Dear Friends and Family,

Please don’t take this the wrong way – but I do not in any way regret pulling myself out of Seattle and there are few places that I’d prefer to now be than in Daegu, Republic of Korea. And yet there always was going to be a day when I woke up missing parts of my old life – I pretty much figured that this would happen about two months into this adventure. And sure enough, I diagnosed the beginning of my case of culture shock during my first weekend in Daegu.

Please return with me to the second day of September, just after my first day of “teaching” where I only needed to shadow my jet-lagged co-teacher and smile a lot. That first Friday, I returned to an apartment devoid of sheets & towels (but lots of other nice items that had been provided), my clothes in suitcases, no food, a really hard bed, needing to rearrange my furniture, no coffee, no idea where I was in relation to the rest of the city, and worst of all, both the power on my iPod + my computer were way down. I was also a bit panicky at the news that I’d be planning my own curriculum. So as I pulled myself into wakefulness on that first Saturday morning, I immediately began contemplating my priorities and decided to first tackle the living concerns (food and apartment) and then see what I could do about the rest. My kind Korean guide had offered to help me on Sunday but that was his sole day off that week and while I was grateful to have his phone number in case I got myself into trouble, I was also extremely loathe to make any request that might disturb his day off.

My first excursion was to E-Mart: a humungous, 3-story store that forcefully reminded me of Fred Meyer. There I spent $37 on a single sheet (that turned out deformed but usable) and I had a hard time locating towels without large words embroidered across them but departed nonetheless satisfied that I had the bare necessities. I hauled my purchases the mile and a half to the apartment and rearranged it into my home. For the first time in 10 weeks, I was no longer living out of suitcases. Hooray!

Well, hooray, except that I had been discouraged on the US to Korean power conversion for my computer. I was disappointed but not wholly unsurprised that neither E-Mart nor the subsequent electronic stores that I visited could help. It was a genuine great effort for the electronic salespeople to advise me in English to visit “Home Plus.” (English was the problem, not the recommendation). I thanked all while internally grimacing because finding E-Mart had been a struggle and the location of Home Plus in this city of 2.5 million was a complete mystery. And I desperately wanted my computer!!!!!!!!! Frustration began to well up inside me but was tamped down with every determined footfall on the way back to my studio.

My second excursion was to explore the neighborhood. Now able to live, I was in full exploration mode and at best, hoping for a map of the city. The sunshine was warm and autumnal golden, only a few fluffy cotton ball clouds marred the blue sky, the streets puffed dust with every step, and I met a Canadian lady while crossing the street. She introduced herself (I had been reticent), she had lived in Daegu some years previous and had returned just last week and decided to explore my University neighborhood which has apparently changed much but was then and appeared now to be a good part of the city to hang out. I acted cool on receiving the news that I was living near a University. We walked through the streets that wind through the mid-section of the main, gridded streets, ambled through a fresh produce market, walked past my first coffee shop (aptly named “Sleepless in Seattle”!), and then she and I had lunch at sushi place that turned out to be rather pricey (around $8 which may turn out pricey for Korea but seemed in the acceptable range to me). We got along well but didn’t seem to have a lot in common so we exchanged e-mails and parted after she inquired about which bus number went downtown. She was lead to the bus stop and pointed to #305. We said good-bye and I continued on my way. I did not find a map but did manage to pick up ingredients for a green curry for dinner.

After satisfactorily proving that my Thai cooking classes were worth every Baht, I pulled out my Korean Lonely Planet and re-read the very brief section on Daegu. The book helpfully mentioned that Daegu has Tourist Information booths around the city and provided the name of the subway stop for the train station. Ok, here was information I could work with. After some thought, I decided to take that #305 downtown bus and use the same technique that had worked well in Bangkok: take the public transportation to and from the same spot in order to explore. The bus would give me a look around the city and with any luck, it would take me past a subway stop and I could then try the subway to a Tourist Information booth, which must have something helpful in English. I had heard that there was a Starbucks and a Seattle’s Best downtown and I put my computer’s power cord in my purse to re-tackle that pressing problem. I really wanted to write and listen to music and I kept having to tell myself not to call my kind Korean guide, reminding myself that not having a computer does not constitute an emergency and promising myself that Monday was soon enough to deal with the computer problem, if I couldn’t solve it on my own. I had also gleaned the name of a big Daegu bookstore from LP and figured that would be worth checking out for teaching books, reasoning that a majority of Westerners in Daegu are teachers.

And guess what? This exploration worked better than I dreamed it would! Getting on the bus was easy, coincidentally it passed the famous Home Plus on its way downtown, and it passed several subway stops so eventually I picked a point and got off the bus. My Korean guide had thought that I might find a map at a convenience store chain called FamilyMart so I unsuccessfully searched one of those before walking down granite steps into the subway station. I obtained a ticket, rode one train line, changed trains at the Interchange station, successfully acquired a large, free map at the train station tourist information booth, then re-boarded the subway and found the Kyobo bookstore. I found the best English selection in town eclectic and disappointingly small in all areas except for affordable paperback classics. And English books are pricey – at least double what we pay in the States. I was glad that I had brought my own reads. But there was a small section of teaching books so I bought myself a nice Cambridge resource on curriculum planning. But the best part of the bookstore visit by far was the second floor Starbucks where I joyfully picked out a bag of beans and a French press.

Things were looking up.

I retraced my steps to the subway, to the bus. I got off at the Home Plus stop and walked into another completely huge store. I wandered, wide-eyed for a bit before making my way down to the electronics section. Holding my power cord and using the best simple language I own, I explained my dilemma to a gentleman. He listened sympathetically, examined my power cable and lead me to a wall of converters. He couldn’t find what I needed and I was a bit too close to having a tantrum at the unfairness of life when the gentleman did something very surprising. He told me to wait, he’d give me the right cord. I wasn’t sure that I had heard him right and paced the surge protector and shower aisle (was it my anxious frame of mind or does that seem like a bad combo to you?) until he returned. He had unplugged the US part of the cord and substituted a Korean one – and this looked to be the perfect, perfect solution. I was so excited, I could’ve been a jumping for joy Toyota commercial. I thanked him and then asked him how much. He reiterated that it was a gift. I hugged my new, working, Korean computer power source to my chest and said “thank you.” I wished I could do something more: write a letter to his manager (I would’ve left out why I was so pleased with his customer service) or at least thank him in his language – but Korean was completely out of my grasp and all I could is summon my gratitude into my eyes, look at him directly and give him the sincerest thanks that I could manage.

As the sun set that Sunday in Daegu, my computer and iPod were both re-charging while I ate leftover green curry on Korean noodles and contemplated my happiness… and my dare I say, culture shock?

While I do not truly regret going to Thailand first, I’m now having the oddest reaction to South Korea. Apparently a usual reaction for someone in my shoes is a cultural “honeymoon period” where everything is new and exciting and adventurous and fun, followed by inevitable culture shock and frustration caused by the difficulties in living in a foreign country. And then the foreigner starts comparing and longing for her/his home country and then some adjust and some do not. Hmm…

Well, through no fault of its own, Daegu did not get much of a honeymoon from me… while it is new and different, I’ve been hard-pressed to dig up adventurous spirit that accompanied me on my first foray on the Bangkok Skytrain, or up to the top story of Angkor Wat, or on the North-bound train to Chang Mai. I’m still compelled to explore but the joy is missing. And interestingly, I’m not comparing Daegu to Seattle, I’m comparing Daegu to Bangkok. And Daegu, despite its residence in a further-developed country, is not usually winning. You may recall that originally, I went to Bangkok because it was a readily accessible city with lots of English and I had thought that this would prepare me for living in a less accessible city such as Daegu. Well, in actuality, in some ways it did. For example, if I had come directly from Seattle to Daegu, I would’ve never been able to navigate the city as I had done. As absurd as it sounds, the exploration that I did that Sunday took a certain amount of skill and more than a little courage. I had developed both in Bangkok and was able to reap the results in Daegu.

But what I failed to anticipate is how much I’d miss Thailand. I miss knowing the cultural does and don’ts and the ability to say “thank you.” I’m petrified of offending here in Korea and of course, any Korean language is coming slowly (although thanks to some skilled, determined teachers, I’m close to having “hello” & “thank you” down). And oddly, I’m longing for Thai food. Notice that I said that the first meal that I cooked was green curry… and the next meal became Tom Yum Gung soup. Then I went looking for coconut milk at E-Mart and when I couldn’t find it nor limes nor green papaya nor mango nor ginger, I had a spate of longing for Bangkok – and Gourmet Market. A few days later, my kind Korean guide offered to swing by a “Western” store and laughed and told me “no” when I wondered if they would have Thai cooking ingredients. I don’t think he knows what to make of my missing Thailand… and frankly neither do I.

However, I’ve contemplated this a lot more since that Sunday plate of leftover curry and I have come up with a much more complicated explanation about why I miss Bangkok. I do miss aspects of the city: the way that it caters to tourists, i.e. its accessibility to English speakers, its varied beauties (architectural, its greenery, its fashions), Wendy House (both its friendliness & ease of being looked after), its possibilities for yummy Thai food, and its wonderful shopping. But what I truly miss is the camaraderie of our CELTA class and the company that it yielded – something that I have not yet found in Korea. I’ve had to mentally force myself back to recall how long it took me to become comfortable in Bangkok and remember that my bubbly happiness in Bangkok started after the CELTA. I’ve come to realize that knowing how to conduct myself in Daegu will come with time…

But what I have not yet figured out how to recapture is the wonder that I felt upon arriving in Bangkok… remember my amazement as I walked into the Pantip? It is only natural, I suppose, for one to tire of always asking questions and for a change, want easy answers.

So I’m slowly talking my frustrated self into why Korea is going to occupy a different place in my heart: I’m already learning a lot about the culture, I am going to learn (hopefully more than some of) the language, I’m going to travel, and I have a golden opportunity to assess myself and my future. And I truly like my co-workers, adore my apartment, and enjoy my students. Soon I’ll have Internet access in my apartment and I already have a school vacation coming up and the question to answer: shall I go somewhere or shall I stay? So I say again that there are few places that I’d prefer to now be than in Daegu, Republic of Korea. But being here isn’t currently as easy as it sounds.

No worries - I’m slowly recapturing my “Will to do, the Soul to dare…”

Love,

Laura