One More Day!

I leave tomorrow night for Korea, folks, this is it! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive about the whole thing, but I think I'm decently prepared for the shift. I've also been waiting here in LA for long enough without anything to do, and when I'm not working or going to school, I tend to get very antsy and moody. What can I say, my momma taught me a solid work ethic!

I'm not sure if I fully outlined my arrival to Korea since I've been asked about it more than once, so here's the deal: I arrive in Seoul on Sunday around noon. My company has a hotel room reserved and paid for (sweet!), so I'll be zipping over there and most likely just sleeping for the rest of the day. The next day (Monday, the 19th), I start training in Seoul at the school's headquarters along with all the other new teachers. After 5 days of that, I'll leave on Friday the 23rd for Busan, where I'll meet up with a person from my school that will show me my new apartment. Then, after a weekend of getting situated, I start work on the 26th.

In preparation for the trip, I finally went out and picked up a travel guide, which I plan on reading fully on the trip over. I also contemplated picking up a book on etiquette, but instead sat and read it with a coffee. I love looking over all the little idiosyncrasies that each cultural has in regards to what is considers appropriate; it's something you never realize until you go to a foreign place. I also did it in homage to Jake for his dogged following of protocol; without him, I'd never have known that in parties of 6 or more, you aren't required to wait for everyone to get their food before you eat! Here are a few things I learned after reading up on Korean etiquette:

-When passing something to someone, you should never do so with your left hand.
-Never pour drinks for yourself, but instead everyone at the table should offer to pour drinks for everyone else.
-Always wait for the elderly to do things first: sit, eat, drink, etc.
-Don't jam your chopsticks into your rice bowl or place them parallel across the bowl.
-Avoid the number "4", since the word for "4" in Korean is similar to the word for "death".
-Something less common now, it used to be the case that people on buses that were sitting down would hold the bags of people standing as a courtesy.
-And, last but not least, NEVER PAT A KOREAN ON THE HEAD!! I heard from Jim's boss that this is because of the belief that spirits enter and/or leave from the top of the head, so you're not supposed to disrupt that. But I'm more curious about which culture does this normally enough that they felt the need to write it down. Or maybe that'll be my first impulse off the plane; good thing I know to stifle it! Thanks, book!