Aly in Korea

I wanted to pass along an expat blog I’ve been following lately — Aly Young’s Wandering Seoul. Of special interest to anyone who’s curious about life as an English teacher overseas, Aly’s blog is a great read. Beyond teaching, however, it’s a nice glimpse into the travels and expat experiences of a thoughtful sojourner in Korea. I first met Aly at a Kansas Vagabonding signing, when she was just beginning to consider a move to Korea, so it’s been fun to read about her experiences with culture shock, beef-flavored caramel, the kindness of strangers, the DMZ between South and North Korea, Zen meditation, and teaching very cute kids. Her entry about a co-teacher who got fired for being gay (scroll down to an entry called “The Sickness”) is an interesting peek into the idiosyncrasies of another culture. And it’s interesting to see Aly encounter the intricacies of using another language, as evidenced by this entry:

Some Korean friends taught me how to say (among other things) “crazy” in Korean, which I found out is a very offensive term after I used it in conversation with some of my older students. The English words “crazy” and “silly” were banned from our vocabulary at school a few weeks ago because of the Korean translation into “insane” and “stupid”. I use these words a lot in class and now I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying them, even though most of my students comprehend that I’m not calling them retards or sociopaths.

More of Aly’s entries here.