The Kaper Begins!

May 20, 2009

Greetings to all from the "Land of the Morning Mist"

(As Koreans fondly style their country)

The kaper actually began February 1 when I departed Atlanta for my 11,000+ mile flight to almost the end of nowhere Korea. I'm a few hundred miles from being exactly on the opposite side of the planet from all of you. I've wandered far and wide in this life to some pretty strange and wonderful (and not so wonderful--I'll detail my Saudi Arabia experiences another time) places, but this is about as far from home as I've ever been. Seriously, there isn't a barbrque joint within 8,000 miles of this place and if you don't like rice, bean sprouts, octopus, seaweed and the ubiquitous native dish, kimchee (see below) , you'll be hard pressed to find a meal here. I'll say more about food another time, but fear not for me. There is a grocery store across the street from my apartment building that stocks a reasonable variety of Western style products so I will survive. Since I don't know where to begin, here are a few strictly stream-of-consciusness thoughts.....

What is kimchee, you ask? First, it's the Korean national dish and baseball and eating kimchee are Korea's national pastimes and not necessarily in that order. It's made (usually) from pickled cabbage that has been wrapped in seaweed, buried in the ground and allowed to ferment for about a month. The cabbage and usually the greenery, too, is chopped up and mixed with a five-alarm concoction of hot red pepper, garlic and God only knows what else to make a vegetable salad mixture eaten by Koreans at every meal including breakfast. Let that be your introduction to kimchee. I'll say more about it another time.

Where do I reside? Housing in all of Asia is in very tight supply and people are literally stacked on top pf one another. So...why do I enjoy a fairly spacious three bedroom, two bath apartment on the top floor of the nicest high-rise in Yangju City? An extended family of nine people was honored to vacate their apartment to make it available to "our distinguished foreign teacher." Talk about feeling rotten when I found out about that! But to back up for a moment...

I'm living in Yangju City, Republic of Korea about thirty miles north of Seoul and twenty-five miles south of Panmujom, the DMZ and the border with North Korea. Since we all know me to be a tolerant, unopinioated sweetheart of a guy, I've thought about hopping a bus to Panmunjom (where recinciliation talks have been in progress since 1953), joining the peace talks and politely suggesting they get their act together and settle things because the world is finding their continuing animosities just a teensy bit tiring.

I'm teaching English in Duckdo-ri (a farming village just outside of Yangju) at Hyochon School. I'll have more to say about the school and students another time, but for now, I'll say I have been well-received and appreciated (if not venerated--at times it's almost embarrassing) by some truly nice people. Knowledge of English is a potential difference-maker for the kids in this village because English ability has much to do with how far you can go with your education and what kind of job you can get. My contract is with the education department of Gyeonggi-do Province and calls for me to teach conversational English and develop curriculum materials for both young and adult learners. As an undergraduate, I was an English major with a focus on linguistics (and Shakespeare and Medieval Literature, but that's another story....) so after 37 years, I'm finally using my education.

That's about all for the first installment. My arm is doing OK and I've mastered one-handed typing with my right hand although I tire easily and the length of this blog is about the most I can do at one sitting. I'll publish updates whenever possible because I have numerous stories both sad and funny to relate. Korea is a different kind of place. I'll end with that stunning revelation for now. Please let me hear from you either here or my e-mail, bdamon@bellsouth.net. Love to all.

Bill