I Live In Korea

In Korea, it’s normal (common actually) for a man to call another man handsome. This was awkward at first but now I think it’s kinda funny. I’ll be keeping a running tally of how many people call me handsome or some other compliment in a normal conversation in which no flirtation was going on at all to initiate the comment. I’ll show you the stats, Men vs. Women, so you can see how much I hate my life. Below I’ll cite some funny examples….



First Handsome
I walk into the principal’s office after my long flight, before saying anything else, he hands me a Red Bull and tells me I'm "very handsome." So it begins...

Fifth Handsome
I meet my coworkers boyfriend, I introduce myself…

BG – “hi, my name is Ben”
Guy – “you very handsome”

Didn’t even give me his name first. Odd.

Eighth Handsome
My second female, yes!!! But she is 13 and my student, damn!
“Ben teacher, you in glasses very ugly. You no glasses very handsome.”

First Beautiful
Got my first beautiful the other night, again, by a man. Not just any man either, one of the drunkest men I’ve ever met in my life. A middle aged Korean man came up to us sitting down at a bar, wanted to drink with us and started talking. In Korean, he told the girls I was with they are beautiful, he then said I’m also beautiful, and that normally only women are beautiful, but in this case, I too am beautiful

**** I'm going to update this every few weeks with new numbers and new quotes. I'm hoping the numbers start to even out, right now I'm not happy with them. I will also do my best to try to remember if any comments like this happen when I'm intoxicated. I'm hoping I get more then as opposed to my usual way of getting them...........from students......male ones.....

This past weekend I went to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Korea….

What is it?

The DMZ is a strip of land between South Korea and North Korea which neither country can enter. It is also referred to as the 38th parallel and is the most guarded border in the world.
* Taking pictures of soldiers is not permitted! (except for me)

Are you allowed to go there?

Only if you are with a tour operators. Joe USA or even Joe Korea cannot visit the section we went to. When you go you don’t need a passport, they don’t charge you money, ask you any questions, etc. You just go there, agree to not take any pictures of any military people (wink), and that’s it.

Why the hell did you go there, isn’t it dangerous? That Kim Jong Il is crazy!

It’s not dangerous, no more dangerous really than going to the Mexican……….nevermind. It’s not dangerous though, the strip of empty land is extremely wide (up to 2.5 miles at some points). So there are North Korean troops pretty far away, completely out of sight, and they are probably standing their doing nothing just like the South Korean troops were doing.

Sounds lame then, was there anything cool about it?

Yes, there were some cool things. We got to visit a 2 mile long tunnel that went from North Korea to South Korea. South Koreans didn’t discover this tunnel until 1975, so it was used by North Koreans to invade South Korea (I’m sure in North Korea they say the opposite though). The tunnel is “big enough that a tank can fit in it” (albeit a small one considering my head hit the ceiling on numerous occasions).



We got to visit an observation deck and from a distance could see North Korean military outposts with my diesel camera lens.

What else?

At night we had Korean BBQ, and someone on the trip brought Poi with her. Poi is popular in South East Asia, basically it involves dipping things in gasoline and twirling/spinning them around. I have no experience using the things she brought, however I am always game for a challenge that involves the possibility of getting seriously injured.


The next day we woke up and visited some memorials for South Korean troops, and then harvested some rice to get some legit Uncle Ben's.


Miscellaneous shots I took along the trip….










Oh yeah, I also went bungee jumping…..

I've been asked loads of questions from friends and family back home, here are the most commonly asked.

1. How was your flight?

One of the worst experiences of my life. NEVER fly Emirates Airline unless you plan on bringing less than 30kg (66 pounds)worth of luggage. I’m actually not going to rant about this right here (scroll down to the bottom if you want to read about it in full), it’s too much to handle to read right off the bat.

The good news about the flight is I met a cool Australian and German in the airport. I never thought of airports as a social atmosphere or place to meet people until a few months ago, but now I’m really growing to like being in them. I think there’s a movie about this? If not there should be, could be something similar to Walter Percy's The Moviegoer.

2. How is your apartment?

Pretty basic (stay positive, stay positive). By the end of September I plan on repainting the place and completely redecorating it. There will be a flamboyant paint job, plants, flags, children’s linens and possibly stuffed animals as decorations. You have been warned.

3. How are the kids you teach?
AWESOME, I love the kids (most of them), and they love me (some of them)!

4. Are they well behaved?

Compared to kids in America? Yes. What I find interesting is the behavior of children is worse when they are younger and gets better as they age. I always thought it was the opposite, but I could just be thinking about my personal experiences in school.

5. Do they talk about you in Korean?

All the time, but some of them are stupid and also make hand gestures. One little girl said I have a big forehead (something I've heard since I was a kid) and pointed her hand at her head as if she wanted me to know what she was talking about. She sure did shut up when I opened the door, pointed outside and told her that's where she's going next time she acts up.

6. How are your co-workers?

Awesome. I like to consider myself completely independent and capable when I travel, and have done so alone quite often. However, in this situation I would be lost without Kerri, my Canadian coworker who will be showing me the ropes at school, around the city, helping me with Korean, and introducing me to friends.

7. How is the food?

Delicious! I haven’t had much Korean food in my life, but I’ve always enjoyed what I had. The food here is delicious, healthy, and cheap! My lunch costs $2 and it fills me up a lot. I’ll definitely talk more about the food as I begin to actually understand what it is I’m eating. This was one of the first meals I had in Korea, this one cost less than $5....



8. How often do you work?

School hours are from 2:30pm-9pm on Monday-Friday. However classes end before then, the teachers have dinner (that we don’t pay for) delivered to us at the school at 8pm. So, I’m really working from 2:30pm-8pm, after dinner I'll mark homework then I'm out of there by 9 for sure. I really only actually work a little over 5 hours a day.

9. Are you serious?

Yes.

10. Does it pay well?

I am getting paid handsomely :)

11. How if you work so little?

Because there’s a high demand and not enough people who are fluent in English willing to come over here to live in a place where they eat dog.

12. What are you going to do with your free time?

There’s a place across the street from my apartment where I can get twenty piano lessons per month, one hour each, for $70. Not bad. I’m also going to consider taking Taekwando lessons, maybe learning guitar instead of piano. Either way, I’m going to get myself back into shape (shed off the 10 pounds I gained during my farewell tour), read, write, take a lot of pictures, and pick up a new hobby which is to be determined.

13. When you look outside of your window, what do you see?

That’s a mountain which is a 5 minute walk from my apartment. There is a really nice track, soccer field, park, hiking trails, swimming pool, etc. It’s very nice, here's a view from my window.......



14. Do you have swine flu?

Not yet, and if I do get it I’ll probably be fired. I’ll just let you read what my recruiter said about it…

"I think changing circumstand make it, anyway don't make you tired and washing your hands and brushing your teeth friquently. Thesdays korean afarid H1N1 virus, so if you get a cold you will meet some ackward situation."

Read that again if you’d like, and do so slowly.

15. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen?

Where to begin. So many unique food items, but one thing that surprised me was this fish which is compressed into little balls which look like olives. Weird things I've seen will be a frequent theme here, there's loads of signs, stores, and other things I've seen which I think would make people laugh. I saw a Korean vomiting on the side of the street my first night there (this apparently happens a lot). I'll get into all the unique things on this blog for sure.

16. What’s your town like?

There’s bars, lot’s of places to eat, plenty of places to shop, but it’s not the most exciting place. I’ll likely be heading to Seoul every weekend which is like 45 minutes away. My town has everything I need on a daily basis, but I likely won’t be here when it comes time to play.

17. Do the toilets flush the wrong way?

I don’t know if it’s the “wrong” way, but they do flush the opposite direction as it does back in America.

18. What side of the road do they drive on?

The right side of the road, the right side.

19. Do you get stared at?

Yeah, but I think it has more to do with the fact I’m in a relatively small city. Everyone in the area who is American/British/Australian is an English teacher at a school, so we stand out. Not only that, but they get used to seeing the few of us there are in the city, so when a new one arrives it’s kind of a big deal. I’m basically the new kid at school except an entire city is looking at me, they even come up to me in stores or when I'm eating and want to talk to me. Pretty cool/weird.

20. Are you going to be able to email when you’re over there?

No, definitely not, South Korea’s internet connection nationwide isn’t 4x as fast as the US. Definitely won’t be able to email.

21. Are you going to come home during your breaks?

Probably not, to do so would be both expensive and difficult. Maybe I can pull it off but there’s no guarantees. Just wanted to throw this out there now so my family/friends who planned on seeing me in the next year all know it might not happen unless they come to Asia.

Continued from Question 1, the horrible flight story - I’m trying to forget about what was without a doubt one of the most horrible and costly experiences I’ve had in my life. Not only that, it happened, and it’s over. I’m trying to get better and not over think (aka b****) about situations I have no control over and can’t really change. Life goes on, and I am beginning a new one right now so I might as well embrace it.

Cheers



p.s. Remember, I said I'm trying to get better, no promises.

Yup, it’s time for another BG blog. If you don’t know already I’ll be living in Incheon, South Korea teaching English for one year (unless I can’t handle it or if I love, either or). I want to stay in touch with everyone and figured this is the best medium for me to share my stories, pictures, thoughts, and also kill some time, I’ve got plenty of it to spare.

I left the great city of New York on the 28^th of August amidst a farewell parade which turned into a 3 week long affair due to several canceled flights. I finally wore out my welcome and hopped across the pond for three days to visit some old friends in England. No point in detailing what went on there (pure debauchery), I’d rather talk about why I’m in South Korea and what you will be seeing ahead.

Perpetually searching for adventure and fulfillment, I figured it was time for me to finally knock off #13 on my Life Goals List: Live in non-English speaking country for at least a year. Teaching English abroad is a great opportunity for anyone who is unsure what they want to do with their lives, wants a change of pace, and enjoys traveling. Plus, I like kids and have thought about teaching back in the United States, so here I am.

Now I’m ready to embrace a new culture, with no fears or concerns of being shocked. I’ve traveled enough and am open-minded enough that few things shock me, they may surprise me but I don’t think I’ll ever be in a situation where I’m incapable of dealing with the cultural mores or norms of a new place (except the deep south in the United States).

So how is South Korea so different from the US so far based on what you know? Sure, it may not be normal for men to call other men handsome in the United States if they are straight, but in South Korea it’s okay (even if it’s the first thing the male principal of your school says to you). Sure, when I got off the plane in South Korea (Incheon International Airport, voted the best airport in the world for several years in a row) I may have thought I was going on to the set of Outbreak considering a large number of people were wearing masks around their face, but it’s common here to wear those if you’re even remotely under the weather.

When I see, hear or learn about these differences in culture, I might laugh or be confused, but I try embracing them and realizing if a a Korean moved to the U.S. they might be taken back by certain things in our culture.

So, I’m tired, jetlagged, and maybe even a little hung-over, but I’ve still got the creative juices flowing and am looking forward to making this a relatively enjoyable and informative blog.

Kamsamnida (thank you)