Blogs and Books

안녕하세요!

It seems that I spoke a bit too soon in regards to my complaints on lack of information concerning certain areas of life in Korea. I'd like to recant and restate my original complaint.

It is not that there is not information on any of the previous things I mentioned, but organization is certainly a problem. The majority of information is presented on blogs which, while archived, are not necessarily easily navigated. However, I'm certainly happy to have discovered so many ROK EXPAT blogs.

The majority of blogs that I came across were linked from sites like pusanweb, and Kiss My Kimchi.

I have to say that, so far, my favorite blog is The Grand Narrative written and maintained by James Turnbull.

I was extremely pleased to come across a blog centered around some of my interests: gender and sexuality, media, pop culture, and Korea. Having gotten so interested in pop/media culture with focuses on gender and sexuality while studying in Japan, I've been looking for information and reading material. Unfortunately all I've been able to find via my limited resources (I live in the south, there's not exactly a section in any of the libraries here dedicated to modern asian culture) has been centered mainly around rural and aged communities of the 1950's or so.

From what I can tell from the first page of articles, Mr. Turnbull presents a plethora of interesting theories and ideas concerning the sociological aspects of gender and sexuality in Korea via media outlets. Some of them I don't entirely agree with (only on a general gender concepts level) but hey... welcome to the world of academic ideas.

Of course I have no actual experience yet with Korean culture, outside of my interactions with the SILC Korean students, and I was, unfortunately, not able to study it while attending the UofA. The only Asian Studies/Anthropology courses offered there were centered around Japan and China, surprise surprise.

Well, anyone even slightly interested in ideas of pop media culture and gender and sexuality of Asia will be interested in The Grand Narrative.

Aside from all of that, I'm excited about getting the opportunity to sit down and read through "Living Abroad In South Korea" written by Jonathan Hopfner as part of the "MOON Living Abroad" series of information books.

I had originally ordered it via Books A Million but it's a week past the original arrival date that I was given by the associate and I needed the 18.95 for something else. Luckily for me my local library was kind enough to accept my book request and the book came in on the 24th. Hooray for the kindness of small county library directors. Why do I consider it kind? Well, I can almost guarantee you that I was the only one interested in the Library purchasing that kind of book. A one person library book request was granted. I find that pretty neat. This makes up for the library card renewal chaos last year.

For some reason I've continued to think for a while that this coming Tuesday would be the 3 week mark before my departure to Korea. I realized today with excitement that this coming Tuesday is actually the 2 week mark. Not entirely sure how I ended up a week behind, but hey, you know.

Also, I'm not entirely sure yet whether or not I'm going to make the move, but I'm contemplating switching this particular blog over to word press just because of the upgrade options available. The decision hasn't been made quite yet, but I'll let everyone know if that's what I decide. In other news The Autumnal Butterfly will remain on Blogger.

Missing Info on the Web

You know, the more that I research and look around the more I realize that there isn't that much information available for foreigners living in Korea. For Japan and China information flow is much bigger and things like converter types, popular brands, cosmetics and what not are easy to find.

I was searching around for expat sites that provided information about the type of converter you would need if you were bringing some of your own electronics, like a camera (charger), computer, hair straightener, or mp3 player. I couldn't find anything, trying to find that information on sites like Radioshack is just confusing because most of those converters come with something like 6 different attachments, and few retail associates would ever remember, or know, to tell you that you would ALSO need a voltage converter since Korean voltage is 220 as opposed to the US 110.

What about cosmetics products or clothing brands? No information on what foreign brands are popular in stores and which ones you won't be able to find. I've discovered so far that large cities in Korea do cary Cover Girl products, what about the others?

Hm. I hope that in the future there will be more information like that for expats to find. So far the majority of what I've seen have been suggestions on where to do touristy things, where to hang out and what not. Where's the more practical stuff? Clothing and shoe size comparisons? Advice on converters and electronics? Advice or suggestions on things like fitness and health?

Korea is becoming more and more popular of a destination, especially for ESL teachers. Little by little I hope that information like this will become available so that the move and the process of getting settled down is a little less stressful.

It's already a stressful thing to move from one country to another, but finding out when you get there that their voltage will fry your laptop without both an electrical and voltage converter... yeah, that wouldn't be fun.

Learning Korean Part 1

안녕하세요!

I'm doing my best to study Korean for a while each day, and it's funny to me... but it seems like I'm concentrating more on studying now than I ever did while I was in college. It's amazing what kind of stamina you have when you're doing something of your own free will. Well, I did college of my own free will too... but that came with "non-free-will" classes like chemistry, geology, and math.

Anyway! I've done a lot of internet searching for good Korean language websites. There are quite a few out there. I guess it would depend on what type of learner you are.

If you're a visual repeater (example: you like learning by flash cards), then here's a fun way to learn the majority of the Korean alphabet:



Genki Korean is a subset of Genki English, a website dedicated to the "Genki" teaching of English to EFL students. The websites pretty cute and includes links to "Genki Math", "Genki German", "Genki Japan" and more.

The "Genki Korean" website is helpful in many areas. Some of the things, like the video for example, are useful for beginners of all ages. The learning numbers and useful vocabulary is good for anyone who learns things solely by repetition and not so much by practical application. The games are cute, but mostly for younger learners.

Hanlingo.com is a fantastic site for anyone (over the age of 16) interested in being part of an online "language assistance" community. The website is full of people of all language backgrounds looking for help and to help with language learning. For those of you with a phobia of networking sites centered around dating/romantic relationships, have no fear! Hanlingo.com is specifically for language and culture networking ONLY. Members can expect a clean, learning focused environment.

Learnkorean.com is a fantastic website originally created specifically for students taking Korean under the instruction of Dr. Oh. I can only be thankful that the website is available to anyone, because it's fantastic. The website includes useful korean words and phrases with not only the Korean and English translations but a romanized pronunciation guide. This website is great for beginners who are having a difficult time with sounds. Who knew that eo (ㅓ) would be so hard to pronounce? Learnkorean.com takes difficult vowel pronunciations like eo and transforms them into a more recognizable romanization (example: 'eo' become 'uh').

The Learnkorean.com website also includes recorded pronunciations of each word/phrase, Hanja lessons, Youtube Korean lectures, video news about korea, games (which are mostly all of the www.genkikorean.com games), a discussion forum and chat room (both of which, unfortunately, aren't used that often) and links to other great learning websites.

Other websites include (and I'll give proper reviews later):

www.learn-korean.net

www.learn-korean-now.com

www.korea.net (Yes, the official website of Republic of Korea has Korean language lessons!)

공부좋아요!

A Little Preparation

안녕하세요!

Annyeonghaseyo!

Well, it's officially less than a month now until I'm due to arrive in Korea and embark on this new and fantastic journey.

I'm still waiting on the visa insurance number to come through so I can continue on getting everything else ready for obtaining my official visa! I'm excited to find out when my flight will be so I can really begin looking forward to my departure to Korea date. I've already started packing up a bit. I know what you're thinking, "Geez, isn't it a little early to be packing for a trip happening next month?" HA! There is no such thing is early preparation that is TOO early. I must be prepared! Plus, I can hardly contain myself. I want to start getting ready A.S.A.P. so I don't forget anything. I'll check and re check and then have my mom check and re check and then I'll probably unpack and repack everything after that just to be sure. But that's part of the fun!

I had my first "Korea" dream last night. Yeah, well... apparently I'm nervous about getting lost and missing a bus or not knowing where I'm supposed to be because that's what my dream was all about. In my dream I ended up in the wrong place and had to keep asking people to help me find the bus that would get me to where I was going. Every single person I asked had NO clue, and they wanted to be helpful so they asked other people... but unfortunately other people also had no clue. It ended on a happy note though when someone finally figured out the correct bus to get me on. I woke up with this stressed out feeling like I'd literally just been through that dilemma.

The stress wasn't soothed by the fact that when I explained the dream to my Dad and sister-in-law they both said "Well, that could probably happen." Fantastic!

Well, if something like that DOES actually happen, it'll be a learning experience at least.

I've e-mailed a few questions off to one of the current teachers about little things like laundry, apartment distance from the school, internet, and co-worker's names etc.

Pretty soon here I'll be starting to stock pile on some of the products I'm taking with me to keep me from having to search for them over there. I've have heard that some places do sell cover-girl cosmetic products but just to be safe I'm bringing my own.

I've been trying to get some Korean study in and so far I can read most of the Korean alphabet. However, that does little good when I have absolutely NO clue what I'm reading. But, I'm working on it. I'm using a combination of Living Language and Pimsleur programs on top of learning assistance products like Korean flash cards and a Survival Korean pocket book, both by Tuttle.

I plan on giving reviews on these items here in the future when I've had the chance to utilize them more. So far though, I like what I've seen.

Well, I guess I've gone on enough. Hopefully I'll be updating soon with a flight date!

Reading Up

So, I did some research today at the local library (though they were terribly limited) on South Korea traveling. Luckily most of the books I found were published (at least) in the 2000's. Some of them were edited and republished, but the majority are still about 5 years old. Normally that wouldn't bother me, because culture doesn't change uber dramatically in half a decade, but I'd still feel more comfortable with a more recent book.

I did just get through reading/skimming through the book "Living in South Korea"



It's a thin little thing, but it's full of useful information that doubtably will become outdated anytime in the near future. It seems like a great book to carry around for reference. The book also contains some beginning language tips, as well as a couple of hints about local dialects. I'll be ordering another book soon, hopefully one that's a little more detailed.

Anyone have any travel book suggestions? Most of you won't have been looking for traveling books on Korea, but any suggestions on a publishing company that deals in traveling books?

Being Proud

I had previously written a lengthy blog post with quite a bit of "rant" laced throughout.

After I wrote it though, I kind of lost my steam for it.

All that I'll post now is the following:

I have to say that I am disinclined to respect people's uninformed opinion about me and my decisions. I'm proud of myself and the path I've chosen, my parents and family are proud, my friends are proud. The people who are having an extremely difficult time wrapping their minds around my decision are the ones who know who I am, but don't know me at all.

On a lighter note: There's a goose honking in the back yard. I thought at first that it was a cow.

The Beginning

Here I am at the beginning of a wonderful new adventure. God has blessed me beyond belief with such wonderful opportunities to expand my horizons, better my person, and experience something new and wonderful.

Just last month I was sitting in a rut. After my application disaster with the University of Hawaii, I was feeling through with Grad school applications. Things just weren't working out for me as far as finding a Grad program that really interested me. Of course, I still want to go to graduate school, but at that point I was running into one road block after the other.

Just when I was about the throw in the towel and just accept a mediocre graduate program to get things started, God took me sternly by the shoulders and turned me in a new direction.

That direction was Korea.

After a lot of research I decided to apply for a ESL teaching position in Korea through a program called Gone 2 Korea. They worked with me to get everything necessary together, and I was suddenly applying for public school teaching positions.

I was elated! Teaching. I'd thought about it before, but didn't pursue it because Graduate school seemed like something that I shouldn't put off. But, after talking to the neighbor boy (literally, we've lived next door together for over a decade) at a Sister city event, I felt that I'd made the right decision. My neighbor, Jack, had spent a few years as an ESL teacher in Asia before pursuing his Graduate degree in Asian studies. He convinced me it was worth it to have the experience before starting a graduate program.

That plus the wonderful encouragement from my parents (surprise surprise! I thought they'd go ballistic), solidified my determination. The decision was made. I mailed off my documents and waited.

After initially applying, last minute (there were only 177 spots left), for the March term public school positions in Seoul, I found myself in the same 'stuck' place that I'd been enjoying for the past 8 months when I got an apologetic phone call from Gone2Korea informing me that the last applicants to be accepted all had TESOL certificates. I'd have to wait and apply again for the next term.

A TESOL certificate, not difficult to obtain (but expensive), is a certificate received upon the completion of a course whose basics are centered around teaching English as a foreign language in a foreign country. I haven't received such a certificate because I'd never taken such a course. The TESOL certificate isn't required for teaching English overseas, but it sure does give someone a foot up. Needless to say my reaction was basically "Bummer!". After the call, I sat down at the computer and started to look up TESOL certificate programs. By doing this I knew that I was basically guaranteeing myself a spot in the hiring period for August. Go me! But, you know, I was still feeling kind of down.

Two hours after the bad news call G2K called me back to inform me that a teacher at a Private school in Busan had just backed out of teaching for the coming year. They need someone ASAP. Would I be interested?

WOULD I BE?!

"Of course" was my answer.

A few days later I'm informed that the school has reviewed my resume and is interested, I've got an interview!

After an entire weekend of nervous anticipation, the interview night comes. Around 9:00pm I got a call on the phone from the teaching supervisor at the school. I was immediately put at ease by her laughter and friendly manner. The interview went smoothly, and was even enjoyable! The interview ended with me in high hopes. Things had gone great!

The next morning an e-mail and G2K informs me that the interview was a success and I am officially offered the job!

Wow. Talk about amazing.

Within a month I went from being a glum, completely directionless graduate, to an employed private school teacher with a goal and bright future! God sure knows how to surprise you, and I'm certainly thankful.

I sent off the rest of the necessary documents today. Next step, Visa. After that, Korea. I arrive in Korea in March and then it's the beginning of a brand new wonderful chapter of my life.

I've created this blog especially to document not only my adventure to South Korea, but also my new and exciting adventures as a teacher.

HERE WE GO!