- One thing I will have trouble getting used to is Korean conversation. The language barrier is really hard to deal with sometimes- during meetings, they will talk in Korean and look in my direction as if I understand. It also works the opposite way where they know you cannot understand them so all you hear is your name thrown into a conversation and them all talking about you. This has happened multiple times and sometimes it ends in laughing- I just laugh along because I'm not sure what else to do.
- I get mixed emotions from the students and teachers. Most/almost all of the students, when they see me- even if I'm on the opposite end of the hallway, will yell 'hello teacher!' A small handful of students act as if they don't see me when they are walking down the hallway. They look out the window as if something very interesting has caught their eye and they cannot stop looking at it. Some of the teachers just do not want to interact with me- maybe it's because they cannot speak any English and so they don't want to try and communicate- I am going to stick with this guess.
- I really like a lot of the teachers and helpers at the schools. If I worked in a Korean school, I wouldn't mind being the cleaning lady. Each school has one and I think to be one you have to have short, curly hair and be retired. The one at Uirang is very sweet and is always giving me treats or shooing me to go get in line early for lunch. One afternoon, I found myself sitting on the couches in the teacher's lounge as she walked in. We silently enjoyed drinkable yogurt and the crusted rice patties from the pot of rice served for lunch. They were both very good- and even though the cleaning lady and I don't speak the same language, I can still feel the warmth of her company. Anyways, I wouldn't mind being the cleaning lady because the ones at the schools I am at are never actually cleaning. I see them just walking around, talking to the students, eating lunch, or just hanging out in the teacher's lounge joking to the others teachers. It seems like a pretty easy job to me.
- At my first school, Janggi, there are some teachers there that think they have terrible English so they don't even try. Little to my knowledge, the assistant science teacher speaks amazing English. It was as if he was hiding it from me- but one day I asked,in a miming way, for some paper and he responded perfectly in English the directions on where to find some. On the other hand, there are teachers there that don't know any English but really try with it. The PE teacher is a really funny guy. Sometimes he will come up behind me and tap, or should I say pound, me on the shoulders to get my attention- and then walks away. Most of the time when he walks by me he will shout out random words in English like 'today!!!' and then walk away. I guess he is trying haha.
- Being in Korea has been a big self esteem booster. Everyone I meet tells me how beautiful I am which is always great to hear haha. The children, though, don't really understand what is appropriate and what isn't so the first day most of them told me I have big eyes. They also focus on other features like noses and body hair (since most Koreans don't have any arm hair). My principal from Uirang, when he first met me, told me I was beautiful and that I have 'special shape face' which I'm not sure if I was supposed to take as a complement or not.
- The Koreans, aside from hiking, LOVE volleyball. They all talk about playing constantly and all the teachers play every Wednesday. Most of the women teachers are not interested so they do anything possible to get out of it. I like volleyball but I hope my playing skills meet their expectations- we were supposed to play the last two weeks but I had to go to Daejeon the first week and there was a hiking trip last week.
- Different from Japan, Koreans don't just use chopsticks, they also use spoons. They almost always have rice, kimchi, and some sort of soup with a meal so they soup comes in handy for the rice and soup. I haven't been anywhere that the utensils are not made from metal- that's one thing Japan had, creativity with their utensils! One thing I am determined to master, is how the Koreans hold both their spoon and chopsticks in one hand- switching from one to the other when needed. One day I will have it down to an art!
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