Korean Kindness

Tuesdays are the only day of the week that I don't take the bus to school.  Since the middle school I teach at is so far away and in the middle of nowhere, the buses are pretty infrequent to that area.  Instead, my co-teacher gives me a ride straight to Jeomchon, which I'm really thankful for because if I had to work around bus times my day would surely be a lot longer.

On the drive home this Tuesday my co-teacher pulled over at a small little store.  I was initially a little annoyed and thinking "Oh no. What now? I just want to get home and put on my sweatpants." When my co-teacher said "Come, I want to show you a very famous bakery."

Inside was a very tiny shop that sold a variety of rice cakes and breads. My co-teacher went back and forth with the bakery owner for a while, and the next thing I knew I was being given these:

Rice cakes and "doughnuts"

Those are rice cakes and "doughnuts", given to me well, just because. Talk about a nice surprise to end my Tuesday!

The second case of random generosity I experienced this week was on Friday afternoon as I was waiting for the bus.  Two elderly Koreans passed by me on some sort of farming vehicle--kind of similar to a four wheeler.  As they passed by they were both grinning (I don't think they see many foreigners out that way).  I bowed and said 안녕하세요(annyeonghaseyo, which means hello) as I noticed their friendly expressions.  

The next thing I knew they were about twenty feet down the road and yelled out "선생님!", which literally means teacher.  Although in English it would be a little strange/rude to yell out "teacher!", in Korea 선생님is a very polite way of addressing teachers. In fact, it's usually added to the end of a teacher's name, so for example at school I am called Sarah 선생님 (Sarah teacher).  

Anyway, when I looked over the elderly woman was bringing these over to me:

If you're not familiar, these are persimmons.  They're are very common this time of year, especially in our neighboring town of Sangju, which is famous for its persimmons. 

Although these two moments are small and may seem somewhat insignificant, I think it's important to remember these random acts of kindness.  It can be really easy for foreigners to get annoyed by Korean culture. There are many things that happen in daily life that can make you wonder "why are Koreans SO RUDE?"  But to be fair, they are hardly ever being rude by their own cultural standards.  Often times when westerners feel a Korean is being rude by oh let's say pushing you out of the way without saying excuse me or sorry (this happens ALL THE TIME!) it's because we are applying our own standards of acceptable behavior on a different culture.  It's not actually rude to push by someone without saying anything in Korean culture--it's just the way it is in a country with such crazy population density.  Does that make it any less annoying when it happens? No.  It's actually something that still makes me crazy just about every time it happens.

There are other instances where foreigners experience blatant racism (like not being allowed in certain bars...this happened to me once in Soeul).  However, in the long run these moments are far outweighed by these random moments of kindness from Korean people. I have never experienced so many random moments of kindness as I have in Korea, and it's truly something I will miss about this country when I leave someday.

Grocery shopping

Grocery shopping has never been one of my favorite chores.  Even in America, I always put off going grocery shopping.  I've always hated navigating the crowded aisles with huge carts everywhere.  Then there's the whole spending money part which I also don't particularly care for.

Although grocery shopping is no long the daunting task it was when I first moved to Korea, largely on account of the fact where I know where everything I need is now, it is still a chore I simply detest.

Don't get me wrong, I love Homeplus.  It's no Target, but it's definitely the best substitute for it.  However, just about every time I go into Homeplus on a Sunday afternoon I end up getting incredibly frustrated.  One of the differences between America and Korea is the whole concept of personal space.  That is, it just doesn't really exist in Korea.  I guess it makes sense for a country with such a high population density, but when you're shopping it means that people have no problem bumping into you, or just leaving you with no breathing room whatsoever.

This couldn't be more evident than at checkout time.  In America, we of course have baggers at grocery stores who nicely put all of our things into bags for us.  Once all your things are put into your bags and back into your cart, the next person gets his or her turn.

Now, in my mind, this is a great system.  No one is rushed and your things usually end up in a somewhat logical position in your bags.

Of course, this is NOT how it works in Korea.  In Korea, there is no person to bag your groceries.  Ok, that's fine. I can totally live with bagging my own things.  However, the part that drives me absolutely crazy is how as you put your things in your bags there is already someone standing right next to you.  It's like they push you out of the way before you even pay.  And once you have paid--well, you better watch out.  You better bet that the next person's items will be scanned regardless of whether or not you've put all your things into your bags.  And that person who has been standing next to you the whole time will REALLY be pushing you out of the way now.

I should mention that the Korean people don't think they are being rude by doing this.  It's just the way things are in Korea.  Likewise, when someone bumps into you they won't say sorry.  Although we consider that rude, that custom just doesn't exist in Korea.

This may seem like a small thing, but it is something that has bothered me literally every week I have gone grocery shopping.  Sometimes it really is the small, mundane things that remind you that you're actually living in another country with a very different culture.

I'm a millionaire!

In won of course, but it's still exciting to finally get paid!  And it looks like so much money on paper...it's a great feeling until you remember the conversion to US dollars...

Of course, when I went to the ATM, I entered the wrong pin number a few times, and now I am locked out. Good job, Sarah.  Definitely feeling like the stupid American tonight.

(But seriously, I have way too many numbers floating around in my brain and I opened the account a month ago in the midst of the whirlwind of moving to a new country, town, and job.  I should get more than two chances to get the right number!)


In other news, today I was talking to a group of boys in the hall before class and one of them looked at me and told me he was very "surprised" by my eyes because he had never seen someone with blue eyes before.

Moments like these are always kind of shocking to me.  In America there is so much diversity, and we (or I should say I) don't typically think anything of it. Living in this homogeneous society has made me realize how truly unique the United States is. When I was growing up, it was totally normal to have kids at school who spoke Spanish to each other.  It was totally normal to have kids in our class who celebrated different holidays. I never thought anything of the fact that kids in my classes had different eye, hair, or skin color.  It was just the way it was.

Korea is quite the different place in terms of all of these things, at least in the smaller towns.  I imagine it's different in the city where people encounter more diversity.  However, moments like these remind me that I'm not only here to teach English, but also to be a cultural ambassador to people who may not otherwise have ever met anyone from the western world.