Our First Weekend in Andeok

You can stare…it doesn’t make us feel uncomfortable ~

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Our first two-and-a-half days in Andeok were quite a spectacle. Of course, everyone knew that two native English teachers were arriving in their town…but they still didn’t hesitate to stop their trucks and turn their heads to stare. They didn’t try to hide it. Both Ken and I were a major attraction – the biggest thing to hit the city since the first native English teacher arrived (only seven months ago).

On our walkabout through the village of Myungdang-ri, we made sure to take a peek at all of the major ‘hotspots’ – the three convenience stores, the post office, the bank, the bus station, and a few of Myungdang-ri’s village-renowned restaurants. At every place, I was greeted with a-mile-a-minute Korean which was laced with numerous questions and curiosities. However, my confused look didn’t give me away as a foreigner – it just made me look stupid. The Gyeongsangbuk-do dialect didn’t help either, in contrast to my upbringing in the Seoul-Korean dialect. Back home, I was scrutinized by older folk for my lack of Korean speech (little did they know how much Korean I could speak), but here in Andeok, I’m experiencing my own little hangul-hakkyo (Korean language school), without the wooden slap-stick (just kidding!). I’m spewing out Korean words as if the language has been gestating inside of me for the past 23 years!

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A note to all who have just purchased a Korean washing machine – watch out! These uncanny packages of nuts and bolts have the ability to speak and have the strength and power to shred your clothes! I feel as though one day I’ll hear sounds from outside the bedroom…of the washing machine transforming, and slowly pulling itself across the living room to the bedroom door… I know it wants to take my life…

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Tomorrow is another day! Not just any day. It’s the first day we go to work, explore our schools, greet our delightful co-workers, and (eek!) meet our (hopefully) enchanting students :) .

- Jess