A week ago, I hit my 18 month milestone of living and working in South Korea. This is officially the longest I’ve ever lived abroad and it kind of blows my mind.
I look back on my 17 months in Mexico and have hundreds of memories that seem to span such a wide space of time. When I think back over the last 18 months here, it’s hard to conjure up anything that doesn’t revolve around the mundane, everyday routine.
Life in Mexico was just like the city I lived in – Fast, impulsive, and wild.
Life here is exactly like my rural surroundings – Slow, relaxed, and a little dull.
But that’s okay. This is a small pocket of time in a long life full of adventures. I’m fine with slowing down for now and being a little boring. My financial responsibilities come first and foremost. Once I’ve dealt with them, I can carry on to the next adventure and get back to the old recklessness.
Life has its ups and downs here but I’ll never stop being grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given.
And, like any good look-back post, I’ve gathered together some of the best and worst moments from the last 18 months.
Let’s get the bad ones out of the way first.
THE LOWS …
+ Getting THAT News
I never experienced a “honeymoon period” of life in Korea thanks to the news I received during my first few days.
Even though it was only 24 hours later that I was given the all clear and told that the hospital had royally fucked up, this affected me more than it probably should have.
It left me kind of shell-shocked and in constant fear that maybe the original results had been right all along. Even now I’m still too terrified to get a gynecologist here and go for the regular checkups us ladies need.
Stupid, right?
But it is something I’m working on trying to get over.
+ Being Away From My Loved Ones
Yeah, this is a cliché and kind of goes without saying but being away from my family and friends last year was one of the hardest things I had to deal with.
My father ended up in hospital for a while. One of my friends did too. Another friend had a health scare that resulted in weeks of waiting for test results. And another friend dealt with an intruder breaking into her apartment when they thought she was alone for the weekend.
There’s a guilt that comes with living on the other side of the world. You deal with missing birthdays, weddings, and the births of children by sending gifts and well wishes on. But it’s not until something horrible happens to the ones you love that you realise how utterly selfish you are.
Your loved ones will always tell you to go and do what makes you happy. But by making yourself happy, you’re not there for them when they need you.
+ Dealing with Expat Wankers
This is such a first world problem.
There are wankers everywhere. Sometimes it just feels that much worse when they’re part of the expat community of your new home.
I can deal with people being unbearable. We all are at some point.
But my targets are the two men I met separately in the last 18 months that insulted me and my background in some of the worst ways.
I know that my homeland, Wales, is an unknown teeny tiny country to the world. And it no longer bothers me if people have never heard of or don’t know anything about it. That’s fine. I mean, I don’t know every single country in the world. Why should others?
It’s when the arrogant wankers come along who claim to know everything about everything that grates on me. These wankers are the type who once spent a whopping 3 days in London and suddenly know the history of all things Wales.
And how bad Wales is. And how useless Wales is. And how Wales isn’t a real place but some magical, made up, Tolkien-esque land. And how the people from there are all [Insert politically incorrect noun of your choice].
No, really. Fuck. You.
Leave your patronising tone at the door and then try to remove your head from your arse.
Good luck getting Christmas cakes from me this year. Twats.
+ Culture Shock
I’m pretty much over it now but culture shock was one of the main reasons it took me a while to get settled.
Things are very different here and I really didn’t know how to handle it. Tears were shed, tantrums were had, and, for a long time, I debated packing it all in and running back home.
Luckily, with the help of a few Koreans and a huge list of guidebooks to Korean history and culture, I started to learn about why things are the way they are here and I accepted it.
I learned how to adapt and find my place. And with that came the huge sense of calm that had been missing for the better part of a year.
**
THE HIGHS …
+ Having my parents visit
Why is this top of the list? Because when I think about what I’ve enjoyed here, I immediately think of when I got to show my parents around my adopted country.
Not only did it force me to actually practice my Korean (as I was their tour guide/host and was in charge of getting us from A to B) but it allowed me to see everything I’d already gotten used to through their eyes.
And, of course, there was the whole spending quality time with them thing. That certainly didn’t hurt.
+ Seeing Paul McCartney live
Oh my gaaaaaahd. This finally happened!
After he cancelled the Asian part of his worldwide tour last year, I never thought I’d get the chance to see a real live Beatle in the flesh ever again.
But nope.
He kept to his word and rescheduled his dates for this year.
In June, I sat 13 rows from the front, right behind the mayor of Seoul and a huge multitude of Korean stars, to watch Paul McCartney perform live for more than 3 hours.
It was incredible.
+ Visiting the JSA/DMZ
This was a strange but unforgettable place to visit.
I do want to write a post specifically about my trip here eventually but, for now, I’ll just say that visiting the DMZ is a must for anyone who’s going to be living here and wants to understand a bit more about the culture and history of the two countries.
+ Having one of my friends live here
One of my longest friends, Rachel, came to Korea to teach 6 months before I did and we ended up living at completely opposite ends of the country that took a whole day to get to.
Nevertheless, the fact that she was here, on the same time zone as me, on the other end of a KakaoTalk message definitely made things a lot easier.
She knew how I felt when I was having a hard time and she completely understood what it was like to be a foreigner in Korea. I spent my first Chuseok with her in her city, Donghae, and she spent the last of her winter vacation in Naju with me. We spent Buddha’s birthday in Busan together and we also lost count of how many shopping dates and late nights we shared in Seoul.
We are just so cool.
When she left to return to the UK a month ago, I was sad. But I’m also extremely proud of her for how much she’s changed her life in the last 3 years.
+ Pride
I got to attend the Korea Queer Festival twice in a row, and even take part in the parade this year.
For such a conservative country, the amount of support and love shared during this time was truly phenomenal. Each year, the protesters have appeared but the LGBT crowd continues to grow. The fact that I’m bearing witness to this real change taking place in Korean society is incredible.
+ Being at Haedong Yonggung Temple for Buddha’s birthday
I don’t think I realised, at the time, how lucky I was to see these celebrations take place. The whole area was beautiful. Stunning, in fact. The lanterns, the candles, the ocean, the cliffs, the golden buddha figures, the chanting in the air.
That was something special.
+ Winter
Yup. That’s right. The one thing foreigners here seem to complain about the most is something I really enjoyed.
First of all, let’s take the snow.
Now, back in Wales, my hometown’s on the coast. As a result, we get a teensy bit of snow overnight and then by 10am, it’s turned to gross melty sludge.
Here, in winter, it starts snowing in the morning. By lunchtime it’s still snowing. And then, by 5pm, it is still snowing. It hasn’t stopped! I’ve never been around snow that just continued to come down before.
And it’s so gorgeous.
It makes Naju look so pretty.
As for the cold? Um … it really isn’t that cold.
Okay, the schools don’t have heaters but has no-one heard of wearing multiple layers? And tights under trousers?
Stop being a wimp. (This goes out to those of us in the southern parts of Korea; Seoul and the northern provinces tend to get much colder weather which I’ve yet to experience so whinge away, you guys. Whinge away.)
+ Baseball
I never thought I’d get so into baseball.
To be fair, our local team, the Kia Tigers, aren’t *ahem* that great. They’ve only won once out of all the times I’ve been to see them. But, nevertheless, the passion and the energy that comes from the crowd is infectious.
+ Finally being able to read Korean
I know Korean’s quite an easy language to learn and most people can have it memorised in one weekend but, for some reason, it took a bit longer for me. There were some characters I knew how to pronounce and then others that wouldn’t stay in my brain. And as for writing? Pfft.
It took a while but I got there in the end and now I read everything. Whenever I’m outside and there’s Korean writing about, I’m scanning it and reading it to myself. I don’t necessarily understand it all but I’m so proud of the fact that I’ve got the basics down.
It really does make life a whole lot easier.
+ Seeing my after-school students go to Canada
For a year, I gave after-school English classes to a group of students who were trying to qualify for an annual 2 month trip to Canada.
Taking extra classes didn’t guarantee them a place; They had to really work hard and show how dedicated they were through their work.
So when my girls did get the good news that they’d be heading off to the other side of the world to complete their school studies, I couldn’t have been more proud.
Most of them were as timid as mice when I met them at the start of the year. Now they were outspoken, confident young women, ready to have an adventure.
+ Going to Japan
While this isn’t Korean-related, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I live here and earn a decent salary, I don’t know when I’d have gotten the opportunity to visit Japan.
And it was everything I hoped it would be.
+ Getting to revisit the USA
Again, even though this didn’t happen in Korea, it was my job and generous vacation time that allowed me to spend 3 weeks on the US’s east coast with my Transatlantic Twin. And I got to celebrate my birthday there too!
It was cold but it was a hell of a holiday.
+ Buying my bike
Getting a bike changed everything for me.
I was finally able to get around the city without walking for 20 minutes just to find a bus. I could go food shopping for the week and carry it home. I could see parts of my new home that I’d never have managed to get to on food. And, of course, it gave me the ability to go out on nice summer days and get a few hours of exercise.
My bike is my life here.
**
A HIGH-LOW …
+ My schools
This should be in the ‘high’ category. About 90% of the time, my schools are definitely a highlight.
I’m so happy when I’m teaching. My students make me laugh and there’s usually a good atmosphere at both schools I teach at. My co-teachers are so generous with their time and my schools are incredibly flexible with me.
But then, around about 10% of the time, everything is low. And I think this is pretty normal for most people when it comes to their jobs.
We all have bad days or weeks at work. Sometimes teaching teenagers who pay you no respect, give you attitude, and just don’t want to learn is exhausting. And frustrating. Sometimes the lack of responsibility you’re given and the inability to progress in your career is disheartening. And sometimes the alarming deskwarming: teaching ratio makes you feel like you’re just wasting a big chunk of your life.
But these are off days. Like I said, everyone has them, especially when it comes to work. For the most part, I’m happy.
*****
So, there it is, a year and a half in a nutshell. Of course, there are a lot more things that made me happy and sad during this time. These were just some of the memorable ones.
There’re now 6 months of my teaching contract left which leads to the big question: In March, do I stay or do I go?
