I looked up at the NBC tower across from Michigan Avenue. This is where the office of the Korean consulate was located in 1998. I came to get my visa to work in Korea as an English teacher. I entered the office and it was empty. Very people in Chicago were interested in working in Korea at that time. But I have my visa and was all set. I got into the elevator and a man with a business suit was in the elevator already. He looked at which floor I got in on and he looked at me and said, “Are you going to South Korea?” I told him about the job I to teach English to children and how I was looking forward to it. He just said one short sentence:
“Make sure they pay you in American dollars.”
The company I signed with agreed to pay the airfare for a one-way ticket from Chicago to Seoul. They agreed to pay a monthly salary of about 2 million won but besides that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. South Korea was in a desperate IMF situation and had to pay back the loan and follow IMF’s reformations. I wondered what kind of country I was getting myself into this time. The economy class seats back then were a little cushier and a little wider than they are these days but there were no screens in the seats. The inflight movie was shown through a projector. I spent most of the flight listening to classical music and then classic rock and then read my Korean phrase book. Back then I didn’t even have an mp3 player to listen to my own music.
I transferred planes at Narita and in the morning landed at Kimpo International airport. This was a small airport that had a quaint feeling. But at that time this was Korea’s largest and busiest airport. On the plane they had given us arrival cards to fill out. I carefully wrote the address of the Language Institute I had contracted with. They said they will come out and meet me at the arrival section of the airport. After going through immigration and customs and changing some dollars to Korean won I ended up at the arrival section with my two bags. This was all I had. Basically, it was a few pair of clothes and a Bible. I put these bags on a cart and looked for the person who was supposed to meet me.
I met some outgoing taxi driver. Some of them had broken English and some of them didn’t. All of them were persistent.
“I am taxi. Where you go?”
That lady from the English Academy was no where in site. She didn’t give me directions how to get there or where to stay. This was getting very tiresome. My eyes were red and bloodshot from the plane. I had to sit down. There was a little waiting area for arrivals with some benches and there were some pay phones in the corner. Back then very few people had cell phones. I looked at the pay phones. I had the English Academy telephone number. I thought I would give it a shot. The problem was the phone only took change and the lowest bill I had said 1,000 Korean won. I really didn’t know how much this pretty money was worth. Some was green and some was blue and some was pink. I could definitely use a coffee but there was no one around selling coffee. There was however a small box with a guy selling dried squid and canned coffee. I thought,
“What the heck? As long as I’m in Korea I might as well be Korean.”
I gave him some bills and got a 500 won coin. I put this in the phone booth and called English Academy. At that time I couldn’t understand a word of Korean. All I knew was from my friend Baik. He said,
“‘Baik’ means 100 and ‘Ku’ means 9. That will help you buy most things.”
“Oh yeah and, ‘Gamsahamnida’. Just say that and people are happy to help you.”
The Academy secretary picked up the phone. I have no idea what she said. She is the niece of the Academy owner and she doesn’t really speak English. I tried to explain to her my situation the best I could,
“I am English teacher. I am at the Airport. You come here. Please help me. Where do I go? Ms Lee said she would be here. Ms. Lee is not here.”
All I get is a empty sound and then,
“Just moment”
Then I hear this Korean kids song music and I am on hold. I wait for a few minutes and then there is only a dial tone. The call was dropped. I call back and say the same thing.
This time the secretary says,
“You wait. We come.”
If she said get on the subway and find the academy or take a taxi that would be no problem, but here I was waiting in the airport arrival area with taxi drivers staring me down like I was a piece of meat. I just went to a corner and started reading. Two hours later a middle aged lady came up to me with a rose in her hand.
“Hello, English teacher. Sorry to keep you waiting. I am Ms. Lee.”
She showed me to the place I was supposed to stay. It was my own room with a bed and a desk, but it was missing something. I said,
“Where’s the bathroom?”
She said,
“Down the hall. Everything is there.”
The bathroom was shared. There was no proper shower in the bathroom. There was just a hose. The other hose was connected to the washing machine. Of course, there was no dry and the bathroom floor was seldom dry. Everything just drained together down the hole. This is where I would stay for one year.
The next day I was invited to Ms. Lee’s house for dinner. There family is from the south Eastern part of Korea and enjoy spicy seafood. I don’t know why they did this. Probably they wanted to share their culture with me but I had just come fresh off the plane. They gave me seafood in a spicy soup. It tasted like I was eating fire from hell. They asked me how is it. I said it was great. They said,
“Have some more”
They kept saying,
“Have some more.”
They also had fermented whole crabs served on dishes at the table. They said this was very special food. I picked at it but it looked like a raw crab. How was I supposed to eat a raw crab? I’m from the Midwest where there is no sea. I could barely handle chop sticks let alone this. Then Ms. Lee noticed I couldn’t eat the crab. She said,
“Don’t be silly. Just pick it up with your chop sticks and suck the meat out like this. SLURP.”
She just sucked the raw fermented crab meat right out of the shell.
I didn’t want to offend them. I took everything they gave me. I was brought up with manners not to refuse food and clean my plate. It seems that they were brought up with manners not to stop offering food. My stomach was burning. What made things even more uncomfortable was that we were all sitting on the floor and my spot on the floor was burning hot. If I touched it I think I would have scalded my hand. Korea has a floor heating system and it was December. Later I found that the guest of honor is told to sit on the warmest spot in the house. This was my seat and I was squirming.
Ms. Lee and her family seemed to endlessly ask me if I want some more and seemed to be so happy that I liked Korean food. There was a strong military looking gentlemen at the other end of the table. He mostly laughed and drank soju. Later I learned that this is the man who owns the academy. He is also Ms. Lee’s uncle. Apparently, he likes to watch foreign teachers choke down hot peppers.
Whatever pain I went through that evening could not compare to the pain I had the next morning after all those peppers and seafood went through my system. It was so painful that I soon figured out why the shower is only a hose. I was really disgusted with living in Korea and only one day had passed. How is it that I have stayed here for almost a quarter of a century? It’s getting close to the half way point. This is the point that I can that more of my life was actually lived in Korea than America. This is shocking that the same scared kid who landed not knowing where to go has his own house with an American bath, a garden and a growing family. I couldn’t have planned it better. But I will always remember the pain of that first 24 hours.
Perhaps it is those pains in the beginning that let us know it is worth it all.