Finding the Beach!!!

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. It was around twelve degrees during the late morning and I put on a sweatshirt and decided to find the beach. During the past few days, I have had no idea where I actually was on a map, and because of the intense language barrier, I haven’t been able to ask anyone for an address or business card.

I was told by some friends that the beach was in the ‘general left’ direction, so I set out with my ipod and walked. After a while I saw it!!! I was on an elevated hill with apartment buildings and down below was my beloved beach. Once I finally arrived, I got this rush of happiness, firstly because ever since I began thinking about Korea, I’ve been dreaming of the beach and secondly, because I have a horrible sense of direction, so finding it was a huge sense of accomplishment for me.

There’s a beautiful costal walk leading up to the beach and there are little work out stations dispersed along it. This reminded me of the costal walk Mel and I did often while in Australia. Many of the Koreans wore the ‘germ masks’ while walking but I began to think that perhaps that’s to act as more or a scarf than a germ protector (because almost every person had one on).

When I arrived at the sand there were children flying kites and running around—it made it feel like summer (although it still was a bit chilly). Opposite the sand are many shops and cafes. I decided to go into a Duncan Donuts because I thought I’d have a better chance of having someone who can speak a bit of English serve me. As I sat down, I discovered there was an internet signal, so I had a lovely Skype conversation with my friend Marci. It was really good to touch base with Kitchener again—even though it’s only been a few days, I feel like I’m learning and experiencing so much that home does feel like a million miles away.

I finished my beach adventure by stopping off at a little street vendor that sold dumplings. I just wanted a little snack so I asked for two… well this meant two orders and so I was given 22 dumplings to eat! Clearly there is still quite a bit of a language barrier but my fridge is now well stocked. (I also found a little cafe called Mutti's... reminded me of mum!)

Later that evening I got together with a friend from work named Amy. She invited me to a small fajita party where I met quite a few really nice people. We have plans to get together later this week as well. I am so thankful that I am meeting such wonderful people—I really feel blessed that I have met friends who go out of their way to help me get adjusted and introduce me to other foreigners. It would be very lonely if I was just on my own.

---- Sunday----

This morning was Sunday, and Amy invited me to attend church with her. The church she attends is a Korean-English church and people were so welcoming. It was a contemporary service and I knew many of the songs.

After service, they have a coffee and muffin get together and I was able to meet the pastor and other people. Everyone was very nice and made efforts to introduce themselves to me. Although there are a lot of Koreans, there were also a large number of foreigners from all over the world. It’s interesting to be in a place that is so multicultural and with so much energy.

Today I bought a subway pass—I’ve been getting more familiar with the Subway and find it very easy to use. Considering the amount of traffic in Korea, the subway is a much better and cheaper option.

Tonight I’m getting together with some girls and we’re going to see the Vagina Monologues. I’ve seen it back in Waterloo, but I’m interested to see the Korean version.

Missing everyone at home!!

Slurping up the Specialties

Friday was my first and only day of observing classes and learning the in’s and out’s of teaching English. The kids are absolutely adorable--- initially, I thought I’d prefer to teach the older kids (ages 12-14), however I’ve now requested to be put with the young ones because they make me laugh. For the most part, they seem well behaved and they’re incredibly smart. The kids who come here for English classes are learning basically the same English lessons that Kids back home are learning in their Native Tongue Curriculum.

Most kids in the school have English names instead of their regular Korean names—this makes it much easier for the English teachers to address them, and also fits well with the concept of an English Language School (Kids are not permitted to speak any Korean in the classes, so it’s fitting that they address one another in English names). Most of the names are chosen by the mothers and some are really funny- a girl named David, a boy named Jessica, a boy named Tiger… there’s also Joon, Peach, and a tone of Sally’s.

Once classes finished at 9:30, everyone finished up their paperwork (I observed) and then we headed out for a very cultural dinner party. We have three teachers leaving to go back to the US, so it was a goodbye party for them and a welcome party for me (another teacher from Canada will be arriving in about a week).

The menu for this dinner included many first time dishes for me. As Busan is the fourth largest seaport in the world, they have an abundance of fresh seafood. Tonight we were feasting on fresh oysters (yes, I had one, and almost gagged!) also a smoked fish that was pretty good, some type of seaweed soup, and of course, OCTOPUS!!! The entire restaurant was filled with tanks holding octopus—they were fairly large, a little bigger than the size of my hand. The octopus was brought to the table fully intact, and then the server chopped off the heads and took them away. The rest of the body was then cut into small pieces and dipped into a yellow sauce. It was surprisingly tasty—sort of like calamari, but without the stringiness—it had a thick texture, and you could feel the suction cups in your mouth.

The entire meal was eaten on the floor with cushions. My Korean boss was very concerned that it would be uncomfortable for the North American teachers (especially the females) but it was not that bad. In traditional Korean style, there were not individual plates, rather everything was put on the table in small dishes and people just used their chopsticks to pick up food and eat it.

Another significant aspect of this meal was the drinking… Koreans are big drinkers. There was endless amounts of beer and Soju. Typically I am not a beer drinker, but I was sitting right across from my boss, and he was constantly filling my glass. Drinking the Soju was a first time experience for me. Because I had not done it before, I had to take the first shot as everyone cheered me on--- not bad! It was much smoother than I expected, but was quite strong. The taste was not overpowering but had a lingering aftertaste of rubbing alcohol. I later discovered that it was quite drinkable when mixed with the beer.

At the end of the meal, the servers returned with the octopus heads in small dishes. They were cut into small pieces and were said to be the delicacy of Korean dining. Interestingly, as they were cut, the ink from the octopus began leaking out and pooled in the bottom of the dish. Throughout the whole meal, I had tried to keep an open mind about the experience, but this pushed my limits. Although everyone said it was tasty, I decided to refrain from trying it myself—it was just a little too much. I’ll have to save some experiences for later in the year!

Interesting observations:

• · It is very rude and extremely frowned upon to eat or drink in the streets of Korea (because 50yrs ago people were very poor and could not always afford to eat/drink) however people spit in the street. Yesterday I was walking and an old lady horked right beside me into a gutter… gross!

• · Koreans have heating that comes from the floors—it is so nice to get out of bed in the morning and have a toasty floor for your feet to walk on J

• · Koreans are hugely respectful people—the younger generations are constantly bowing and showing signs of respect to the older ones—it’s nice to see

• · Bath towels are the size of a face cloth—I don’t know how that’s supposed to do the job… I’m just glad I brought one from home

• Koreans don't use liquid soap in public restrooms... only a bar of soap. Every time I use it, I can hear my sister Amy in my head "I'm sure this isn't very sanitary". There's lots of adjusting to be done!

Missing everyone terribly!!

The Journey to Busan, South Korea

On Feb 22, after a busy day with an interview at the Korean Consulate and a delicious family dinner in Toronto, I said goodbye to my family and left to board my flight to Seoul.

Luckily, as I walked into the waiting area, I found a married couple (Ross and Nicole) that I had met earlier that day, who were on the same flight as me. They were kind enough to keep me company as we waited to board. This turned out to be a very helpful situation, as they had already taught in Korea for one year, and were heading back for another. They offered me much advice and wisdom which will help me in future weeks (AND helped me with my collecting my very heavy luggage!).

Walking onto the plane, I was dreading the 13 ½ hrs ahead of boredom. On a positive note, because I had to pay extra for my excessively heavy luggage, I was able to negotiate a seat change for myself into the emergency exit row, which had endless amounts of extra legroom (this did make a world of difference).

The plane was almost entirely packed but I was pleased to find an empty seat beside me. At the end of my row was a Korean man in his late twenties. I later learned that he had almost perfect English and has travelled to many parts of the world. He was extremely good to talk to because he gave me ‘the do’s and don’ts of Korea’ and made the time pass by a little faster.

Apart from the fact that my double dose of Gravol AND sleeping pills did not work to help me sleep, the flight was very good. I flew with Korean Air--- they have excellent customer service. They offered slippers, toothbrushes and paste, cool towels, hot towels, multiple beverages, wine with dinner, and even edible plane food (that’s very rare in my books).

When the flight landed in Seoul, I met back up with my friends Ross and Nicole and we waited for 5 and a half hours to board the next flight to Busan. It was a pleasant surprise walking into the airport and finding Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robins--- I was expecting everything to be foreign.

The flight to Busan went quickly and I said goodbye to my new friends and hello to my new boss. After a slightly awkward introduction (I didn’t know who he was), my boss told me that I can call him by his Catholic name, Joseph. He was very friendly and took me to both campuses of the school for a small tour. I hadn’t expected this, because by now I had been travelling for over twenty hours and was not as ‘fresh’ as I normally would like to be. None the less, I was pleased to see that both campuses of the school (elementary and middle) are well kept and very modern.

Joseph took me out for a delicious lunch of ‘Knife Noodle Soup’ and then took me back to my accommodation. This was a bit of a shock as I had been told that I would have an apartment set up for me--- apparently my apartment was not ready yet, so I was taken to a hotel near the school. Normally this would have been fine, but I thought I was being smart while packing and sucked everything into those vacuum space bags. Well now that I’ve opened them in the hotel, I don’t have a hope of shoving everything back in to my suitcases to move into the apartment in five days. Oh well--- I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

During the rest of the day, I cleaned up, had a nap and then returned to the school to meet my fellow teachers. They are all very nice and helpful--- I watched a couple of classes and then decided to return to my hotel to get an early night’s sleep. Classes at the school run from 2-10pm, so they’re later nights than a regular 9-5 job, but the kids have public school during the day.