We’ve had a wonderful May in Korea and have been enjoying the spring weather! There is so much to blog about, but before we post about our adventures, we have a big question to answer…..Are we staying in Korea or Moving home?
2014--? This picture feels like it was taken years ago, has it only been 10 months?!
We truly love living in Korea! From day 1 we have really felt like this was a second “home” for us and we have thrived in this interesting and dynamic environment. We never thought we would feel so comfortable in another culture, especially one so different than ours, but honestly, our time here has been wonderful. That’s not to say we haven’t had our ups and downs. Adaptation is necessary, and the struggle was real at times! Learning to cope with new ways of thinking and doing things had its frustrations! But instead of staying in a negative mindset, we vented to each other, or our close friends, and we turned to prayer! Having a positive mindset is crucial and really made our time here more enjoyable!
Honestly, the joys of living and working here outweighed the negative moments by a tenfold! Getting to teach these students and see them grow was amazing. Living in our own little apartment as a newly married couple without the stress of money was such a blessing! And getting to meet new friends, English speakers or not, from around the world has been eye opening! We have also been given the opportunity to travel, something we could never have done if we had never come here!
But, with all good things, they must come to and end at some point. After lots of thinking, praying, and making of pro’s and con’s lists, we finally came to a decision. We’re moving HOME!
And here’s why!
Teaching in Korea is an amazing experience and both Tyler and I have learned so much! However, we feel we have gotten to a "plateau" of growing as teachers here. Not being able to truly communicate with our students is not just challenging, but it takes out some of the true “deeper teaching” that we desire to do. We know we are highly beneficial to students learning of English and confidence in their abilities, and we love that! But we aspire to go deeper in our teaching as well!
We would like to start our Master’s Degrees. After getting your initial teaching license in Oregon, you have 6 years to complete a Master’s degree to keep your certification. Obviously, we have plenty of time still to complete it, but we would like to pursue our Master’s sooner than later. After teaching here for a year, we are also excited to continue our education and gain more understanding of our craft.
We are really excited to teach at home again. We loved our student teaching experiences and honestly, we’re both itching to teach in our own classrooms. With new experiences behind our belts, we’re excited to take what we’ve learned into our future classrooms. We’ve grown a lot while here and can’t wait to see how that impacts us when we come back!
We miss our family and friends so much, however, we tried to leave our emotions out of our decision as much as possible. We wanted to make the best decision for ourselves and knew that if our only reason to come home was because we were homesick, than we might be missing out on great opportunities here! Being that all of these reasons had to do with our career, we knew that this decision was best for us. It is time to move on to our next chapter in our book!
We can’t say this decision hasn’t come with some big “fears for our future" as well as many "What if?" questions related to if we would have chosen to stay here! However, we know God has a plan for us! Though this transition out of Korea is going to be very bittersweet, just as it was coming here, we hope we can enjoy the last few months to the fullest!
So what's next? We can’t wait to see our family and friends again this coming September! We'll plan to start our Masters soon after that while also substituting as much as we can! To our family and friends, we love you all and thank you for your support and encouragement while we have been here! <3 Here's to more adventures!
Well it’s been almost a month since we’ve last posted
(woops!). After our Seoul trip we quickly got back into our normal school
schedule and have kept very busy since!
A few fun and not so fun things have happened in the last
month:
1~We baked sugar cookies with our Saturday middle
school class. They enjoyed baking and were shocked at how much butter and sugar
were in the cookies. It was a struggle to bake with the butter because it was
so cold the butter was very hard! So they had a challenge measuring and creaming the butter but it was funny
to watch! They really enjoyed using the cookie cutters and knives to
create their own shapes. We had them try our favorite canned vanilla frosting
and they hated it! I’m not sure why, maybe it was too sweet? But they enjoyed
eating the cookies fresh from the oven! Most Koreans have never baked before so it was fun giving them this experience!
Baking in sweatshirts because it's so cold!
Attempting to measuring the butter!
It took teamwork to cream the butter and sugar, but they did it!
This girl was creating the letters "EXO" as a dedication to her favorite K-Pop band.
Pretty cookies! They chose the colors....
It was a fun experience!
2~ We went to our towns “Mum Festival” where they
had many types of mum flowers in different arrangements. It was a free festival
and we enjoyed walking around the little park area looking at the different
flowers!
Our apartment building in the distance!
Pretty flowers!
It's definitely fall!
Beautiful tree!
The "Hwasun" mascot.
3~ We got sick. This was a not so fun thing. Tyler
came down with a pretty bad cold and a few days later I got a few of those
symptoms (not a bad cold though thankfully!). We were grateful for our stash of
cold medicine and throat drops! We even got to go to the Korean pharmacy to get
cough medicine. It was easy as we just role-played fake coughing and the
Pharmacist knew just what to give us! It worked really well too and was very
cheap!
4~ We attended our church’s worship night and
really enjoyed that time! It was on a Saturday night and they even fed us a
pizza dinner before hand. We met some new people and really liked the speakers
and songs that were sung.
5~ We got an oven! This was a wonderful addition to
our kitchen! It has been so fun (and comforting) to be able to bake again.
We’ve baked cookies and banana bread for our schools so far and have had a lot
of fun with it! We bought this oven from another English teacher whose contract
was up and was leaving Korea. We are so grateful she sold it to us for a low
price and even gave us a bunch of her extra baking supplies!
Isn't it cute? I call it my "Easy Bake Oven"
Banana Bread! It was a hit at my travel school!
Anyways…by the title of this blog post your probably
thinking we’re about to rant about the terrible culture shock we’ve experienced
and are experiencing! But actually, we are writing to day to tell about the
fun, interesting, and yes, different things that make the Korean culture
unique. None of the things we are about to talk about are meant to be offensive
or rude. We are simply documenting our experiences so that we can inform everyone and
record them for the future! Each culture has aspects to it that do not make
sense to foreigners (you know how many time’s I’ve been asked by a Korean about
certain American customs?) and each culture does things differently. We came to
Korea knowing and understanding that things would be different and that has by
far been the best thing we could have done for ourselves. We try to have a open
mind and positive attitude towards new and different experiences and so far,
that has really helped. Here’s a list of some cultural differences!
Val Teacher and Tyler Teacher: This is
something we totally forgot to blog about in the first few posts. Instead of
calling teachers Mr. Mansour or Mrs. Mansour they call you by your first name +
teacher! So we are Val Teacher and Tyler Teacher.
At first it was hard to get used to calling ourselves by our
first names, since in our culture we call teachers by their last names, but we
got used to it eventually. Many of
Tyler’s students now just call him “teacher” or “Tyler” but my elementary
students are very keen on the “Val Teacher” name.
Bus culture: So
many people ride the bus in Korea. From kids to very (VERY) old people, the bus
is a main transportation system for all types of people. Early on we figured
out that middle school and high school kids ride the bus to get to school, so
sometimes the bus is so crowded and we are so squished. Other times, we can
have the bus all to ourselves for a period of time. In Korea, it is basically
mandatory that if a person who is older than you gets on the bus (and there are
no other seats available) you give us your seat. If someone else beats you to
it, then you don’t have to, but it is seen as respectful towards your elders.
This “respect” rule unfortunately doesn’t apply as a foreigner and/or a
teacher. As much as we are respected in the classroom, we definitely do not get
seat preference on the bus, nor do we get preference on getting on the bus!
It’s always a mad dash to get on the bus in the morning and everyday is interesting!
Something else we find interesting about busses is how many older people actually
use the bus. These people are generally very old, have the typical hunched over
back (and when we say hunch we mean sometimes we see 90 degree hunches!) and
are still getting around! It’s amazing to see them so active in the community.
Not only are they getting around, but they are carrying bags of produce to see
at the market. People hear are proud of their independence and we love seeing
that!
This was our Monday ride. Tyler estimated about 60 people on this bus. Thankfully that only lasts for the first 10 minutes or so.
No drinks at lunch:
Something we find funny is that there are no drinks served for lunch. Instead,
students have their milk as a snack in their classroom sometime during the
morning. All the students and teachers seem to be ok with this and they do not
need a drink during their meal. However, we are not ok with that. We both have
to bring our water bottles to lunch everyday for this reason. It’s not a big
deal at all, just interesting!
Open windows, open
doors: This is probably by far the most confusing cultural aspect to us. In
the summer the windows and doors were kept open all day to let air flow (since
schools do not have air-conditioning, or heating for that matter). This made
sense and was perfectly fine with me! Then it started to get much colder,
especially in the mornings, yet all the doors and windows in the school were
STILL open!I’ve asked why once,
and the answer I received was that Koreans believe that having the doors and
windows open let’s the sprits flow.So we deal with it. We now have to wear our jackets and long underwear during
the school day to keep warm. It may be time upgrade our jackets too! Winter is
definitely here! Thankfully, at my home school I have a personal heater I can
use at my desk (yay) and small blankets are also commonly used in the school.
My new best friend. This personal heater is a life saver!
No shoes at school:
We’ve talked a few times about how we wear slip on sandals at school instead of
shoes. This was really fun and interesting in the beginning when we arrived and
it was summer time. The weather was warm and it was nice to wear sandals around
during the day. However, now that is it cold, our feet are cold too! We have
been on the hunt for thicker socks so that we can keep warm! Now that it’s
“Boot season” I’ve really wanted to wear my boots to school, that would be much
warmer! I am now seeing some teachers wear more slipper like shoes (you know,
the ones with the fur inside?) and I’m thinking that might be a good idea!
Car Seats: In the
US, child car seat laws are widely agreed upon and basically universally
followed. In Korea, not so much. It is amazing to me to see so any children without
car seats! Not only that I have seen many children, including toddlers sitting
in the front seat of a car! This always makes me feel uneasy but it’s a
cultural thing that is out of my control!
The Ajumma culture:
The older women in the culture arecalled Ajumma’s and are highly respected, as they are our elders. They
are strong, independent workers of society.Most of them still farm and sell their crops on the busy
streets of Hwasun or the side of the country roads. It’s pretty amazing to see
as they are obviously old enough to be retired and relaxing at home, but
instead they are trying to make a living! We found out that one reason is
because they were in the generation that was not able to get social security
benefits or anything of the sort, mostly because they are generally farmers,
and because that system was not set up for them at the time. These older people are very strong and
independent. I’ve seen many older people carrying heavy bags, pulling heavy
carts, or even carrying heavy bags of produce on their heads! It’s incredible! It
can also be sad at times seeing these women selling things on the street from
their farm, knowing that they are not making a great living.
This woman is carrying a large bag of dried red peppers on her head. She is on the way to our towns "Traditional Market" to sell them.
It's very common for them to push carts around to transport their crops, but old baby strollers seem to work as well!
Garbage Cans: We
noticed early on that public garbage cans are a rarity in Korea. It is hard to
find someplace to throw your snack wrapper or drink cup away while walking on
the street. So instead of placing it in a garbage can, people actually create
garbage piles in certain spots. Sometimes there are full garbage bags sitting
on the side of the street that people also put their trash around. The streets can
get pretty bad and have lots of these piles all over yet sometimes trash is
non-existent. It’s very interesting. One cool thing we saw in Seoul was that
there was a big festival one day that went late into the night. As we were
walking back from our hotel we saw garbage and bottles every where. The next
morning we got up early to go to the bus station and saw many workers cleaning
up the street. We were glad someone was cleaning it up but surprised there were
actually people doing it!
Across the street from our apartment. I'm sure within 48 hours it was gone, but still interesting!
Volleyball: Every
Wednesday, most public school teachers around Korea play volleyball after
school. The main reason is for staff bonding time. At Tyler’s school, he has
the option to play or not to play depending on his schedule. At my school, I am
required to play. Tyler’s school is more for fun and has a relaxed environment,
but my school is a little more competitive. At my school we have only played
twice since I started due to many reasons such as principals on business trips,
holidays, testing, and so on. It’s an interesting cultural aspect, but really
goes along with how Koreans enjoy and feel it is important to spend time
together.
Neungju volleyball day.
Squat Toilets:
Although these are not as common as I’m sure they used to be, squat toilets
were somewhat of an actual culture shock for me. I knew about them, but in my
ignorant mind, I didn’t actually think I would encounter them. Nope! Day 1 of
being at my school I knew that I had bathrooms right next to my classroom. I
was so happy about that because that’s obviously very convenient! I walked into
the stall and there it was, a squat toilet! I checked every other stall just in
case there was another western style toilet, but there wasn’t. So that was an
experience, but thankfully I found out that there are western style toilets on
the first floor, and all is well now. I see squat toilets every once in a while now in certain places, but for the
most part, western toilets are more common.
Squat toilet at Neungju.
Toilet Paper:
Speaking of bathroom stuff…another difference in cultures is about toilet
paper. It is very common here not to flush your toilet paper. Instead, you throw it away in a small trash can next to the toilet. The reason for this is that the pipes and sewer systems were not strong enough for toilet paper to be flushed.
Also, squat toilets cannot handle toilet paper at all. So it became custom to just throw it away. Though this is very common, it is generally
safe to flush your toilet paper in new buildings if you’re using a western
style toilet. Tyler and I generally do not participate in this custom in public
or at home, but it is interesting difference.
There are so many more interesting things to write about but
we will have to collect another list later!
We can’t believe it’s the middle of November already and in
no time it will be December! Time is flying by! Tim and Donna (Tyler’s mom and
brother) will be arriving here in Hwasun this coming Saturday! We could not be more excited! Also, my sister is due with my new nephew Bennett Morgan in just about a week and I cannot wait for him to come into this world! :) We can't wait to blog about all of that later! For now we
are preparing our home for our guests, getting our thanksgiving ingredients together, and
enjoying our time here in Korea!
Here are a few videos from our Seoul trip, how we do laundry in Korea, and our surprise first dance from our wedding! :)
We hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy and warm! :)
Warning: This is a super long post mostly meant for our
family who really wanted to know more details! ;) Feel free to skim.
Tyler and I had such a crazy last year. On August 11, 2013,
Tyler and I got engaged! From there, the craziness began! We began our part
time student teaching in September with weekly trips to Corvallis for OSU
classes. My sister Savannah had a marriage renewal ceremony in October, lots of
family activities in November, took a 2 week vacation to Hawaii with the
Mansour family in December, began full time student teaching in January, had a
snow storm in February, ended student teaching and officially graduated from
OSU in March, interviewed for a long term substitute position and Tyler began
working again in April, started substitute teachingin May, walked in the commencement ceremony for graduation
from OSU as well asbegan summer
school teaching in June, got married and went on a wonderful honeymoon in July,
and on August 12, 2014 Tyler and I traveled to Korea. It’s amazing what 1 year
can hold and we are so grateful for all of those amazing experiences!
So back to Korea…..we left on Tuesday August 11th,
2014. After literally 45 minutes of sleep that night (we may have left a little
too much on our to do list that night) we showered and left for the airport at
3am. Our flight was at 5:25 going to San Francisco. We said our goodbyes, which were really difficult, It was wonderful because we
got to fly out with the some of Tylers family members (The Ho family!) who were
responsible for upgrading both of our airplane seats to first class (Thank you
Kandi and Greg!)! The first flight we slept the entire time….not so exciting..
<3
Once we got to San Francisco, they took us out for
breakfast. We ate some croissant sandwiches and made our way down to the United
Club Lounge (because we had first class tickets!!!) and explored that area. The
lounge area was nice because it was quiet and had plenty of outlets to charge
our technology. They also had more free food, which is always a plus. J
We boarded the flight to Incheon 3 hours later and got on
the coolest airplane ever. It was HUGE! Since we had first class tickets, we
got the awesome lay down flat seats with pretty decent sized TV screens. We
also got pillows, blankets, a travel toiletries kit, nice headphones, and extra
storage on the wall side of the plane. We were thoroughly impressed!
At the PDX airport waiting to leave!
Boarding the flight to Korea!
Enjoying our massive amount of space and comfy chairs!
Ready to go!
Lots of movie, tv show, game, and audiobook choices on our wonderful little screens!
Ice cream time!
On our flight we were well attended to, constantly receiving
snacks and/or three course meals. By the way, the ice cream was delicious! When
flying into Incheon Airport, we noticed that the plane basically had to do a
circle around the airport in order to approach the runway without getting too
close to North Korea.
Once we arrived in Incheon, we still didn’t feel like we
were in a foreign country because all their signs and announcements were in
Korean and English. We took an underground subway to the main building to go
through immigration, which was fairly quick. Then we had to track down our bags
at baggage claim. After finding all our bags we walked over to customs where
they had a dog smell our bags. Then we handed them our paperwork and we were
good to go!
Soon after we found a place to set up camp with our bags,
charge our phones, clean up in the restrooms, and explore the airport markets.
Val and I found out that the toilets in the women’s room are nicer than those
in the men’s.
After eating some interesting snacks (apparently everything
here is very flavored here…flavored milk, flavored popcorn…) we found our large group of
foreigners and eventually got on the bus!
Val didn't know her's was flavored (something sweet, maybe vanilla?) but I got chocolate!
They kindly brought a moving truck to
transport all of our luggage, smart move by them! The bus was a charter type
bus very eccentrically decorated, led lights and all! After driving for only
about a hour we made a stop at a “rest stop” which is really more like a mini
mall. They had a giant area filled with food places and upstairs there were
shops with stores like North Face, Columbia, and Addidas. Weird. We got some
mini churros and got back on the bus. We ended up stopping again at a very similar
place with very similar restrooms. By that time is was already 10pm and we
still had a hour to go.
On the very colorful bus to Gwangju! Looking a bit tired... ;)
Finally we arrived at the hotel, however, our luggage truck
had not arrived yet. So we all got our room keys, dropped off some things in
our room and went to wait for the luggage. Luggage arrived around 11:30 and it
was a mad rush as everyone threw the luggage out of the truck and hauled it
back to their room. We were so grateful to finally be in our rooms and able to
freshen up and go to bed!
The view from the Shin Yang Park hotel in Gwangju!
The next morning we had an amazing western style buffet
breakfast and started orientation at 10am! The day was filled with information
about our contracts and life in Korea. It was long, but helpful! We even had
traditional Korean lunch and dinner. It wasn’t too bad!
So that was our long day of traveling. We are so happy with
how smooth every thing has gone so far and were really blessed with such a
great travel day! Thank you all for your prayers!
