Not Just Another Face in the Crowd

I've been back for 2 weeks now, and am finding myself having to acclimatize to Korean life all over again. I was wondering if I could pass it off as just a reluctance at being back to work, a the return to the 9:00-5:00 grind of the real working world. But no, I'm quite certain that I've just got a crack in my rose-coloured Korean glasses... or something like that.

It's mostly 3 things that have been getting to me this week.

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First of all- being stared at. I usually don't mind being stared at by little kids. For the most part they're innocent enough, I mean, at least they accompany their stares with greetings of 'hello'. Really, people all around the world get stared at if they don't look like the majority, so it's to be expected- why should I be any different? My curly blonde hair and blue eyes (newsflash!) don't exactly fit in with the uniform straight black hair and brown eyes here. Many Koreans however, are not so discreet about how openly they gawk at those in any way different from themselves, and so some days I feel like I have a third eye, green skin or some ridiculous thing. My blonde curly hair might as well be a flashing neon sign that says: "PLEASE STARE AT ME, I'M DIFFERENT." Everyone turn and look at the whitie.

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One day last week for example, I walked over to get my lunch in the cafeteria, as usual ignoring the pointing and staring of the primaries as I went past. As their little heads were turned my way, my young coteacher at Pungdeok asked me if it ever bothers me. She said, "I think it would bother me a lot, I'm just a human being!" I guess sometimes we can't all be classified as such, because not being a Korean in Korea means you are grouped into something else entirely.

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As you know, being white, or black, or brown in Korea also welcomes the proclamation of "WAYGOOK" whenever you go by. And not just from kids. It strikes me as strange that Korean people would paint the entire world outside of Korea as "foreign". Sounds like something dirty- like foreign matter in food, or a foreign object stuck in your body. Oh look- a foreigner. What are you doing here? You could argue that Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese people back home are often grouped together as Asians- but even being called a European would be an improvement! Just imagine kids in small-town Canada, pointing at a dark skinned person walking down the street and yelling, "FOREIGNER!" at them. Really now!

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Third in today's rant: the novelty of having no clue what anyone is saying is definately getting old. When I'm at school and surrounded by teachers speaking Korean and hear my name while I'm sitting right infront of them- well it gets awkward to not understand what's being said... about me... while I'm sitting IN the room. Hellooooo I'm right heeere! *sigh* It's just not a language that's easily picked up- I listen to it being spoken everywhere, all the time, and haven't pieced together anything.

Oh, I know the basics: Yes (ne), no (anio), hello (annyeong haseyo), thank you (kamsa hamnida), delicious (mashissayo), sorry (mianhapnida), I don't know (mol lah-yo), etc etc. Important words? oh yes. Able to carry me through a conversation? not so much.. And so after 4, well, really 3 months in Korea, the frustration at being painfully clueless mounts.

But not for long!! I have taken the first step to combatting ignorant English speaker syndrome: I've signed up for Korean lessons. Sadly there are no proper courses offered here in Suncheon where I could pay and sign up to learn the basics. Hence, I've had to wait until now when at the beginning of the semester the School Board offers free Korean lessons in Suncheon. Amazing!

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The teacher, Mr. Moon, is a bit of an eccentric man, and most everyone I know who went last semester didn't last more than three lessons. After going for the first time on Tuesday, I can see why. With only 6 of us present- 3 white men, a Korean-American woman, and a Chinese women, I was the only white woman there. Which unfortunately for me, also meant that I was the most interesting, and got chosen to answer 80% of the questions. Oh lucky me! It became painfully obvious I was being favoured as the class went on, and some of us couldn't help but laugh. Mr Moon: "Amanda (for the 7th time), how do you pronounce 푸?". To which Brian the white guy replied, "Yeah Amanda, how do you pronounce it?" It just became ridiculous after a while. Mr. Moon also seems pretty unstructured, and likes to point out random words throughout the lesson, like 'ticket', 'cow', 'rain', and 'blood'. Ah well. I'll try to roll with it and see how much Hangul my brain can absorbe.

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The first class was good for something anyway- we learned the alphabet (A scientific system of writing created in the 1443)! I already knew over half of the letters- but we went through and put all the vowel/consonant sound combinations together- as you can see in this lovely chart. Example: ㄱ+ㅏ= 가 ka. Wow- see if you folks at home can decipher this one ;) Haha.

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In other news, school continues to go well; I'm over my never-ending cold; a friend brought me 2 king-size packages of Reeces peanut butter cups back from her visit to Canada (YAY!); my coteacher invited me to go to the opera in with her Friday night (yes, the opera); I get the afternoon off tomorrow for an online teachers meeting in Gwangju; and spring is coming- there are actually flowers budding here already :)

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Until next time... this is

아만다 (Amanda) signing off.