Q&A

1. What do you eat, mostly?
I am “very lucky” as the Koreans say to me, to have a boyfriend who loves to cook. For breakfast, we have the normal western meal eggs and bacon or cereal. Koreans usually eat rice and pork or fish for breakfast, if they eat anything at all. That is so weird to me! My co-teacher says she eats Ramen or a banana for breakfast.
I eat lunch for $2.00 in the cafeteria. Always rice and kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage), and some kind of meat or fish. Sometimes we have octopus and noodles. Yuck!
For dinner, we rarely eat beef because it’s expensive but we frequently eat quality pork, chicken, fish and mussels.

1.b I would love to go to the market there and check out the veggies/fruits.
Fruits are very, very expensive. Upwards of $10 for grapes or strawberries. The vegetables are delicious and cheap though! We eat onions, greens, mushrooms, garlic and potatoes almost everyday.

2. Is there chocolate? Coffee?
The assortment of chocolate is pretty much the same as it is in the States. I have a yummy brownie after lunch everyday and it costs about $0.30.
Coffee, however, is so expensive! Last weekend we splurged on a coffee press, grinder and bag of beans. We also have a mini moka pot that makes espresso. Koreans drink a lot of instant coffee; it’s just not the same!

3. Are you suffering from baked goods deprivation?
I can’t bake cookies or casseroles because I have no oven. But the quality of store-bought breads and pastries is amazing! Much better than in the US. There are also many bakeries in Yanggu that have decent breads and coffee.

4. How large/small is your town? Is it like Gainesville/Denton/Fort Worth...?
Comparatively, Koreans say Yanggu is a small town. There are about 35,000 people here. Denton’s population is 113,000, Gainesville is 16,000. Yanggu is really cute and pedestrian friendly. I have to take a bus into town (costs $1) but from there I can get anywhere. Taxis are prevalent and cheap. Click here to see a video tour of Yanggu, South Korea. Start the video at 1:12.
Because of Yanggu’s small size, I see my students everywhere. They yell “Hello Laci teacher!” and chase me down. How about the Korean adults? It takes the adults a while to get used to us (we are like aliens to them.) Because we are so different, anyone who has seen/met us knows who we are. That means our behavior is always important. I have a hard time remembering their names and telling the adults apart if I don’t know them well. But out of 35,000 Yanggulians, I am the ONLY white, blonde girl.

5. How do you do your laundry?
We have our own washing machine for the first time ever as a couple! It’s nice but most people don’t have dryers in Korea so we hang our clothes to dry. It is a luxury that I enjoyed in the States, but dryers use SO much electricity that I think it’s more sustainable to go without them. Though the washing machine works too well, I think my clothes are becoming threadbare!

6. The kids in your class, are they bratty or well behaved? Is working with children a more effective form of birth control than abstinence?
The kids here I would imagine are more well behaved than most. But, kids will be kids no matter what country they are from. Sometime I want to slap them, but most of the time they are so sweet and adorable. Especially the really young ones, they love hugs and snuggles.