The plan landed in the Seoul/Incheon airport on July 7 at four AM. I have never known jet lag until that morning. All the ETA's (English Teaching Assistants) were herded onto two buses and shipped off to Chuncheon. Chuncheon, in the middle north of the country and surrounded by tall mountains, is considered to be a fairly small town by Korean standards. For a South Dakotan, it's anything but a small town. Pedestrians have to be a little more aggressive, but I would recommend a little patience. The streets are congested at best and anarchic the rest of the time. There is probably an art to it, but I have yet to figure that out.
All 75 ETA's are living in a dormatory while we go through our six week orientation. It is the purpose of the seminars to prevent us from committing any of the cultural sins for which there is ample opportunity for Americans. For example, playing the "got your nose" game with a baby is the equivalent of a middle finger, don't write names in red in (unless they happen to be deceased), always take your shoes off in someone else's home, and so on.
ETA's take Korean language courses and we all spend a significant amount of time trying to become somewhat functional in Korea. Easier said than done. The few sad attempts I have made in speaking Korean has resulted in dumbfounded looks. Simple transactions can be a Sisyphean ordeal as I have often ended up with more than I wanted. Suggestive selling is very easy when the foreign sap (me) has no idea how to say "no thanks." Somehow, I ended up with two boxes of detergent.
The city of Chuncheon is very cramped. There doesn't seem to be a segregation of residential and commercial zones. Apartments share buildings with restaurants and cell phone stores. There is a bar and grill that we occasionally go to that is on the fourth floor, of an apartment complex. You can't look anywhere in the city without flashing neon lights and advertisements. There are a lot of little stores that look like they are bursting with a random assortment of goods that put most flea markets to shame. Until I learn to haggle, or at least defend myself, I just go to E-Mart (pronounced E-Mot-u), which is the Korean equivalent of Wal-Mart.
There seems to always be a frenzy of activity in Korea as everyone seems to be hustling to somewhere. Even kids no older than five have their own cell phone (It's easy to tell because both his parents were on their phone as well). There isn't much time for taking it easy. Most companies in Korea will allow a one week vacation for the whole year. High school students go home as late as 10 PM. In fact, only the college students seem to have any recreational time (although their summer vacation started in July). Korean work ethic is very impressive, but seems a little excessive at times.
Anyway, those are some initial observations of Korea. Hope all is well in the States and if anyone has any questions or wants me to look into something, let me know. Good night.
ETA's take Korean language courses and we all spend a significant amount of time trying to become somewhat functional in Korea. Easier said than done. The few sad attempts I have made in speaking Korean has resulted in dumbfounded looks. Simple transactions can be a Sisyphean ordeal as I have often ended up with more than I wanted. Suggestive selling is very easy when the foreign sap (me) has no idea how to say "no thanks." Somehow, I ended up with two boxes of detergent.
The city of Chuncheon is very cramped. There doesn't seem to be a segregation of residential and commercial zones. Apartments share buildings with restaurants and cell phone stores. There is a bar and grill that we occasionally go to that is on the fourth floor, of an apartment complex. You can't look anywhere in the city without flashing neon lights and advertisements. There are a lot of little stores that look like they are bursting with a random assortment of goods that put most flea markets to shame. Until I learn to haggle, or at least defend myself, I just go to E-Mart (pronounced E-Mot-u), which is the Korean equivalent of Wal-Mart.
There seems to always be a frenzy of activity in Korea as everyone seems to be hustling to somewhere. Even kids no older than five have their own cell phone (It's easy to tell because both his parents were on their phone as well). There isn't much time for taking it easy. Most companies in Korea will allow a one week vacation for the whole year. High school students go home as late as 10 PM. In fact, only the college students seem to have any recreational time (although their summer vacation started in July). Korean work ethic is very impressive, but seems a little excessive at times.
Anyway, those are some initial observations of Korea. Hope all is well in the States and if anyone has any questions or wants me to look into something, let me know. Good night.
2 comments:
Hey, Joe! Glad to see your blog is up and going! (though I didn't notice it until just today....) Hope you get the hang of things over there before too long... Though there's really no downside, that I can see, to having two boxes of detergent.
Oh, and it's too bad you'll have to wait to see the new Batman movie! It is the best movie ever made by humans. Or, at least, it was better than Gigli.
Post a Comment