What has my first month taught me - reviewing the past.

So, with the first month of my teaching career coming to a close, I've decided to note on a few things I've found out from my adventures teaching and just general hanging around Bundang and the outer and inner parts of Seoul. I decided that as I go into the Month of April, there are a few thing's I've learned from being in South Korea and how it's different but also similar in how life goes on back home in North America.

Traffic: 

Probably one of the most notable things to speak of, traffic in Korea certainly holds it's own charm in comparison to traffic back home. For starters, a lot of rules seem to be different than what I remember. As a driver, I have experience driving back home first hand in all the good, bad and ugly, but in Korea, there seems to be a whole different mentality to drivers here. For the most part, the traffic lights differ in their access, where back home we would have both ways of one direction of traffic (East/West and North/South) at one time along with turning where available, Korea has it that only ONE way gets to go. So you have going one East and Left turns, then one of North and Left turns, then West, then South. It takes a little bit longer to cross the street or go through the intersection, but it's one reason things are a bit safer and it keeps grid-lock to a low level when you know your turn is coming up.

An interesting thing I've noticed is that there aren't any accidents (hardly I've seen any or heard of any). People may not always pay attention, but there have rarely been any serious collisions since my arrival here. Honking seems to be quite popular though, not just to notify people about not paying attention, but it's all drivers really do here. I've heard enough hocking shenanigans to simply put the idea that people really don't look all the time, and though they honk, they hardly get aggressive like people back home. One other thing I've found both odd and slightly cool is the use of hazard lights. A common occurrence is a driver flicking on their hazards, but unlike in North America, they often use them a lot more frequently for situations that may require them. Hazard's here mean "caution" for those around the driver, and often are employed when a driver is backing up, pulling in or out of the curb, or just general carefulness to let other's know the driver is doing something. Its weird to see it at first, but once its realized to why, it makes a bit more sense.

Public Transit is another interesting thing to discuss, Seoul's subway is one of the best and already I've been using it to get around Seoul to stores and shops and meet ups, but I've heard their bus system is quite expansive too, and to a point, sometimes confusing. I had the pleasure of taking an easy route on Sunday to my airsoft meet through a bus, it wasn't so bad, but other routes are quite complex. What's more, while the Subway system here has many wonderful apps, there are hardly any for the bus systems, which is a surprise as foreigners would benefit from it. One real downside with buses though is, as stated in a prior post, they don't often obey the rules of the road like everyone else. Sometimes they will creep into the intersection on a red light or make a sharp turn without signalling or just go through red lights without a care in the world. It's scary, but perhaps it's just a difference in mentality; I mean, do you really want to challenge a bus?

They also don't have bike lanes on the major streets, though people often drive gas-scooters and bikes among the cars, there is no dedicated lane for it; they have turning, straight/turning lanes, and bus lanes, but aside from that, its pretty much at the own risk of the scooter/motorcyclist, so it's often a bother to see people driving on the sidewalk or side-streets car's don't often go in scooters and motorcycles.

It safe to say that the road rules here are different, but there are still things the same here too; most notably, they drive on the same side of the road's as we do back in Canada, so if I ever do decide to rent a car or something, it won't be too difficult to settle into driving.


Shopping:
Like other Westernized countries, shopping is a major staple in South Korea, stores litter the major cities, from massive department store complex's to little mom-and-pop shops that sell any number of goods, from food, to school supplies, electronics to even cars and motorcycles. A mixture of the chic and hip with some of South Korea's own flare of design, and street vendors peddling things like socks, belts and wallets for a cheaper deal then some of the name-brand department stores. In fact, there are often entire sections in Seoul dedicated to shopping, from streets that sell singular items like Chungmuro "Pet Street", a place that sells small dogs and cat, which are quite popular in South Korea. There is also Seungjin Toy Palace located on the famous Changsin-dong 'Toy Street', a location even I wish to venture to in the near future. There are also clothing shops, jewelry, even cosmetics, everything you'd expect to find back home is here, if not for its own flare of Asian/Korean culture and cheaper prices for stuff you'd find. However, a radical difference is how many people actually go; shops can be excessively busy with customers, to a point where it's almost impossible to move. 

In response however to the big businesses the exist in South Korea, every other Sunday, large chain stores like E-mart, Home Plus, and Kim's club (which are the large chain industries similar to Highland Farms or Metro) have to close to allow smaller, local businesses a chance to sell their product to help make profit and develop their economical value; a super idea if you ask me. 

The only downside to shopping is things that would often be cheap back home are expensive here, notably fruit, shaving products, and even toiletries for basic needs. Guess it's good I brought a year's supply of everything to handle myself here.

Cellphones/Smartphones:

Okay, just because South Korea is home to two of the largest phone companies, LG and Samsung, doesn't mean its crazy popular right? Well...it is... it's all OVER the place, everyone uses either a Samsung Phone or an LG of sorts, and the market for it is HUGE. You will find people on their phones, playing games, talking or using the easily accessible and highly common communicating Instant Messaging service Kakow Talk, which is free for all phones and is quite similar to Skype. Using the very lucrative data plans that South Korea phone companies offer. In fact, so good is the Data Plans (often going as far as unlimited data) offered by SK-Telecom and Olleh, the two major phone providers, that many people often use Data-based services more than actually calling them over the phone system. What's more, Wireless capability by these two companies (Olleh and SK) is so predominate and wide-spread, that you can always find a hot spot....even in the SUBWAY! (Yes, they did it, they have wireless internet on the subway!)

The only real draw-back for foreigners is without a SIM card from one of the two SK phone companies, you can't really access the wireless potential, however, once the access has been given (and you will need an ARC to get it to begin with) you can easily get on any wireless point offered by your phone company and use it without charges. 

I can't really say its much different than from back home, sure the providers are better, the plan's are sweeter and access is easy and wide-spread, I can certainly say people back home should get on these ideas; it would be quite beneficial, but alas, would absorb us further into the technological matrix that we've created.

Restaurants/Foodie-shops:
Eating out is actually quite cheap, and the diversity of foods between South Korea/Asian and Western/European is easily noticeable as many places serve either or, sometimes mixing the two, and you can eat for a fairly decent price all over Seoul. For instance, the simplest of food like Noodle Bowl or Bim-bap, the bowl of rice and veggies can be anywhere from 3-5,000 won (3-5 bucks). In fact, most foods for a single person will cost you somewhere between 5-10,000 Won. A medium sized pizza from Pizza School costs around 5,000 Won to make a normal cheese or pepperoni pizza, which is not only filling, but quite stratifying and easy on the wallet (considering the major chains like Pizza Hut or Dominos charge upwards pf 18-20,000 Won per Pizza.) 
One thing to be wary though, spicy stuff seems to be quite a common thing here, and Korean's really like to pack on spice (not the kind that controls the Universe). Kim Chi, the staple of Korea diet, is naturally prepared spicy

(its either cabbage or greens dipped in a spice red seasoning and Koreans serve it as a side with their foods.)

Fish is also quite popular, stores all over Seoul will have tanks of their daily catch to display, including some more exotic types like crab, lobster, even squid and octopus! Vegan's beware, this isn't for the faint of heart! Even with the slimely things, you can still find places that serve calmer fish dishes, bar's also serve an assortment of good food, and if you're able to find a Forgeiner's bar (Like Travelers Bar) Then you're going to have a good evening with fellow Expats and some great grub and drink.


Educational Culture:
Despite coming from a melting pot of culture back in Toronto, Seoul has its own unique culture, a mixture of Asian and American ideals and ethos coming together to forge something unique in on itself. Korean's from my experience are very active and open people, despite their rare conversations with foreigners, I've met enough kind Korean's willing to help me figure things out to even helping carry heavy loads to my room. They are very disciplined people, easily seen with their driving method, and they are also quite patient. 

Korean parents especially are very caring for their children, always wanting them at their best, to a point that they don't realize just what level their child is. Hear me out and I don't mean to be rude, but sometimes people often over or even underestimate someone else's capabilities. I've seen in many classes children who are quite capable of doing so much more, but they often either don't go with it or refuse to accept it. Sometimes children who preform advance in one level will inspire their parents to push them to the next, which isn't often a level they can handle not by the child's intelligence, but their personality and character.

It also differs from Canada because a lot of the times, parents don't always follow their students progress closely. I can safely say my folks did and I turned out alright because of them, but here, it adds a whole new meaning, and its not just Korea. Japan and China all want their children to be successful, so the competition between students in class is always serious.

Personally for me, giving the students some freedom in class has turned to unexpected results; its better to be much stricter with these students as their parents want them to perform, coming from someone whose always use to be nice and kind, its a bit of a difficult face to turn from becoming Mr Hyde from Dr. Jekyll. I'll certainly have to put a whole new game face on for this one, but the kids are good and deep down I can see they have a lot of potential and a lot of respect even if they don't act like it all the time.

Though I shouldn't be going on this as the main evidence of my findings, it's just what I gathered thus far. Things can change just as anyone else can as time goes on.

Pastimes/Vices:
Alright, I can sum up a large amount of what I see people do in terms of pastimes and vices, so let me be brief. Hiking comes in first, just because you have people who go out all day, hike the many mountains of South Korea, and then go to a bar to drink. Its one heck of an impressive life-style, and people of all ages seem to do it (not always with the bar part in the end). Hiking and physical activities such as it work well for Korea as it's a very hilly land and there is so much to see when you walk around Seoul that it's no surprise people tend to be ready to do it often.

Second we have Drinking and Smoking; since both items here are quite cheap in comparison to the US and Canada, its no surprise people are often times drinking and/or smoking.  Soju, the national drink, is only 1,300 Won in most stores (a buck and 30 cents) so you can figure how easy it is (when they are actually sold in convince stores too) to get drinks. Smoking is big too, cigarettes are cheap, coming in at almost 3 dollars a pack, certainly less expensive than those back in the states, but quantity size-wise you won't find anything larger than a standard pack. E-cigs are also common, so its quite a selection for anyone who smokes; and the brands are also ones that aren't very common in the US, like Lucky Strikes for instance.

Lastly, there is Airsoft and Scooters, I say both because one is very hush-hush, the other is wide-spread to the point that almost everywhere you go, you will see people on Scooters. Not only that, since most restaurants, especially big chains like McDonald actually DELIVER, its no surprise you can see fleets of McD's scooters parked near their restaurants.

Airsoft is another big thing, though not looked highly upon by most for being to 'realistic', many people, especially those with prior or even current military service (as well as law and other fields) have chosen to immerse themselves into the game to such a degree you can see a wide assortment of arms in a single game of airsoft. Despite being double the price for blaster's here than in US/Canada, many Korea's rely on shipping their blaster's in parts from Hong Kong, which is a common method and an easy one to avoid being stopped in Customs. Even so, boys and men of ages 16 and above will often partake in the sport, and with field teams all over Seoul, its no wonder why so many get involved in their many events and games.
(except when things are getting heated due to political situations.)

Flora:

A few days after settling in, a walk-way near my school

Same walkway, a month later

Lastly, I want to talk about one more important thing; the foliage. Being in a different place, continent and country means you'll come across different flower's and tree's than you'd see at home, and I certainly didn't want to waste chances to see what there was to offer from the greenery of South Korea. Having arrived here during the end of the Winter, I was met with the gnarled mess of dead and decay that had been left by the frozen chill of the winter, slowly to be exposed to the blooming delight of Spring and Summer. 


As you can see with these two pictures, the forest is slowly blooming and green is returning to Seoul, in fact, even at my airsoft meet, we found pretty pink flowers all over the field. Quite pretty little things, and let's not forget that one important tree everyone knows about.

Cherry Blossoms.

Cherry Blossoms bloom not just in Japan, but also in Korea, and with the coming time of the cherry Blossom festival, I hope to report to you all the best I can when I experience it.

For now, stay warm my friends and enjoy the coming Summer!