I Survived 1 Week


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Asia » South Korea » Gwangju
March 6th 2010
Published: March 9th 2010
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So I've been in South Korea for a week now and finally have a little bit of time to write about my adventures so far.
I arrived in Seoul at 3:30am last Saturday morning, because of the time change, I did not get a Friday last week. Being greatly sleep-deprived due to an approximately 11 year old boy kicking my seat for 13 hours I went through immigration only to find out the flight attendants had neglected to give most of the foreigners on the plane the correct entry documents, always fun :-) Once I made it through there and got my bags (nothing was lost or damaged...excellent!) I eventually found my way to the bus stop and after much staring and walking in circles figured out the ticket desk opened at 5:40 am and my bus would leave at 6:50am. Little did I know this would be the last time for the week I would see any foreigners or see anyone who spoke fluent English. Once on the bus I got a front row seat after being kicked out of a middle seat not knowing the tickets has seat numbers on them, no biggie, and I think I had the
Scary RonaldScary RonaldScary Ronald

I promise more pics next entry!!
best seat on the bus once I found my place. So for about 4 hours we made our way to Gwangju, falling asleep a couple of times due to now being awake for approximately 36 hours straight and watching the Canadian women's curling which was turned off on the last end as we pulled into Gwangju - darn. Once I arrived at the bus terminal I found the telephones and after some trial and error was able to phone my ride, only to be tapped on the shoulder by the director of my school and his wife while on the phone with the man who was supposed to pick me up. So off I go with them, we put my bags in the car and he asked if I liked Korean food, I said yes I'll eat anything, and he proceeded to take me to Popeye's lol, and ordered me more food than I could possibly eat in a week - little did I know this would only be the beginning of WAYYY too much food being forced upon me at every meal thereafter. For the rest of that day they continued to alternate between telling my I'm beautiful and asking if I was sick - so I either look sick or beautiful - great lol. We then made our way to his house because I found out my apartment was not yet rented, and was told I would have to stay with them for about 2 or 3 days. After relaxing for a few hours, watching the Olympics in Korean and taking a shower we went to a traditional Korean restaurant which was a duck barbecue. I don't believe I'd eaten duck before but it was DELICIOUS. Traditional Korean barbecue is very similar to the Thai barbecue in which you are provided with the raw meat, and in the centre of the table there is a bowl in the table with hot coals, a chimney coming from the ceiling above and a convex shaped grill over the coals. We were also served barbecue flavored kitchen cooked duck and given several bowls of what appeared to be multiple types of lettuce leaves or spinach. In addition there were more bowls than I can count of various toppings such as bean paste, chili paste, roasted garlic, sesame or something of that nature, and more. As well as a supply of Kimchi - which they thought would be too spicy for me - wrong - and baked sweet and white potatoes - yum. To eat this meal, you take a lettuce leave, a different kind of lettuce leaf or some other leaf I can't recall the name of but was kind of shaped like a spade and a rich green colour, place a piece of cooked duck in the middle and add whatever toppings you choose, wrap it and eat it in one bite, and repeat with different toppings and arrangements. Of course I am in Korea so there was also Soju aplenty. As promised I will explain why I have not taken many, or really any, pictures so far. Basically, being immersed into this Korean family and trying not to come across like I'm putting them on display, as well as desiring to simply absorb the moment and enjoy the experiences I have not taken my camera out nor chosen to sit down to a nice meal with them only to pull out my camera and start snapping. Mind you they probably wouldn't mind but to me it seemed inappropriate in the circumstances. However, I promise to go on a photo shoot very soon. Day 2 began with a Korean breakfast, rice, potato-ham-and-carrot julienned dish, scrambled eggs with chili powder (I think), soup, and more. Most of which was very good. My chopstick skills are greatly lacking but I'm working on it and getting better. After breakfast and getting cleaned up we went out to find my apartment - yay only 1 day at the family home - not a bad place or people but I need my own space and place. After wandering around a few areas and driving around for a couple of hours we finally found a location that had 3 apartments available, we chose the third option as it was the cleanest - seems almost brand new - and had the nicest view, although all 3 were very similar. I then asked about having the place furnished and was given a strange look so once we returned home I showed him the contract which lists the items they are required to supply me with and he was more than happy to oblige. After a very Korean lunch of cold soup, kimbap (I think), and much more (I think they are trying to fatten me up to eat me, they keep telling me I'm very thin and look much thinner than my picture, and every meal they try to feed me more than 3 obese women could possibly eat in a week) we began moving into my apartment - Yay! After dropping my bags and most of the furnishings at the place and being taught to use the fancy key pad door lock system as well as given rough translations of all the buttons on the thermostat, washing machine, toaster, air conditioner etc. we walked around my neighbourhood and they showed me the bank and how to use the machine - we picked one that has an English option thank god - and the grocery store, the drug store, a hair salon, and a few other locations we went for a "practice" ride of the bus route to and from the academy so I wouldn't wind up completely lost. After a week, I still count the 3 turns to and from school but I'm starting to get a sense of the route now and have only come close to missing my stop home once. That evening I was taken to the directors (English name - James, his wife - Isabella, and sons Chris and Justin) parents home to share a meal with the 6 of them as well as his brother and sister-in-law. This meal was similar to the duck barbecue except this time with 3 layer pork they call sam-gyup-sal. Everyone knows my love of bacon so this was excellent. There was also crab - no go for me but looked good, what appeared to be a barbecued fish - also served at a previous breakfast and I tried it both times and don't like it - and some various other bowls of soup and rice like things. Once again, the Soju ran aplenty and his mother kept talking to me in Korean not realizing I had no idea what she was saying at first and once she did she would make some various motions and laugh and James would simply tell me she says I'm beautiful - I suspect that's not exactly what she was saying but I'll take it lol, they were all very kind. After dinner I was taken grocery shopping for breakfast - although without a fridge until this past Thursday that was a little bit challenging. I was then dropped off at my apartment and left to my own devices until the following evening. Day 3 I woke up at 6am to watch the Men's Gold Medal game - totally worth it - and spent most of the day organizing and unpacking until the family came over at about 5 or 6pm with several boxes of chicken wings, pizza with sweet potato on top, pickled radish and sweet pickles, Soju, beer, and Coke for the kids, and we shared this on my floor - excellent way, if not a traditional Canadian way to celebrate a big hockey win :-) Day 4 - Tuesday - was my first day of work. Despite having a new student show up half way through my class JUST as I had finished teaching the material to the other students the day went quite well. Asking for materials has been somewhat of a challenge but I think well timed and polite persistence will be the key to solving that issue. The students were relatively well behaved, for 8-14 year olds that is. But I AM writing this after my second day of week 2, today being the first day I have taught the same students for the second time and WOW what a change - I don't think anyone learned anything today except "SHHHHH" "LISTEN" "SIT DOWN" and "BE QUIET". Hopefully tomorrow will go better!!! Anyways, I digress, back to last week, I learned who some of the trouble makers will be but otherwise things went well and I'm starting to find my feet in this whole teaching things, slowly but surely. Friday I went out for skewer food and drinks with James, Isabella, their son Justin and Pono. A good time was had by all and I taught them the words "Thousand Island salad dressing" - seems to be the most popular in this country, and "pigs in a blanket" - very exciting lol. Saturday was the best day of the week, I took a cab to Sangmu (another part of town) to visit Meaghan and Shawn from Guelph and to meet the other foreign teachers from their school - about 15 of them, we played drinking games, drank lots of beer and soju, went to McD's and a good time was had by all. Until, however, my cab driver got lost bringing me home at 4:30am and dropped me off on a small street in the wrong place, luckily though once I found my way to the main road I found I was only a few blocks from home based on my knowledge of the bus stops and was able to make it to my apartment safely and easily from there. Sunday was a lazy day, didn't even leave the apartment - but it's nice and clean now :-) Would write more but you'll all have to wait for my week 2 report later this week :-)

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