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 I 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 for 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.