Early Monday morning in Korea, July 11: I have finally arrived at my destination: Jeonju, South Korea. It has taken me over 32 hours from door to door (not includingthe time zone difference) to get here. I slept as soon as I got here because I could not sleep well on the plane or bus. I am staying at another teacher's apartment for the time being until the teacher doing my job is moved out of my new apartment.She is staying at another teacher's house right now to let me get used to the time difference. It is a good thing because it is 5:20 am here and I could not go back to bed if I tried. I am looking forward to when I will have my own apartment so I can finally unpack. After I woke up from my long nap this afternoon, a few of the other teachers and I went out to dinner. It was the traditional Korean experience. We sat on the floor and had these weird dishes that I had never seen before. Also, I was introduced to a famous (or infamous) Korean drink called Soju. It is a rice liquor that is a favourite among locals. One shot was enough for me, perhaps because I am still adjusting to the time difference and it was about 7am in Ontario at the time. Even though I expected to have a language barrier when I got here, it is much more pronounced than I had thought. WhenI arrived at the airport, it took me about half an hour to buy a calling card and figure out how to make a call, including how much it costs (it isn't as easy as putting in a quarter and dialing a number here). While at the airport I was able to catch the end of the world cup final. I am disappointed that France lost, but all of the Koreans seemed to be pleased that Italy won. On the plane to Korea I sat next to a Korean girl, Song-ngu I believe her name was, who had been in the US attending university. I mentioned to her that I was moving to Korea to teach English and she helped me with some common sayings and traditions. I soon realized that practicing on the plane and trying to interact with people on the street was a much different experience. All of the signs here are in Korean as well, so it looks like I will have to try to learn some of the written language if I want to understand what any of the stores are. I will try to take a picture of a street corner so I can show how overwhelming it is. I will be going to my school today at 930 for the first time to observe some classes and get trained. I will be in class teaching alone as early as Friday, so I hope the training is thorough yet efficient. I am technically not allowed to be teaching in Korea right now as I am in the country only as a visitor and I am not allowed to make money. I will be going to Japan sometime next week in order to get my work Visa papers in order, then once I return I can officially be paid. I won't complain about a free trip to Japan especially because it probably means time off of work as well. That just about wraps up my journey to Jeonju, a long one to say the least. But now I am here and my next goal is to be able to learn enough Korean in order to get by. You have no idea what it is like trying to figure out what things are in a grocery store here!
Tuesday July 12: Today was my first day at my school SLP. I observed some of the classes of the other teachers. It was a short day (as all Tuesdays and Thursdays will be!). We had class from only 10 until 1 pm. The rest of the day I spent with Betsy and Sandra driving around getting to know the city. Betsy, a teacher at the school has a car so that made getting around a lot easier. Sidenote: Koreans drive crazy. It's no stereotype, its the truth and I have witnessed it firsthand. Also, there has been non-stop heavy rain all day today. This is the heaviest consistent downpour that I have ever seen and apparently I'm not alone as others have mentioned similar thoughts. Apparently the rain is the result of some tropical storm or monsoon that came in through the South. I think that I am almost over my jetlag already. I was up at 5am today but it is almost 9pm now and I haven't napped yet, so I think I have it beat! We had another traditional Korean meal tonight and sat on the floor again. I don't know what we had but it was spicy again, but a little more tolerable than last night. For lunch today we went to Subway which was a good break from Korean food and was not a rediculous price. I had an odd drink today out of a vending machine. It was an aloe-based drink. It even had chunks of the inside of an aloe plant (the clear part) inside the can. It wasn't as bad as it seems. In fact, the chunks reminded me of that drink that used to be popular in Canada called Orbitz with the little floating colored balls inside. I have just found out that Monday is a vacation day (I have no idea whatholiday it is), but I will take the day off! I will also be getting a vacation in the first week of August so I am thinking aboutgoing to Japan for a few days since the school is willing to pay for my plane ticket because I still need to get my work Visafrom there. So I would like to spend a few days in Tokyo and maybe some other cities. Then I am thinking about checking outSeoul for a few days since I have driven through it but haven't really stopped to enjoy it. But we will see what happens. Thevacation is coming up soon and I have done no planning! Almost 9pm... off to bed (still getting used to the time difference)
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4 comments:
interesting very interesting,how much time differance trevorson.tell me about the girls or better yet send pictures.have you tried dog on a bun.do you have a phone so i can call.more questions later you rest now trever dong il.from Peterson
OMG trevor!! it's so funny that i was JUST thinking about orbitz last night!!! I went out for bubble tea for the first time (but I guess I had a bubble slush) and that's when i started to think of orbitz and how that was also a drink with chunks in it. For the record, i find this whole bubble tea thing strange. the tapioca tastes like candy but looks like bugs or worse yet, bug droppings. ew.
im so impressed with you right now. i dont know how i'd deal with the culture shock. it seems entirely overwhelming. well, i guess i could do as scarlet johanssen in Lost in Translation and put on a cute pink wig and party with the locals... but um.. im going off on an unnecessary tangent.
it sounds like you're already making friends and having fun. avoid drinks with chunks in them. i dont want you coming back to canada and converting welland into a chunky liquid drinking city. it'll be like hell when i return home and refuse to conform and you're quite persuasive so i can see that happening. consider it a favour to me.
im curious to know about what these apartments are like!
take care!!
m.a.
Soju eh? Sounds like a very tasty beverage. The Koreans appear to drive like the Wellanders at rush hour on Niagara St. Keep up the adventures, it is like a good book that I cannot put down. Bill
hey Peter. We are 13 hours ahead of you. I haven't tried any dog yet, but there are plenty of restaurants around. No phone yet, I am working on it. And I will be taking some pictures today, hopefully I will find some girls to take pictures of for you.
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