To Grow a Rock

There is a saying in Asia, “Watch the rock grow.” Knowing this saying is integral to understanding the culture. For many westerners, the saying may be confusing because, after all, a rock does not grow.

Watching a rock grow means learning patience, as well as finding peace. You will learn patience by watching something that will not change, and find peace by learning patience.

There are many frustrations when it comes to moving to another country. Firstly, you are displacing yourself from something that you have known your entire life. Secondly, many of the cultures around the world are different from the one that you are used to. This usually leads to culture shock.

Culture shock comes in many different forms and affects every person differently. As much as I try to say that I am immune to culture shock, I am not. For example, I often times find myself frustrated in certain situations, a common symptom of culture shock.

Korean culture can come as a great shock to many westerners. Everything is done very last minute, and rarely is anything ever set in stone. Plans are made the day before or day of, and deadlines of contracts are almost never met. For instance, as I mentioned earlier in this blog, I was informed 1 week before I came to Korea that I had nowhere to live. In the west, this delay of notification would be unacceptable, but in Korea, it’s the norm, there is nothing wrong with informing someone of something last minute, even if it’s as important as telling someone that they have nowhere to live.

Other frustrations come from the general lack of organization. I had great difficulty registering for classes because everything was full and they weren’t letting any exchange students (who are the last to register) into any full classes like they previously had. I realized that when I got upset over this, that things change—nothing will every stay the same.

I fully realized that when I had to go to the immigration office to apply for my alien registration card. Having been through the process once before, I made sure that I had all the proper forms with me, the exact same forms that I had brought with me the time before. After waiting in line for 2 ½ hours, I approached the desk only for the receptionist to tell me that one of my forms was wrong and that for a D-2 visa (student visa), a Certificate of Admission was no longer the proper form, and I now had to have a Certificate of Enrollment. “Sorry,” she said. “Just come back another time.” This meant that I would have to come back, miss my classes again, and wait in yet another long line. I wanted to cry, but one must learn patience to accept things as they are.

If something doesn’t happen in just the way you want it to, like you don’t get the classes that you want, or you’re frustrated that you have to walk everywhere. Stop. Take a moment. Find a rock and watch it grow.

Know that nothing will go as expected. Be prepared for what will or will not happen. Don’t get frustrated when things don’t go as planned. Learn to be fluid. Like a plant in a stream—bend with the current of the water.

Mission Impossible: One Week to Find an Apartment

I’m about to go on the adventure called finding an apartment. My application for the dormitories got rejected and now I have less than a week to find a place to live. Let the fun begin!

Now there are many off campus housing options for Korea University. There’s Crimson House which many foreigners like, but I wouldn’t be able to stand it because there is no kitchen. The others include Allive Livingtel and a few others with kitchens. Now these would be great, but sadly, their websites are in Korean and I doubt that the landlords, if I call them, speak English. Since I don’t speak enough Korean to reserve a room or have a translator help me, those options are unavailable to me.

This leads me to taking to Google! First I look for One Rooms (원룸), and I find a few but the key deposit (which is not returned) is too high, so it takes those out of the picture.

Next I search expat forums, like iaminkorea.com. I find many people looking for roommates but most of the apartments are too far or I don’t meet the requirements. I even find a few that would be free to me as long as I act as an English tutor to the owner’s children. I find this move to be a little too risky and don’t know how they will treat me or how many hours the father wants me to put in, so these are all out.

I’m beginning to get frustrated because I can’t find anywhere close enough to where I live, but then I remember—craigslist. I go onto craigslist to the South Korean section and find many people looking for roommates. I find a few that are appealing. There are several in the area of Hongdae, which is a great part of Seoul, but the negative is that it’s 40 minutes by subway away from Korea University. Also, if I miss last train, then I would have to pay about $7-$10 to get home. The deals on the rooms though are great, so I’ll keep these apartments on the backburners.

My next mission is goshipages.com, which is usually a pretty great place to find affordable housing near the university, but since I'm so close to school starting, all the goshiwons are full. 

After a few hours of searching though, I finally find a place that is relatively close to Korea University, and has the amenities that I require (bed, kitchen, laundry machine, ect.). The other plus is that I would have a large window and room all to myself. The place is big and I’ll be sharing the apartment with 3-4 other girls. Korea University is only 15 minutes away by bus and subway so it’s out of the way, but close enough. The residents in the apartment also go to Kyung Hee University, a top university in Korea. I figure that this will give me a great experience because not only will I interact with students at Korea University, but at Kyung Hee University as well. The room is a little more than I want to pay, but there are so many positives with this one room, that I’ll just bite the bullet and take it. I don’t think that I’ll find a better place.