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| My new home |
Oh, that's right. I'm actually living in Korea! On Monday, February 27, tension and anxiety building, Gangwon-do-ers got our final town placements. Or rather, county placements. We unceremoniously shoved our luggage onto the buses once again and finally, we were off to our new lives out of the big city. I was so exhausted from the crazy week we had just endured, I mostly slept through the ride. In Yeongwol, we were met by our coteachers and whisked off to wherever it is we were going. In my case, a general teacher's conference all in Korean. Oh and a teacher introduction ceremony where you bow in front of everyone? That's cool, when you're in a daze.
The Teacher Goes To School
It's the beginning of March, so starts a new Korean school year which will run until the end of July. Little did I know, I would be teaching in a high school with only 150 students and 22 teachers. Not only that, but high school essay writing. Never heard of anyone doing this, so I treat myself as the guinea pig and roll with it. So far, I'm only scheduled for eight classes a week, which is technically supposed to expand to twenty-two hours. I'm spoiled with my very own classroom and office.
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| Classroom "Africa" |
My coteachers are lovely people, but since I only have a computer in the classroom, I don't get to see the other staff much. The infamous teacher's dinner went down on Monday night, with an entire restaurant taken up with tables. I ended up mostly babbling away in the English corner, slightly tipsy on soju, but nothing too eventful or embarrassing. Going out for food is always going to be an adventure in "what can I eat this time?" Oh there's plenty of tofu, yay! Oh, there's only rice and seaweed? Wish I had pre-eaten more. But, I like the food so I can't complain too much.
Where The Clean Air Comes From
Sabuk is the name of this small town. This isn't exactly what I would call the boonies, but we are nestled in the mountains, with amazing fresh air. Just what I wanted in my landscape, but I didn't realize it would kind of come at cost. Not to me, but to the town itself. In the 1930s, this was a coal mining community that made the sky black. Eventually, they shut down the coal mines and Sabuk suffered massive unemployment. Now, this stands at the entrance to the town:
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| Thanks for the side dishes, 'cause the rest is BBQ |
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| Welcome to Sabuk! |
I'll Take a Quiet Life...
A series of firsts has begun in just a few short weeks: first time on the Asian continent, first time teaching high school, first time living in a rural area and first time living alone. These are not insignificant milestones, especially the last two. I needed to get out of the city so much, I dreamed about it. And no matter how lonely it gets here, the mountains and rivers and railroads will keep me company even in the lowest times. Spring is approaching and we had two really beautiful days that lifted up everyone's spirits. At lunchtime, I choose to go home and sit and listen to the stream under my window.
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| View from my balcony, on a nice day |
I make schedules, set goals, get enough sleep during the week and cook good food. Of course, this is the only the beginning and life could become more hectic, but that would be my own choice. I'm not a Korean teacher, so I don't work more than 40 hours a week. I'm not a Korean student who spends 14 hours a day in school, with self-study sessions going until 10 p.m. I have friends from orientation in neighboring towns that I can visit anytime and it's nowhere near the hurdle it was in Houston. And maybe best of all, I see my students everyday around town. They wave and say hi. They offer me snacks. Sometimes groups of teenage boys follow me and say weird things in English. Teenage boys are a frightening bunch - they're bigger than me! I'll start taking Taekwan-do soon to work off the nervous energy and keep myself more in shape. I've also got gardening in the works and soon soon soon I will get a bike! I can make life as familiar as I want it, even in this unknown territory. I feel extremely fortunate and mostly that I don't deserve what I'm getting for the little work that I do. Privilege. Class. Inequality. What can I do? It's still a beautiful experience.
I Want More, Impossible To Ignore
I still want to volunteer on a farm. And travel around. And meet activists. But right now, the right thing may be to find out who I am, without all the frills and confusion. Finally, a year in Korea may give me this gift.
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| A walk home in the falling snow |
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| Inexplicably awesome mural by the school |
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| From a bridge in Gohan |
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