Planes, Trains, and Wagons East

So, it’s officially five weeks into the Korea experiment and I’m just starting to get settled in. Routines are forming, new friendships are burgeoning, work is stabilizing (kind of), and home is starting to feel a little more like it. Oh, and I got paid for the first time last week, even more than expected. Payday makes everything better. So let’s talk daily life.

My apartment is… interesting. It’s the second floor in the back of this building, above a restaurant and below my Korean landlady.


We’ll start with the good. It’s free. Its also about a five minute walk to my school, a seven minute walk to a shopping center, a ten minute walk to the subway, a twelve minute walk to the University area, a 30 minute walk from a beautiful lake (reservoir) park, a one minute walk from a convenience store, and a two minute walk to several Wang Galbi (Suwon’s famous beef ribs) places.


Other than that it’s just a place to sleep. Which brings me to the bad. Well, I say bad, but it’s really just a question of adjustment which, after a month, is approaching normality. First, I have to turn on the hot water and let it warm up for 10 minutes before I use it… every time. That’s not too bad though, I’ve already got a system down. Second, there’s no A/C. That hasn’t caused my any problems thus far because it gets nice and cool at night. We’ll see how I fare in the summer. Last, the bathroom. My toilet, sink, shower, and washing machine are all within five feet of each other and all drain through the same pipe, the shower and washing machine water going through a drain in the floor. Yes, clogging is a problem. This was all a bit of a shock at first, and it’s taken some getting used to. Now, while it’s not my favorite room in the house, it’s become the norm. I should say, I don’t mind this kind of situation while traveling, but I’m just not used to staring down 6 months to a year of less comfort than I’m accustomed to. Which brings us back to the word of the day: adjustment.


My job is… growing on me. The first day was pretty awful. Not that the teaching was especially difficult, but I had no idea what I was doing and it felt like I was the one being taught. Not a good feeling when you’ve got 35 pairs of eyes on you the whole time. The next day and the rest of the week was infinitely better. I learned how to do the lesson after many repetitions and by the end of the week I felt much better about life. My second week was even better than the first. I started to loosen up “on stage” and I’m getting more comfortable acting like a fool, which my kids (4th, 5th, and 6th grade) just love. Also, I met my special class for the first time. The special class is a group of 20 students from all three grades who are especially advanced in the language. They understand my instructions and we can actually have conversations. The only difficult part about that class is that it meets for two hours a day, three days a week, so there’s a lot of lesson planning involved, and I have to take attendance using their Korean names which I never pronounce right. Oh, and they all try to steal the chocolate I give out as incentive when the class is over. So needless to say, I’m enjoying my job a lot more now that I was. Granted, I haven’t taught a full week yet. My first week was 22 teaching hours, the second week was 19, last week was 23, and I’m supposed to teach 34.


My school is… wonderful. My co-teachers are spectacular. They help me out immensely. My handler, Mi-ae, has taken me to the doctor three times, the immigration office twice, and gotten me faster internet, among many other things. She also took me out for the most amazing meal of King Crab last week. Joy (her English name) is a wonderful, strong woman balancing 3 young kids and her full time teaching job while her husband is living about 2 hours away working for a promotion. She loves talking to me and speaks great English. Mrs. Kim is soft-spoken and doesn’t speak English very well, but we get along fine and she helps out a lot with her classes.


My classroom is almost palatial. And the students come in every day at lunch to clean it for me. I’m a lenient taskmaster. Step into my office.



My social life is… growing. Kind of. I’ve met many foreigners through Meetup.com, a website designed to put people living abroad in contact with other people in their area. I’ve gone to a few meet-ups and met some interesting people. I’ve also met some nice people living around Suwon, and I’m making fast friends with the teachers at my school. My teacher buddy Jang and I went out for a hike and some galbi last weekend.


The problem is most days I’m too tired from teaching to do anything social. I just want to run home and collapse in bed. I’ve heard that’s how it is for new teachers… there’s a long adjustment period. Regardless, I’ve done at least one new thing every weekend since I’ve been here. I have not left the greater Seoul area yet, but that will happen soon. I’m planning a trip somewhere to be determined. It’s difficult because most of the things I want to do in Korea take more than a weekend. Traveling becomes something entirely different when you’re working as well. My goal is to find one thing every day that makes me say “wow, I’m in fucking Korea.” I’ve been pretty successful so far.

Korea. So far? A place of extremes. A place of intense energy and incredible exhaustion. A place of tranquil silence and deafening volume. A place of instant camaraderie and inescapable isolation. A place of deep history and rabid modernization. A place of delight and a place of misery. My first 10 days here were spectacular. My last 6 brought me as low as I hope to sink. Let’s start with the spectacular, after all, I am an optimist.

Actually the spectacular begins horribly. Upon arriving here I met up with my wonderful friend and trustworthy travel buddy Jon in Anyang City. He immediately took me out for chicken and beer and made sure to tell me he was going to order something not spicy because Korean food is some of if not the spiciest food in all of Asia. Without knowing it we got was the spiciest thing on the menu and I was left searching for my stomach by the light of the candle. The next day I went to Seoul for the first of what would be five trips to the city in 10 days. We went to the Asian Song Festival at the World Cup Stadium and saw several pop bands from across Asia, though Koreans were the dominant performers. An authentic cultural experience.


The following day we went for a hike and found this lovely vista. The city in the foreground: Anyang. The city in the distance: Seoul. After the hike we headed to the city again for a walk along the Han River.


Jon had to work the next day so I took it upon myself to do some touristy things. I went back to Seoul and toured Deoksugung Palace, one of the five imperial palaces scattered across the dazzling city. I was incredibly surprised when I got offered a post as Imperial Guard #42. They even had my size uniform. (The uniform and the camera add 30lbs)


The palace was small, gorgeous, and incredibly colorful. It left me with the feeling that I had to see the other four. It took plenty of restraint not to go to them immediately. But hey, I’ve got a long time for that yet.

The National Museum of Korea was next on the chopping block. A huge, incredibly modern casing for some very old and fragile treasures. I had no idea it held my favorite piece of artwork. Of course, I had no idea what that was until I saw it.


I moved into my apartment and into my own Korean life the next day. I have a lot to say about my living situation, school, job, and friends, and you will hear it I promise, but today is for what I’ve done. Mostly I can’t talk about these things because I have no pictures of any of them yet. In due course, of course.

After taking a day or two to get settled into life in Suwon I went to find the cities main attraction: Hwaseong Fortress. Built in 1789, almost the entire structure still stands. It is a fortified wall with several massive gates enclosing the original town of Suwon. It was built by King Joengjo of the Joseon Dynasty as he designed to move the capital from Seoul to my city. I think I am befitting of its grandeur. I took the time to walk the entire circumference of the work of art along the original stone walls. It was the first of many walks to come. I plan to get to know this military marvel intimately.


Later that night I went out with a new friend, a fellow English teacher named Josh, and some of his friends. We got a little trashed, ate some delicious Galbi, talked about the Red Light district in Suwon, and played darts and pool.

Before coming here I had never eaten raw fish. That all changed the next night when I went out again with Josh and a friend from work. They took me to their favorite raw fish joint. The meal was pretty good and the drinks were better. We stumbled upon two other whiteys while trolling for a good bar and proceeded to have a philosophical discussion with them reminiscent of those I used to have with my roommate at JMU. I felt bad for our Korean friend who could not keep up with our English. Enlightenment aside, raw tuna, raw flounder, raw mussels, and raw clams equals sick Seth. Not food poisoning, just my own inability to digest the foreign food and bacteria. So I’ve been incapacitated, bedridden, and suffering for the past 6 days. Just today I reached the point where I can eat real food again. Only fatigue and a cough remain. But there’s nothing like a good physical illness in a foreign country to bring all the homesick feelings to the surface. And once they’re there, they’re not easy to get rid of. I’m working through it though, one episode of the West Wing at a time.

I start teaching tomorrow. I was nervous as hell before this ordeal, but now it just doesn’t seem so bad. I’m even looking forward to it because it will give me an excuse to get out of this apartment and out of my own head.

So there you have it. My Korea. It’s extremes. My extremes. As much as this might be my adventure, I’m starting to realize I’m really just along for the ride.

Oh boy, so much to catch up on. In the blog-o-sphere I’m still in Seattle. In real life I’m halfway ‘round the world. My last few days in Seattle were unforgettable, so let’s start with the aquarium.


Tom, Lizzy, Jory and I went to see the fishies and otters and were surprised by a rare viewing of an octopus feeding. Strangely enough I ate octopus today. It was the school lunch. Anyway, the day on the waterfront with the family was great. The next day Jory and I went downtown, had some amazing curry, and then separated so that I could tour the Seattle public library and take a nice ferry ride.

For those of you who don’t know, my biggest fear is of large bodies of water. I love the beach, but not the ocean. I love islands, but not the trip across the drink. I’ve been getting better over the years, and this ride certainly helped. I wasn’t on water, I was on a huge moving landmass. I was amazed how it was able to dock so precisely. Bainbridge Island was the destination; a small, upscale island about a half hour across the Puget Sound. There I participated in my first wine tasting. What an experience. I had some great conversations with two middle aged couples who had just reached the tipsy stage. I also learned all about swirling, smelling, and gurgling wine from the incredibly nice bartender. Maybe I like wine after all.


After that I went searching for a lake park I had heard about but no one on the island seemed to know. Some helpful island folk pointed me in the right direction and I eventually made it to the park where I found trails that were unmarked and slightly unnerving to be walked alone, so I turned back. Those same locals recommended the Harbor Pub for dinner and let me tell you… you should go to Seattle for that meal alone. Overlooking the harbor, with a view of the Seattle skyline through a field of white masts I scarfed down, but thoroughly enjoyed, an incredible crab melt with artichoke sauce. I can still taste it. (If you’re beginning to notice a pattern, you’re right. I LOVE FOOD!) After that I caught the night ferry back and got to watch this coming at me for 30 minutes… bliss.


For my last two days in Seattle I was underground and under a spell. Jory and I took a tour of the Seattle underground, where the city used to be before it was raised to fix sewage disposal problems. It was spooky, sarcastic, satirical, and scintillating. The following day was Danny Schmidt. I took the whole family out for a night with one of the great Charlottesville musicians who just happened to be playing in Seattle the night before I left. He moved me just as much that night, after countless shows, even singing with a cold, as he did when I first saw him.

I have gained a good deal of confidence recently, which probably was the driving force behind introducing myself to the incomparable songwriter, something I never did in Charlottesville. Something about amazing musicians intimidates the hell out of me. Regardless, after the show I approached and told him I was leaving for South Korea in the morning and that I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend my last night in the US, entangled in family, lyrics, love, and melody. I think he understood my sincerity. Thomas and Lizzy were true champs, taking in and enjoying music well past their bedtimes, and Jory and Chris also had a great time. It was a fitting end to an amazing trip, and I hope the whole family enjoyed their time with me as much as I did with them.

The next day I crossed an ocean.

p.s. Korea is coming. I find with this blog I am living in the past. I’ve got to fix my flux capacitor before I can get back to the future. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. Keep a watchful eye. Here’s a little teaser…