Blog Carnival: Feeling at Home when Abroad

It is my second month contributing to the Reach to Teach | Teach Abroad Blog’s monthly "Blog Carnival." Each month, a blogger-teacher-traveler hosts and asks a question, which is voluntarily answered by interested bloggers. Published by the fifth of each month by the host on their blog, the Blog Carnival focuses on advice and helpful tips for ESL teachers. If you'd like to contribute to next month's Blog Carnival, please do contact Dean at dean@reachtoteachrecruiting.com - it is a very welcoming process. 

I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in two rural elementary schools in South Korea for one year (2013-2014). 

February 2015 – Sharon Couzens:

Sharon Couzens of TEFL Tips asks:

"At what moment did you finally start to felt like you were at "home" during your time living abroad?" 

         .

My time living and working in South Korea was at its worst isolating and at its very best fulfilling and carefree. I think I would still be living and teaching in my city of Icheon had I achieved a steady feeling of "home." But I never found my place in Korea. There are moments, however, that life was good and felt complete. Moments of home - some familiar and some completely new that fit into my world of thinking. 

First, I want to thank the people who introduced me to and experienced with me new foods and new ways of dining. Those bowls of vegetables from above, sitting among the small and cluttered market kitchen/kitchen tables, were such a sight! I had never seen anything like them and they delighted me beyond words (so I snapped a picture). In Korea, vegetables made sense, and every day at school lunch and every time I ate out at a Korean restaurant, I stuffed my mouth full of traditional Korean side dishes where vegetables are the star. 

End of the Semester Happiness

I'm ecstatic about the semester being over, though possibly not as much as my students. Bounding in and out of the English room, crowding around me, asking for the millionth time about the photos by my desk, wanting to play UNO, and sneaking up on/scaring the bejeezus out of me.

 

Teacher Outing: CATS

With the end of the semester finally here, the Doam teachers headed to Seoul to see CATS the musical. My co-teacher SK kept telling me that she heard it was going to be the Original Broadway version, and I didn't realize that meant the musical would be in English. That discovery when the lights went down, the music started, and the first words were sung was so nice.

Having never seen, knowingly heard any of the music from, or read anything pertaining to Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS, I have never liked CATS. I have never gotten a good vibe from it. I would see stills of the Broadway actors in costume and I would quite consciously screw my nose up. Even pop culture references, such as on Modern Family, couldn't convince me to want to see it. But I was very happy to have the experience in Korea, with Korean actors and surrounded by a Korean audience. 

True Korean Teacher Dinner

My first teacher dinner with the Doji staff was filled with beer, soju, sam gyeop sal, mul kimchi, two impromptu speeches, and noraebang. I had a really great time eating (like the best time eating) and after the main part of the meal was done, I was so happy to talk with some of the Doji teachers. I met four teachers who are my age -- How old are you? Twenty-five?! Friends. -- and it was great to chat about twentysomething stuff with them.

Everyone got febreezed on the way out the restaurant door (to get rid of the grilled meat smell?) and we headed to the noraebang, which is basically a private karaoke singing room. It's funny, but this was an obligation. One of the teachers told me that Doji was too small of a school to hope to sneak out of singing and go home. Everyone was expected to sing, especially my co-teacher because he's new and Korean. For the last song, we all stood in a half circle, held hands, and the mic was passed verse by verse down the line. Five hours later, I'm home. Wednesday, you may have killed me. 

The highlight of my day: waiting outside by the front door at Doam. My Doji co-teacher would pick me up for the teacher dinner. While I stood there, one of the little second graders came hopping towards me. "Oh, hello," he always says when he sees me. My teacher friend KH comes out and I dunno, we three just stand there and talk in broken English. Then, one of my fifth grade students joins us and gives me a picture he drew and colored -- "Hero Cookie Man." I was also really happy to receive a very pretty basket of flowers at the teacher dinner. It's the simple things that get me through the social things ::

Last Day of School FOOD & NANTA

I admit, I anticipated food. Last day, I figured. No way there wouldn't be food. I planned accordingly (a dangerous habit in Korea) by eating a lighter breakfast. And by golly, I'm getting good at living in Korea, because I was greeted in the hallway by one of my favorite fifth graders handing out homemade chocolates. After the graduation ceremony, I was given the usual bag of rice cakes plus a prettily wrapped, fancy rice cake topped with soybeans and other tasty savories.

Bag-of-rice-cakes (뜩 ddeok) is the norm here. I've received countless and still struggle to finish the contents. I like ddeok fine, but they're like the elvish waybread in the "Lord of the Rings" to me -- and I'm sadly not a hobbit in this scenario. They are incredibly dense and filling; Koreans pop them down like saltine crackers.

For lunch, we teachers headed to a restaurant that serves the Korean ground mudfish soup (추아탕 chuatang). The fourth grade teacher raved about the soup on the ride to the restaurant, but he was aware that American taste buds might not appreciate the flavor. No need to worry, it was a fantastic lunch -- I didn't think it tasted all that fishy; it just tasted good.

My relationship with soup has grown into a full-blown love affair. Thank you, Korea. Served boiling hot in an earthenware bowl, I added garlic, green onions, and permilla seeds to my taste. Noodles and/or rice were also added and the slurping and sniffling noses soon followed. Utter perfection with two different varieties of kimchi, raw onions soaked in sauce, and pork cutlet available in between spoonfuls of soup, I was told I am very pretty at eating. Why thanks!

Teacher outing number three, next we headed in our coach bus to Seoul for the "Cookin Nanta" show in Myeongdong. The coach buses are well decorated and the drivers always very professional. Olympic speed skating and a small cat nap later, we arrived at Myeongdong, shopping dreamland. We had some time to kill before the show, so I hit the shopping streets with a group of teachers. I'm not at all shopping compatible with Koreans. They shop like they eat school lunch: quickly. I like to take my time and to feel the different fabrics and materials. No, no. But I did manage to buy two shirts, which all the teachers were excited to know.

I went to Nanta with Steph and Alex when they visited and it was fun. But going with the Doam teachers was an absolute hoot. We had great seats - second row from the stage, which meant that a lot of the teachers were pulled up onto stage during the performance - SO FUNNY. And they just ate up the humor, making Nanta round two really awesome. I think part of it was the English. Nanta is a nonverbal comedy percussion act, but when they do use "real" words, it's English. At one point in the show, the nephew carries in a take box of chicken - "take-out" written in big letters on the box. The teacher sitting next to me, who doesn't ever speak to me, sounded the words out, out loud. The language aspect of the show was something I didn't factor in the first time; it's like me being thrilled I can say, "만두 주세요." I'm planning on writing a full-review of the Nanta show coming soon.

Another bag of rice cakes and little oranges on the bus ride home: FOOD.

Happy White Chocolate Robot

Day of Food

Winter Break is officially over (nooooooo!) and as difficult as it was to come back from the long holiday weekend in Busan (more on this later <3), it was comforting to hear the students' shouts and noise as I walked into the school. Plus, we got eased into the last two weeks of the school year with no classes and lots of food. A day of food.

The President-Principal treated all of the teachers to lunch at this kal guk su 칼국수* restaurant down the highway from the school. 칼국수 is one of my favorite Korean meals; loosely translated into hand-cut noodle soup, I feel unstoppable whenever I eat it. The noodles are homemade, thick, and juicy all at the same time. The broth has a subtle chicken-noodle-soup-esque flavor from the mussels, clams, and vegetable. This version also included seaweed. I'm always amazed at the dinosaur-sized pot of soup set before us, but then I start eating and think, " I could do this all day. Sit here and eat 칼국수."

My first co-teacher Moonee is back from maternity leave for at least the rest of the year. She's hoping she can get a job closer to her home in Seoul for next year, and I hope she can, too! Her daughter Seung Ah 승아 is possibly the cutest baby I have ever seen, and she turns 100 days old today. In Korea, the family makes and gives out white rice cakes to celebrate. The white rice cake means that the baby is healthy and that she will live a long life. I felt so honored to receive one!

The Doam teachers love to travel. Combined we traveled to Japan, Turkey, Spain, and Europe this Winter Break. A key chain from Spain, sweets from Europe, and a Badger 5th Quarter tee from home, I was feeling the love today -- thank you all, lots of love from Icheon, South Korea ::

*Fun Fact: 칼국수 was one of the first Korean words I learned

What a day: Walking, Talking, and an Unexpected Party

**This post is from a while back, early October -- got lost in the muddle of things. It's all about housecleaning today :D

Refreshed from the holiday (i.e. day off from school), I got tons of lesson planning done and I got to listen to and watch, through the window, the students at Doam practice a dance for the upcoming sports day. Who I presume was the phy ed teacher chanted into the loudspeaker as the kids danced their hearts out to a Korean song that belongs in a Wes Anderson film. It was so fun. The kids were loving being outside and I couldn't help but root for run through after run through; I could've listened to the sounds of sports day practice all day.

After lunch, Sin Hyeon Gyeong asked if I wanted to go for a walk. We walked around the school grounds, including the playground. Students were playing soccer, swinging, jumping on equipment, riding bikes, and chattering away. I told Sin Hyeon Gyeong that I wished I could go back to elementary school. We laughed about getting older -- queasy stomachs after swinging and "mom" worries. She has two boys so her mom worries are real, mine just sympathetic and about my little brothers. But her attitude about those worries are right on. She told me, "I tell them to be safe. If you want to climb high into a tree, take the time to get down." She is the coolest. 

We also talked about Hangul and King Sejong. He was a good king, a good man, and he invented a writing and reading system that works. Korea has an illiteracy rate that is essentially zero. That stat was particularly astounding to me when I first learned about it. I'm not exactly sure why, but I could better understand why it was perfect to take a day off from school to celebrate. To celebrate Hangul, what it means to and what it gives to the Korean people, and to honor a good king who was also a good man. The pride runs deep in Korea. I greatly love and admire that.

After school, I had sort of an unexpected party. Two days before the holiday, I was finally able to walk "home" with the second grade teacher. We had made plans to do this during my first week of school after she discovered I liked hiking and that we lived in the same area. She speaks some English (quite well) but with my lack of knowing Korean, our conversation was limited yet pleasant. We talked about the upcoming holiday, hiking (at Bukhansan and Mount Yongmun), and the various "things" around us. She would point to something and say what is was in Korean and then I'd say what it was in English. When we made it to her house, she generously invited me inside and we ate dinner -- water kimchi, kimchi, rice, and soup (delicious).

This successful walk and talk led to a visit to my apartment. I knew for sure that it was going to be the second grade teacher and the President of the school. Now, this is something that would have made me mildly uncomfortable in America -- having such a respected teacher and the President of the school coming over to my house. But being in Korea, I'm like, "Come on down!! You're the next visitor to my tiny apartment!" Totally unfazed. It wasn't until we arrived at my apartment that I realized two other teachers from my school would also be joining us -- for a small church service. Five people. In my apartment. Again, bring it on, Korea.

However unexpected, it was a great experience. We sang a hymn, they asked me where my English Bible was (um, in America), and they brought traditional house-warming gifts of tissues, laundry detergent, and bottled grape juice. The President showed us pictures of her sister's family, who live in America, and they enjoyed looking at the pictures I have taped to the walls. We went out for dinner at a place just up the street from my apartment. Rice, fish, kimchi, soup, rice water, and loads of other Korean side dishes I can't name. As we were saying out fare-thee-wells, I was asked about my hip size, which I think may translate into a shopping excursion one of these days. Who knows haha. 

What a day. Full of company and honest conversation.