first post

the view from Gumi Train Station in downtown Gumi

since it's been two months and some change since I've arrived I won't bother with backtracking through all of that. instead to give you an idea of what my first two months were like here is a piece from the column I wrote for Global's newspaper. I have been offered a position writing a column each month on my experiences in Korea. Talk about flattering...

First Impressions...

Thinking back to a course I took while in college called “The Forgotten War in a Forgotten Country” Korea seemed to me a country that was lost in the shuffle as other powers made their way to the top. Of course I was aware of Korea’s rich culture background and its modernization that resulted in perhaps the most technologically advanced country, but I still had the notion that Korea was “forgotten.” It was my interest in Asian culture as well as this “forgetfulness” on the world’s part that drew me to Korea.

I arrived late, so much of my first hours were hurried and dazed as a result of jet lag. However, the next day I realized “forgotten” was hardly an appropriate term one could use to describe Korea. My first real day, or rather my first week was spent in a blur of sights, sounds, and smells that assailed my senses beyond belief. In my opinion my first weeks and furthermore my first two months in Korea could be likened to a love affair in its early stages. During a first encounter the two parties “feel each other out.” There is usually a sense of awe which can lead to the initial infatuation. Within the first few days of arrival I began to “feel Korea out” and as it goes my senses were heightened, and I too was in a state of awe. So then began the love affair.

Like any other foreigner or “waeguk”, I suffered my share of culture shock that even included a trip to the hospital my first month here, but adjustment has not been the quite the feat I had initially expected. Soon after settling in I began to find my rhythm in the “land of the morning calm” and thus make Gumi my home for the next year. I’m learning Hangul, discovering the hidden restaurants with the best kimchi tchigae (yes, foreigners like spicy food too!), anticipating my weekends for travel and discovery, experiencing an ancient culture such as that of the temples, and making as many Korean friends as possible. “You’re almost Korean!” my students tell me, and whether it’s true or not is of course debatable. So, may the love affair continue…