explaining the coincidence

A quick backblog that I never got to explain since I was extremely busy/frustrated/confused/"preoccupied" in May and early June.  I will eventually do a blog about using a recruiter to get a job in Korea but here's the short and sweet version:

Recruiting companies act as the go-between from you to the Korean schools.  They interview you and once they accept you, they help find you a job, set up the interview with the school and "in theory" help you through the visa process and everything else you need to do to get to Korea.  Again, this is a much wider issue I'll cover later. Anyhow, when I got the original job description for Samsung from my recruiter on a Monday or Tuesday, I had to send in some pictures and then my interview would be set up with the school.  I sent one batch in the next day and then another set shortly afterwards and my recruiter said an interview would be set up for next week.

Then I woke up Saturday, April 30th, checked my iPhone for facebook and e-mail and I see something odd in-between the class emails and spam.  The sender is Tamara Bolk and the subject line is Greeting from a current Samsung teacher... 

"...AND a UW-L Alum!!! (Crazy small world!)

Hey there,

I'm one of the English teachers at Samsung in Gumi, and I just found out that you will be coming to Korea to teach at Samsung! I was shocked when I heard you were also from La Crosse (I graduated last year)! You'll actually be taking over all my classes, and considering it looks like we'll only have a day together before I head home, I thought it would be great if we could get in touch before you came out! I didn't have any contact with any of the other teachers before I came out, and I really wish I would have....so feel free to ask any and as many questions as you'd like! I'd be happy to answer them :) "

At this point, I am extremely confused as I have not had an interview yet but after some e-mails from Tami, phone calls with my recruiting company and my parents, and extensions on homework to allow me to think and make this life-changing decision, I got the job.

The honest God-send in this whole situation was being able to contact Tami throughout the whole process.  I didn't plan on going to Korea until August and wasn't prepared to make such a quick decision but it was so helpful that she could answer my million questions.  I knew exactly what I was getting into...my new boss, the living situation, dress code, Samsung facility, everything. Another thing that helped was getting to read Tami's blog (Link on the right!).  I saw what a great relationship she developed with her students and the places she got to see in Korea.  I knew that although this job wasn't perfect (aka the 6:30am class time : /  ), getting to teach friendly, caring, and fun students is what really matters at the end of the day.

And after my whole passport fiasco and it barely getting to me before my proposed departure date, it came in the mail, I hopped on 3 airplanes and ended up in Korea.  I was fortunate to arrive 5 days before Tami left and she was able to show me around Samsung, introduce me to the classes and I got to partake in her good-bye dinners.  I noticed that actual pictures of me in Korea are minimal so I got to steal some from Tami.  So here is me, Tami, and some of my current students:

Good-bye party w/ Power English + Ajay

The guy on the far right(Jim)=proof that not all Asians are short : P

As long as you're Asian, you're never to old to flash the peace sign ^ ^

So here's my thank you to Tami - we had so many crazy coincidences both being UW-L students, Korean adoptees and sociologists...but I really believe God knew that I needed that extra-reassurance for my move to Korea and it was in His plan all along for us to connect.  Best of luck in grad school and we shall meet again!

Caitlin in Korea Q&A

I was going to do all of these big blog posts on my apartment, my job, the food, etc. but I got lazy and busy... I started my online class on Monday so free time is spent studying and I'm exhausted by the time I get home from work around 7pm.  So I thought it would be best to do a simple Q&A blog post so I don't have to keep answering the same questions over and over...not that I don't love talking to all of you back in the States.  But skype and facebook time is limited until the end of July due to my class : (

1. What was your first impression of Korea?
All of my students ask me this.  I wrote this before.  I bawled my eyes out.  Seeing the place I was born for the first time was extremely emotional.  I really really wanted my parents to be here with me or another adoptee for this momentand I felt like a complete idiot crying alone on the airplane.  So first impression - emotional.  Other first impressions... There's a gazillion neon lights.  The air smells weird, almost like fish.  It's odd to be surrounded by Asians.  The weather is way too hot.  I could never drive here.  The landscaping for the most part is absolutely gorgeous.  And overall...it's scary and surreal.

2. How is your apartment?
I am, for the most part, happy. I've experienced living in a crappy college house and I expected a lot worse than what I got.  I'm not in a tiny one room studio like most teachers.  The apartment is pretty big - a 3 bedroom with 1.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, big living room, and my room is bigger than the average college apt bedroom. It was furnished with everything but bedding and cable but using other people's blankets are kinda creepy and I don't watch TV anyway.  The weirdest things are that I don't have an oven and they don't use shower curtains here very often. My favorite part is the rooftop with a view of the whole city.  I also have a roommate named Liz who is the other English teacher at Samsung. I've never lived with a complete stranger but it has been working out great and it is good to have someone to hang out with.

3. How do you like your job?
I LOVE IT.  Plain and simple.  I am no longer an Applebee's bitch working for 8% tips in a dirty and stressful environment.  The worst part of my job is waking up at 5am to be to work for my 6:30 class and don't get home until almost 7pm but ehhh, I can make the most of my day by waking up early.  I teach strictly conversational English to adults.  My youngest student is 22 and my oldest...maybe in his 50's?  My students are very helpful and kind and make me laugh everday.  I can talk about anything and have real conversations.  I can follow a book, develop my own lessons, whatever I want.  No grading papers,exams.  Best ESL job EVER.

The campus is gorgeous.  Picture a really nice college campus with coffee shops, convienince store, bookstore, cafeteria, library, and big buildings.  Add in a super high tech gym for $40/3 months, water fountains, exquistite landscaping, airport-like security, really really good food and a ton of Koreans and you've got Samsung.

4. Wait, you work for Samsung?
Yes...Samsung as in the electronics companies that make your TV's, cell phones, cameras, etc.  Samsung as in Korea's #1 corporation.  Yes, it's fricken sweet.

5. Did you get jet lag?
Nope....stay up 24+ hours straight and sleep when it's night at your destination and you can successfully avoid jet lag.  Well, at least I did.

6. How is the food?
As many of you know, I have developed my love for Korean food a long time ago when I started going to Korean churches.  Is it weird eating rice at every meal?  Yes.  Do I crave American food?  Definitely.  But it's nice not eating greasy fried food and Korean food has tons of veggies which I love too. I made it to try (almost) every food thrown at me with the exception of live things and so far I only spit one thing out.  Fermented raw fish.  Just. Don't. Do. It.  But sighhhh, I just want some cheese and Downtown Brown.

7.  Do people try to speak to you in Korean?
Conversations normally go something like this:
Real Korean Person (RKP): blah blah blah blah Korean stuff I don't understand...
Me: Hangook mal mo tayo (butchering of "I don't speak Korean" in Korean)
RKP: look of confusion and not understanding
Me:  I'm sorry but I can't speak Korean.
RKP: But you looks Korean???!!?
Me: Uhhhh ...adopted.
RKP:  Indonesia?? Phillipine??
Me: Uhh...Miguk saram. (American) mm...gyopo (Korean who doesn't live in Korea)
RKP: ahhh ha ha ha

8. Have you met any cute guys?
I've adopted the American view point.  All us Asians look the same.  Kidding kidding...of course there are cute guys but do I have the A.Ability, B. Time, C. Balls to talk to them?  Heck no.

9.  Are you going to search for you birthfamily while you're there?
This is answered in-depth in a previous post.  Short answer: Maybe.  I'll try but it's not my biggest priority for multiple reasons.  Again, if you are bored enough to go back and read...I think it's in a blog post about the movie Tangled.

10. What's the weirdest thing about Korea?
Almost all of the guys carry some version of the man purse, which are often nicer than the purses I own, and I look like a freak of nature carrying around my Northface backpack at work because it looks "heavy and big."  Really people...what else am I supossed to carry textbooks in??

11. What are some things you want to do while you're in Korea?
-Hang out with Hyunwoo lots
-Volunteer at an orphanage
-Mud Festival (tickets already booked ^ ^ )
-See a Korean drumming performance
-Korean fan dancing lesson
-Beach!!!!
-Explore my birthplace, Incheon
-See a K-pop concert
-Watch a pro Korean baseball game
-Learn Korean
-Get my hair permed again
-Apply for grad schools
and the list goes on...

Any more questions? Comment, facebook me, skype me... but I think these are the most general questions I get asked the most.

let's wish on a sunrise

sunrise on the way to the dells

Want to know why being an ESL teacher is the coolest job in the world?  Because you have the chance to learn something new from your students everyday!

In one of my classes, we were discussing the rainy season (which is supposed to start tomorrow : /  ) and then got to other topics such as rainbows, shooting stars, and sunrises.  Doesn't my job just sound horrible?? ; )  Anyway...I learned three things about Korea today:

1. Rainbows are rare occurrences in Korea - my student who is probably in his 40s told me has only seen a rainbow 3-4 times in his entire life!!  As Americans, we can easily see rainbows but we get excited every time we see them.  Imagine how pumped the Koreans must get when one appears!

2. Koreans believe falling stars are bad luck - They don't wish on shooting stars because they say that when a star falls, a great man will die.

3. New Year's sunrises - My student told me that instead, Koreans like to go to the mountains on New Year's Day to see the sunrise and make a wish for the new year and the well-being of their family.

I've only been lucky enough to see a couple of sunrises because well, this lady likes her sleep!!  It got me to thinking...what will I wish for on the New Year's sunrise?  Many of my students have asked me, "Caitlin, what is your dream?" For so long, my dream has been to teach English in Korea and it has come true.  It feels somewhat false when I say that my dream is to get my master's degree in TESOL and teach ESL in a university.  Yes, this is what I want to do as my career because I want to make a difference in people's lives and be continually learning about other cultures and perspectives.  But really, it's not a dream - it's something I want to implement in my everyday life to make the most out of every day. 

To be honest, I have no idea what I will wish for on a sunrise but I think this year in Korea will help me figure that out.  Is it pursuing a future husband?  Doing research and getting a "scholarly article" published like a good little sociology student?  Visiting another country someday?  Again, I don't know...but that is the beauty of possibilities : )

Back to the Motherland

I woke up at 4am on Friday to get ready to leave for the airport.  When my parents and I arrived in Madison, I had my mind set to get to a bathroom and almost missed my surprise visitors, Sis and June!!  This is my first summer in 3 years that I haven't spent with them so I'm soooo happy I got to see them!

Sis, me and June...my awesome aunts!

It was hard to say good-bye to my parents at the gate...finally some tears but I held back as much as possible.  My plane was delayed so I began to panic a little bit because I had less than 1 hour between transfer times.  It finally arrived and I had a three hour ride to Denver.  The mountains were so gorgeous and I know I'll have to take a trip out west since besides going to Washington, the farthest west I've been is Minnesota.  When I got to the airport, I had to sprint across the airport and hop on my plane to Seattle right away.  Then I just have to say...the Seattle airport=UGHHH.  I had to get on three different shuttles before reaching my gate.  I have no idea how I figured out where to go but I managed.  It was slowly starting to hit me when I was surrounded by Asians...something I'm definitely not used to haha.  I got to call my mom one last time and then I got on my flight with Asiana for a lovely 12 hour plane ride to Incheon.

I have to say, this airline puts American ones to shame.  All of the flight attendants look like models.  They were constantly handing out things...slippers, warm towels, drinks, food, and really speedy too!  The coolest things were the food and personal TV screens. I was worried my iPhone was dying but no worries because I got to watch movies and listen to music and everything was very current.

my lunch - bibimbap

 

The flight didn't seem like it lasted 12 hours and before I knew it, I started getting ear aches and knew we were descending for land.  Unfortunately I wasn't by a window but I did my best to look.  As I started to see land, I started tearing up.  Ok, I lied, I was bawling... I couldn't believe that after 22 years, I was finally seeing my birthplace and Korea.  Seeing Korea from the airplane made me realize my dreams were coming true and there were so many exciting things waiting for me.

Once I got off the plane to Incheon Airport...yup, time to start freaking out.  There was English on signs but I had no idea where I was supposed to go and I was cursing my recruitment company for being so vague.  I figured that since I am a foreigner here, immigration seemed like the best place to be.  Luckily it was and I got through quickly, found my baggage claim area and easily found my luggage.  Again, no idea where to go next so I just followed the crowd.  After scanning the crowd, I found Hyunwoo who was holding a sign that said "Welcome to Korea Caitlin!"

For those of you who don't know, my family hosted a foreign exchange student from Korea when I was a sophomore.  Hyunwoo helped me gain interest in Korea and she's the reason I became interested in teaching ESL.  I haven't seen her since I was 17 and it is extremely fortunate she was able to meet me at the airport AND only lives an hour away from Gumi, the city I'm living in.

Hyunwoo and I bought bus tickets to Gumi.  Throughout the drive, even though I knew I was in Korea, I felt like I was just driving to a new city in the US even though there were signs in Korean and I was surrounded by Asians.  It just didn't seem real.  After a  until we reached our destination.  My boss and his wife picked us up from the station and headed to my apartment.  I will save that for my next post.

Again, thank you to everyone who helped get me to Korea.  I'm safe, I was okay traveling alone, and it was overall a very emotional experience that I hope every Korean adoptee gets to experience.