안녕하세요 from Korea

For those of you who I didn’t inform, I landed a teaching job in South Korea shortly before graduation.  The main cause for my absence here in the new year is that I spent a significant amount of time securing my E-2 working visa; dealing with school administrations and government bureaucracy is a frustrating feat – dealing with them during holidays is even worse.  All of the red tape notwithstanding, I’m here in Gwangju-city, South Korea – and have been for a week – to teach English and grammar at a private language institution.

I was fortunate enough to land a solid gig with good pay and benefits.  I make a more-than-livable wage and the only things I must pay for are utilities and food (of course there are other things that I will spend much money on).  In general, Korea’s cost of living is considerably less than the United States; combine this with the fact that I have hardly any required payments and no rent and you can see how good of a setup this is.

At first I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t teaching in Seoul, the second largest city in the world.  However, I think I may end up liking Gwangju better than I would Seoul.  Here in Gwangju you don’t have to deal with the mess of a 18+ million metropolitan area, but still get the good life of a major metropolitan area.  There are a lot less foreigners here in Gwangju, so the culture experience is all the better – knowing basic Korean in Gwangju is almost necessary, unlike Seoul; last I heard, there were only about 400 or so foreigners in the entire city, this includes Chinese, Thai, and other Oriental ethnicities.  With the population of Gwangju registering just under 2 million, being from the West makes you a very rare breed.  Since cultural immersion was one of my reasons for going, Gwangju is an ideal place.  I didn’t like the notion that I would be going to a city with a bunch of foreigners huddled together all the time.

I’ll stop with the diary entry here and leave you with a few tid bids about South Korea in general and Gwangju in particular.  I’m going to chronicle for life teaching in Korea over at my personal blog Steve in Korea.  I’ll still be posting more sophisticated articles here (i.e. stuff about Korean religion, society, politics, and the like), but I’ll use  my personal blog for pictures and general observations.

• Gwangju is where “5/18″ happened.  This is Korea’s equivalent to Tienanmen Square, except that it actually produced change (so maybe it’s more like Portugal’s “Carnation Revolution”). On May 18, 1980 several pro-democracy students led an uprising to protest the military dictatorship of General Chun Doo Hwan; anywhere from 500-2,000 of them were killed.  There’s memorials all over the city commemorating their revolt.
• The rapidity of South Korea’s growth is remarkable.  Called “The Miracle on the Han River,” Korea has asserted itself as a modern economic marvel.  Between 1961 and 1996, Korea went from being an undeveloped agrarian society to possessing one of the strongest economies in the world and being labeled one of the five Asian Tigers.  In less than a half century, South Korea grew from nothing in GDP to more than $1 billion.  It continues to contend.
• The IT infrastructure is outstanding; the internet here is 10x the speed it is in America.
• Contrary to popular belief, Koreans aren’t all that short in height.  They are, on average, about 5’8 – not too much different from America.  However, they don’t have near as many “outliers,” like myself.  I’m still really, really tall here (and white).
• I will probably be hit by a car at some point.  It’s worse than New York City on a rainy day.  Stop lights, especially late at night, are mere “suggestions” for what the driver should do.
• The language is non-Latin based and a bit odd to pick up, but it is also one of the most logical, in terms of knowing the characters and pronouncing the vowels and consonants; I’ll need several months and a lot of practice.
• Don’t drink SoJu.  Just don’t.

I’ll keep everyone posted.  Feel free to check out my life over at my personal blog; it’s currently under construction.  I promise I’ll keep posting good stuff here.