The story so far... Part 1

I will try to explain how I ended up in Korea since I always get asked this question (along with "Are you married?", "Do you have a girlfriend?", "Do you want to get married?" I'm sure these questions will make my blessed mother very happy).

On a side note, I can now eat squid and cuttlefish. I haven't tried octopus yet. Usually, when I eat those types of seafood my lips swell and I can't swallow.

In 2002 I went to Beijing Language and Culture University for a three month language course. I am amazed at how people's faces light up when they meet someone who attended that university. I guess it might be the same at other universities as it is our alma mater, more so at BLCU as we are foreigners there. There I met up with Shannon (we had studied Chinese at The University of Sydney and ran into each other at the supermarket next to BLCU) and Denise (where are you??) from The Australian National University. There I also met Marcus(Korean) and Winnie (Chinese, from Sydney). The three of us became quite close and when we returned home we met up as many times as possible.

Now, it so happened that Denise had a friend she had met in Pakistan who was going to be starting an internship in Melbourne. Before she started she stayed with Denise in Sydney for a few days and I was lucky enough to meet her (Angela).
Like I have said before, everything happens for a reason. While Angela was in Sydney she was looking for a book called Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho. Never heard of him but on her recommendation I decided to read 'The Alchemist'. She also invited me to stay with her in Melbourne if I ever decided to go there. I was surprised that someone I had only met the previous day would do that, and now I had a reason to go to Melbourne since I had never been and hadn't really planned on going there anyway. Luckily, we kept in contact when she returned to Korea. I still have the invitation to the wedding!

At this time I was still studying as I had one more year to complete my Bachelor of Arts(Asian Studies). As I had taken every Chinese subject I was allowed to take (I even got special permission to do a subject on Han Feizi) I was forced to take another subject and because of Juya (works at W Korea now. I'm so proud of you!!) I took Mass Media In Korea to make up the credit points and I was intrigued by Korea and it's people. I think they share a parallel history with Greece, caught between two cultural heavyweights and enduring repression of their own culture for years.

I eventually finished my Masters of Media Practice (all started by that MMiK subject I took to fill points) even though my real passion was teaching, inspired by my high school Italian teacher. I had plenty of opportunities to teach as I volunteered with the Salvation Army Chinese Corps teaching English to new and not-so-new migrants once a week. From this I learnt that no matter someone's age, the only thing stopping them from learning is themselves. I had students in those classes who were 70 trying to learn how to communicate as well as students who were 35 giving up telling me it was too hard (a few words in Chinese, to the effect of "I learnt Chinese and you're tell me English is too hard?" would usually sort them out). The old saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" isn't true of people. It isn't even true of dogs!!

Ever since I finished my Masters I had been looking for teaching jobs. Though there were quite a few in Sydney (Some dodgy ones too. Live and learn I guess) there is a much bigger world I wanted to explore so I looked for jobs in China (since I could speak the language and it would make my life easier), Japan (Japanese had been my minor, only because I had a grounding in Chinese) and Korea (I had no idea about Korean society except from what I had studied in MMiK which was concerned with the years leading up to the 1990s).

Before I found this job I went to see an old boy from Homebush Boys High give a presentation at my university on human rights (I had finished my studies so there was no reason I knew of for being at my university aside from being exactly where I am meant to be). Not having seen him in years, we decided to get together at Stephen Hunt's AIDS charity concert the following Friday. There I met some very interesting people (most working for various government branches) and Jazmina. She invited me to a small party to be held the following Friday.

The reasons she was organizing these parties were two-fold. One, her boss was away for a few weeks which meant she was the senior official. Second, from her own experience she realized that people in her field have little opportunity to meet people from other fields (I was one of those people from 'other fields').
At the party the very first person I met was Isabella (she was checking names on the door list) as well as the three I had drank with the previous week.
As the night wore on we had the usual conversations one has when trying to meet new people but there was something very different that night. Talking to Isabella, she asked me what I really wanted (that is another story) and what was stopping me from doing it. Not only did I know what I wanted, I knew what she would say when I told her why I couldn't do it. Here is the conversation as I remember it;

Isabella: What is it that you want to do?
George: I want to open my own school. A language school that is accessible to all but more than just a language school.
Isabella: So what is stopping you?
George: Lack of money and no experience.
Isabella: Bullshit.
George: I never expected someone I had just met to be so frank.
Isabella: I am always like that, not just with you.
George: You want to explain what you mean?
Isabella: Look around you. There's a reason the lending manager of a bank is here. There is a reason a lawyer is here. There is a reason I am here telling you this and you tell me that money is a problem!? As for experience, you just have to do it and learn. You are just afraid. What are you afraid of?
George: Failure.
Isabella: I believe the universe conspires to help those that pursue their dreams.

And from there we got to talking about literature and I reminded myself of the books Angela has introduced to me. She was right about my excuses. That's what they were essentially. Reasons for not doing what I really wanted to do, doing what I know will improve people's lives.

I started looking even more for jobs, especially after Isabella called me and we had a chat (which she would normally charge upwards of $500 p/h). Of all the jobs I applied for, the most appealing one came from Korea. The strangest thing is my personal motto is 'sapere aude', Latin for 'dare to know', as I believe people do not ask enough questions about their world and how the world is presented to them. It so happened that the agent working for the company in Seoul was attached to The University of Otago which has the motto 'sapere aude'.

Once all the paperwork was completed it was only a matter of days and I was in Seoul.

To be continued.....

Gyenam Elementary

Here are some photos I took last week. It is Autumn in Seoul (Fall for those that need to be reminded of what happens in Autumn) which also happens to be my favourite (no, not favorite) season.



Before you run to the Human Rights Commission, these students were misbehaving and were dealt with accordingly. Seriously, how could I resist taking this photograph.

These are some photos of the school yard.





...and the road outside the gate. This is one of the reasons I'm always happy on my way to work in the morning.



Finally, for the people in the Bridal Registry at Sydney City Bridal Registry this is a picture of one of 'my' classes during their exam last week.



I was told on Saturday by the company I work for to make an exam for the classes to be taken on Wednesday. They wanted the exam sent to the office by Monday. Now, I do not take the books home with me as the weekend is my time. Either way, the exams were ready to be taken by the students on Wednesday with no assistance from the office even though I specifically requested some materials (I needed to confirm that the office would not help me to know better next time).

Takanori

It has been little over 3 months since I arrived in Seoul. In case I have not said this to you directly, let me publicly express my gratitude to all those people that have helped me settle here, friends and strangers alike. I believe everything happens for a reason (Thanks to Angela for that) from why teaching is my passion to missing the bus. You are where you are meant to be.

I will have to explain this in more detail, but I just want to post some pictures from the last week.

Here is Takanori, Angela's gorgeous little boy (I've forgotten his Korean name. Jun Shun perhaps?). He looks just like me when I was a baby.



He is such a happy child. They were talking to him in Korean, Chinese and I in Greek. Whenever I talked to him in Greek about the stories I would tell him and how I would teach him how to speak he would smile and laugh. He showed little interest in Chinese though that could be because he likes male voices. Still, part of me believes it was the beauty of Greek that appealed to him.

And here is the yummy mummy....



And finally, here is a poem for you both. I would type it out but the Chinese typing program is so out of date I might as well use a brush. Even though the Korea Strait separates us you are both in my heart.



One of my great treasures is learning Chinese. As learning any language, it has opened a great many doors for me. Just last week the auxiliary teachers at Gyenam Elementary were trying to teach me Korean. But our lingua franca at the moment is Mandarin.
The same thing happened at Macondo Salsa Bar. This is the salsa bar I go to on Thursdays. It was, I've been told, the first salsa bar in Korea. At first it was very strange for me because the instructor teaches the class in English though most people learning to dance are Korean. Maybe it serves as an English practice class too. Either way, I had a great conversation in Chinese with one of the other students. She had completed her university degree in Beijing and now works for an import/export company dealing with Chinese companies (as all import companies do these days, hehe).

I just got my first mention on Arirang radio. Better watch out, I'll be the next big thing in Korea!!

Just watching Arirang, the only channel I have access to that is in English. There is a programme about international traditional food. It's just funny listening to them speak (the show is about hangi food in New Zealand) and then reading the English subtitles which say something completely different.

Dancing Peppero

Last Wednesday was the opening night of a new traditional dance show at the Korean National Theatre (near Donggik Station). Although the performance was only for one hour it seemed to last much longer since the MC tried to explain what each segment of the performance symbolized. Understandable, since the lead dancer was one of her best students. I wasn't the only one that felt like this. Irene and her friend had similar sentiments.



After the performance we went to have salongtang, beef soup. This dish is the only one thus far that is not spicy. A pleasant change as you could add as much or as little salt/pepper that you like. There was also a strange new type of kimchi that I had never tried before. Similar to radish kimchi but a little more tender and not as spicy.

Today is Pepero Day. Pepero (pocky to the nipponophiles) are these 'sticks' that can be covered in chocolate or strawberry candy. Sometimes they can be filled with chocolate or strawberry (see photo). When asked why today is Peppero Day I was told it is because the sticks look like the date, 11/11. I did try to explain to them what Remembrance Day and also about Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot and Bonfire Night. My afternoon class students, having a better understanding of English than most of the other classes, appreciated the Guy Fawkes story and Korea's religious freedom. They also got the full story, not the sugarcoated version. I even taught them the first verse of the rhyme:

Remember remember the fifth of november
gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot...



Personally, I think it's a marketing phenomenon but the students are encouraged to give pepero their teachers and there does seem to be a "Valentine's Day in November" theme to a lot of the packaging.



Quite a few of my students gave me pepero and a few thought that I wasn't going to accept them (and thus offend the giver) when it looked like I was leaving the classroom. This probably means I need to do something for Children's Day 어린이날 on May 5 (still a long time until then so I had better think of something good).

Merry-go-round

Four weeks really do fly. Apologies but this might be a little disjointed. And there won't be any pictures this time. The software that came with my new Korean phone doesn't like Windows XP (surprise...).

The office set up a bank account for me, so I could get paid. Obviously they decided to make the account at a bank they do not normally use for their employee's accounts. I would think they would make all the accounts at one bank. So I am given my atm card and passbook assuming the PIN number I just entered would allow me access to my pay, as one does. Nope, I had to go to the nearest bank to my school during my long lunch (two short train trips) to change the PIN number AND security number only to find out that the account is registered under my name but not under my foreign alien number. Then I find out that the branch the account was opened at is roughly between Yangcheong-gu Station and Omokgyo Station, ie walking distance. I decide to walk and I end up walking all the way to the Omokgyo branch where I am given clearer directions to the original branch.
Out of all that, I met two people working at the Mokdong and Shinsegneori(?) branches that had stayed in Brisbane and Sydney respectively. I've met quite a few Koreans that have chosen Brisbane over Sydney when they go to Australia for a holiday.

There is no way I could have sorted that mess out without the help I recieved from June Sig and Irene. Much love!!! I mean, June Sig's family had a birthday cake for me when I had only been staying with them for a week.

Hopefully I can post some nice pics soon.