just another American teacher in SK

Hey y’all ~ I’m kickin’ back, with my 20 ounce mug of real coffee (not the instant crap from a tube), feelin’ pretty darn pleased with life in general today.  I’m actually starting to feel comfortable here …

I’ve talked about it before ~ culture shock is nasty.  Living in a foreign country is always challenging.  I really thought I was ready for it ~ I have traveled through or lived in 30+ countries on my own, for varying lengths of time and, while Korea had not been on my list of “must do” things, I was willing to take advantage of the opportunity.   Truth be told, the past few weeks have been a bit hard. 

I got off to a rocky start ~ I was very unhappy being placed on a “friggin’ remote island” when I specifically requested a metro placement ~ civilization seemed to be an unmanagable distance away.  I was getting increasingly annoyed with the staring and pointing, the lack of privacy, the garbage, the food, the education system, the weather, absence of real coffee and dairy products, the language barrier …  everything was getting on my nerves.  Of course, Tim has been audience to my incessant bitching and moaning for weeks, usually commiserating but occasionally suggesting that I just “suck it up” ~ which pisses me off even more. 

More than once I was ready to say “screw it ~ I am OUTTA here” and board the next plane for the States.  (Unfortunately, that’s what the previous teacher in my position did ~ she said she just couldn’t hack it, packed her bags and left! ) 

Then it happened ~ Tim had a bad day this week, a really bad day ~ so bad that he called me at work to talk to me about it.   It was my turn to talk him down off the ledge.  That was probably the defining moment ~ coming to the realization that if we are going to make it here, we have to relax and adapt.   Seriously, the reports from people who LOVE it here are balanced by accounts of the people who flipped their wigs ~ I guess you have to  “shit or get off the pot”.

Fortunately, Tim is spending a few days in Seoul for a condensed version of the orientation I went through.  I suspect he will feel much better when he returns, after spending 5 days with other native English teachers.

It was fun to go to the city on Friday night.  We met up with more teachers (my god, they’re everywhere!) while out and about it Seoul.  It was nice to find out that a cab ride from the Western area of Seoul to the island only takes 35 minutes and the equivalent of 40$US/taxi ~ maybe we’re not so isolated after all … 

I slept in this morning and  spent most of the afternoon just puttering around town.  The “yellow dust” has settled down, and it’s a lovely sunny day.  All the little kids in the neighborhood are running around and playing ~ a bunch of them actually followed me for several blocks as I wandered around, singing and chattering away ~ so sweet!

In review, it was a good week ~ I got my ARC, internet in my home, a paycheck, and a care package from home (!!)  My “initial performance assessment” was very positive ~ the Vice Principal told me that kids like me (they don’t understand anything I say, but they like me …), the co-teachers think I’m doing well, and the Principal has asked that I teach him English when I have “spare time”.  All in all, life is good.

Now, I don’t want to lead anyone to the conclusion that I will spend all my time going forward with a big ol’ grin on my face ~ I’m certain that I will continue to comment on stupid shit that annoys me, but don’t take what I say too seriously.  It’s not “them”, it’s me.  And I’m okay.

Thanks to everyone for your support ~ I miss everyone and everything familiar more than I could have imagined.  Keep in touch!!  xo

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 5:52 pm and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.