Going to sleep that night, I was pretty tired but still happy with the initial impressions of my homestay family.
The next day, I was woken up at 9 AM by my homestay mother, who told me that I did in fact have to go to school that day to meet the other teachers, Vice Principal and Principal. Everyone kept apologizing to me but it really was quite OK since I don’t know what I would have done at home all day. My interaction with the Principal was limited by watching him sign my contact, I met the Vice Principal briefly where I think I screwed up the 인 사. The VP told Sung-a to tell me that I should only speak in English to my students, which I think shouldn’t be a problem at all since my Korean only consists of greetings, food and directions so far. I was also told that I’d have to make a videoconference speech to the school on Monday, introducing myself.
After school ended, Sung-a and I went to Costco. Apparently my Aunt called the school and told them that I needed to go to Costco to buy cereal. Where she’s getting this information is beyond me. First off, I haven’t eaten breakfast in 10 years. Second, I don’t even like cereal. Third, I haven’t spoken to my Aunt in 22 years because of that little language barrier thing. Anyway, we got to Costco, roamed around for a bit and came out with some melon and chocolates for my homestay family. I felt especially bad since it was way out of Sung-a’s way and I knew that I didn’t need anything there.
My family really appreciated the melon and chocolates. They all like sweets except the youngest son, Sang-mook, who partook in the melon instead. The best part of that day was the snack before dinner. My homestay Mother made Poppingsu with her ice crushing machine thing, as well as mini burgers. This combination proved to sit rather uneasily a little later but at the time it was great.
That night, I finally met the homestay Father. He works a lot, reminding me of my own Pops back in the day. After dinner that night, he ordered fried chicken and we drank some beer. I’m not quite sure of the purpose of the fried chicken, but I guess it was to make me more comfortable. Again, he was amazed that I could use chopsticks and eat spicy food. A theme seems to be developing here.
On Saturday, my uncle from Jinju came to visit. He came bearing yams and grapes, which I guess I expected in this food centric society. Since arriving at my homestay, my uncle, aunt and Mom have called repeatedly, which has turned out to be embarrassing for me. I don’t want my homestay family to think that I’m incapable of caring for myself but that is definitely the impression they’ve gotten. I’ve already been asked if I’m a “momma’s boy” which was surprising given their limited English proficiency. Yes, part of the reason I came to Korea was to familiarize myself with a family that I don’t know, but another (larger) part was to engage in some self discovery and I can’t do this if my blood family suffocates me and puts undue pressure on my new homestay family.
Anyway, my uncle, my homestay family and I went to eat at a typical Korean restaurant, spent some time together, I got the typical shocked look when I picked up my chopsticks and ate kim chee. Soon after, he went back to Jinju. He was here for about 6 or 7 hours and it was a good visit.
That night we had spaghetti with tomato sauce for dinner. I’m not sure if they’re Americanizing their diet for me, but I hope that eventually they realize I can eat Korean food. In actuality, I can eat any kind of food. Growing up in a house with a Mom who cannot follow a recipe has forced me to be this way, which isn’t a bad thing, seeing as how my sister is much more picky. I believe that Imo is a fantastic cook, and when she says she isn’t I hope she’s just being modest and doesn’t actually believe that.
This has been a particular long blog post because I haven’t had my own internet access yet, and only use the internet on the family computer. This has made me feel a little awkward so far but they keep telling me not to feel this way. Apparently they’re looking into a wireless router on Monday but we’ll see how that pans out.
Lastly, Imo does laundry every day and told me that she will wash my clothes too. However, the ETAs were told that to give our homestays our soiled undies would be impolite, so I’ve been hoarding my boxers unsure what I’m going to do about them or how I will explain that I want to wash my own clothes. This morning however, Imo asked me if I wear underwear because she hasn’t seen any in the laundry basket. With the help of the dictionary, I explained that we were told it would be impolite and she dismissed these concerns and told me that she doesn’t mind. I hope this is the truth because tomorrow I’m going to have about 5 pairs of underwear in the basket.
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| My room |
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| The fam, minus Young-rae who works long hours as some sort of businessman |
