A Light at the End

April 10 will mark 8-months since my arrival in Korea.  As my previous posts have alluded to, Korea has not been the adventure I had hoped.  I am continuously looking towards the future, not my future in Korea but my future after Korea.  I know I should enjoy the time here and live in the “now” but I cannot help but yearn for my plans that will begin September 2014.

I don’t feel much fulfillment here.  I am at work 40 hours a week but I only teach 22 of those hours.  The rest of those “work” hours are spent sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen.  Of course there is some lesson planning but I only have to create one lesson a week.  I try to occupy my extra time by taking free online courses and reading but sometimes the internet connection sucks (thus, no online courses) and I cannot help feeling unfulfilled as I waste time looking through endless pages of pointless shit on the internet.  I don’t want to spend the majority of my daytime indoors, on a computer, checking my email or facebook for the umpteenth time.    I am 25 years old!  I want to be outside exploring the world!

The good news is that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  After another 17 months here in Korea, I will have plenty of money to last for years of cheap travel!  So patience, Elaine, have patience. 

So what will come next?

I spend lots of time running through all of the possibilities for travel when I am finished in Korea.  The most desired plan is cycling.  The very tentative plans (so tentative that I shouldn’t even write them here) for the coming years look like this:

September 2014-February 2015—Travel somewhere cheaply, like a dollar a day cheap.  Southeast Asia?  The stans (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc)?  Road trip the USA with my little brother? 

March-May 2015—Spend quality time with family in South Africa.

June-August 2015—Spend quality time with family in the USA.

September-December 2015—Start cycling from Chicago towards Mexico and make it there before January.

January-December 2016—Take in the beauty that is Central and South America via bicycle.

January-December 2017—Take in the beauty that is Africa via bicycle.

All of this is so far in the future but I cannot help to think this far, it keeps me focused on completing these two years in Korea.  The light at the end of the tunnel.

Getting an IUD in South Korea

This post is quite different from my other ones because the purpose of it is to give information, not opinions or insights.  I recently decided to get a copper intrauterine device (IUD) as a form of birth control but when I was googling about the IUD in Korea, I could hardly find any information in English; so, I am writing about my experience of getting an IUD in South Korea to help other women.

First of all, a PSA to women: if you don’t want a baby right now and you also don’t want to take hormones to prevent a baby, check out the copper IUD.  While I had heard of the hormonal IUD, I had never heard of a copper version until a few months ago.  Apparently, the copper IUD got a bad rap back in the 1970s when there was a defective brand that caused pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).  The current risk of PID is very low, however, and the IUD should be discussed more often (in my opinion) as a potential form of birth control.  What makes the copper IUD amazing is that I don’t have to take hormones to prevent pregnancy, I don’t have to remember to do anything ever and it lasts for 10 years!  Incase you didn’t know about this, ladies, now you do.  If you want further information about the copper IUD, click here.

After reading all about the copper IUD online, I decided it was the best option for me.  Knowing that I would most likely not be able ask the gynecologist all of my questions regarding the IUD, I read extensively about it.  After reading as much as I could, I described what I wanted to my female co-teacher and after consulting with another co-worker, they decided what I was describing is called the “loop” procedure in Korea.  My co-teacher told me where there was a gynecologist and I went the next day after work. 

Confident that the gynecologist and I would be able to figure out what I wanted without sharing a language, I went alone.  Luckily, my doctor was even able to speak enough English to give me some counseling about the procedure.  After discussing the “loop” procedure for a few minutes, she instructed me to go into the next room to be examined.  The exam chair had a curtain around it but it stopped about a meter from the floor, leaving my lower half exposed as I changed.  It was odd to me, but I just went with it.  I then put on the cloth skirt that replaces the paper gown we wear in the US (how unwasteful!!).  While the doctor examined me, the curtain remained between us so we could not see each other.  This was strange to me and I imagine it could be uncomfortable for some women who are used to being able to see and talk to the doctor throughout the examination.  I wasn’t really bothered by it. 

I was told that everything looked good and we could go ahead and insert the IUD.  I explained to her that I would come back in a week.  Incase it was overwhelmingly painful for me, I wanted to have it inserted before a weekend during which I had nothing planned; so, I made an appointment for a week later and had the procedure.  The whole procedure literally took 60 seconds and while it was painful, it wasn’t unbearably so.  I paid 120,000 KRW (roughly $110) and was on my way.  I spent the next day or two feeling very crampy and bloated and am happy as a clam 2 weeks later.  I now have an extremely effective form of non-hormonal birth control that requires no maintenance for the next 10 years.  I am happy!

Ok Korea, it's your turn

I have been in Korea for almost seven months and have been blogging in Korea for about four months; however, I have hardly posted anything about Korea.   I suppose that I struggle to post about Korea because I have not really felt welcomed into the culture here.  I was spoiled in Georgia by their generous hospitality and not receiving the same treatment here made me sour.  Most of the other ex-Georgian English teachers that are here share similar sentiments.  I should not have let my experiences with another culture affect my experience with Korea and have decided to renew my attitude since returning from my (amazing) South African holiday.  So, move over memories of Georgia, it’s time for Korea. 

Korea is a country with convenience stores conveniently located on every convenient corner.  From my apartment there are about six convenient stores within five convenient minutes walking distance.  They are all conveniently open 24/7.

No shoes indoors!  This includes schools and office buildings too.  When I show up to work, I take off my outdoor shoes and put on my school shoes, which are pool sandals or slippers, depending on the season. 

Poop.  The relationship Koreans have with excrement is reminiscent of the hilarious relationship I had with poo as a child.  On one family vacation, during an excruciatingly long drive out west, my siblings and I entertained ourselves by constructing a clay bathroom.  This included a man squatting over the toilet with toilet paper stuck to his butt and poo in the toilet (when it came to toilets, we were detail oriented children).  The Koreans have taken it to the next level with the establishment of a toilet-themed park that looks extremely similar to the clay mold we made as kids.  Luke, Emily and Jacob, how much would we have loved this when we were kids?  Here is the Google image search of the Suwon Toilet Park.  Still interested?  You can play this game where you shoot hands up a butt while trying to dodge falling poo.

Toilet seat building

Rice.  You cannot escape the rice.  It is served with every single school lunch and when I don’t eat a lot of it I sense my co-workers discussing why I haven’t eaten all of my rice.

I love Korean food.  It’s nice and spicy with lots of flavours.  More to come on this…

I haven’t lived in the USA since 2010 and am sure that smartphone use is up to par with Korea, but I’ll still mention the rampant use of smartphones.  It was a culture shock from the moment I got off the plane in Seoul where I saw 8 out of every 10 people on their phones mere seconds after departing from the aircraft.  They are ubiquitous. 

Korean dessert gets two giant thumbs down from me.  They try to pass bland rice cakes as dessert.  They should take the sugar out of everything else and put it into their desserts instead; I would much rather have savory chips and a sweet dessert than slightly sweet chips and slightly sweet desserts. 

Packaging.  If you buy crackers or cookies, they will undoubtedly be packed in a plastic tray and every group of 4-6 crackers or each cookie will also be individually wrapped.  Usually, zucchini at the supermarket is individually wrapped, as are eggplant and cucumbers.

Korea is home to a line of bullet trains.  To sit at a station and watch a train zip past at speeds higher than 300 kmh is crazy.  The train is literally just a blur for 5 seconds, and then it’s gone.

I often receive lots of stares when I cross the street in Korea.  Why?  Because I don’t wait for the green man to tell me when to cross.  If there are no cars coming from any direction (the whole intersection empty), I cross the street (as would you, probably), none of my fellow Korean pedestrians do so, however.  They wait and wait and wait for that green man to tell them to cross.  Similarly, in my experience, handicapped stalls in bathrooms are not used by the non-handicapped.  There can be a line of 10 people with no handicapped people in sight and the handicapped stalls remain unused.  If I gotta go, I don’t hesitate to use them, despite the stares I receive.  The phrase “rules are made to be broken” does not apply in Korea.

Masculinity is not the same here as it is in the USA.  I have always joked that it is better to be a woman in American culture because we have more “freedom” with our clothing style and choices.  Women don’t generally get judged for wearing certain colors of clothing and our closets are much more versatile than a man’s closet.  In Korea, that joke wouldn’t stand.  Men have as much “freedom” with their clothing choices.  Men continuously cross the line between masculine and feminine we have in the States.  Skinny jeans, scarves, makeup, “girl” colors, jeans tucked into boots, everything you might associate with feminine dress if you are from the States, is worn by men here.

Well, there you have it, my 2 cents on bits of Korean culture.

Elaine's Long Flight Travel Tips

I have only flown domestically a handful of times and I have never flown somewhere internationally that could be reached in just one flight.  I almost feel like an expert on flights with 25+ hours of total travel time.  What follows are little things I have picked up that help me cope with all of my long haul traveling.

1. Bring a sleeping bag.  If you have a sleeping bag that packs up to be really small, take it with you on the plane as a pillow.  When you pull it out of its case you have a huge and malleable pillow that covers the painful armrest while still working as a pillow for your head.  The sleeping bag also works well for long layovers; if you can find a place to layout, you have a pillow/blanket at your disposal.

2. Request a window seat.  A sleeping bag is best utilized when you have a wall to lean your head against.

3. Become comfortable jumping over people if you take the window seat.  When I use the toilet, I just jump over the person in the aisle; they always seem a bit taken aback but relived at the same time.

4. Travel with someone you feel comfortable snuggling with.  Put up the armrest between your seats and move around and snuggle up on each other.  For me, it works best to have a giant man with me who doesn’t mind if I sprawl my legs on him to sleep.  I have slept up to 4 hours straight using this method.

5. Bring a bottle to fill up with water before you get on the plane.  Airlines warn you to drink plenty of water during long flights; however, each time a fight attendant gives you water, it amounts to about one gulp.   Unless you want to constantly be asking for water, have some of your own.

6. Bring your own headphones to use with the inflight entertainment system.  Although international flights give complementary headphones they are of the cheapest quality.

7. Request a vegetarian meal when purchasing your ticket.  Special needs meals are served first so you’ll be chewing away while all of the other chumps are salivating.

8. While the plane is boarding, keep tabs on where there are empty seats and the moment it seems that boarding has finished, pounce on the best seat possible.  Twice, I have had a full 4-seat row to myself and many other times at least 2 seats to myself. (If you requested a vegetarian meal, make sure to tell a flight attendant you changed seats.)

9. Have extra clothes not just in the case of lost luggage but also because during a long haul flight you begin to feel gross; it’s nice to be able to put something fresh on between long flights.

10. If the airport offers showers take one during a layover.  Even if you forgot tip #9 and you are putting on the same clothes, it feels refreshing. (Dubai International is the only airport I have seen showers so if you want to experience an airport shower, fly through there.)

11. Take the complementary items from the plane.  The toothbrushes are great for traveling and if you smuggle out a pillow, it works perfectly for backpacking.  Blankets are nice for picnics.

12. Bring chapstick and lotion because airplanes can be very dry environments.

13. Fly through Dhoa International on Qatar Airways during Ramadan.  They offer a free curry feast during your layover (if it's after sunset).