Our one month aniversary of being here has come and I feel slightly morose as I think of all of the things that I haven't figured out yet. We're finally settled in to the point that we can get to work, do laundry, enjoy three types of authentic Korean cusine and it's taken us an entire month to get that far.
I think what bothers me the most is the fact that there are so many things that we cannot do by ourselves. For instance, Betty gave us curtains that match our apartment. Muchly appreciated! The problem surfaces when we try to hang these curtains. At the normal store that we visit there are no curtain rods big enough. So we must now find another store that sells curtain rods. Where? I don't know. Now assuming that we do find a curtain rod long enough, a new problem surfaces. All of the walls in our apartment are made out of concrete. We now require a concrete drill. Where do we get a concrete drill - we're still trying to find a curtain rod!!!!!
It's funny because we were so sure that after buying a phrase book we would be ready for anything. The security they lend makes any traveller feel self assured trudging along new paths. Until you try to use it. The thing that you must remeber about phrase books is that it allows you to communicate your ideas in broken and badly accented Korean, but does not allow for the reverse to occur. You can ask as many questions as you want - but you will NEVER understand the answer to your question. Therefore the phrase "Do you sell curtain rods" although it appears as though it is a useful tool accomplishes less than one might have hoped.
Charades, however, has become an art form.
I know what you are asking. You work with Koreans, surely some of them could help you. True. There is one woman, Betty, who has been assigned to helping us. The church that we have found also has memebers that are very pleased to answer questions and the like.
The problem is that we do not wish to kill these individuals with questions. Any given day there are at least 5 questions we need answered. Betty is an extremely busy woman. A simple question such as "where can we buy ant traps" (ants are very comon in Korea) becomes a fantastic ordeal where she must stop what she is working on, rush out of the building and deliver ant traps to us as if our happiness rested soley on this purchase.
It seems as though, in Korea, it is not enough to simply direct questioners to the questioned location. Therefore they have not truely helped us unless they have inconvienced themselves and gone and personally gotten what we require. Due to this unusal 'mother hen' atmosphere, we refrain from asking more than one question a day so as not to give any new found friends heart attacks.
This environment however, maintains our ignorance as we still do not know where to get ant traps and will need to ask for her help again when we run out. Frustratingly circular.