-Naive TaLK Applicant, October 2010.
Welcome to Muju. Where Paris Baguette (Like a Cobs Bread, but way way better) is where all the hip young adults hang out to drink coffee. Ok, maybe its too early to say that, but I've walked around at night for the past 3 days, and that place was the busiest I've seen anywhere in town.
It's very different from the Korea I fell in love with. Or rather, different from the metropolitan cities of Korea that I fell in love with. I must admit though, it is unfair to compare Muju to Seoul. But I've lived a month in cities here in Korea, and maybe this is the culture shock that Orientation was talking about. There should have been a lecture on dealing with small towns. Not mind-mapping. This part of Korea would be the hard loving. The love that is the nitty-gritty where you realize that everything isn't perfect. Seoul would be the superficial love. I loved the night-life. I loved the busy-ness of it. And now, I have to learn to love the quiet. In any case, Muju is a place that I have to get used to. After all, I'm spending another 5 months here. (possibly 10...)
First impressions? Frustrating might be too harsh of a word for the first few days. Shocking? Uncomfortable? Maybe. It was a shock when I came to Muju and my housing had not been finalized. It was a shock when I realized that I couldn't even settle in to a place since I would be moving out at the end of the month again. It was a bigger shock when I realized that I would have no appliances. It was both shocking and uncomfortable when I realized that I would be sleeping on a mat till...my school orders my bed.
On a lighter note, It was a relief when my mentor teacher told me that this was what she experienced coming out of Teacher's College at Jeonju University. Not in the sadistic way of "Ha ha, you suffered!" But more of, this is a rough step that some teachers are both lucky and unlucky enough to endure. I've gotta give props to my mentor teacher though. This is her first time with TaLK, and she's been nothing but helpful. She tries to get the other teachers to hang out with me, although they are more afraid of the language barrier between us than my mentor teacher. She likes to share her experiences with teaching with me, and she's incredible. She told me when she had to hike a mountain just to get to the bus stop since there was no highway connecting this town before. While she was pregnant. Mad dedication to teaching there.
Although the past couple of days have been a bit rough, there is nothing like writing to put things into perspective. It's not as bad as I make it out to be. I have to stop bitching via Facebook status updates. It's only the first 3 days. So while I've been able to catch up on some dramas that I've been meaning to watch, there is still tons of time for me to meet more of the locals, see more of the town, and experience this place as much as I can. I did sign up for this, I knew what I was getting into, and in all honesty: It was my own arrogance that I believed that everything would go perfectly right away. I haven't even started to teach yet!
Mujujungang. :)
Sidenote: "All By Myself" is playing in the background as I finish up this blog. Way to tell me what I already know, iTunes. Thanks.
Nice find dude. Are you teaching at Muju High School? There's a bit of spring turnover, so there should be 3 or 4 new teachers over the next month or so.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, yeah, there's like a half dozen of us around the Mooj at the moment, although I literally just walked in the door from Japan, so I'm not too sure where everyone is, but we can figure that out. Are you busy tomorrow (Saturday)? We can meet somewhere (I have no phone right now, so we'll have to get creative) and I can see who else is around.
What's your email address? Also, where do you live? Ok, you might not really know enough landmarks yet, but if you're near any big restaurants or shops, I might know the housing (if it's the same place other foreigners have lived in the past). Anyways, we can figure something out for sure.
Hey Jose,
ReplyDeleteI'm Justin, I work with Eddie.
A few of us are going to Daejeon tomorrow afternoon around 4 if you want to join us. We're going bowling.
My email is jml6487@gmail.com and my phone number is 010 9206 2501. If you've gone for a walk around Muju yet, you should have noticed the goofy looking bridge with the white "tusks." If you cross that (heading away from town) and keep going straight you'll cross two intersections and walk up a hill. As you walk up the hill, stay left and cross the parking lot you'll see MGEC on the left. You should stop by tomorrow after lunch. I'll probably but up around 1 or 2.
If you need anything let us know, anytime!