The Fastest 4 Weeks Of My Life

Meg and I were talking the other night and it dawned on us that this weekend will be our one month anniversary of arriving in Korea! That just blows me away as these past 4 weeks have literally been the fastest of my life. Looking back on where my life was 4 months ago when I made the decision to come to Korea, I couldn't be happier about where I am now! Both of us have agreed that we made a fantastic choice and one that we in no way regret!

That being said, Meg and I had a really big weekend last week! The week was ultra stressful on my end (I had 6 weeks of lesson plans due for all three of my classes by Monday) so I was worried I was going to be stuck inside all weekend. However, I am certainly glad that I decided to pull some late nights leading up to Friday so that some fun could be had!

We started off Saturday by treating ourselves to Caribou! We knew their was one nearby, so we went on an adventure to find it. It was about a 20 minute walk from the Gangnam (area where we work) subway stop and was sooooo worth it! We also officially started taking Korean lessons. As Meg mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we met a great group of Koreans through an old high school friend. They have set up a pretty sweet exchange program with some other westerners. Some of them have paired up and spend two hours one-on-one teaching Korean. Then, a large group of Koreans go out to dinner and buy drinks and food for about five or six westerners in exchange for speaking English with them over dinner. So anyway, Meg and I both have our own Korean teacher...for free! It will be so nice to get some basic Korean under our belts...although I already wish they spoke something simpler like Spanish here! There are lots of similar sounds in Korean and the fact that they use characters makes learning the language quite difficult as you can imagine! The girls are really nice, they are taking us out to lunch this weekend because apparently there is some Korean food we haven't had yet that is a must! Some of the Koreans have also decided that once a month they are going to take us to a touristy place around the city. This gives them more practice with their English and we are excited because we get the best tour guides around! This weekend they are taking us to the blue house (Korea's white house) and a palace in Seoul.

Since Meg's birthday was during the week, we also used Saturday night as an excuse to celebrate some more. We invited some of our co-workers to meet up with us after dinner and we drank rice wine with our Korean/Western friends. Meg and I had our first experience of getting kicked off the subway (it stops running at midnight) and since our line is a loop it just stops at 12 wherever it may be and a Korean voice tells you to leave(or something along those lines). We were pretty excited because we were able to navigate home by bus from where we were! Guess we have become everyday city people!

On Sunday we attempted our first touristy visits! We visited the Selleung/Jeongneung Tombs and the Bongeunsa Temple, both of which are just a couple subway stops away from us. King Seongjong, Queen Jeonghyeon and King Jungjong are buried here, all of who were part of the Joseon Dynasty in the 1400/1500s. The site itself is right smack in the middle of the city, which created very interesting pictures. Unfortunately, the area is still very brown but it was still fun to get out among some trees and open spaces!

From here, we hopped one stop over on the subway to go to the Bongeunsa Temple, which is a Buddhist Temple right across from the Coex Mall. Again, the temple is located right in the middle of the city so the juxtaposition between the temple buildings and skyscrapers was very interesting. We saw a monk playing the Sharma drum and ringing a gong, as well as a prayer ceremony going on in the main temple. We also saw the Mireukdaebul, which is the largest statue of Buddha in Korea. It is 23 meters high and took 10 years to build. The temple was really interesting to see and Meg and I are both excited to try to go to some outside of the city and possibly even do an overnight stay at one! More pictures can be seen HERE on webshots!

Yesterday, Meg and I finally made a home-cooked meal (which we have been saying we were going to do for the past 2 weeks!) It wasn't much- grilled cheese and raman- but considering what we have to work with we were pretty proud! Plus, raman is actually a staple food here. Honestly, it is served in restaurants. It is basically as cheap as it is in America...but WAY better quality. Gourmet raman if you will. Meg and I also have gotten our washing machine to function. When we first tried to use it, it never completed the rinse cycle which seemed odd since it was brand-new. It took a little bit of time, but we finally realized that you have to unhook the hose on the side of the machine so that the water can drain all over the bathroom floor. Of course, we would have figured this out faster had the manual not been entirely in Korean. At least in America directions come in two languages...here you may get some Japanese as well but that is about it. Meg actually brought the manual to work to get the buttons translated! We also learned that the washing machine has its own set of water faucets that need to be turned on (just like the floors need to be turned on if you want hot water!)

Culturally, we have learned something very interesting from one of the guys who meets with us for dinner on Saturdays. I was talking to him about education in Korea versus America and we got on the topic of standing out at what you are good at. While we strive to be individuals in America and want to be recognized as being the best, standing out in Korea is frowned upon. In fact, standing out is associated with being egotistical. In fact, another western teacher at my school had mentioned (as a compliment) to some parents at conferences that their student was a leader in the classroom. The mom became very concerned and asked the teacher what they could do at home to stop this behavior. This is probably one of the biggest cultural differences that we have learned about thus far.

I was also told that men here often try to date school teachers because they have such great job security here in Korea. Apparently, once you are in you are in for life. School teachers here have to pass a very hard test and thus have really good pension and job security. I found this funny since everyone in America associates marrying a teacher with having a lower household income. So I guess I need to become a teacher here and the guys will line up!