Oh the readjustment period

I haven't blogged in a very long time, but to be fair I have been pretty busy. I've been busy making friends, teaching, lesson planning, volunteering, completing yet another in-service training/orientation course EPIK likes to have us do and of course enjoying getting through this Korean heat. These are all perfectly good reasons to not update my blog, but if I'm completely honest about why I've held off writing it's because I'm not sure how I feel anymore. I frequently find myself going back and forth on whether or not I'm actually enjoying this new environment. I say environment for a number of reasons. First, I do now live in a different "city." Last year I lived in Gwangju and now I live in Andong, which is considered a city, but to be honest it's not. Both cities are also very different from one another. Gwangju being the 6th largest city in South Korea and Andong not even making the list and very conservative. If you know me than you also know I don't do well with conservative. Second, although overall I'm happy I made the switch from working at a hagwan (private school) to public school there are still a lot of adjusting I have to deal with. For example, at my hagwan there were five other foreigners who worked with me and on top of that most of the Korean teachers spoke a fair amount of English. I'm not complaining that the Korean teachers at my current school don't speak English, in actuality my current coworkers are awesome and make a huge effort to include and talk to me. I'm not even complaining that I'm now the only foreigner, however this does play a HUGE role in communication and everyday work life. 

Story: Today at lunch I was sitting with the teachers. All teachers were sitting to the left of me and the seats to the right of me were completely empty. The special education teacher came to lunch with her student who uses a wheelchair. We made eye contact  and I, who had no idea what was going on, smiled and continued to sit and eat my lunch. I then watched a coworker give up his seat as she walked to the other side of the lunch table with her student.I knew something was up, but didn't know exactly what. I just continued to sit and eat. She went and got lunch for herself and her student. By the time she got back I had finished and was just standing up to leave when she said something in Korean. I had no idea what she was saying, but what I've learned is to always say, "yes". As I'm walking away I realize she needed three seats to fit herself and her student. One seat being the one I was sitting in.

My point - it just gets exhausting being put in these situations day after day after day. Typically by the time I figure out what's going on the other party already figured out what to do and I'm left being the asshole who continued to sit and eat their lunch.

Third, I've already gone through an adjustment and now I have to start completely over. When I left Gwangju I had a solid group of friends, knowledge of the city and I felt comfortable with my surroundings and here I am again...readjusting.

I suppose at the end of the day I can't complain. This is the life I've chosen to live, right?!