4.20.11 Eating Constantly

I expected to experience massive culture shock in Korea. Instead, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I feel at home here. It took me a few days to figure out why, but it's the food. It's not that the food is familiar (it's definitely not) - it's the attitude about food that feels just like home.

By home, I don't mean Wyoming; I mean my childhood home, the South. Just like there, people here are always planning their next meal, discussing their last meal, and making sure that everyone around them has eaten. Our boss has bought lunch or dinner for the teachers at our hogwan almost every day since we arrived, and our liason and translator, Kate, asks almost daily if we are eating enough, if we need more groceries, and what we had for each meal. My students come in with treats frequently, and they share everything. Today I was walking down the stairs and one of the younger boys I teach (he's about 9 years old) stopped me to give me a bit of the sweet bread he was eating.

The way it's presented makes it hard to refuse - they don't say, "would you like some?" They say, "here, eat this." If you refuse, then they immediately try to find something else that you will eat, as if the reason you refused is because of an allergy or some religious restriction, not that you are simply full. It's charming and endearing - it creates friendships in record time.

The two ladies shown here are our Korean coworkers, Scarlet and Lucy. This picture was taken today at (yet another) lunch that our boss bought for us all. They are both very sweet; Lucy is very shy and quiet, while Scarlet is the "party girl" of the office - she told us that she was out drinking until 4am last night with her "oppa" (boyfriend). These two teach English phonics, vocabulary, and grammar, but their classes are taught mostly in Korean (even though both speak English pretty well). They give the kids the foundations in English that they need to then take classes taught by us. In our classrooms there is an "English only" policy, at least for the older, more advanced students. They have to ask for permission to speak Korean, or to use a Korean/English dictionary (which they all have on their cellphones).

This is Kate, our liason. She is the daughter of our boss, the director of the school. She is quite fluent in English, and she has been completely indispensable to us during our settling in process. Whenever there are forms to be filled out, arrangements to be made, or customs to be explained, Kate is our go-to girl. She is remarkably organized for a woman of 21, and she has handled our paperwork like a pro. Without Kate, this past week would have been very rough - impossible, actually.

She and Becky have really hit it off. They have a movie and shopping date planned for this weekend (I am invited, but I refuse to go see another damn version of "Jane Eyre"). I imagine that through girl bonding they will happily do significant damage to each others' bank accounts in the coming months.

Next post - pictures from our first weekend in Jeonju!