Reactions

Date: 10/8/2010
          -15 Days

As a waitress, I get to talk to a lot of people.  And inevitably, I end up talking about going to South Korea. Its a fun talking-point and it makes me seem like more than a "waitress" (especially after I tell them I majored in Japanese and Anthropology).  But the question that almost everyone asks is, "Why?"

Some people cloak it in, "Going on a mission trip?"

Others, "You must be in the service..."

Nobody really thinks, "That's an obvious choice of career moves."

And I really do like gauging the reactions of people.   South Korea is not an obvious choice--country wise. Japan--yes.  South Korea--no.

So, after talking about what a great adventure it will be, that now is the time to go (no house, no husband, no kids), and that this is something I really want to do, the next question in line is always, "Why South Korea?"

And I extrapolate about how I wanted to go to Japan, couldn't make it into the JET Program (I'm just going to leave it at that), so I skipped across the sea and went to their neighbor: South Korea.  To be honest with people, China kinda scares me.  Taiwan I considered, but for some reason I think I would have a harder time in China.  I think this reason is slightly illogical because at USC I took a bunch of "East Asian" Culture courses so I know a good bit about China.

Anyway, people's reactions are very divided.  We get a lot of older gentlemen in Charlestons (my restaurant) so many have actually been to Korea.  Some are positive, "Oh, you'll love the culture, the people, the food, everything."  Some are not so positive--and I'm going to leave it at that.

But overall, everyone I've talked to has mentioned that they have a cousin, friend's brother, relative, co-worker's somebody who's done teaching abroad--and 9 out of 10 times they've loved it.  The women always tell me to be safe and the men always tell me that it will be the best experience of my life.  They always mention to stay away from the northern neighbors--which I immediately reassure them that I have no interest in even being relatively interested in visiting.

On the flipside:  I got CultureShock: Korea in the mail today.  I want the Korean people's reaction to me to be as good as possible so hopefully this book will help.  I'll give a book review after I've finished it. :)