As I’m trying to settle in to life here in Korea, I’ve hit
some of the obstacles that I expected would come along with speaking another
language—everything from trying so hard to understand my co-teacher’s English
to searching up and down Lotte Mart for some butter! Before I get into those stories, let me go
back to the day all of us EPIK teachers were “adopted.”
Our last morning at Jeonju University, we all boarded our
busses and headed off to the city or province we were placed in. All of us here in Busan were taken to a
middle school where our co-teachers were coming to pick us up. We all lined the front of the school dressed
to impress with our luggage scattered all over the place. We all joked that it
was like we were being adopted—standing there with all of our belongings having
no idea where we were about to go or what we were getting ourselves into. Our names were called as our cars arrived. Two
guys then ran over to grab our luggage, usher us into the car as quickly as
possible, and then we waved to our new friends as we drove away. It was quite funny, yet sad and
nerve-wracking at the same time as we were anxious to finally see what it was
we would be doing for the next year.
Waiting to be "adopted!"
Sad to leave my roomie!
Two of my co-teachers came to pick me up. They took me straight to my apartment and
then to Lotte Mart, which is sort of like Wal-Mart but much bigger. We all get a $300 allowance from
our schools when we arrive to buy things that we may need in our apartments. Our apartments come furnished, but in my
case, the kitchen was cleared out. I
didn’t have one plate or one pot or one spoon or anything. After shopping, we
had an appointment to get internet set up in my apartment. The guy was here for an hour but couldn’t do
anything until I had a bank account here.
Thankfully all of that was taken care of the next day, along with
finally stopping at my school for all of five minutes in the middle of running
a bunch of errands with one of my co-teachers.
She has been an incredible help to me, but it’s been very hard for me to
understand her English. It’s almost
tiring from concentrating so much while listening to her—barrier number
one. So thankful for her help, though!
My grocery shopping experience brings about barrier number
two. Not only did it take me FOREVER to
shop for groceries from not being able to read labels that were all in Korean
or wondering how the heck to cook something since I don’t have an oven, but I
also could not find butter anywhere! I
searched the store three times for some butter.
I even tried asking two workers for some help. They just looked confused but continued to
speak to me in Korean. I then motioned
that it was okay and said “Gamsahamnida,” meaning thank you. I was missing that butter tonight when I had
bread with my spaghetti. Who knew
wanting to buy some butter would be so difficult.
I bought so much at the store that there was no way I could
carry it all to my apartment. I somehow
managed to take a taxi back. Taxis are
sitting there in front of Lotte Mart, so that was helpful at least! I just pointed to my address on a piece of
paper I had with me. I made it back and
then kicked the box of groceries onto the elevator (the taxi driver at least
carried it to the elevator for me!) and I kicked it to my door as I carried a
bag full of other groceries and my bag from work. I was exhausted all from grocery shopping and
just not being able to communicate.
Then today I went to my third day of work. I’m working at Hwashin M.S. I learned from subbing this year that I
really love middle school, so I was very happy about my placement. I wish that I could fast-forward a month,
though, so that I may actually have a clue about what’s going on at work. I didn’t have any classes on Monday or
Tuesday this week. I thought this would
be the time I’d get all the details about my job and meet with my
co-teachers. Nope. I didn’t get my schedule until Tuesday
afternoon (with classes starting today).
This meant that I also didn’t know who all of my co-teachers were. And in my case, I have six of them. Holy crap it is going to take time to get
into the swing of things with that. I
learned very quickly today that they are all going to expect different things
from me, even though I’ll be teaching the same lessons within each grade. I had to prepare a PowerPoint that I would
use today to introduce myself to the students.
One co-teacher needed time in class to give announcements and whatnot,
while the next wanted me to fill the entire 45 minutes, which I was not aware
of beforehand. Following that, another
co-teacher spoke with her students only in Korean! This is English class! And I have no idea what you’re saying in
Korean. Not only are we working with two
languages, but I realized very quickly that I’ll be working with a lack of
communication—barrier number three. I
was warned about this and about things happening very last minute before I
came, but I really just wanted to cry. I
am brand new to this school and to this country. Do they expect me to walk in and
automatically know how everything works there?
Little communication (from simple lack of communication and
everyone speaking in Korean, obviously) can also make work lonely. I need someone to talk to! This is why I love
the little visits from my students. We
have one giant staff room at the school where every teacher has a desk. The students have been coming by to say “Hello”
and “Hi teacher” in English. They then start giggling and walk away. It’s really cute. Then I had a group of girls come by yesterday
and say, “Ooohhh beautiful. Ooohhh big
eyes. Big eyes. Ooohhh beautiful. Where are you from?” “The U.S.,” I
replied. “Ooohhh migook, migook!” Migook means American. It made me
smile. I think these kids are going to
help me get through any frustrations I have at work. I keep reminding myself that they are why I’m
here. So thankful for their simple
hellos that bring a smile to my face right when I need it.
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