“Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.”

This was the first weekend in recent history that didn't involve me running myself into exhaustion with travel and adventure.  That isn't to say that I regret travel by any means, and it also does not mean that I didn't have a fair bit of adventure earlier in the week.  This weekend of respite gave me the chance to reflect and think about the blur that has been the past 2 1/2 months.  The chapter in my life that I knew and thrived in had ended, and a new one had begun.  Today, after school I was on the roof of my apartment building having some tea and enjoying the sunset as I realized that it had been a while since I had one of those "OMG I am in Korea" moments.  These moments would come a few times a day during orientation, and then a heavy downpour of them in my first weeks on my own at my apt.  I guess the shock of being in a foreign country and the venerability that accompanies it has worn away steadily as I am forced to deal with the issues that crop up.
The issue that is on the forefront of peoples minds, including myself, would be the language barrier.  This is such a broad thing to try and tackle with any continuity that I am slowly cutting off smaller bits of success and strategy to make it just that much easier to chew.  Learning to read Korean (Hangul) was easier than I had thought, I put it off for a while during orientation but as I found myself staring dumbly at a menu or sign with no translation wishing that I could decipher just anything about it I decided to give it a go.  It was really something that I should have just done and started the learning process to get things rolling.  The sounds and vowels are easy enough, I can now sound out anything with some degree of accuracy... given enough time (what the words actually mean is another issue entirely).  Now I am having these "Eureka!" moments.  Take for instance this situation...  On the walk home from the train station I pass by the same building, no english translation for the building signs.  Seeing how I do a fair bit of walking here in Korea it affords me lots of time to practice my Hangul, street signs, bilboards, advertisements, trash, food stands, and this... 사우나 an "hmm" I thought, "sssaaah.... ooooooo.... ssaahooo...nahhh....sssaahhoonnaaah. Oh.  Sauna.  It's a Sauna.  Sweet".
The long, slow challenge of linking what I read with actual vocabulary knowledge is the road I have ahead of me.  In a bit of cruel irony, this happens to be loosely related to what I am supposed to be doing when I teach, except it is English to Korean and not the other way around.
Travel still requires a bit of planning.  This is a symptom of being without a car, something I took for granted (more or less) for the last 8 years.  However, I don't miss the financial upkeep that comes along with owning a car like insurance, repair, and fuel.  Since public transportation is pretty cheap and convenient to use I don't miss the freedom of having a personal vehicle on tap.  I walk to school, walk to downtown, and walk to the train station.  From the train station I can catch a train without waiting too long to any city (usually Deagu or Gumi), from there I can hop a KTX to Seoul or Busan, or take the subway to the express but terminal and take a bus to any decent sized city not on my train line.  Whatever inchonvieneces might initially be apparent are quickly dispersed by the accessibility and connivence (being a passenger) of a well oiled mass transit system.  This is where planning comes into play, train times are posted online as well as bus times, if I don't anticipate a busy weekend or time of day then I can get stuck with a standing only ticket.  This has happened at one time or another coming back from Daegu, Busan, and Seoul.  Daegu is small potatoes (20 min), Busan was inconvenient (2 hours) and Seoul was a pain in the butt (4 hours).  All these were small reminders that I pay the price not knowing exactly what train I want to catch before all the other people decide on the same train.  Live and learn, then stand up for a while.

Korea is an education, from a study abroad stance it offers the tangible experience of teaching EFL (with all the intangible moments included), as well as the life broadening experience that is sort of a "take as much as you like" style.  I say "take a much as you like" because not every experience is created equal, and rightly so.  Depending on a persons Social Education, ties (emotional baggage) to things an ocean away, and the corresponding degree of openness expressed to the culture as a result yields a rough recipe for the experience in store.  During a meeting before I left Michigan, the lecturer said (to my knowledge this is a quote of a quote), "Expectations are like a reservation with disappointment".  I'm not one to subscribe to something with blind admiration, but there was something inside me that resonated with my ideals.  While it would be easy to create a list of "things I have to do or else" including abc xyz 123 & 789 in that order and completed with snapshots of all the right places.  I left my internal itinerary pretty short and pretty vague.  In a way it is a form of "Ignorance is Bliss", but since it was deliberate can I call it Scholarly Ignorance?
The title quote is from John Dewey, one of my favorite educational philosophers (is it odd that I have favorite ed philosophers?).  Throughout formal education emphasis is put on the knowledge that we gain in the classroom and that it is necessary for our progress through life.  I can't disagree with this, this schooling has played a major role in where I am today and given me the tools to do what I do every day. I will say that I think that there is a social aspect of education that is tossed by the wayside when society focuses so much on the tangible results and neglects the intangible experiences that shape the soul of a person.  For example, while my formal education has given me knowledge of music, teaching, etc. etc. etc. my social education has led me to where I am today (Korea), how I act and interact, and how I view culture and society (throw in humanity too, for good measure).  By my own admission I will say my thoughts and philosophy on this matter are crude and unrefined at best, but I know that it cannot be rushed into completion and time will weather it down to what is most true to me, and that is everything I can expect of a self-philosophy.
This is what kind of thinking and reflection a free weekend affords me.  Although I didn't spend the whole weekend staring out my window drinking tea...
I had been told that there was a Costco in nearby Daegu, if ever I wanted a slice of home it would be found there.  That is what I was told at least.  I was having a craving for Mexican for a while, but for all the chili spice in this country there are very few mexican places to eat.  So I went for it, I guessed that for all the talking that I had done with my friends nobody would ever step up and get a membership.  I took a train to Dongdaegu and rehearsed how I was going to say Costco ga jchoosey-yo to the taxi driver.  It was easier than I thought it would be, within 30 minutes of getting off the train I was staring at a Costco size bag of tortilla chips and salsa, job done Michael, job done.  They have a pretty decent bakery section and are rumored to carry frozen avocados.  I can take two guests when I go, so I can imagine that I'll be going there on a fairly regular basis.
I realize that there were moments in this post that advocated both the importance of planning and going off the cusp.  I realize this and have this to say... I am figuring it out, my traditional educational mind strives for a clear, well defined answer while my socially educated mind wants to mix all the colors together and color outside the lines and make a mess.  Like the Taegeuk in the Korean flag, the ultimate reality is a mix of all things.