Open Door Policy

There are many things you have to learn to forgo when living in a foreign country....but I never thought that privacy would be one of those things. Over the past year and a bit we've really learned to take ourselves lightly.
When we first got here we had to do a medical check to prove that we were fit and not diseased. We went from station to station checking eyesight, weight/height, hearing, blood test and even an xray. Our boss came with us every step of the way. And when the results came back they went straight to him and whoever else happened to be in the office. All this seemed to be standard procedure.
Our boss also has a key to our apartment and occasionally comes to fix something at our apartment while we are at school. It is strange to come home after a days work and realize someone has been in your house.
Also, when we receive packages from home, there is usually a declaration paper on top saying what is in the package. Our boss makes sure to read that as I think he's curious as to what we might be getting from the US.
This past week our AC wasn't working properly. We told our boss and he tried to fix it but to no avail. He called a repairman but the only time the repairman could come was while we were at work on Friday. Our boss said he could go and meet the repairman at our apartment....this was probably for the best as we don't speak much Korean. :) Jordan started late on Friday and as he was leaving our boss showed up with the repairman. As Jordan opened the door a little wider to let them in two little heads popped around the door. Our boss said "oh, these are my students" as though it were perfectly normal he was bringing them along to see the foreigners house. :)
All these things and more remind us to hold our privacy loosely. It also makes us stop and think that maybe it's not all that important anyway....just a little embarrassing at times. Our boss shows up in a lot of these examples but really he's fantastic and incredibly helpful whenever we have an issue we need help with. There's just a different way of doing things in Korea. :)