It's the Little Things in Life

Me: What is your favorite Country, other than Korea?
Student: I like Japan because it has many dikes.
Me: ???????????????
Me: Umm, Tina, can you say that again? I do not understand.
Student: Japan has many, many dikes. This is good.
Me: (still confused) And why is this good?
Student: Because they are strong and no water will come out.

Standing at the front of the class with thoughts of hilarity floating around in my head, I had to pause for a moment, to ensure that this grade 4 student surely meant something completely different than my initial interpretation. Obviously (or maybe not so obvious) this student was referring to dams (a barrier to obstruct the flow of water) which Japan happends to be full of. It's classes like these where being a foriegn teacher for an ESL class is worthwhile - one good laugh makes the stresses of teaching that much more enjoyable.

I feel like after living in Korea for almost a year now, I have a stronger appreciation for other ethnicities living in foriegn countries where their native language is barely spoken or recognized. Not only the language aspect, but the entirety of living, working and experiencing day to day obstacles that in your indigenous country, would not be an obstacle at all but rather a basic, mundane activity. For example, the other day my friends and I wanted to order pizza. We decided to stay in and have a movie night, and a movie night would not be complete without a box (or 2) of pizza! However, our excitement slowly faded once we realized ordering pizza is a very difficult task when you know minimal Korean and live IN KOREA. Thankfully, we have a handful of Korean friends that would gladly do the honors, however it's not a great feeling being somewhat dependent on others especially when it comes to such an effortless chore. So, after 4 hang-ups and some miscommunication, we were actually able to order a box of pizza to Lauren's apartment and I swear to god I don't remember the last time I felt so accomplished in life!

Lauren also told me a story of when she returned home from work and found a note written in hangul attached to her front door. All she saw were Korean letters and a phone number to call. She was expecting a package that week and assumed this notice was to inform her of her absense when they tried to drop off the box. With broken English and some Korean thrown into the mix, Lauren had a brief conversation with the lucky employee who happened to answer that call, but ended up recieving her package just hours later. Now, you are probably thinking that this was a very ordinary life situation, but as a foriegner, it is actually a HUGE accomplishment! Again, this is just to reiterate my tremendous appreciation and understanding for foriegners around the world.

One of my students just returned from a trip to North America. She went to Washington, New York, Toronto, and Vancouver. Her first day back in class she was distributing the little gifts and knick-knacks she purchased overseas. All the students were excited to recieve authentic gifts from Canada and America but were astonished by the English writing on all of the souvenirs. She began handing all the girls in the class miniture bottles of Dove hand cream that she bought. Once the girls recieved their gifts, the whole classroom smelt like a fruity beauty salon and naturally, the boys started to complain. I asked them to put their new moisturizers away but noticed all the girls hands awkwardly sticking together and bubbling at the same time. When I asked to see one of the bottles, I read "Dove Shampoo and conditioner". Pour kid. I felt really awful for her because she thought she had purchased something she didn't, but I can also completely understand how easy it is to make that mistake. Even when I buy shampoo, conditioner and body wash, I have to poor a little bit out of each to recognize the texture before using it. I decided to tell her of her innocent mistake and we all laughed it off.

It's really the littlest things in life like ordering food, asking for directions, calling a taxi, that allow you to reflect on the culture you are currently immersed in. Last week I had to walk to the corner store when I realized I was all out of toilet paper. Thinking this would be a 10 minute excursion max (4 minutes there, 2 minute for the purchase and 4 minutes home), I left my door unlocked holding only my wallet in one hand and a half eaten apple in the other. I walked confidently into the store scanning the place with my eyes hoping to have them freeze on the desired white item, however after about 4 minutes of looking I decided it would be best to scan the isles myself.

Walking up and down the isles still holding my wallet and now an apple core, I was getting flustered. This mart sells just about everything from toothbrushes, to hamburger buns to vacuum cleaners. They HAD to sell toilet paper, I must have just been missing it. 4 minutes quickly turned into 8 minutes which then became 15 minutes. I was aware that the store clerk knew absolutely NO English and calling a Korean friend was out of the question since my phone was laying comfortably on my bed in my apartment. Hmph. I was stumped. It felt like trying to complete a rubix cube when you have all five sides filled in but there's just that one line you can't figure out. You know there is a way to end it but aren't sure which path to take. Anyways, walking up to the emplyee, I tried asking for toilet paper very slowly, hoping that maybe the word would be conglish (pronounced almost the same in Korean - maybe something like "T-O-I-L-E-T-UH P-A-P-E-UH"). But all I got was a blank stare.

Soooo... I tried plan B. This was probably the most humiliating thing that I have ever done and come to think of it, no one would ever know other than those innocent bystanders in the store that night, but now this will be virtual, public information. Looking defeated, I squatted right in the middle of the store, knees bent, butt raised to the ceiling, having my apple core serve as the toilet paper and furiously pointing to the core trying to non verbally communicate that THIS was the whole source of my blatent and obsene demonstration. It was TERRIBLY embarassing but something that needed to be done. Hopfeully I won't have to squat in any more public places but walking home 40 minutes later I was happy that I at least got what I came for. Mind you, I dont go into that mart anymore unless I need something desperately and I bought enough toilet paper to last me through my final month.
Oh and when I thought it couldn't get any worse, leaving my door unlocked was a HUGE mistake. I walked into my apartment greeted by 5 Korean men holding drills!!......

Just kidding... that already happened.

My life here is a joke.

Miss you all and for the first time I can actually say,

See you soon!

Signing off,

Gillian Teacha xx