Christopher Steubing ETA :: 1998-1999 Changwon High School
Foreigner
I
n the summer of 1998, while the South Korean soccer team was making a surprise showing in the World Cup, I arrived in Seoul with 18 other ETAs. Twenty years old and newly-graduated from college, I began my Fulbright experience with a hunger for learning and adventure. After a few days exploring the capital, we traveled to Chuncheon for a six-week orientation before receiving our teaching assignments. Besides the intensive sessions on Korean language and cultural awareness, our experience was rich with learning through exploring local cuisine, taking taekwondo classes, and reflecting with fellow ETAs. The most valuable lesson I learned during my year in Korea, however, was the experience of living as a foreigner which became much more intense once I left the comfortable confines of the Kangwon University campus and moved in with my host family in Changwon. As a white male from the United States, I am a privileged member of the dominant culture. In South Korea I was an outsider, a foreigner, and adjusting to this new identity was one of the most challenging and valuable experiences of my life. As a foreigner, I often felt excluded. There were times I felt like an outcast; like I didn’t fit in. Cultural practices were strange to me. Much of the food was unrecognizable and smelled funny. Since my language skills were less than stellar, my presence in a room full of work colleagues tended to make others feel un-
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| Fulbright ETA Program 20 years in Korea
