Working on Saturday

I go from ups to downs. There are cultural barriers that frustrate me and in my distressed state are enough to make me want to go home. When a boss speaks to me in a way that I find condescending, to having my schedule switched two minutes before my day begins, to the overall relationship of the boss and coworker, I have had my fair share of culture shock. Its times like these we need to sit back and remember a motto that my former boss was always fond of using, "Seek first to understand before being understood". I came across this article last night when I was in the PC Bang looking up solutions to dealing with the Korean Workplace. I stumbled across this website posting of an article written by a gentleman named Kevin Smyth, that couldn't have been a better help to solving my recent mood swing. Like any normal human being, I desperately wanted to be understood and found it offensive that the Koreans weren't doing things the way that I was accustomed to. However, after I learned a bit about the Korean way of thinking in the workplace, I applied it to my situation and it made me think that things weren't so bad. I looked at the situation from their eyes and realized that they were simply doing what their culture has trained them to do. I will definitely talk about this technique I learned when asked in an interview to tell of a time I had a conflict in the workplace.

Anyways, after work, a bunch of the "part-timers" and I went out to eat chicken and beer. It was a good time for me to talk with coworkers and I really like these "part-timers". What have I been doing? Well, read below to find out!

This is a post from my other blog.

Well, this last week I had to work on Saturday, for an event called Market Day. During class, we give out points for participation and the students get to spend their points on prizes, food and games. The event was chaotic but it was nice to see some of my students. After the event, we cleaned up our respective stations and the 2nd in command (the boss wasn't there) tried to tell us that we had to stay and help put the rooms back together. One of my coworkers argued that the part-timers (non-teaching staff) were actually on the clock getting paid to do this. The second-in-command told us that they were busy doing other things. My coworkers countered that we were told that the event was supposed to get over at 1 and that it was already almost 2 and that they had things to do. She tried to deny that she said that, but one of the other coworkers offered to show her the email. In the end, we were free to go. Anyways, afterwards I took a much needed nap and then took the subway for a 2 hour ride to the other side of Seoul. I ended up in Gangdong Office Station to meet Susie. Susie is a fellow Korean Adoptee that went to KIM (Korean Institute of Minnesota) with Leslie and I, back in the day. We walked around and she showed me her place. We exchanged stories on our experiences and compared schools. Her place is pretty nice! And, its clean. Afterwards we went to dinner at this Chinese Restaraunt after giving up on our failed attempt to find Western Food. After dinner, we went to E-Mart, which is sort of like Homeplus. E-Mart is a giant shopping center not unlike our Target or Walmart with multiple (around 6) floors, selling foods, to cosmetics, to home furniture, to electronics, at a discount price. She walked back to her place and I walked back to a subway station. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the subway closes early on Saturday. I called Eun Ju to ask if I could stay at her place, because I wouldn't be able to get back to Bucheon. So I had to get off at Samsung Station, which is where I was originally located during the week of training. I took a taxi and told him to take me to Shillim Station. He kept driving even though I said, "here is fine". So I got out and went to another taxi. I told this driver to go to the apartment complex that Eun Ju lives in. He had no idea where it was, and of course it didn't show up on his GPS. So Eun Ju gave him some directions and somehow I ended up there. I ended up at her place at about midnight. She and her mom and dog were there. Eun Ju had just gotten done scolding Kerri (the dog) for peeing on the bed that she had set up for herself in her parents room. I thought it was kind of funny, but didn't say anything. Eun Ju's dad came home and me and her and her parents chatted until about 2. Eun Ju's Dad told me to tell you guys that I didn't find my birthparents, but rather made a Korean family where he and his wife are the parents and Eun Ju and Hae-Ri my sisters. Eun Ju said that was strange but the dad thought it was funny. He thought that you guys would think it was funny too. In addition to having an American family and a Korean family, I have an American dog and a Korean dog, lol. When it was time to go to bed, Eun Ju was in her room getting ready and Kerri walked in to pee on her actual bed. I think she smacked him. Now that was funny. Needless to say, I decided to sleep on the floor, in the living room. I turned the fan on and fell asleep.

Eun Ju's grandma lives with her, and she gets up several times in the middle of the night. She checked up on me at least five times, I think. I'd wake up and she'd be looking over me and then she'd walk around and then go back to sleep. She gets up approximately 6 hours earlier than everyone else. Daylight came and as she was walking towards the living room I woke up and she told me to go back to sleep. Except it was hard, when she sat down right next to me on my mattress and turned on the tv, which was blasting for about 6 seconds when she would turn it off to go back in her room. She did that about 3 times every 30 minutes. I woke up and found that the fan was gone. I'm pretty sure that she took it away. Koreans believe that you will die if you leave the fan on while sleeping without any windows. They call it fan death. Anyways, when it was time for me to wake up so I could make my other appointment, Eun Ju's grandma insist that I eat. I don't think she cooks anymore, because she brought out the bread you get from the gas station and made me eat at least 4 slices. She tried to get me to eat the whole bag, but I insisted I was full, so she had a few pieces herself. As I was getting ready, I saw her open the doors to everyone's room to peek inside and then close them. I asked if they had any extra toothbrushes since I couldn't find mine. She looked and couldn't find any so she told me to use her's. Um....I thanked her, went into the bathroom and told myself that if I couldn't find a toothbrush, I'd use my finger. Luckily I did find an extra one that they keep for such occasions. I said goodbye to her and she told me to come visit again. As I walked out across the street to the bus station, I got a call from Eun Ju telling me to come back and have breakfast. I have no idea how they all got up at the same time so fast like that. When I told them about the grandma feeding me bread, they thought it was pretty funny. Eun Ju's mom cooked some cold noodle dish that's good for your health and we all ate. Then I headed for the bus so that I could take the subway to Theresa's place. I met Theresa and her husdband and son at the Shinsege Department Store. It's a mall, whose bottom floor contains such stores as Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Hermes, etc. all within the same vicinity. We had pizza at one of the restaraunts upstairs. The area where Shinsege is is so much cleaner and nicer than Bucheon. The bathrooms are actually clean and have toilet paper, soap and paper towels. I really miss such luxuries. After lunch, the four of us walked around a park and then went to the bookstore. After browsing around the bookstore, Veronica met up with us. Veronica and I went to Dunkin Donuts to wait for the people who I met 3 weeks ago at the coffee shop, who were the children of her friend. This friend's daughter had a sister in law whose brother in law (or whatever) works at my same company. They had invited me to simply hang out with them.

It was a really nice evening! There is the daughter (whose a 30 something woman) and her husdband and four year old son. There is also her brother (who speaks English) and his wife. The young son gave me a picture that said, "I love you" and "Brother Andrew Good Boy". That was cute and made my day, lol. We drove somewhere to eat at an Italian restaraunt. It was a really nice dinner. Afterwards, we went to the lady's apartment to have coffee and hang out. Seriously, this was probably like the nicest apartment in Korea that I've seen. It was super clean and the bathroom floor wasn't wet. The lady paints/decorates furniture for a living so her place was really unique and beautiful. After the evening I went to Veronica's sister to spend the night. I made it back to Bucheon by taking an express bus.

One Month Anniversersary

It's been about one month since I've been in Korea. In a week, it will have been one month since I've been in Bucheon. How would I describe my experience? Well, being outside of my comfort zone: the familiar, I would have to say that its been a bit of a rollercoaster. I am a very stable person, but being abroad takes its toll on me and my personality whether its in Trier, Germany or Bucheon, Korea. I can be extremely happy at times and without warning, hit an all-time low.

I live in an Officetel in the Sangdong part of Bucheon. I am located in the redlight district, so I definitely can't say my neighborhood is boring! Although there are fights about everynight between drunken businessmen, Korea is pretty tame and as a man I feel overall very safe at night walking alone by myself (I'm not sure how it would be for a woman, since I'm a man and therefore benefit from male privilege). So what is my day like? I usually wake up in the morning at around 11 AM. When I first got to Korea, I would wake up at 7 or 8. Mornings are the hardest part of the day. Homesickness usually hits me the worst there and there have been times when I had absolutely no desire to get up. I would miss home like crazy and my emotions would reach rocky levels not seen since my adolescence. I drag myself out of bed, shower in my lovely bathroom, get dressed, walk down the street to work and make a stop at the convenience store for my daily cherry coke, rice-filled seaweed cakes or sandwich. Then I go up to the 5th floor into my classroom and prep for my classes. If I haven't already, I correct tests, grade online homework and look over my books at the material I will be teaching. Then, classes begin! Once my students get there, I usually have a positive outlook on life. My kids are ages 8-12. I have an average of 7 classes, each running about 40 minutes. I work from 2-8 PM. My kids are all good kids and a lot of fun. They seriously make me smile both inside and outside. We read each chapter per lesson and I will either teach a reading section or a speaking/conversation section. It's really quite simple and I have finally gotten the hang of it down. I've come a long ways from the scared-to-death newbie I was on my first day. I feel much more comfortable interacting with kids and a lot of my parental instincts have begun to kick in. Afterwards, I usually like to correct my tests and other homework. I could go home, but I prefer to do it right there. Once work is finished I get something to eat. There have been times when I've gone out with my coworkers. So far I've gone out to eat, I've been to the bar a few times, I've sang karaoke to the point where my voice didn't work right for two days, and I've gone bowling.

I work just five days a week, as opposed to the six days a week I've heard that others have to work. On the weekends I usually go to Seoul. It takes about an hour. I have to take a 20 minute busride to Bucheon Station. From there I take the subway to Shindorim Station, where I transfer to Shillim Station. Once I get off, I have to hop on a bus to get to my friend's house, where I usually stay on the weekends. Me and her, her boyfriend and her sister usually hang out, go shopping, go to the park, the PC Bang (Internet Cafe) or simply hang out and watch tv. To be honest, I haven't been keeping up in this diary because I've simply been writing about what I've been doing in my letters home and because I've been so fucking homesick. But, things are starting to look up. A few of my Korean coworkers have asked me to go out with them next week. I may be able to get out of this shitty Officetel and I may have a new "Sprachpartner". Thing I would like to do: Get involved with the Korean Adoptee Community in Korea, find a good church, find a Korean class where I can learn about the culture, language and history, find volunteer opportunities where I can meet like-minded people, keep up with my piano lessons.

Bucheon

Okay I am super down right now, but rather than rant on this blog and bring more negative energy in, I am going to do this exercise that worked well when I was feeling the same way in Germany. By focusing on the positives, I will bring more positive energy into my life. Here goes. I was able to get done with training really fast and will start working right away. The material seems easy enough and I think that things will go well, I am excited to start teaching and think of it as a new adventure. My family is a phone call away if I really do need something. My friend from Japan is a two hour plane ride and is at least on the same side of the world, which is comforting. I have some great friends and my host family in the same country that are here if I need them. They are just an hour away and in fact, some of them live in the same province. I trained with just one other person, which gave me the opportunity to ask good questions. I have my own place, which is MINE. I am independent now. I get to decorate it how I want it and it is in the city. Bucheon is actually a pretty good size and there are flashy neon lights. I am confident that the Good Lord has brought me to this place for a reason, this place I'd never even heard of before I came here. He has a plan for me and I just gotta trust in Him. I'm anxious to discover the gift He has laid before me. I am confident that I am going to meet great people down the road. When I was first beginning university I didn't find my group of friends until like a couple months down the road, and they were none of the people I met during orientation. In fact, even though they were at orientation, I hadn't noticed them. During my study abroad to Germany, there was an orientation for Auslandstudenten and I remember feeling super lonely and missing my friends back home. I remember EXACTLY sitting at that restaraunt like it was YESTERDAY (even though it was almost two years ago) sipping wine and mingling with the people at my table and feeling lonely because I knew we didn't click. They were great people, but I didn't see them much after that. The people who I cliqued well with didn't come into my life until I was settled down and the person who impacted me the most, Kim, didn't come into my life until a couple of months afterwards. I hadn't even noticed her, even though she was living in my same Studentenwohnheim (dorm). So, logic would dictate that the people I am to meet are right here. They will come into my life when they are meant to, I just need to give it time. I'm going to get internet and an adapter so that I can use Skype and everything in my Officetel. Also, they are going to put in a TV, which will be nice. I have my own stove and fridge and washing machine. The shower isn't right next to the toilet so I will be able to keep the bathroom pretty clean. There is good shopping in terms of food. The food here is really fresh and it will enable me to eat healthier. I can't wait to see the results in a few months (in Germany I dropped 40 pounds, then gained back 20 after being back home). There is this new city that I have to explore and master. It still is a city to me. I mean I come from Minneapolis and it seems similar. Oh and I will have the perfect chance to work on my Korean, which will verbessern die Chance fuer eine gute Karierre (improve the chances for a good career). I plan on keeping up with my Japanese as well, which I studied throughout high school and college. Korean and Japanese have similar grammars, so once I can jump over the barrier that's blocking my current progress in Korean, it'll enable me to improve my Japanese as well. I can't wait for the opportunity to comunicate with more people. Well, I feel a little better already. I only work 5 days a week, as opposed to the 6 I anticipated. I have weekends off which will be swell. I will be able to take the KTX down to Busan to see Kim!!!! (The girl who had the biggest impact on my life while I was in Germany). Who knows, maybe I might finally find a boyfriend. Yeah, I feel better.