I don’t want to put anyone off today’s blog, but I will warn you now, I am going to be putting my teaching hat on (but hopefully not co-ordinating with my boring pants).

I just thought we’d take a short hop, skip and jump over to the Asian continent and have a look around. Though if you think that’s all it would take to get there, your geography is already well off.  Therefore, let’s start today with a challenge. Don’t get excited, there is no prize. Well, maybe save for the fact that if you get this right I will be super impressed and you will have my respect right from the off.

I want you to grab a map. Online will do, though there will be extra points for those of you who have a paper atlas or globe in your home. The important thing here, don’t cheat and look at the names of countries. I want you to try and locate where I will be going. You have 10 seconds to find South Korea.

Go for it. I’ll wait…

*whistles*

*checks watch*

*thinks about cheese. Just because*

…and stop.

Hands up who found it…. I count two of you. Smarty pants.

If you at least made it to the right hand side of the map, you did well.

If you made it past Vietnam, Cambodia and The Philippines; I’m even more impressed.

For those of you that headed north towards the borders of China and Russia, well, I take my hat off to you. 

And for those of you who didn’t bother at all, look, this is a two-way street and we need to help each other out a little. So let’s try a tad harder in future, eh?

Just for clarification….This is the location of South Korea.

Pretty far away, right? No kidding. From London to Seoul you are looking at approximately 5,500 miles. Every time I look at a map and see exactly how far it is away from home, it takes my breath away a little. I’m continually surprised by the distance and location. A little like when I discovered where Hawaii really is (I’m going to look a total idiot and 100% admit that for the longest time, well, until my early 20’s at least, I thought it was located roughly in the same place as Cuba. No idea why though.)

I thought that today would be a good time to dig out some general facts about South Korea, to give everyone a little bit of a feel for the place, set the scene and all that jazz. Also to maybe assuage some of the worries anyone may have about me travelling to the country mostly due to misunderstandings about its location and culture.

Right, cup of tea and the ready?

Let’s make a start then, shall we?

First, let’s start with stating the obvious, but something that is still a sticking point for some. North and South Korea are two completely separate countries, though admittedly on the same landmass. Yes, they had a war. Yes, technically they are still at war, though in 1953 they called a truce, and it has been largely unproblematic since then. With the exception of some political discussions every now and then, and the fact that the US still maintains a military presence in the county, the average South Korean citizen doesn’t seem to think about the situation all that much. And no, I am not interested in visiting the DMZ (the bit in between the two countries).

Next, Seoul, the capital city of South Korea where I will be spending my first month, is more densely populated than New York City, with approximately 43,000 people per square mile. Having said that, it’s noted to be a very safe city on par with European cities and any type of violent crime is very rare. Often you will find people (including women) exercising in the very late/early hours in the city with no problems. Don’t worry. I don’t jog. And if I am awake at 2am it’s because I am binge watching drama.

Land of the Morning Calm is another name for Korea (a translation from its original kingdom name of Joseon).  It conjures up a tranquil setting; pretty fitting given the Korea is a mountainous country with lots of natural beauty and houses 22 national parks. In fact, 6.7% of the country is protected national park land. Korea is also home to 15 properties on the UNESCO World Heritage List including the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, the historic villages of Hanhoe and Yangdong, Hwaseong Fortress, Changdeokgung Palace complex, and Bulguksa Temple.

For the history buffs amongst us, once upon a time (think 57BC – AD668) what we know as modern day Korea used to be three Kingdoms – Baekje, Goguryeo, and Silla – before eventually merging into the final Joseon dynasty (via battles and overthrowing people of course). The last monarch was King Gojong who abdicated in 1907 when Korea was colonised by Japan.

Korea today is possibly most widely known for its technology and industry; Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, and LG are home brands, and the country has the second fastest mobile internet in the world. However, Korea is making global strides in the cultural stakes with the growth of k-pop, k-drama and film (is there anyone left who hasn’t heard of BTS or Squid Game?) as well as on the culinary front; kimchi and ramen noodles are practically national dietary staples and can now be found easily in supermarkets around the world.  

Some random cultural customs to note – bowing is a common greeting; shoes are removed before going indoors and socks and slippers are worn inside homes (and some restaurants/offices); Hanbok is the traditional Korean clothing and worn for special occasions such as weddings; meals come with banchan, a large variety of side dishes (sometimes up to 8-12 of them); the Korean language is hierarchical, you use different words when speaking depending on the age or importance level of the person; eating with other people is considered important, meals are generally conducted together and seemingly in most cases involve drinking lots of alcohol.

Final things you might be interested to know –age is an important aspect of the culture and therefore it’s not at all unusual to be asked your age when first meeting someone so they can determine how to appropriately speak to you. Alongside this, Korean has its own age system, babies are deemed to be one year old when born, meaning people entering Korea gain a year in age and lose a year when leaving.  Korea is very personal appearance orientated and plastic surgery is huge business, it is not uncommon for young people to be gifted surgeries (especially eyelid surgery) as things like a graduation gift. Workers in Korea have some of the longest working hours in the world – diligence, hard work and humbleness are respected traits in the culture. It’s really no wonder they drink so much….

So there you have it. A very brief flavour of the country I shall be going to. If there is anything else specific you’d like to find out about, let me know. But I am sure we shall learn lots of exciting new things together along the way…beginning in exactly 20 days.

*cue panic*