Oh, Canada

After months abroad, coming back to your own country can be an amazing feeling. You've come home to your family and friends, homely comforts and soon enough you'll be back to the daily grind. Some though, have quite a difficult time getting used to what was once instinctive in their home life. Some call it reverse culture shock, others call it reality, no matter what you want to call it, there is no question that coming home after a significant time away, can have its challenges too. Here is a list of 9 encounters that you may struggle with after the hugs, kisses of loved ones have subsided...

1. Nothing has changed: You've experienced so much. You feel different, your life feels different, and surely this is not simply internal. The world must be a different place! Wrong. Your hometown has stayed exactly the same as you left it, and they like it that way.

2. You can drink the water: After living in a country where the water can be hazardous to drink, remembering how lucky you are to live somewhere where water everywhere is drinkable and, infact, good for you, can take a few days to sink in. That's when you realize how lucky we really are.

3. The economic situation still sucks: You've lived under a rock for the past few months, holding onto outdated economic predictions that this financial drought would be over by the time you returned home. But you've come home only to realise that it will still be a struggle to find yourself that dream job, and you will be back to serving tables before you know it.

4. You can speak to everyone again: The language you know is the language everyone speaks in your home country, which means you can finally talk to everyone again! Coffee shop baristas, taxi drivers, and bus drivers, beware - this girl has been longing for interactions and she's out and about and ready to chat!

5. Tipping: Servers hate foreigners for this, and, once being a server, so did I. But I finally get it. Tipping is hard to remember to do when you haven't done it. You mean I have to put more down then the bill asks me for? Huh?

6. People actually follow traffic laws: After spending months somewhere were traffic lights and stop signs are simply a suggestion, it's shockingly difficult to remember that jaywalking is, in fact, illegal, and others aren't comfortable doing it.

7. Google maps is my friend again: Because of Korea's hidden alleys, winding roads, odd street names and random clusters of apartment buildings, Google maps could rarely give you door to door instructions. Instead you'd have to look up lengthy walking directions from subway exits or just have someone meet you at the station. What a pleasure Google maps is to have in your back pocket once again. Goodbye organization, hello reliance on technology!

8. Garbage cans: Korea has an odd garbage collection system where some sort of infrastructure picks up random smelly garbage piles from every corner, but garbage cans are few and far between. Being back in Canada, garbage cans are so plentiful, how anyone can even imagine litering is beyond me.

9. It smells so good: Canada's wide open spaces, beautiful mountains and plentiful greenery makes our country smell so fresh and fantastic. Take a breath, doesn't that fresh air smell amazing?

There can be difficulties to coming home, but being away can also remind you of all those small things we forget to appreciate about our home, that makes it such a very special place. So drink the water, breath the air, and put a smile on your face. This country rocks.

Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?

There are some things that you don't realize how much you appreciate until you go somewhere completely foreign, and stumble upon that comforting feeling of 'home'. You may not be home at all. You may still be far, far away. This feeling came to me for the first time in my 3.5 weeks of being in Korea, on the eve of Passover, at the Chabad of Korea.

The Chabad of Korea

As I walked into a room filled with over 70 strange, smiling faces, wishing each other a 'Chag Samearch', I felt almost as comfortable as walking into my Bubby's living room. The worldliness of the evening's guests should not come as a shocker, as most Jews in Korea come from somewhere else: America, France, Israel, and so much more. We were of different ages, of different races, and all in Korea for different reasons, all brought together under one roof. All brought together solely because we are Jewish. And despite the vast differences that spanned the room, the evening was filled with such connection, as strangers sat together, singing the same songs, having memorized the verses, all knowing the same tunes. Complaining together about the length of the evening and all equally accepting of each others devotion, or non-devotion, to the religion.

As the rabbi worded quite well, It is not the matzoh that makes a seder, it is not the wine (although, that doesn't hurt), it is the people who, despite their differing lives, are brought together not just at the Chabad of Korea, but around the world to celebrate a chag samearch: a happy holiday. This 6 hour long night filled with everything from the rabbi's lengthy speech, to the overdrawn Dayenu, to the mediocre gefilte fish and the nasally whines of those around me, brought such a feeling of comfort, and reminded me that Judaism really is special, and I am really lucky to be a part of it.

Chag Samearch!

What's in an Age?

Age: We have measured ourselves in age literally, since the day we we born. Our parents based landmarks on it. We celebrated our coming of ages in many different ways, from Bar Mitzvahs, Sweet 16s, learning to drive, drinking legally, and so much more. This was a number that, up until this trip, I assumed was simply universal. Well, my friends, I thought wrong. Here in Korea, age is measured differently. I, for example jumped from the easy and simple age of 24 right into the ripe old age of 26 as quickly as a 12 hour flight (talk about a quarter-life crisis!).

Now you're probably thinking "Huh?! This doesn't make sense? The earth doesn't rotate around the sun any faster in Asia...Or at least I didn't think it did..." Well, don't worry, you are not crazy. I will explain how this age thing works.

 Firstly, everyone pops out of the womb at the age of 1. Why waste any time counting those measly months?!

Secondly, although individual birthdays are recognized, nobody actually changes age until the lunar New Year where everyone changes age at the same time.

 Make sense?

Well it's true and it's crazy. This means that, layered on top of the ridiculous expectations schools in Korea are putting on their young children to learn, these young kids are in fact 2 years younger than my Western brain thought. So, the 6 and 7 year olds that I have been teaching are actually 5 and 6? My brain is about to explode.

On top of this, age is a really important defining factor in Korea, and the term 'respecting one's elders' is an understatement. There are seats in every subway car designated for elders and this is taken extremely seriously. You could be in the most packed subway ever, hardly breathing, while that section remained empty, just in case an Ahjumma (Korean older woman) strolled on in.

This has an interesting affect in the workplace, where younger employees will not criticize an employer even if their work and ideas are horrible. A story floats around that there was once a Korean Air flight that was in trouble, and, although the younger co-pilot knew how to solve the issue, out of respect for his older pilot, didn't speak up, and the plane crashed. Now they only hire co-pilots who are older than their pilots.

This age thing isn't all weird and bad though. It also makes for very strong family bonds, creates respect for elders in one's life like your teachers (me!), and people who hold authority. It even helps limits the country's crime rate.

...But age is just a number...Right?

Of Greasy Hair, Bomb Shelters and Screaming Children

Noksapyeong Station: my nearest subway stop

My first couple of weeks have been quite a whirlwind as I've been trying to settle into this foreign land called South Korea. From new grocery store brands, to crazy traffic, to peculiar smells and so much more, the world I once lived in has been turned upside down.

My morning bus ride takes me from my comfortable neighbourhood of Kyugnidan, Itaewon, an area dense in foreigners like myself, meaning easy access to late night pizza, a weekly wing deal, and some pretty fantastic coffee, where I travel over the beautiful Hann River into Seocho. Although I realized the air quality over here was going to be much poorer than the beautifully fresh air I was taking advantage of in Canada, the clear evidence of it's effects are impossible to ignore, as smog wades like low clouds each morning, surrounding the city, and causing me some fast-acting hair grease...and we all know how I feel about hair washing. This though, is apparently at it's worse now, in the spring. C'mon summer!

Now you are probably all reading this just waiting for me to get to the juicy goods. Is it the spice factor of the kimchi you are wondering about? Oh no, maybe its how often I hear Gagnam Style? Ohh, you're probably wondering how I feel about the whole North Korea - South Korea situation? Yeah, that whole thang.... Well, despite the fact that each subway station doubles as bomb shelter, (Oh, by the way, Toronto, have you seen Seoul's subway system?! It is sparkly clean, HUGE and plays beautiful birds calls while you wait. TTC, you should be comparatively ashamed.)  and has vending machines filled with gas masks, nobody seems to be worried about it. They are all going about their everyday business, because apparently something along these lines happens every single year...so, although when I ask people about it, they say they are a little bit concerned, there is nothing even close to feeling alarmed.

I could really continue this post forever, but I'll end it by talking about my experience at my school. I work in a Montessori type school in Seocho. Seocho is a wealthy area that lies just south of my apartment. from 9:40am - 2:30pm I teach kindergarten students who are learning English for the first time. It is quite the challenge. In the afternoon from about 2:30pm - 4:30pm I teach afternoon classes. Each afternoon class is 1 hour long and these children's abilities range based on class. The school is called High/Scope Korea, and there are about 10 High/Scope schools across the world. The school's philosophy is based on much of Jean Piaget's research in childhood development and says children learn best in a social setting where children have the opportunity to choose materials, use their own ideas and choose who they want to interact with and how. Basically, it is one of the only schools in Korea that promotes individuality. The philosophy itself is great, the implementation of the philosophy I am still questioning. As I get more used to making creative, interactive and choice filled lesson plans, it is getting easier, and this second week has been easier then the first. But if you have any ideas you'd like to share, send them on over.

In the meantime, TGIF! Enjoy a weekend filled with green beer and leprechauns. Cheers!