Teaching English | GRRRL TRAVELER

A Shocking 411 on EPIK’s NET vacation days

Filed under Korea, Survival Issues by MyCrazyKimchi on May 2, 2010 at 10:21 am {4 comments}

This is the 114 on the EPIK (Teaching English) program in Korea… (114 is the information dial in Korea).

During last Friday’s EPIK workshop between NET’s and their co-teachers, EPIKers were informed that their actual vacation time is indeed, not as they thought or were led to believe. To many, this new came as a shock (read a bit of Kimchi and Eish! blog). Due to the fact, Korea holds two national holidays (Children’s Day and Parent’s Day) this week, NET’s (Native English Teachers) were initially given extra school holidays by their school so that they enjoy half to a whole week off for the celebration. As such, some EPIKers made plans and booked tickets to leave the (more…)

Confronting Korea with my Waygook card

Filed under Korea, Survival Issues by MyCrazyKimchi on April 28, 2010 at 5:47 pm {14 comments}

Last week, I did something very un-Korean…

I told my co-teacher, in a very truthful and direct manner about my reasons for resenting her. It was inevitable. I was pointed at the tip and I knew I had nothing to lose. Did I have money, love, friendship, a job I cared for, respected citizenship in this country..? Nope. When there’s nothing to lose, there’s nothing to fear. Nada. Nietz. Zip. No stakes. It was the perfect time to gamble for “change”!

My bitterness towards my co-teacher– her lack of help, support and welcome– had grown to the point of disgust.

Meanwhile, her dependency upon me grew. She wanted me to help her remove her workload of burdens. It was a reasonable request that I take (more…)

Just Show Me Pictures! Expats Dealing with Language Barriers (Part 1)

Filed under Crazy Korea, Just Show Me Pictures! by MyCrazyKimchi on April 26, 2010 at 4:55 pm {3 comments}

Updates: a) Eating in Korea is more difficult than I imagined… and while my food vocabulary grows in Korea, my pointed nose doesn’t. Sometimes I can’t even get first base with the smell and this turns me off to cooking my own food as well; b) I’ve been taking regular weekend/day escape trips outside the city (Seoul, Busan, Jinhae, Cheongdo, Geongju) to snap back into GrrrlTraveler mode vs resident mode and because, I suspect, my not liking it here has nothing to do with Korea; c) I finally told my co-teacher how I feel about her, why and how it’s hindered my enthusiasm to this country and to working with her!

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I’ve decided to add a short blog series, titled “Just Show Me Pictures!” about battling language barriers and culture shock in Korea. It’s suspected that generally, 90% of all expats suffer culture shock and depression while living abroad because the familiar is replaced by the foreign and you must live and endure, a compromised lifestyle for a lengthy duration. Language obstacles are the beast which only adds to this frustration.

Think of a deep-sea diver, holding his/her breath underwater but must do so for a sustained period before coming up. Immersed in foreign surroundings, you battle the exasperation of having to do everything “in foreign“. Your unfamiliar surroundings swallow you whole (more…)

Pass the Paper: Experiencing Culture Shock in Korea

Filed under Just Show Me Pictures!, Korea by MyCrazyKimchi on April 26, 2010 at 4:32 pm {5 comments}

Photo of fellow EPIKer Amanda‘s ppt game

So you live in a new country, you’ve got a new job, you’re working out the variables of navigating new food, new work relationships, cultural and communication barriers… so why are you depressed? Welcome to culture shock.

Nothing you do can prepare you for what you think you will or won’t experience when you move abroad. As a traveler who thrives on experiencing cultural lifestyles, my experience of culture shock feels… surprising. I’ve lived in 4 different cities, I’ve often either traveled or lived (more…)

Korean Love Story #1: Where’s my Yellow Dust face mask?

Filed under Korea, Survival Issues by MyCrazyKimchi on April 18, 2010 at 5:28 pm {5 comments}

Updates: I’ve been quiet for some time and major apologies. I’ve been very busy handling my shock and culture shock. Here’s what’s been going on a) So the sun hasn’t been out in like, FOREVER since winter and even as we’re sliding into Spring, all is still gray, depressing… and COLD; b) This leads me to take weekly weekend excursions in an attempt to snap out of a depressing “I’m alone, having a hard time” funk and back into “travel adventure” mode; c) I love my students (my 4th graders especially, as I have boys that “squeal” like little girls when they’re excited) and the job of teacher-taining; d) I’m learning that while you should respect a culture and its systems, there are times you’d be at a gross and unfair disadvantage unless you occasionally pull out your “foreigner/’waygook‘ card”; d) …which brings me to the lame co-teacher thing & how I’ve been patient and nice up until now…; e) My survival and dealing with my funk in Korea rests solely upon me.

Sexy, no; but cute? Yes. My face mask, ironically called “Love Story”…
is not what I’m feeling for this place now.

Seeing face masks on my students in class or on passing pedestrians in the subway and on Daegu streets have become a norm for me. Face masks are commonplace here- many of them even have a cute or color design to them (animal faces, Hello Kitty, you name it…) to make them more appealing, stylish and friendly to fun.

Before moving to Korea, Asians wearing face masks was something I just didn’t understand. On my recent JAL flight over here, seeing people (more…)

Getting a Korean phone (when you don’t know the language)

Filed under Just Show Me Pictures!, Korea by MyCrazyKimchi on April 18, 2010 at 3:56 pm {5 comments}

When you’re new to a country, the last thing you want to deal with is extraneous stress and confusion with important things… like cellphones and phone plans. Still, when that one person whom you were told would help you set up the necessities of your brand new life, can’t lend simple advice or is reluctant to take any responsibility outside of work hours, what do you do? Whatever it takes.

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What to Bring to Korea: A Costco card!

Filed under Daegu, Korea by MyCrazyKimchi on April 8, 2010 at 10:54 pm {5 comments}

Been having some difficulty with this post’s visibility so hopefully this has been corrected. .. Before I came to Korea, I scoured various online expat and info sources for advice as to “What to Bring if You’re Moving to Korea”. Frankly, these lists only helped mildly- when I arrived I was both, OVER & UNDER-prepared. In fact, the things you think Korea wouldn’t have, they do and if they do have it, it either takes a bit of a search to find or you pay a tad more for it than you normally would in the U.S. As a vegetarian undergoing culture shock, discovering CostCo was my personal god-send. Costco was a neutral nose zone for me with enough “American Costco” products and familiarity to make me feel a little “Home-Safe-Home”.

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Being a Vegetarian in Korea (Part II): Weight-loss in Korea

Filed under Fear Factor Foods, Off-beat, Weird... Reality! by MyCrazyKimchi on March 25, 2010 at 4:32 pm {6 comments}

I’m not sure how weight-loss works with Koreans, but let me shed some light on how it works with foreigners. During my orientation, two girls I knew claimed to drop pants sizes within their first week of arriving. Not possible, right? Not without some major medical operation… but feeling my pants hang off of my body last week at work, the word “belt” comes to mind.

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