2, 3 days

Dear Mother and Father,

Greetings from Korea. I have now been here a whole week, and, while I will spare you the details, I’ll try to give you a fair overview of my experiences thus far. The good news is that I am learning a lot. About communication, about Korean culture and etiquette, and about the language. As you know from my call, I arrived safely.

I have been living in a spare room of Mr. Im’s house. Mr. Im is the Director of the institutes; apparently he is a very wealthy man. His family keeps their home on the 4th floor of a building which is entirely owned by Mr. Im. The other American teacher (his name is Link, parents are German and Brazilian, but there the similarities to our friend from college stop) and myself have been sleeping in a spare room on the roof. This is only until the renovations of the 3rd floor are completed. Because the two Americans previous to us cancelled, Mr. Im did not believe that we were coming ~ so he did not have the flat prepared. On my first night here he told me that it would be ready in “2, 3 days.” He says that every two or three days. But I have personally seen the progress being made, and am confident that we will eventually have a nice apartment.

We have been taking most of our meals with the family (which is Mr. Im, Mrs. Im, mother-in-law, Saeng-Minh [5 years], and Saeng-Jaen [10years]). They have been, without exception, Korean food: bulgogi (broiled beef), kimchi and various other side dishes. I have managed to make a good impression for a number of reasons: I can use chopsticks and am willing to eat (or at least try) everything that is served – I even like kimchi! Also, I manage to come across well because my pronunciation is good (I’m told), and I pick up phrases relatively quickly. So I make a good impression.

Nevertheless, because I don’t speak the language, people tend to believe that I am stupid in general – Link and I have had every attempt to travel on our own thwarted. The reason: We think those Mi-gook are imbeciles who have never ridden a subway before. Soon we will prove that we can travel on our own and then we will be (relatively) free.

How’s work? you ask. Well, I have spent a lot of time in the schools, but I do not start teaching until Monday (because this week has been the annual one-week vacation at Olympiad Institute [where I will be teaching]).

I am learning some Korean, but it goes slow. This is due to a number of factors. Most remarkable among these is the fact that we know many people all of whom are willing to teach us Korean. However, none of them is able to accept that we learn from others. Thus, each is consistently undermining the others. Or else they are repeating things which we have been taught already five times over. I get very frustrated at this, which does not make learning any easier.

I have learned much about the differences in business relations between the “West” and the “East,” both generally and with regards to our specific arrangements through Joseph Park, the Korea Herald and Mr. Im. The short of it is this: Business in the West is conducted by lawyers and consecrated in the contract. Business in the East is conducted by people who personally know one another, and consecrated in the verbal agreement by the strength of a person’s word. The long of it is this: Mr. Park (to whom I hope you have not sent $20) is probably working as an illegal alien in the U.S. (i.e., on a tourist visa), and never speaks personally with the people who ultimately hire his recruits.

[8-5-95; 10:50 am]

The result of all of this lack of communication is that Mr. Im (though having received my contract in the mail) was not aware either of the terms of the contract or the fact that in the West it is considered binding. Nevertheless, after a few days of deliberation Link and I had opportunity to discuss it with Mr. Im and Dr. Kim (the man who met me at the airport). We seem to have reached an understanding on every point so far, with the exception of the 12 days of paid vacation. Dr. Kim says that there is only one week of vacation each year (at Link’s school it was the week we arrived; at my school it has been this past week), but has agreed that we must further discuss the point.

Today we received our ₩240,000 (to defray the costs of relocation), and this has bolstered our confidence in their good faith. Perhaps soon we will be reimbursed for our plane tickets. As always, it seems that in “2, 3 days” more will be made clear. I guess that’s about all I have to day for now. More letters will follow. My address: [redacted] / Sang-Dong / Wommi-ku / Puchen-Si / Kyungki-do / Seoul / Korea. (We are told that it is important to include the slashes in the address). Soon I will send you a copy written in Hangul (characters), which you can then photocopy and use as labels. I hope you are well. Love to all (especially Psilocybone).

Yours, Oomph