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Published: December 3rd 2017
Hey everyone,
Wow it’s been a while since I’ve posted, sorry about that. So much has happened since I last posted that I’m not even really sure where to start... I guess the most obvious place to start would be that my parents came all the way out to visit me… wow it’s already been four weeks. It’s been longer than I thought since I last posted.
But yes, the parents came to visit me four weeks ago, since I will not be able to go home for Christmas this year. Their trip started out a bit rocky, first with their luggage getting stuck in Beijing due to a delayed flight and subsequent unexpectedly quick layover, and then with us missing the last bus from the airport to Gwangju, meaning we had to ride the subway for about 2 hours to cross Seoul in order to reach the bus terminal. We didn’t end up arriving in Gwangju until about 5 am Monday morning, so it was definitely a long trip to get here. It was fun showing them around and getting to explore more of Gwangju with them while they were here though. We spent the mornings exploring and
Strolling in the 5/18 park
This park is in memory of the May 18th uprising in Gwangju, which is credited as one of the major events leading to the Democratization movement in South Koreahanging out, and then they got to do their own exploring in the afternoons while I was at work. After work, we would meet up for dinner, and just spend the evenings conversing and whatnot. During our explorations, we went to a park near my house, as well as one a bit farther away, and (perhaps most importantly) they bought me a really nice winter coat, which I have already been making good use of. I thought November was pretty cold, but apparently December and January are the coldest months. So thanks again for the coat; it’s definitely the best gift of the year!
Because they came in so late on Sunday, we didn’t have any time to explore Seoul that first weekend (well, except for the subways, haha). So the following weekend was spent in Seoul, which was a lot of fun. Early Saturday morning, we hopped on a bus to Seoul, and spent the afternoon exploring Myeongdong, the beauty district, before catching a cable car up to Seoul Tower, which was really pretty at night. Actually, our hotel room looked right out onto the tower, which was a pretty amazing view. Sunday was a lazy morning for
me, which was really nice, before we went out to get some lunch and got on another bus that brought us from the hotel to the airport (luckily their departure was a lot less exciting then their arrival was). Thank you again for visiting, parents!
The following week began pretty normally, with the return to a work-home-work cycle. However, things got pretty exciting pretty quickly. On Wednesday, I was waiting for the other foreign teacher so we could walk to work together as usual. I waited for about 10 minutes with no sign of her before I started worrying that she had accidentally overslept her alarm, or wasn’t aware of what time it was or something. I sent her a text, and when she didn’t respond, I knocked on her door and rang her doorbell. No answer. I tried calling her cell phone, but was immediately directed to voicemail. Worried, but not wanting to be late for work, I sent her a message letting her know I was going ahead, and left. Once I got to work, I asked one of our Korean coworkers to try calling her, wondering if it was a problem with my phone. She was
also sent directly to voicemail. Finally, it was time for classes to begin, and Mpho still hadn’t arrived, so I went to my class like normal. About ten minutes into class, the boss came in to ask me where Mpho was. I told her I wasn’t sure, and that she hadn’t come to work with me, and that I hadn’t heard from her. After my class I had a bit of a break, so I went to the front, where one of the Korean teachers was talking to the person at the front desk, trying to figure out where Mpho was. We were all worried she had maybe had to go to the hospital and forgotten to tell us, or something had happened to her. The Korean coworkers brought up kidnapping, but that didn’t seem likely, especially since after we had gone grocery shopping the night before, we had returned to the apartments together.
Time between classes that day was mostly spent trying to speculate what might have happened to her or where she might be, until a rumor started floating around that she had been arrested by the police the night before. It turns out that sometime between
returning home from grocery shopping and going to work, the other foreign teacher was arrested and sent to Seoul for detention for having either fake papers or a false visa (that part is still unclear). What we did know was that she was not going to return to the academy or to Gwangju. At this point, I still haven’t heard from her, so I’m not even sure if she’s still in South Korea or if she’s been deported. Regardless, it’s kind of freaky to think that she was taken from the apartment in the middle of the night and that I hadn’t even heard anything at all, even though I live right next door.
So our academy is currently short one foreign teacher, meaning my schedule has gotten a bit crazy. Two weeks in, about half of my classes have been shuffled, so that I am now covering a bunch of Mpho’s classes, so that some of her students still have access to a foreign teacher. They haven’t gotten rid of any of my breaks, which I appreciate, since I tend to spend that time prepping for the next day’s class, and it’s not that difficult to step into
a new class as a foreign teacher, since most of the teaching relies on following the textbooks, which are pretty straightforward.
I am looking forward to the new foreign teacher to come though. Especially since the new foreign teacher will be… wait for it…. Tanya! That’s right, my best friend will be coming to take over for Mpho, which I’m super psyched about. It might sound kind of awful, but Mpho’s departure and the emergency vacancy that needed to be filled ASAP did feel a bit like an opportunity, so I talked to my boss, and mentioned that Tanya had been looking for an English teaching job, and that she was available. The boss told me to have Tanya send her resume over, and ended up liking her, so I will soon be joined by Tanya! Goodby loneliness!
In the meantime, I’ve been spending a lot more time with one of my Korean coworkers hanging out outside of work. We don’t really have a lot of chances to chat during work, but we’ve been meeting up after work and end up chatting until the early hours of the morning. Last weekend, we went out to see the Olympic
torch as it made its way through Gwangju. The performance part of the event was a little underwhelming, but I must say it was cool to see the torch in person, especially since it’s unlikely that I will be in the same city as the Olympic torch ever again. Overall, its been a lot of fun hanging out with her, and I really appreciate her company, especially since I’m basically here by myself for now, and like I mentioned last time, it’s really difficult for me to go out alone. But things are definitely looking up, especially after such a stressful few weeks.
Anyways, that’s all I have for now, thanks for sticking with me through all that.
Until next time!
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Terry May
non-member comment
The Parents
Hi Katie! Well, it took your Dad's birthday party and several margaritas at Rio to get the whole story, but yeah, 'The Parents' tell us they had a great time - especially because they got to see you. As I understand it, your new coat is basically an insulated cocoon with legs and arms to make it look like a coat. It should keep you nice and warm! Now you have to find one for Tanya too. Enjoy, Terry