Work/Things I Noticed about Koreans

Word. Just got back from shopping in town, had to restock on some groceries. I cooked my first meal tonight: egg fried rice. Not that bad actually. I just sliced some eggs, some tofu, and mixed it with some leftover rice, and bam, dinner. Not bad at all.

Today was a good day at work: I met some of the senior staff at the school, whom I had lunch with today, and they gave me permission to go to their office upstairs if I needed anything, literally: food, textbooks, and even a zone to take a nap! F'real, they have this area where you can sit in a lazy chair and take a nap, now that's what I'm talking about. They gave me a tour of the area, and allowed me to just chill there if I wanted to.

See the thing is, the senior staff at the school are all men who have experienced tenure. They were very nice to me, and once they found out my mom is Korean and that I'm trying to make an honest effort to learn Korean, they decided to take me under their wing, and they even let me call them "Hyong-nim," which is an honorific term for "brother." That's a compliment and grand gesture of goodwill. I was very happy indeed to have this kind of help. Also, the fact that they are all men, they probably don't see too many young men walk through their halls, so its cool for them to have someone many years their junior in their school.

On another topic, tonight I was strolling through new parts of my town, and for me, it takes time to get adjusted to how people behave in this society, and here are some of interesting things I have found out about Koreans, especially in the city:

1. They are very impersonal to one another, lack common courtesy to others: for example tonight, I had to go to the bank to update my bank book. I was walking towards the door, and a woman was walking toward the same door, so naturally I'm the nice guy; I open the door for her, and I even gesture for her to come in, you know, "ladies first." Instead of a thank you, she gave me a weird look of like, "what are you doing?" I was like, "what is your problem foo!? You rather me plant this glass door on your face!?" In America, people do it all the time, just a common courtesy that runs through our veins, except in places like DC or New York. Well, one new cultural lesson today.

2. Koreans go out of their way to help you: on the flip side from the door incident, a Korean, especially if you are a foreigner, will go out of their way to help you. Tonight, I needed to use the John pretty badly, so I walked into a department store, and I asked one of the guys who worked there where the bathroom was in Korean, and we're both on the escalator. Instead of just telling me and pointing, like I would do at Best Buy, he tugs at me and pulls me towards the direction of the bathroom, I was like...thanks! This also happened on the subway when I was figuring out which subway line was the quickest to my aunt's house, and each Korean I met was kind enough, more kinder than usual, to show me the way.

3. Koreans are a extremely loyal and caring people, if you are in their circle: like today with the senior staff, or with my cousins and family. If you are part of their circle, expect them to go out of their way to accomodate you, and if you read my blog about "God's Grace," you'll know what I mean. So, if I can make an effort to learn their language and accept their way of living, I know I can make some good friendships this year.

So, that's what I for so far. It's been real nice so far, yes, there have been some challenges of cultural barriers and what not, but over in due time, I can learn to adjust big time. Just continue to pray for me that I am a strong witness of Christ, especially with these cultural barriers in the way. I will still continue to open doors for people in this country, because I think these people need to see a different kind of "nice," which can open the way to more relationships. Also, pray for my development of learning the language, I want to get into a habit of speaking the language more and more, and absorb more grammar as I go along. And finally, pray for my actual first week of teaching, which begins next week.

Peace from Incheon.