"Congratulations on becoming a correctional officer here in our prison Tiffany. We were so impressed with your determination and strong will that you continuously showed throughout the training process and also your near perfect score on the exams we presented to you...We are sure you're going to be a nice little asset to us here." 

After blood, sweat and tears I was finally here, looking around the white-wash walls of the office belonging to my boss. As I waited for him to finish going through my contract, I scoured the many posters which showed all sorts from the rules and regulations that each prisoner must abide to, to a list of pretty much everything that was thought of as contraband. I squinted to read a few but found what they listed was nothing new to me so returned my attention to the smartly dressed, rather young looking fellow in front of me. 

"Thank you" I smiled and bowed my head, an action that was given as a sign of respect here in Korea. Growing up in America, the rules were of course different and things that are seen as relatively normal there are frowned upon in this country. Moving here was and still is a huge culture shock and I knew it would take a lot of time for me to settle in and get used to how things worked.

I heard about the job through a fellow Korean-American friend that came to Seoul often due to being a journalist. He visited and wrote about the many beautiful places available to the public in all Asian countries and had also done a story on the worst places to end up, this prison being one of them. Anyway long story short, knowing my occupation back in America, he told me about the job opening here and I knew it would be a difficult move and a scary process, but I liked to be challenged. The language barrier wasn't a problem because I grew up with a fully Korean mother who taught me said language while I was also learning English, making me bilingual. 

I had only been to this country previously to complete my interview's and take on the rather lengthy training process for this very job before eventually moving out here. Luckily I already knew what to expect because I was previously a C.O back home in California. It was of course difficult though, doing the 1/4 mile run, the ladder climb, dummy drag, obstacle course...etc etc. Everything had to be completed within a set time which I managed to do just fine though it was rather sad seeing some of the hopefuls struggle. They had worked hard to get so far and then fell at the final hurdle.

After that part of the training was over, it was time for the endless lectures about the inmate's, how to prevent accidents, proficiency in using the weapons provided, the contraband search... Like I said before, I already knew what to expect but something to do with the different systems required me to do it all again. 

"Okay so..." I watched as he went over to a storage locker in the far end of his office and grabbed me the correct sized uniform after looking at the form I had filled out a while ago, giving all my measurements. He placed down the light blue button-up, long-sleeved shirt and black trousers on the desk in front of me before going to another locker. He unlocked that one and took out a belt which would provide and hold the essentials...handcuffs, pepper spray, key holder, flashlight and a radio. He then sat down opposite me once again and took out a CO's badge and my very own name tag from his drawer.

 'T. Hwang'

"Here's everything you'll need Tiffany." He smiled and handed them over, I once again returned it and bowed my head in gratitude.

"Thank you" 

"Okay I wanted to personally make sure you settle in okay so I'll have another officer show you around and bring you up to speed with the happening's and the prisoner's here. I hope you gain a lot from us and I guess....you're all set to go!"

I looked down at the uniform in my lap and then back up, giving him a slight hint as to what I wanted.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, breaking out of what seemed like a daze and motioned towards a restroom in the corner of the office. I got up, and then proceeded to strip myself of my smart clothes once locked in the significantly larger than average toilet. Holding up each item of clothing that had just been given to me, I studied them before giving a smile and pulling it all on. As soon as my belt clipped shut, the noise it made signified the start of a very big adventure ahead of me. With a shaky exhale, I tied up my long, black locks and took one last look in the mirror to ensure my image was proper before exiting the room. I didn't fail to notice my new boss scanning my body with his eyes.

"I'm ready" I said, trying not to sound uncomfortable but it was difficult with the erted look from....what was his name again? A quick glance to the plaque on his desk told me...Nichkhun. He seemed okay, reasonably caring and helpful though I wasn't sure about his behaviour and facial expressions as he looked me up and down.

Thankfully another officer soon joined us but I too saw him look at her flirtatiously until he managed to finally introduce the both of us. "Ah this is Officer Kwon. Yuri meet Tiffany, Tiffany, Yuri."

"Hi nice to meet you" I smiled and bowed, she did the same.

"Okay so Yuri show Tiffany around please. It's lunch hour now so it might be a lot for a newbie to handle alone" he winked. With a great distaste forming for this particular man, I reluctantly bowed towards him before leaving with Yuri. 

Nerves were evident as I took my first steps into my new job, a new place. It wasn't so much the working in the prison that was causing me the jitters because I was used to it, what made me a little tense was the fact it was one - my first time working in such a huge place and two - with completely female prisoner's. 

I had been warned that although we were in Korea, a country that frowns upon anything remotely homoual, there were a lot of lesbian inmate's here which is something I wasn't entirely comfortable with. Growing up a Christian turned me against everything God said was sin in the bible. I'm not one of those kinds of people who were actively going after the LGBT community to force my views upon them though, I was more of the type who kept my thoughts to myself but disagrees in their choices silently unless I was asked to share them.

We walked silently away from his office and once we were out of earshot, she chuckled. "He is the greasiest, most disgusting guy you could ever meet. And...looks like he's taken a liking to you, have fun with that" she teased.

I rolled my eyes as we walked side by side, on our way to who knows where. "I wouldn't look too smug if I were you, he seems rather hooked on you also" I smirked while she groaned, I loved becoming comfortable with new people so easily, it's the best way to make good friends.

"Don't remind me, he's asked me out once and I refused though he still eye- me."

"He's allowed to do that? Date workers I mean" 

"I don't think so, but he does it anyway" she put on an expression that screamed 'kill me now' and I gave a small chuckle in return. I then placed my attention back to where we were heading, I needed to start to become accustomed with my surroundings to know where I'd have to go when I was alone.

As we walked, we passed by a huge line of inmate's waiting to use the three phones that were hooked on the wall. Thankfully they didn't pay much attention to us and talked amongst themselves although some were...feeling each other up quite openly. I tried to contain the dirty look I threw them but think I failed, but again none of them were watching us so it didn't really matter. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

 I don't know what it was about female inmate's but I personally feel like women should be how God wanted us. They should be kind, trustworthy, helpful and innocent...not going to prison for murder and assault. Maybe I was just being stereotypical when I thought that men seemed like the only one's who were, I guess capable of committing crimes like that but it's what I had always believed.

The last prison I worked in had some women but mostly men. There were no surprises there, nothing that made you gasp in shock. When I saw a man who had murdered innocent people, his image covered in tattoos that told of his life in a gang and even his whole way of being just gave off....'murderer'. Whereas with these women, it was a lot harder to tell. Underneath the sweet eyes and petite figure could be this psychotic animal just waiting to pop out, it put me a little bit on edge for sure.

I could never imagine harming a human-being in any way and with a frown on my face, I looked away from those prisoner's. Yuri and I continued to walk leaving the women behind until we arrived at our destination. She opened the two double doors and I