I have been living in Korea for 4 months now! Many of my blog postings have discussed my experience living and working in Korea as very positive and enjoyable-which it absolutely has been! Not everything has been "bread and butter" as I may make it out to seem. With just about any experience, comes challenges. To be short, these challenges can all be clumped under culture shock for the most part and this culture shock is absolutely related to learning and growing more.
During my initial research on teaching abroad in Korea, I learned of the apparent "stages of living abroad" which may include the honeymoon stage, frustration stage, reality stage, and acclimation stage. To be frank, currently I fall between the frustration stage and reality stage. My honeymoon stage lasted about 2 months as you may notice by my blog. I was posting so much as everything in Korea was exciting to me. Between months 3-4 I have noticed some frustration with accepting some things I don't understand and then falling into the reality stage as I begin to settle down with my Korean lifestyle. I would like to discuss some of the challenges I have come across during this past year. Yes, I said past year since it literally has been a full year since I began this adventure. There a are a few other topics that should be included in challenges but I will discuss these further in another blog. These include but are not limited to the toilet situation and my hair falling out. The following are some challenges I have and still "climb over" while in Korea.
Language barrier
To be honest, just about every challenge is derived from the language barrier which is why this is first on my list. I believe I speak for many other teachers here when I say my biggest mistake while planning this move was not taking time to study the language. While I did study some, it wasn't nearly enough. Once here, its so much harder to sit down and actually study the language. I could go on and on about every example where having learned the language prior would have helped me but I think you get the point now.
Teaching
As a first time teacher of English as a second language, it has been great learning and getting adjusted to teaching children that speak very little English. At first I was essentially clueless. Perhaps this is greatly due to the lack of instruction from my schools and the fact that I teach alone with no Korean co-teacher. Currently, I'm far more confident teaching and understand how my students learn best now. The biggest difficulties I have experienced so far is discipline and bullying. Imagine a baby crying and carrying on but you may not be sure what is the cause as you only hear crying/yelling. Is the baby crying because he/shes hungry? Thirsty? Sick? Pooping pants? This is the same concept in the classroom. I can hear the students raising their voice in a different tone, perhaps crying, or their body language can also give way for me to know something troublesome is happening but like a baby carrying on, who knows the reasoning behind it all! How can a teacher discipline a student if I don't know exactly what is happening between the students? As I have been teaching the same 400 students for 4 months now, I now know who my troublemakers are and where to strategically seat them in order to decrease some bullying or negative situations. The students also understand that I do not tolerate any form of negative actions as I made examples of my first few troublemakers by having them stand in the back of the classroom or kicking a few students out during more severe circumstances. I feel as though if I had a Korean co-teacher (per my contract) in the classroom to help better deal with classroom management, I may be more efficient in my teaching abilities; however, perhaps I'm understanding my students better and developing as a better teacher by being put in such a situations. As a side note, by teaching lower level students English, my own English speaking level has seemed to decrease some.
Admin
Having applied through the EPIK program, it is a very long and lengthy process as I have previously described. One must prepare months in advance as there are quite a few various documents needed. Once in Korea, the paperwork seems to get even crazier in my opinion mostly due to the disorganization of my POE. Contracts here don't exactly mean what they would in the states. I like to think of the contracts, paperwork, correspondence as merely a "guideline". hahaha! Not to mention many of these documents are in hangul or very broken English. For example, important emails usually get sent to half of the teachers while others are left clueless, it doesn't matter that your contract states you will have fridge when you actually don't for a month, there are 5 different stories about getting all tax documents submitted properly, and calendars don't matter too much as there are always surprise events that nobody tells you about. The disorganization absolutely frustrates me more than anything I would say as I like to be prepared and in the know. I could go on and on about how disorganized this experience can be but then again its all part of learning and adapting as well which I'm slowly learning.
Food
This one surprised me. I should first state that I'm enjoying the food here greatly! The challenge is that I miss select food items from the states that I can't get here. Prior to arriving in Korea I didnt think I would miss American food but goodness I do! I miss cheeses, good sammich meats, reeses, Mexican food, and southern foods mostly. When I get home, my first meal will be Chipotle and I'm not sharing. (In Korea you share your food or its rude) On another note, I dont like eating alot of rice as it has no taste to me. I only eat the rice at school to fill me but definitely dont eat rice for dinner or at restaurant. Also, many foods here are drenched in salt which also isnt good. For dinner I usually make salad or soup that lasts a few days.
Transportation
On the top of my list of challenges is the transportation on the island specifically. On the island I have a few options: I can take the bus, cab, walk, or bike. Unfortunately, there is no subway or train system like there is on the mainland. I take the bus to and from school everyday, use cabs on the weekends when I'm with friends, and walk locally. Let me just address the challenge in the best way possible: THE DRIVERS ARE NUTS HERE!!!! On the bus rides I hold on with both hands and still fly around the bus. I usually get at least one bruise a week from flying into a pole or arm rest on the bus. If I bump into anyone I get dirty looks as I should be more balanced like the Koreans. haha! I always try to claim a seat when I can but give up the seat if an elder enters the bus. I never knew just how many people a bus could hold till I got to Korea. Every day I fear being stuck in the back or up against the wall of the bus and not making it off the bus when it gets to my stop. Many times, the bus might smell and I admit that I always smell kimchi on the buses. While walking, you must always be on the look out at motorcycles like to use the sidewalks as lanes. While crossing the street I must scurry across quick for fear of being hit by these crazy drivers. On another note, I have only seen a handful of accidents since being in Korea despite the horrible driving skills. In the states, its common to see at least one accident a day I would say.
Missing family/friends
I should first say that I am so thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful friends here in Korea! They truly have helped make this experience that much better. However, this is the longest amount of time I have been away from my family and friends back at home and I miss you all lots and lots!!!! Whatsapp, facebook, mail, and skype have been great tools to stay connected back at home!
Have a Happy Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Merry New Year! For Christmas I will be in Busan with friends and for New Years I will be in Seoul with friends! Thank you for reading once again and please feel free to comment, email, or mail me! :D
