where the heart is

As promised, here is yet another update from yours truly. In a half-assed attempt to give you all another lil' glimpse into life thus far in Korea while sparing you from another monotonous memo, I've tried to condense this blog into a short n' sweet Q&A. Most are questions people have been asking me since I arrived here, and some are questions I've been wondering the answers to, myself. Hopefully, you'll all find interest in my episodes [if only slight] ... And in either case, I'd assume you'll all feel a) completely relieved; or b) utterly disappointed, once you learn that my "foreign" excursion has been much more familiar than you'd think ...Anyway, here goes:

Have you learned any Korean?
Sadly, no. Aside from a few basic phrases ["hello/goodbye", "thank you", "excuse me"], I'm embarrassed to say that my Korean is really lacking. The thing is, you don't need to learn Korean. The majority of signs are in Korean and English, most cab drivers understand simple words, and all of the teachers at our school are bilingual. And I realize that sounds completely careless of me - to be immersed in a culture and not feel the need to study the language - but rest assured, I'm not as ignorant as you think. While there is no need to learn, there is a desire. I've been practicing key phrases like "Would you like to go for a drink?" [Sool, mah-she-ruh, gal-gah-yo?] and "It's raining!" [Pi ga-wayo!] c/o of my trustworthy [but incredibly flawed] "Instant Korean" book. Turns out the only thing "instant" about this book is the amount of time it takes for you to make a fool outta yourself - I thought I had successfully mastered the phrase "See you later!" only to find out that it meant "Let's run away together!" I really wish I had known that before saying it to my 8-year-old students, and I'm preparing to have a lotta explaining to do to their parents ...
I must admit though, one of the benefits of not speaking the language is avoiding those dreadful talks with the parents. As I've said before, English schools in Korea are run as businesses, and parents have tiresome complaints that they're "not getting their money's worth". And while I feel tremendously guilty about forcing someone else to explain my supposed errors, avoiding arguments with parents has me feeling quite relieved. God bless monolingualism. [that's a word, I promise.]

Aside from the coarse Korean, I have learned a few other things ... Among those:1) A little goes a long way. I cannot even recall a time or place when I've been the recipient of so many random acts of kindness. I'm not sure if it's the foreign mystery about me that appeals to Koreans, or if it's their general good nature - regardless, I have never come across so many kind people in such a short period of time. Even with the language barrier - or perhaps, because of it - people are inclined to sacrifice their time or money to help a stranger. Last month, for ex, Julie and I were standing on the corner [no comments, please] in the pouring rain and a Korean gave us his umbrella. I literally tried to chase him in the rain, but he ran off - leaving us grateful, dumbstruck, and dry. It's still very overwhelming and refreshing [the kindness] and I hope - if nothing else - it's the one thing that I bring back to Canada with me.... And I hope it's contagious.

In line with that ... 2) Ignorance is not bliss. In fact, it's just downright disrespectful, and dangerous. Koreans are very superstitious and if you don't do your research, you can wind up really offending the entire culture. If you pour your own drink, you're cursed. If someone else's drink is empty and you don't pour it for them, you're rude. If you "cheers" your boss and you hold your drink higher than his, you're fired [exaggeration, but it IS a great disrespect to do so]. And, if you are Korean, and your name is ever written in red, you are doomed. So imagine my remorse when I showed a student a memo I had made which said "Happy Birthday Eric!" in bright, red pen. In doing so, I had apparently assured that his "birthday" would consequently be his deathday... Whoops.

3) Never underestimate the impact of a hand-written letter. It can turn an entire day around.

4) 6000 miles is too far away to be from anyone when they're sad, including and especially family. Granted, no great experience comes without some sort of sacrifice, but I would be lying if I said there hadn't been a fleeting thought of abandoning this all to be at home, if only for a day. In retrospect it seems irrational, but in troubling times, sensible. Home is and always will be where the heart is.

What do you miss the most?
Aside from the obvious - Western bathrooms! In Korea, it's not unlikely to have to leave the bar/restaurant, toilet paper in tote, and walk to the nearest rest-room, which is sometimes on the bottom floor of an apartment building. It was weird to me at first, but then again, carrying toilet paper through the streets of Seoul likely isn't on everyone's daily itinerary. It actually kinda scares me to think that in 8 months, NOT having to do this will be weird. Hmph.

What don't you miss about Canada?
The strangeness. I don't mean that as Canada being strange, but just the people within Canada being strange to one another, at times. I adore Canada, but after experiencing Korea, Canadians are really withdrawn, in comparison. There's an air of scepticism in Canada that you don't find in Korea, and, like I said before, that's part of what makes this experience so refreshing. Something about Korea screams with benevolence - like it's engineered to be that way. The Seoul subway system, especially, makes communication inevitable by design - it consists of two parallel columns facing inward each other, and what usually results is a sort of "accidental" communication that lends itself to intimacy and instant friendship. It's amazing, when you think about it ......

As is this entire experience ...Is this for real?

Last month we had visitors from Laurier [yay Siqcourtney!] and this month marks the long-awaited arrival of a certain someone ...The going was good and it's getting even better.

I'm just trying to decipher reality here while waiting for someone to pinch me ...

In the meantime, in classic Kerouac fashion, I'll "lean forward to the next adventure beneath the skies..."