Today it's been 3 months since I arrived in Seoul. If you've read the story about the flight to get here, then you know how stressed that first day must have been. In the taxi ride to my apartment from the airport, I was pretty much terrified. Looking at the traffic signs on the highway and the shops and restaurants lit in neon lights on the hour-trek there, I wondered how I'd survive in a country where I did not know the language. I thought about my ancestors who came from Germany and Syria. And I still think about the melting pot that is American culture today. So many have managed to survive in a world so different from their norm. But is it normal to be scared? Why wasn't I scared 24 hours ago? I have a tendency to put off... well, everything--even my feelings. It literally didn't hit me until the day before I left for Korea --that I was leaving for Korea. I put off being sad to leave my family (and dogs) and friends. I convinced myself that a year wasn't all that long, heck, I remembered my college graduation like it was yesterday, and it was TWO years ago. So how long could a year feel in a foreign country? Day 1 felt like a week. My first thoughts on my day one went something like this: How will I eat? How will I find my way around the city? How will I meet people? How will I read signs? How will I survive here? I'd say I was in panic mode. Like, what the heck was I thinking? How cocky could I be to think I could function in Korea??
Piece of advice number one. Learn the language of the country you move to. Life will be much more pleasant. So I did. I actually taught myself to read the Korean alphabet. I started off slow, used my teacher skills on myself. I chunked my learning, memorizing 4 letters at a time and repeating them outloud and writing them on paper as many times as I could fit on one line. If you heard me in those early days, you'd practically hear me saying these first four sounds in my sleep, "a, ya, eo, yeo" (ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ). Slowly, but surely, I learned all the letters. There is a restaurant we go to about 5 times a week whose menu is solely in Korean--no pictures, no English, just Korean. That was great practice. I learned my letters, pronunciation, and types of foods all rolled into about 5 minutes. Now, three months later, I know more phrases, and though I seldom practice them in real-life, I am still proud to use them to impress my students. I pull out the phrase, "chincha," for the kids, and they oooohhhh and aaaahhhh at me (chincha=really? or seriously?). Youtube has some really great videos (busyatom) that teach special case rules about the language, which are probably unnecessary for me to learn, but regardless, I like knowing them. Things are looking up now on the language front. That, simultaneously, relieves enormous amounts of stress from everyday life.
If you were wondering... yes, I still get stared at. And children still stop to say hello or simply wave. I am still a celebrity. And I still kinda like it.
xx
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Image: http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/Language/Korean-big.gif
