My Year in Korea

In 2002 I sold my house on three acres of land north of Jolietville, Indiana and moved to Cheonan, Korea. I left a fantastic job teaching geography to sixth graders in a small town and accepted a teaching job at an English academy in a city of nearly 500,000. There were a few aspects I found challenging during my time in Korea; however, I clearly see how living there prepared me for my 13 years in China. I learned a great deal during my year in Korea and have much good to say about the country. Below are seven random facts about this year's Olympic hosts.

1. I always enjoyed telling others that South Korea is approximately the same size as Indiana but has a significantly larger population (51 million compared to less than 7 million for Indiana).

2. Did you know South Korea is home to a lot of companies we're fond of including Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and Kia? I wasn't familiar with LG until moving to Korea but noticed Best Buy selling LG products in the summer of 2003.

3. 30% of South Koreans claim to be Christian, and Korea is the second largest missionary sending country in the world (behind the U.S.). At night you can see tons of church buildings with neon red crosses.

4. South Korea takes education seriously and is a top ten nation in math, reading, and science. My oldest students left the academy after 9 PM.

5. Like in Japan, bowing is often done when saying hi, bye, and thank you. My students often greeted me and said goodbye with a bow.

6. Some Korean food is super spicy and can cause you to visit the bathroom in the middle of the night. My favorite Korean dishes are of the nonspicy variety - galbi (marinated short ribs) and bulgogi (marinated beef).

7. Generally, those under 30 knew I was American, but older folk often mistook me as Korean. I could ride my bike and have students yell hello at me or be shopping at e-mart and be greeted with anyoung haseyo.

Megan and her parents paid me a fun visit shortly before I left Korea.