Reflections: Month 2

Well guys, it happened- I've reached my second anniversary of being in Korea! Woot Woot! 

This was a pretty good month. There were no break downs in grocery stores, I didn't get stared at too much, my students stopped touching my hair, and my co-workers seem a bit more accepting of me. 

Here's what I learned this month: 

Koreans are obsessed with fire safety! For real, I have never seen so many fire extinguishers in my life. They are everywhere- on buses, in buildings, on the side of the road! And in the subways they have these emergency masks just in case there is a fire. 

This all very great, and you would think because of this Korea is the land of safety, but it's not. Which brings me to my next point: vehicular safety. That pretty much does not exist! I have seen toddlers sitting on their mother's lap on car rides. I've seen kids standing up in cars. Seat belts are apparently optional here. There's no 'click it or ticket' law here! And speaking of vehicular safety- can I just talk about the moped delivery men! Holy cow! The way these men drive- I am so surprised I haven't seen anyone crash. They drive like freaking maniacs. I know their job is to deliver food as fast as possible, but I didn't think it was a life or death type of situation. 

In terms of work things are going really well. After I gave my co-workers a Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) gift, our relationships have gotten better. They still don't invite me to lunch, which is sad, but at the same time I think it would be really hard to communicate in this setting. None of them speak English well enough to carry on a full conversation, and I don't speak any Korean. So no lunch dates, but they friendlier to me. My students are good and I am enjoying being in the teaching groove again. Although I am starting to hate the phrase listen and repeat! My students are a lot better than so of Matt's students. He has this one class of girls that apparently don't like him. They call him stupid and ugly. We are coming up with a plan to make this class a little better. So send your positive thoughts and if you have any suggestions please leave your comments! 

In other news, I used my first squatty potty and lived to tell the tale! Haha- it wasn't that dramatic, but it was a challenge. I was wearing a maxi dress and I was so paranoid my dress would slip and I would have to ride home with pee on me. I am actually surprised it took me two months to experience the squatty potty... I may or may not have been avoiding subway bathrooms for this very reason. All the restrooms in Suwon are more Western because the city prides itself on its public bathrooms. 

{Don't you love that I took a picture of the squatty potty was about to use.} 

As I end this monthly reflection, I want to talk about something Matt and I have discussed multiple times: Attitude. 

It would be so easy to become bitter here in Korea. It really would- maybe not at month two, but further down the road. We've seen it happen on some of the forums we are a part of- people being bitter. But we chose to move to Korea to have an adventure. We chose this! We were not forced to move. So bitterness is not an option. As an expat, we have to always be conscious of our behaviors and our feelings. Whenever I start to feel a bit angry that there is no "Mexican" cheese for my dang quesadillas or that I don't know where to find certain ingredients to make a dish I want- I just think of why we are here. We wanted a different experience and boy oh boy are we getting one! And that is fantastic! Month two was better than my month one in Korea, and for me that is awesome. 

Now here is my goal for month three- study Korean. I have been so darn bad about this. I have Rosetta Stone, and I have audio books to use on my bus ride, but I have not been dedicated to studying. I have slept in too much, or gotten too involved in Hulu, or The Mortal Instruments to study Korean. But when I read Mallory's second Crossing Mountains post I was encouraged to keep at my studies. So that is what I am going to do- study study study. My goal is know 30 new vocabulary words and 5 new phrases for the month! (That might sound easy but when a simple word like hello is annyeonghaseyo and thank you is gamsahabnida plus it's actually written as 감사합니다 - then I think 30 is a sound goal!) 

Here's to an even better month three. 

{Month One Reflection can be found here.}