Korea in Vanuatu

Disclaimer: I haven't actually met any Koreans in Vanuatu; these are all just random things that I have observed here.

I have a growing list of countries that I have an interest in and feel connected to. I like to follow the news of these countries (although that has been a lot harder since being in Vanuatu), meet people from those countries, and chat with people who have been to the same places that I have. When in Korea I was surprised and glad to see a plaque reading "Gamorjoba" (hello in Georgian) on the sidewalk in a foreigner populated area of Seoul. After spending two years in Korea, I am obviously interested in things related to Korea, so here are a few random things related to Korea that I've found in Vanuatu.

-KOICA in Epau
In one of the training villages, there is a garden near the school which has a sign that says it was a joint effort with KOICA. KOICA is a Korean governmental aid agency that is in many countries around the world

-Clothes donated in Sunai
In another training village, I was surprised to see a box with Korean writing on a woman's porch. I asked where the box came from, and she said that a Korean women's group had donated clothes to be sold cheaply as a fundraiser.

-Subtitles on the TV in the motel
During a stay in Port Vila, the hotel room had a TV with a USB stick filled with movies. My roommate and I chose a movie, and as it started playing, Korean subtitles came on the screen. I was pleasantly surprised that I could still read them!

-Ramen
I had never really eaten ramen before I went to Korea, but it is pretty much impossible to live there without eating it at least occasionally. I was happy to see my favorite Korean ramen being sold in the big grocery store in Port Vila. I bought a few packages to bring to Ambae, feeling weird but satisfied as I ate Korean ramen while looking out onto the Vanuatu landscape.

-Korean Embassy
I saw this weird sign in Port Vila. The Kia Motors dealership is the honorary Korean Embassy? I don't really understand it, but it makes me chuckle.

-Boy who died
To end on a more sobering note, during my first week on Ambae a teenage boy died while working on a Korean fishing boat.

2 Years in Korea

The past 5 years continued...

While in Georgia I met many people who had taught in Korea previously and I also had a cousin there, so I applied to the EPIK program. After a month in Buffalo, I was ready to head to Korea in August of 2013. I lived in Gwangju, a city of 1.5 million people about a 3.5 hour bus ride south of Seoul. There is a national park (Mudeung) on the east edge of Gwangju- near where I lived- which was a great escape when the city felt too crowded. I taught at 2 elementary schools, both which were walking distance from my apartment. It was a great life! I was able to save money even while often travelling around the country on weekends and abroad on vacations.

Teaching in Korea was interesting, and my situations were quite different at both schools. Altogether, I had over 300 students a year so it was difficult to get to know everyone. Luckily I had a group of 30 students at 1 school for the entire 2 years multiple times a week, so I grew close and was able to do a lot of fun things with them. I also did 7 weeks total of camps (2 weeks of overnight camp, 5 weeks of day camp) which were some of the best teaching times there!

I tried to see as much as I could of Korea while I was there. Some of my favorite trips were to Seoul (often, to visit my cousin), some islands, and the mountains. Actually it's hard to say "my favorite" trips around Korea because really every trip I took-either with people or alone-was great. There's a lot to see around Korea and it is really easy to get around with their public transportation. I was very sad to take Greyhound when I got back to the US after riding on Korean buses for 2 years. 

Around Korea 

During school vacations I took trips to Cambodia, Taiwan, Japan, and China. Prior to coming to Korea, I had very little interest in East or South Asia. (And, well, before I went to Georgia I had little interest in Eastern Europe). I think a lot of that was ignorance- I had no idea of the diversity of cultures and food between and within the countries. I also thought of it as so foreign until I internalized that people are people and cities are cities and schools are schools no matter where you are. In college I never would have imagined that I'd spend time living in Asia. I don't know if I'll ever make it back to Korea, but more of Asia is definitely on my list.