Advertisement
Published: September 9th 2008
Today I had my first full day here in Korea. I was waking up every hour because I was scared I would sleep in and miss my lunch appointment with my school’s owner. So I finally got up at 8am, which was still a full 8 hours of sleep. That wasn’t much considering I had slept very little in the last 24 hours. Well I got up and put all of my things in drawers and got my suit cases out of the middle of the floor. I discovered some things that I was missing and chalked it up to absent minded packing.
I then decided to take a shower. I got ready and went to the bathroom. I didn’t count on not being able to figure out the shower. I’ll post a picture, but basically, it’s a shower head on a hose that you hold and you have to fiddle just right with the sink lever to get it to turn on. Needless to say, I was completely clueless, turning it one way and then the other, pushing it and pulling it and it just wouldn’t work, despite all of the “sweet talking” I was yelling, well, not really
yelling 😉 I gave up and googled it and still couldn’t find any information. Luckily, I heard someone outside, and it happened to be an older Korean lady sweeping the stairs. I got her attention and it was like talking to an alien. She probably thought the same about me. I tried to say “shower” and motion washing my hair and cleaning myself, which in hindsight, she probably thought I had an itch on my scalp and I was doing something dirty. (I’m laughing while I write this because it is still funny to me reliving it!) Anyway, I managed to beckon her to my apartment and then I ran to the bathroom and held the shower head and shrugged. She just laughed and took pity on me. She put it in the sink and messed with the handle on the faucet. Apparently, it was stuck so I’m not completely dumb to their mechanisms. As she was leaving she pointed to the fan and said, “Hot?” and I was thinking, “Yeah, I’m hot! I’m an American - we sweat like no one’s business!” (Note: Koreans sweat very little. That’s why it is important for us to import American deodorant/antiperspirant because
they have expensive “designer” stuff that is worthless. It’s basically perfume for your pits - and you still sweat like mad.) So the nice Korean lady left and I managed to take my shower. AHEM. My COLD shower. We will get to that later.
So I got all ready and was waiting around nervously for Mr. Lee to arrive. It wasn’t until 12:10 or 12:15 that he showed up. (Note: Korean’s idea of punctual ranges from 15 minutes before set time to 15 minutes after set time, give or take.) So I got in his fancy-shmancy car and where did he take me? TGIFriday’s. Yes. TGIFriday’s. (Note: for those of you who were wondering, Koreans also drive on the right side of the road just like in America.)
Let me tell you. I don’t even know where to start. My first car ride in daylight (a.k.a. where I could see) with a Korean. I thought I was going to die. I think in hindsight I would have chosen bungee jumping or sky diving first before getting in a car with a Korean. I believe it would have prepared me more. Koreans can thread a needle with a car,
but they can’t park if their life depended on it - even though most have an extra mirror on the backs of their SUVs. Here are the rules of Korean driving:
Rule 1: Lane lines are just to make the road pretty.
Rule 2: Stoplights are optional.
Rule 3: Sidewalks are fair game if you are a motorcycle or wanting to park.
Rule 4: You can park just about anywhere and do the worst job ever.
Rule 5: If the road is too narrow for two cars to pass, try it anyway and if you are going to hit another car, honk your horn and act like it’s their fault.
So back to John Lee and his Lincoln Continental Yacht equivalent. He was taking me to TGIFridays, of course obeying all of said rules above, and was making small talk while I was peeing (not literally) on his passenger seat. We finally got to Friday’s and his wife calls. Apparently, she is my actual boss and is meeting us for lunch. He mentions on the phone that there is plenty of parking (which of none I actually see). We end up driving his boat down to the basement parking
where there are about 8 spots and 1 empty - right next to a cement wall. I saw it and was like, “No freakin’ way.” But he managed to pull into it, after I had gotten out of the car, of course because there was 3 inches between his door and the SUV next to him. Thankfully, another guy came out and was getting in the SUV and told Mr. Lee to take his spot. What luck!
So we go in the elevator and ride up to Friday’s and seriously it was like the scene out of Office Space when they went to Chotchkie's in the manner in which they were dressed. The girls looked like a cross between Norwegian traditional dress with lots of flair from Chotchkie’s. Mr. Lee looks at me and says, “Just like in America, eh?” and I nervously look around and let out a shaded sarcastic, “Yeah.” So they then proceeded to parade me around the restaurant like I was a horse with 5 legs, and of course I was getting many stares and “Hellos” because they LOVE to say, ahem, yell, “Hello” to foreign white people. We sat down in a booth and
all throughout lunch waiters and waitresses were strolling by sneaking glances as the bizarre creature that just entered their domain. I ordered a chicken sandwich and Mr. Lee ordered some kind of sesame teriyaki chicken (or something). There was a lot of small awkward talk before our food arrived. Once it came, we started eating and in the back of my mind the whole time I was thinking if we should have waited for his wife or if we should wait to eat, but no, we dug in and he forced me to try his chicken. It was actually really good, and if I went back there may be a chance of me getting it. So halfway through my chicken, his wife arrived and they started sharing his chicken. So he ordered another serving. I could barely understand a single word she was saying because not only was it loud in the restaurant, but she also has limited English (not bad, but not fantastic), so she was talking a lot of Korean to Mr. Lee.
Her name turned out to be Mrs. Ahn. In Korea, the women keep their last names, but the children take the father’s name.
Oh yeah, and their last names are first when written. What I got from Mrs. Ahn’s conversation was that I was meeting with another teacher named Joni who would walk me through my classes at 3pm at her house, no - at my house, no - at the school. Yes, that’s what it was like. There was much debate on where we would meet. So finally we decided on the school because that’s where all the materials were located. (Note: Korean thinking versus American thinking is very different. Koreans are more impulsive and details come later. Americans tend to plan before anything happens so that events run smoothly.) So after establishing that we would meet at the school at 3, she left just about as quick as she came. Mr. Lee and I finished our lunches and left without paying. Ummm, yeah. Apparently, he’s a bit of a celebrity here, so he doesn’t get charged for meals when he goes out. At least I think so, or else I owe TGIFriday’s about 7,000 Won.
So after lunch, we go to the elevators and get lost. Yes. Mr. Lee couldn’t find his way to the car, which was in
the garage below the building. We finally find it and then he pulls the car out with a can opener and I get in. Then we can’t get out of the garage because his car is too big to make the swing, so we go out the entrance. As I said before, our traditional rules of driving don’t really apply. Where we were off to next, I had no idea because we had an hour and a half to kill. He ended up showing me some of the sights of the city, including the sleazy “Fox” motel where, “Young men go to have a good time.” We ended up going into the mountains and to a temple. On the way, we passed traditional burial plots which were mounds on the mountain side. There is a picture on the page. Koreans get buried about a meter (roughly 3 feet) below ground and then another meter of earth is piled on top of them in an egg shape.
So we drive through their old traditional houses that look basically like run-down shacks. We drive up the mountain until we get to a little town called Gimje. As soon as we
get into town, a child jumps out in front of the car and we almost hit him. Yes, we almost kill a small boy. I’m sure it won’t be the only time! We then turn down a touristy-market area and drive more up the mountain until we get to a bridge and walk to the ticket window for the temple at Geumsansa. Apparently, we bought tickets to drive up to the temple? I’m not quite sure. We proceed to drive up the mountain and Mr. Lee pulls the car over and says he wants some sweet potatoes. I thought to myself that maybe he wanted some to make for dinner. I was wrong. He got back in the car and split it in half and gave half to me and said, “Eat!” Let me tell you, you don’t say no to a Korean! …because you can’t! They will pester you until you oblige. So I took it, studied it and cautiously bit into it. To my surprise, it was really good. It tasted like a steak fry, but with no fry and very starchy and I needed water ASAP and didn’t have any! Then I noticed Mr. Lee picking something
off the potato and throwing it out the window and later as he walked. Turns out, he was peeling it! I had no idea and ate the peel as well - oops! I was actually not hungry since we just finished lunch so I used that as my excuse for refusing another sweet potato. He on the other hand, ate the remaining 7 by himself.
So anyway, we get there and it’s amazing! There were like 8-10 total buildings that housed many a Buddha. It was built in 599 A.D. and had some fires, but since has been restored. We walk under the entry temple and we see the main temple so we walk there first. There was a Buddhist monk praying before Buddha! Apparently, that is a rare sight and John Lee had never seen it before. He was chanting and bowing, kneeling and using incense. It was just like on TV, but to see it in person was pretty awesome! We walked to the surrounding temples and saw towering gold Buddhas. They were from floor to ceiling and had to be around 60 feet tall! We saw smaller temples with the different kinds of Buddhas. One was
the many armed Buddha and on the ceiling were prayers or intentions attached to lotus flowers. There were bonsai trees everywhere and the architecture was just unbelievable! On our way out, there was a pond with Koi fish and streams ran down both sides of the road/walking path. It was so serene. I think it would be a great place to go to relax and clear your mind. If any of you come to visit, we must go back because it is breathtaking!
So after my experience with Shangri-La, we had to drive back to the city. Jeonju (pron. Jun-Jew, like Fun-Jew) is a big city of 600,000 people and about 9 English speaking foreigners. We arrive at the school and park on the sidewalk. We then walk to the glass doors and go up the elevator to the 3rd floor, but the doors are locked. So we try the 4th floor, but those doors are locked, too. We end up going back down stairs and sitting on newspapers on the stairs to wait for Joni. Mr. Lee then decides to see if I could find my apartment and walk home from the school. I knew exactly where I
was going, but he wanted to make sure. We almost get to my building and another foreign young guy is walking with his garbage. Mr. Lee greets him and it happens to be my neighbor, Tom, from England. He said if I needed anything to just knock on his door. He also let me know that he was taking his food garbage out because in Korea, the food waste must be separated from the other waste. This obviously was a totally different concept from what I’m used to in America.
We then make our way back to the school and at about 3:20 or so, Joni shows up. She is a lady about my mom’s age, maybe a year or two older, with dyed red hair and a healthy laugh. With Joni, we walked out to the 4th floor roof playground and even tried to get in the windows! Finally, we get a call from Mrs. Hong saying that she has been inside the whole time! So we walk up to the 3rd floor and she lets us inside. They show me around the 3rd floor where all of the higher grades are taught (about 3rd through adult) and
then they show me the 4th and 5th floors where the really young ones are taught. They tell me I will be teaching the 4-5 year old Kindergartners in the Cookie classroom. All of the classrooms are named after Sesame Street or Disney characters, so I am in the Cookie Monster classroom at the end of the hall. She then takes me down to the 3rd floor where I will teach my other 4 classes. She also shows me her classroom and explains her routine and says mine would be much like hers. We get out my folders for my afternoon classes and walk through them. At this point, I think I only have the Kinders in the morning and then 4 classes in the afternoon. Although that is half true, it’s not all! I’ll get to that tomorrow! Pretty soon, Joni and I were thinking the same thing, “Listen and I forget, do and I remember.” So we decided to call it quits and go have dinner together since we both didn’t have anyone to eat with. We first stopped at her apartment for an electrical adapter for me to borrow until I get Won and buy my own.
Then we stopped at my apartment and she was finding all sorts of issues with it that I had no idea existed! Luckily she knew what to look for!
Joni asked if I had hot water; I said no. She asked if I knew how to use the washer; I said no. She asked if I had figured out the air conditioner (or aircon as they say here); I said, “I HAVE AIR CONDITIONING?!” Joni looked at me and said, “Duh, it’s in our contract!” She then asked if I had hooked up the TV/cable; I said no. She asked if my internet was working; Finally, I got to say yes! So she went next door and got Tom. He came over and showed me how to get hot water and a heated floor, but I can’t have both. Yeah, for winter heating here, there are no air ducts, it’s a heated floor instead. In the summer there also aren’t any air ducts, it is just an air conditioning unit at the top of the wall by the ceiling, but it works great. Oh yeah, everything is in Celsius. I asked how will I be paying my bills, and
Joni said that the school will take care of it and just take it out of my pay, and if a bill comes, just bring it in and they’ll deal with it.
Joni and I were getting hungry, so we left and started down the road. We didn’t quite know what we wanted, but just something simple. So what did we decide on? The one and only McDonald’s! Yes, I went to McDonald’s in Korea! We get there and they have English subtitles on everything. So what is different at Korean McDonald’s? Well, they have Bulgolgi burgers, Shrimp Burgers, and Shanghai Spicy Chicken, in addition to the regular burgers and Big Mac’s. I ordered a #1 by holding up 1 finger (a cheeseburger meal). Then the girl kept saying, “Set?” … “Set?” and I was shaking my head like, “No, a number 1, huh?” I was so confused and luckily Joni was there and said, “Set means a meal or combo,” and finally I understood and said, “Yes, set.” I wasn’t going to attempt to order a drink or fries separately, but I did order an ice cream cone because it was hot and we had been walking for
a while and built up not only a hunger, but a sweat, too. My meal was 3,500 Won and the ice cream was 500 Won, so that is equal to a little less than $4 now. When dealing with money, I just use the comma as a decimal point and depending on how strong the dollar, subtract a little or add a little. Right now the Won is around 88 to 93 cents to every 1 USD. Thankfully I have Vista on my computer (blasphemy, I know), but I am able to have a currency converter right on my desktop, and I also have a clock with Central time and Seoul time. We got our food and sat down to eat. The drinks aren’t in disposable cups, they’re in plastic that they wash! It is very small on the main level, but you can go up stairs to sit, too. We chose to sit downstairs and my back was to the window while Joni was sitting facing the window. We were having a nice lunch talking about many different topics, but mostly getting me acclimated. We also met two other foreign teachers, one from Canada and one from Ireland and
talked to them for a bit. All of a sudden, we heard a BANG! BANG! BANG! And I turned around and there was this middle school aged boy banging on the glass. As soon as I turned around, he waved and then ran off. All he wanted was for me to turn around and wave! Weeeiiiirrrd! Well, it turns out that that will happen a lot, according to Joni. When we were finishing our meal, we went to clean up and there are different garbages for all of the items. If you have left over drink, you are to dump it down the drain. If you have left over food, you throw it in the food bin. You then throw your wrappers in the trash, and put your trays and cups in the right places! Kind of complicated!
After we left, we stopped at the Paris Baguette bakery and then Joni mentioned that she was going to go to church. I asked her what church she was attending and she said it was the Catholic one up the street. Since I am Catholic, I decided that I would join her. So we hailed a cab and he took us
to church. We had about an hour before the 7:30 mass, so we sat outside and talked. We met some different people including a Korean guy named Song who speaks perfect English. We then went into church and it was all in Korean. During the Homily they watched YouTube! For those who aren’t Catholic, the Homily is the time that the priest gets to talk about whatever, he’s supposed to talk about the Gospel for that day, but they also use it as a time to ask for money, which I think that’s what this was. It had Korean subtitles, ominous music, and pictures of a sweater, a stapler, and nurses from World War II. Not quite sure what was going on there. The collection (where parishioners give money) is weird, too. Everyone gets out of their seat and files to the front, like Communion, but drops their Won in the baskets. So when you sit down, they know who isn’t giving! At the time, I didn’t have any Won, so of course, I was the selfish one of the parish.
After leaving, we decided to walk home. We passed dress shops that specialize in the traditional Hanbok. Some
of them are really fancy and neat and others are to be desired. So my first day in Jeonju was action packed and out of the ordinary. That seems to be the theme in my life right now, so stay tuned for more and this should get interesting!
A good website to check out:
http://www.thejeonjuhub.com/index.html
Click the “Resources” tab. The pictures on there are so entirely funny because every part about them is totally true! I seriously laughed out loud when I was looking at them!
Click on the “Around Town” and then “Traditional Areas”. This shows the Geumsansa Temple and gives some information about it.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0283s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
dddrock31@yahoo.com
non-member comment
Driving Miss Daisy
Click-it or kick-it (the bucket) apparently, eh? Just think about how much you will appreciate an Angus Steak when you are back accross the pond. A-1 Please!!!