Month The First

It has officially been a month since I arrived in South Korea. Happy one month anniversary, ME! This first month has been bonkers and stressful and exciting and exhausting and fun and sweaty and frustrating and lovely.

LIFE:

I’ve made some new friends and gone on new adventures and experienced some hilarious disasters. 🙋‍♀The woman at the coffee shop I like to frequent has been helping me with my Korean, as I help her with her English. She’s very sweet and waves at me as I pass on my way to work. 👫I went to a meet-up group called “Koreigners” which is for foreigners and Koreans to do a language exchange. The people were awesome. 🏪The young woman (Ella) who works evenings at the convenience store is now in a kakao group-chat with all the foreign teachers in our building because we go there so often. She gives us restaurant recommendations, and we’re all planning a trip to Busan.

What I’m saying is that every South Korean person to ever exist is the friendliest, full-stop, no exceptions.

And I’m still a celebrity. Groups of giggling children stare and point until one of them works up the nerve to either give me a shy, “hello,” or a bold and loud, “hello hi how are you I am fine!” There’s something about my blonde hair that makes Korean children blurt out all the English they know. And not just the kids! A lot of older people will stop me on the street to say hello. I’ve been asked to take a picture with three different people.

Obviously there are a lot of things that are different, but there are also things that are the same; like writing in coffee shops and venting to co-workers in the break room, and eating out when I’m feeling lazy (always), and movie theatres, and stopping dogs on the street to demand a bit of a snuggle. There are some things that are universal. Smiles. Kids screaming. Bonding over food. Sarcasm. Junk food. Making pals. Pointing at someone’s dog with your eyebrows raised, knowing they’ll give you a reluctant/understanding nod, meaning, “yes, strange woman, you may pet my dog.” The human experience is a funny, shared, wacko ride.

And now, A Very Toni Story…

WORK:

Remember my first day in South Korea when I had to take a bus to Seoul with 2 other teachers, and it was delirious and bananas? Well, we had to do that again, only this time ALL of the teachers (both foreign and Korean) went, so we took the school’s bus. We met at 5am, drove for 4.5 hours to Seoul, did a full day of training, then drove for 4.5 hours back to Masan. The bus we took… hmmm… how do I describe it… well, it had no suspension, so it was like riding the Minebuster for four and a half hours straight… twice.

How’s school, you ask? It’s absolute madness. Our campus is brand spanking new, so rules / procedures / curriculum / people’s names keep changing every day (you think I’m joking about the names, but I’m not – the students have English names that change depending on their mood). ADAPT OR DIE should be on a banner in the front lobby. That being said, it’s also rewarding, and a lot of fun. The teachers are becoming a team, everyone is helpful and awesome, every day is different, the kids are unpredictable, and it’s never, ever boring.

I’m building a pretty cool relationship with the kids. My morning classes (9:30am-2pm) are all the same kids, age 6-7. I took their suggestions for a class name and wrote them on the board, then we voted.

RoboCops, hahahha. Ultimately “Dragons” won. So when I want them to be quiet, I yell out, “Dragons, danger!” and they all show me their little claws and huddle in their caves (desks), looking out for the natural predators of the dragon… which I have yet to come up with, so hopefully they don’t figure out that dragons don’t really need to hide and stay quiet. We also had one of the kid’s 7th birthday party in class, where we played with balloons (I mean, um… the *cough* the KIDS played with balloons……………. *awkward stare*), ate treats and sang songs.

Speaking of songs, youtube has been my saviour in the classroom. I found a video called Shake Break that gives us some much needed movement in between all the book-learnin’ (seriously try it, it’s so fun).

SHE DID THIS ON HER OWN, I SWEAR.

I got my first “I lobe you” (not a typo), on the same day I got my first, “I don’t like English, and I don’t like Teacher!” So I feel like it evens out. The latter was from one of my afternoon kids who are 9-10, so they’re just learning how much fun it is to cop an attitude. They’re not wrong, either! My school chums can attest that I learned that skill early, and stuck with it.

Karma is very attentive and unforgiving.

HOME-TIME:

And now for the tour!

The apartment is great – much larger than I expected it to be. There are some quirks I’ll have to get used to, like the shower/bathroom, the hilariously high closet pole, and the heated floor; which is fun when you’re feeling a bit chilly and you step onto a warm surface and your tootsies feel all pampered. One does, however, have to remember that the floor is heated, and not leave a chocolate-covered granola bar in your purse, which is sitting on the floor (yes, I learned that the hard way).

RANDOM THINGS:

• I joined a dance class! I don’t understand a word the teacher is saying, but dance is a universal language (right, Goose??). 😉
• I contributed to the “overseas box office” of Captain Marvel. After a while you don’t even notice the Korean subtitles.
• Korean money is called Won (원), and because I don’t have a bank account yet, I have to use cash for everything. Here’s the kicker – Koreans still use (their version of) pennies. PENNIES. I hadn’t seen one in years, I almost forgot what they’re for.
• Our school only has 2 male teachers, and they’re both named Brad.
• SPAM is very big here.
• Most Korean English speakers have an English name (that they chose themselves), which makes me feel like a dumb foreigner who they assume can’t remember their Korean name, but also… I’m a dumb foreigner who won’t remember their Korean name, so I’m pretty happy they do it.
• The air quality isn’t always awesome here, so I sometimes have to wear a mask.
• Ferrol (who is better at Korean than I am) taught me how to say, “does this have wheat powder in it?” If you’re curious, YES, that sentence DOES make me feel like a high-maintenance tool in any language!
• All the meat. All of it.
• Fellow Canadian teacher:

Her name is Jaclyn, she’s from Toronto, and she’s cool and nice and funny. Canadians UNITE!

• The cover photo for this post was my dinner tonight; 김치 찌개 (kimchi jjigae [stew]). It made my nose run, and it was delicious.

• We have another day of training tomorrow (Saturday) in Seoul, only this time it’s further, which means we have to ride the Minebuster for five hours both ways dear God help me I’m scared wish me luck!