Stop, drop and roll

Two weeks after arriving in Korea, I was introduced to the very loud, very obnoxious intercom systems I would soon realize would become part of every day life for me here. Over the loud speaker, an announcement was made letting us know someone would soon be visiting our apartment to spray for bugs. Not understanding a word of Korean, when the man came over the intercom and began to explain, I was confused and felt as though I had got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I knew the announcement was for the entire building but the words he was speaking made me feel like I was in trouble. There is something about the Korean language that will do that to you. 

A few minutes later, I got a knock on my door and a woman began speaking to me in Korean. I had absolutely no idea what she was saying and after a few minutes of her yelling things at me, she handed me a pen and motioned for me to sign her clipboard. When I got to school, my co-teachers explained the lady who came by was asking me to sign stating she had sprayed for bugs. 

The intercom announcements at my apartment usually happen once a month. They were annoying at first but I have gotten used to them. Nothing in Korea surprises me anymore. Once, I was studying the book of Hebrews in an outdoor, public park with some people from church and as we were reading the word, over the loud speakers we had no idea where in the park came another random announcement we could not understand. There are speakers everywhere in this country and I have come to expect the random, inconvenient timing of Korean news bulletins. 

Tonight however, I was not expecting it. As I lied in bed trying to get some rest and prepare for another crazy day of teaching, I was awoken by a sound I assumed was a fire alarm. I immediately rose trying to figure out what the foreign noise was. I didn't hear police sirens or fire trucks, there was no movement in the hallways and I didn't smell smoke so I calmed myself and laid back down. 10 minutes later the noise began again. Trying not to freak out as I wondered what was going on, I realized how scary it is to be in a foreign country, in a land of unknowns. In the entire 7 and a half months I have been here, I have never once heard the actual sound of a smoke detector or fire alarm. I have absolutely no idea what an emergency siren of any kind sounds like. 

It's a scary realization to know that if I actually were in danger, I wouldn't know. It made me reflect on all the times I was annoyed hauling children out of the CPS office during a routine fire drill or standing outside in the Texas heat as a child waiting to be allowed back inside the school. You don't realize the small things you take for granted until the fear of the unknown is staring you in the face.