Not Better, Not Worse, But SOOOO Different

It is still hard for me to believe that it was only one week ago that Rachel and I were sitting in Tennessee with my parents laughing, playing games and drinking coffee. Now a week later we find ourselves sitting in a small apartment, albeit much nicer than we ever anticipated, drinking green tea that is served 1 degree cooler than boiling, and eating food that looks like it was recently removed from a compost bin. Initially it has been rather challenging to not compare these two scenarios and wish for the former to once again be our reality but we are motivated by the challenge and continue to learn and explore.

To truly get an understanding of the situations we have found ourselves in so far I will start from the beginning.
Customs: In the USA customs is a tedious process that I am convinced in responsible for a vast majority of my premature balding. When we landed in Korea customs consisted of a quick smile and bow and we were released into the fast paced city. (I will have to disagree with the title of this post here. Korean customs is BETTER. I have no doubt in my mind about this.

Korean architecture: Before arriving in South Korea Rachel and I spent many hours on google looking at images of Korean cities and read as much information as we could find. What the internet and books fail to mention is that, yes there are some very nice modern buildings but there are also several hundred identical housing high rises and houses in shambles all with-in a 1 mile area. I was expecting over the top visual stimulation in the form of neon strobe lights and shiny objects. So far, this has not been the Korea we have seen.

Ceremonies: Koreans seem to be very proud of appearance. I do not mean this is in a negative way at all. Our first day of work we were escorted to the director’s office at 9:00 am on the dot for a meet and greet ceremony. Rachel and I were offered more boiling green tea and we had a small welcoming ceremony with the director and his “bouncers” for lack of a better term. I am really not sure the other people’s positions but they seem to be important. We also are working at a very non-traditional school so every “camp” we host has an official opening and closing ceremony.

Medical check-up: To date this has proven to be the most unique of all my experiences in Korea. In order to register as an alien in Korea we are required to have a full medical check performed. In the US HIPAA prevents outside sources from receiving medical information about patients. We found that HIPAA is not really an issue here in Korea. Our first stop at the hospital was in the neuro department. Rosa, our trusty guide and incredibly sweet woman, told us they would need to check our brains. I am not confident with the neuro department because the check went as follows: I walked up to desk and introduced myself.  The nurse asked me if I was mentally insane. I said “no” so she stamped my form as good to go. At this point in the day I was feeling rather confident with my ability to pass any medical check thrown my way. From the brain section we were escorted to blood and urine and this is where the fun began. First our blood was taken…in the lobby, 3 FULL vials and I didn’t even get a sucker! After surrendering half of my blood to the Korean doctors I was told to go to the restroom for a urine sample. In my 25 years of living I have given my fair share of urine samples but none have been as eventful as this. First of all the restroom had no doors or stall walls meaning anyone and everyone walking by got a front row seat to the urine sample show. I chose to strategically place myself in the back corner to provide a small amount of privacy. This privacy was completely blown out of the water however when a woman entered the restroom and proceed to begin helping her husband use the urinal RIGHT NEXT TO ME! I am getting wordy so I will speed up. Chest x-ray, eyes, ears, weight and height. Koreans by nature are shorter people so when I stood on the line to be measured the woman had to use a mechanical measuring device. I was not warned that while cluelessly standing against this contraption that I would soon by assaulted from above by a lever designed to stop when it hit my head. I guess the shocked of being hit on the head made me flinch and I screwed up the measurements so we had to go for round two.

Food: Enough said. This deserves and will soon receive a posting of its own.

Grudges: Yesterday at lunch Rachel and I were eating with our incredibly talented co-worker George. He told us that in Korea you have to watch your back. He compared it to the 3^rd grade playground in the US. As young kids in America we might get in a fight on the playground and vow to never speak again and within 5 minutes we are planning our next sleep over. According to George, in Korea when you fight on the playground in 3^rd grade that is it. Game over. This is a little intimidating because apparently this is how sick days, non-paid holidays and other things are viewed.

Everyday we are learning to love where we are more and more. It is still a struggle at times to be really excited about eating kimchi and other strange vegetables at all hours of the day but we are growing and learning. I have to be on a bus in 30 minutes to drive 3 hours to a different school so I should probably get out of my pajamas and start getting ready. I am sure that 3 hours in a bus through rice fields will give me plenty of time to sit and reflect on the topic of our next posting. Until then I will be the guy teaching in slippers, drinking boiling tea and loving the life I have been so blessed with.