meat & veggies hanging in big chunks above our table by a rod. So when you want more goodies, you stand up and slide a few down the rod onto the pan below. Food is spicy, tasteful and delicious!

At school, our Korean co-workers invited us foreigners on a lounge night out. We jumped on the chance to actually go out with Koreans and bond with them. Ohhhhh boy. Korean drinking culture is similar to American binge drinking, since they don't generally do any other kinds of drugs. We started off by predrinking in the streets with soju (THE liquor there, smells like vodka, 20%) and then were hustled off to the lounge. Up high on a building, we opted for the patio overlooking the city on lounge chairs. When I commented on the chilliness of the evening, the waiter said "I give you blankets." Which I did not take literally, but sure enough he comes out with a stack of blankets for us. Again, community oriented, the co-teachers order a bottle of vodka and some juice for the table to share. Also, all drinks come with food. When we were predrinking, a family outside the 7/11 walked over and handed us 4 oranges, smiling at us. After the lounge, we were told it was clubbing time. NEVER have I been on a night out in this much style. We walked up a giant glittering staircase with security men all over, and the Koreans led us to one of the lounge booths. The entire floor is all divided into individual booths, fitting about 10-12 each. Again, bottle service, but this time some kind of gin. And 2 giant platters, one of fruit and one of beans and chicken that go along with the bottle. We danced to the live DJ and male dancing number, the girls asking me anxiously which boy I liked, and proceeding to knock me into one any time I glanced at one for too long. I also experienced my first, second and third booking!!! Ok so the way this works can be creepy or not. For us, it involved guys dancing with us and inviting us up to the 2nd floor. What looks like a lavish hotel floor with mood lighting is where the bookings are. Each room has a big circle couch around a table, tv, and lots of food and alcohol. The guys led us into their room where we socialize with them for a bit, and then out of the blue one of the co-workers says "OK, we're leaving now" and that's the end of it. The guys smile, say have a good night or nice meeting you, and the interaction closes. Two of the Korean girls and I were dancing together, and ended up going through three bookings in this way. Crazy night out, and not one I or my budget could handle for a long time again, but what an experience into Korean drinking culture!