Point of View
On Expectations I
moved to Korea in July 2007 with plans, dreams, and expectations. I would experience the dynamic “soul” of Asia. I would travel extensively. I would embrace my new cultural paradigm: I would eat Korean, speak Korean, maybe even think Korean. I would love my job; after all, what’s better than hanging out with smart kids all the livelong day? But as I sit in my apartment on a July afternoon, watching the rain and wondering how two years could evaporate so quickly, I must admit that I’ve been caught off-guard by much of my experience in Seoul. Some of the surprises have been beautiful, some have been annoying; a few have been downright ugly. But that’s life, I suppose – a sequence of surprises. For me, the first surprise was the food. I read in an outdated travel guide (read: early nineties material) that most restaurants in Korea are small, cash-based, and exotic. I read that they serve various incarnations of fish, squid, and kimchi; that a foreigner might travel an hour for some familiar cuisine, so he’d better learn to like Korean food, and learn quickly. I arrived in Seoul on a steamy July night in 2007, and my host family – a couple from the school where I was to work – offered to take me out for a late dinner. I was exhausted, but I accepted, and so we strolled through downtown Junggye-dong a little after midnight. We walked past a Pizza Hut. We walked past an Outback Steakhouse. I saw Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, a bagel shop, a hot dog place, and a handful of sandwich restaurants. We ended up at Kimbap Cheonguk, that veritable mainstay of latenight dining, and I ate neither fish nor squid but a bowl
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Gwangju News August 2009
of mild ramyeon. I washed it down with a Coke, and wondered if I was really in Korea. Heidi Charlton, an English teacher in northeast Seoul, agrees. “I’m a picky eater,” she said. “I was legitimately worried, when I first came to Korea, that I’d find very little satisfaction in my cuisine; I couldn’t have been more mistaken. I’ve eaten a variety of good foods in Korea: I’ve eaten American classics, middle eastern kebabs, and Indian curries; I’ve found my favorite snack foods, great bottles of wine, and few East Asian delicacies that I genuinely enjoy as well.” Aleithia Burgess, a teacher on Jeju Island, prepares much of her food at her apartment, as foreign restaurants are somewhat sparse there. “I had anticipated that food would be more difficult than it ended up being,” she said. “Sure, anything imported costs an arm and a leg, but with several exceptions, I've been able to find most things that I want.” Food, of course, is only one piece of the intricate Korean puzzle. Western travel guides often describe Korean culture as a bit isolationist, a bit standoffish. In many respects, such a characterization is misleading. Gentry Ferrell taught English in Seoul from 2007-08. She was struck not by the detachment, but by the interest and curiosity of the Korean people she met, particularly in contrast with her experiences in other Asian contexts. “I never expected to field questions about my marital status,” she said. “That was one thing that threw me for a loop. I found Koreans much more solicitous than I expected because of my Japanese experience, so I was surprised by the more common, relaxed, and emotive