July 19-25, 2010
Back to the grind this week, I was once again just taking up space at my desk. I did however have the chance to get out of the office on Monday in order to go to the Immigration Office to apply for my Alien Registration Card, which would make me an official worker here in Korea. It was a good couple of hours killed and I couldn't complain about that. On Tuesday, it was finally recognised that I have just been sitting around twiddling my thumbs, and with summer intensives starting on Wednesday, the director put together a class for me to teach starting Wednesday; and running Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's for the duration of summer intensives. The class is a simple conversation class with the middle school students (Ace Level), and all I'm required to do is sit around and talk with them so that they can develop more comfortable speaking skills.
When the classes started Wednesday, they were only 30 minutes long, and I spent the first day with all the kids, compiling a list of topics they would like to talk about in class. From there I used a book of conversation topic introductions that the school had, to put together the first class of actual conversation, on Friday. It went pretty well and mixed with the few elementary classes I have, made the second half f the week go by pretty quick.
Outside of school, Blake, Nathan, and I were trying to organize our own trip to Mudfest. Having missed it last weekend, we really wanted to get there and take part, since it will be most of our last time. Blake and Nathan did most of the work, as I was working on organizing our summer vacation trip to Busan. In the end we decided to buy train tickets on Wednesday to get to Mudfest, and figure the rest out from there. Then, on Wednesday night we all got together at the restaurant beside Blake and Danielle's apartment for Danielle's going away party. She was officially leaving on Friday morning, so we wanted to have some drinks one last time before she left. It was a good night and the group of 12 of us partied until around 2am, which left me feeling terrible the next day. Feeling bad aside, after work on Thursday I headed back to Danielle's to help her pack the last of her things. In the end to was mostly Blake and I packing, because she is not very good at it and was quite flustered in general. We rapped it up around 2am, and let her get some sleep before her 10am flight to Vietnam.
Friday at work, one of my new coworkers Jean, was able to find a pension for us to stay in for summer vacation. I was amazed, because it is the peak season and most places were booked solid. It is going to cost us on $400 for 5days and 4 nights, which is quite reasonable given we are splitting it between 3-4 of us. After that I booked train tickets for James and myself, leaving Blake and Nathan to get theirs ,because they are not sure of when they will be coming and going. After getting the essentials arranged, I got on the extra curricular, booking a shark dive at the Busan Aquarium for the Saturday. With everything settled, and deposits paid, I taught my classes with ease.
After work Friday, I went to Gagnam for another going away party. This one was for a few girls that I didn't know that long, but they were Danielle's friends and I wanted to make sure they had a good time before they left. Maggie, Keeren, and Brittany, were the three girls leaving, and Nate, Blake, Emily, and I stayed for drinks until about 2am again, before heading home to get some rest before Mudfest. I got home and quickly packed the few things I would need for Mudfest, then hit the sack for a few hours of sleep before I had to leave at 1015 the next morning.
Waking up at 930, I had a quick bowl of cereal then took off to meet the guys at the train station for 11. They were running late when I got there, so I had to wait around until 1120 before they got there, and Nate got our tickets. Then we grabbed some Pizza Hut and jumped on the train at 12. The 2 hour ride went pretty fast, and when we got to Boryeong, things fell into place quite easily. We got off the train and there was a bus to take you to the beach, and when we got off that there was a guy trying to fill his pension. Since we didn't have one, we went to check it out and eventually agreed to stay there, and that's when it got hilarious. We left Nathan in the room (he had to use the washroom) and Blake and I went to pay. As we were going down the stairs, a group of Korean girls was going up, and we overheard them saying or room number. Then when we got downstairs we were told that we had been taken to the wrong room. Blake quickly called Nathan to warn him, but it was too late. The girls walked in on him in the washroom a moment before Blake called. Laughing, we told the lady at the counter what happened and she also laughed, then we went up stairs to get our things and move down the hall.
From there we got changed and hit the beach, and never saw those girls again. Once at the beach, we tossed around a football Nathan had bought, and made friends with some older Koreans beside us, who liked us enough to share their lunch and Soju with us. After talking to them for a bit, we hit up the mud, got coated then went back to our spot for some pictures with our new friends. We didn't do much other than that, because the lines were too long for the mud games, and Nathan wasn't that interested from the start. After about an hour and a half, we washed the mud off in the ocean, though my hair never came close to clean, and then tossed the ball around some more before heading to the hotel to shower and get dinner. After a huge galbi dinner, we sat on the beach with a ton of other people and watched the tide come in, drank a few beers, then called it a night around 1am.
Waking up Sunday morning, we packed up our things and checked out at 1130am. Since I had dinner plans with Lauren, a girl I met a few weeks back, I took off to the bus station to see if there were any available seats on any buses. As it turned out there was an open seat on the noon bus, so I hopped on and took the two and a half hour ride home, while Blake and Nathan stayed at the beach. Getting home around 3pm, I jumped into the shower for about 40 minutes, and still didn't get all the mud out of my dreads, and then made plans to meet Lauren in Gangnam at 630. Once we both got there, we went to Havana Monkey for some drinks and then to King's Tap for some dinner and more drinks. We hung out until midnight, before saying our goodbyes and heading home. It was a good night, and hopefully it isn't the last time we will have the chance to hang out.
Once last thing before I go. I forgot to mention that I was given a counter top two burner hot plate at the end of last week by my school. So I have been able to cook my own meals this week instead of eating corner store sandwiches. Not a huge deal but it was nice to be able to make my own food. And, with the arrival of a slow cooker from Amy and Mark, maybe I will make some stew in the future. I'll keep you posted.
Take care and enjoy the summer.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
To Fest or Not to Fest
July 12-18, 2010
This week started real early. Usually Sunday nights and into Monday mornings are sleeping hours, but this week given the World Cup was rounding out, we just had to watch how it ended. Though still technically Sunday night, Blake, Nate, and I got together in Sincheon around 1130 for some late dinner and then to watch the Netherlands vs. Spain soccer game for the World Cup Championship. The game for us didn't start until it was officially 330am Monday, so we had some time to kill while we waited at Gold Bar. We played darts and pol until the game started, then settled in on the couches what turned out to be a long and pretty well played game, with Spain taking it in the second over time 1:o. After the game I caught the subway home and crashed around 730.
Back to work again, I was covering Mike's classes for another couple days, and really enjoyed myself again. He was supposed to return to school on Wednesday, but due to some flight problems, did not return until Thursday, at which time he took back his classes. That left me with not much to do Thursday until later in the evening when I had the chance to step in on a middle school class, and see what it was all about.
Outside of work not a lot happened during the week. I did head down to Emily's place Wednesday night, after talking to my dad and brother's family on the phone, to hear about her recent trip to Cambodia and to get my drying rack that I had left there. We went through her pictures and she told me lots of funny stories about her trip, which I compared to the things Jameson and I did while there. Other than that nothing until Friday night, when I went out for a few drinks with some of my new coworkers to talk about the middle school program a bit more. We hit up a mawkoli (Korean rice beer) place, and had a few round, before heading to a noraebang and partying unexpectedly until 4am. I hadn't intended on it, but I felt the need to get some time in with my coworkers when it's available, because they are much busier than I am.
As for the weekend, I was a little disappointed in how it developed. As you know, I was fired several weeks ago and was living on Blake's couch, which meant I had no real daily Korean contacts and therefore couldn't deal with what I am about to talk about. This past week was the opening weekend of Mudfest in Boryeong, and all of our friends had signed up weeks ago for group tour packages. Unfortunately, Blake and his never committing self did not like the idea of going with a tour group, because he wanted to be on his own schedule, and for me I was unsure if I would still be in the country by Mudfest so I never signed up either. Anyways, once I found out that I wold be staying, I tried to get Blake on the move about asking some of his Korean coworkers to help us find a place to stay for the weekend. This of course he did not do, and once I did start working, he reversed and told me I should ask some of my teachers, who I barely knew. This meant that we had no place come the start of this week and when we did start making calls, everything was full. We decided to leave it up in the air and make a decision Saturday morning, because the weather report was also not looking good. That and all of our friends said that we could spread ourselves among their rooms if it came down to it. So when Saturday morning rolled around, and it turned out that the weather report was right and it was a torrential downpour all over Korea, and the trains were all booked; we opted to call off the trip and go back to bed. In the end we heard that it rained most of Saturday, but cleared up for the night and Sunday, so maybe we should have gone. Oh well.
Saturday, instead of being at Mudfest, I met up with Brady, Matei, and Frank for some wine buffet action and then Blake came by with SaeJin, and we all hit up Itaewon. It had been a while since I had been, but it was pretty much the same old place, accept this time there was a new Taco Bell we were all there to get a piece of. We had a couple drinks at a couple different bars, then hit up Taco Bell for some late night food action, and it was glorious.
Well fed and full of beers, we called it a night around 330 and I came home in a taxi to get some rest. On Sunday, I got up and bummed around my place until the afternoon when I walked over to Sillim to find a grocery store. Then I came back home and killed some time doing computer things, before meeting with Blake for some dinner and to get the last of my things out of his fridge. Then it was home to call an end to another week.
Summer is starting to shape up nicely. I hope it is for everyone else too.
This week started real early. Usually Sunday nights and into Monday mornings are sleeping hours, but this week given the World Cup was rounding out, we just had to watch how it ended. Though still technically Sunday night, Blake, Nate, and I got together in Sincheon around 1130 for some late dinner and then to watch the Netherlands vs. Spain soccer game for the World Cup Championship. The game for us didn't start until it was officially 330am Monday, so we had some time to kill while we waited at Gold Bar. We played darts and pol until the game started, then settled in on the couches what turned out to be a long and pretty well played game, with Spain taking it in the second over time 1:o. After the game I caught the subway home and crashed around 730.
Back to work again, I was covering Mike's classes for another couple days, and really enjoyed myself again. He was supposed to return to school on Wednesday, but due to some flight problems, did not return until Thursday, at which time he took back his classes. That left me with not much to do Thursday until later in the evening when I had the chance to step in on a middle school class, and see what it was all about.
Outside of work not a lot happened during the week. I did head down to Emily's place Wednesday night, after talking to my dad and brother's family on the phone, to hear about her recent trip to Cambodia and to get my drying rack that I had left there. We went through her pictures and she told me lots of funny stories about her trip, which I compared to the things Jameson and I did while there. Other than that nothing until Friday night, when I went out for a few drinks with some of my new coworkers to talk about the middle school program a bit more. We hit up a mawkoli (Korean rice beer) place, and had a few round, before heading to a noraebang and partying unexpectedly until 4am. I hadn't intended on it, but I felt the need to get some time in with my coworkers when it's available, because they are much busier than I am.
As for the weekend, I was a little disappointed in how it developed. As you know, I was fired several weeks ago and was living on Blake's couch, which meant I had no real daily Korean contacts and therefore couldn't deal with what I am about to talk about. This past week was the opening weekend of Mudfest in Boryeong, and all of our friends had signed up weeks ago for group tour packages. Unfortunately, Blake and his never committing self did not like the idea of going with a tour group, because he wanted to be on his own schedule, and for me I was unsure if I would still be in the country by Mudfest so I never signed up either. Anyways, once I found out that I wold be staying, I tried to get Blake on the move about asking some of his Korean coworkers to help us find a place to stay for the weekend. This of course he did not do, and once I did start working, he reversed and told me I should ask some of my teachers, who I barely knew. This meant that we had no place come the start of this week and when we did start making calls, everything was full. We decided to leave it up in the air and make a decision Saturday morning, because the weather report was also not looking good. That and all of our friends said that we could spread ourselves among their rooms if it came down to it. So when Saturday morning rolled around, and it turned out that the weather report was right and it was a torrential downpour all over Korea, and the trains were all booked; we opted to call off the trip and go back to bed. In the end we heard that it rained most of Saturday, but cleared up for the night and Sunday, so maybe we should have gone. Oh well.
Saturday, instead of being at Mudfest, I met up with Brady, Matei, and Frank for some wine buffet action and then Blake came by with SaeJin, and we all hit up Itaewon. It had been a while since I had been, but it was pretty much the same old place, accept this time there was a new Taco Bell we were all there to get a piece of. We had a couple drinks at a couple different bars, then hit up Taco Bell for some late night food action, and it was glorious.
Well fed and full of beers, we called it a night around 330 and I came home in a taxi to get some rest. On Sunday, I got up and bummed around my place until the afternoon when I walked over to Sillim to find a grocery store. Then I came back home and killed some time doing computer things, before meeting with Blake for some dinner and to get the last of my things out of his fridge. Then it was home to call an end to another week.
Summer is starting to shape up nicely. I hope it is for everyone else too.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Busy Under Unpleasant Circumstances
July 5-11, 2010
Well this week started off pretty boring. Since I was hired to be a teacher primarily for the middle school level at this new academy, and it was public school testing time, we had no kids to teach. Therefore, I had to hang out Monday and Tuesday from 2-10pm with nothing but the books we will be using for the middle school level to look though. They do seem more interesting than the books we used at Avalon last year (mostly because they aren't iBT TOFEL) and during my short stint with DYB, so hopefully things will go good once I get to start using them.
Anyways, as I was saying, things were boring to start the week but soon turned around. Unfortunately, my coworker Mike had a friend commit suicide back in the states and took off Wednesday afternoon, having only heard the news the night before. This meant that when I showed up for work on Wednesday I was told that I would have to cover his elementary classes for the rest of the week and into some of the next week. This was fine by me since I had been doing nothing for two days already. I quickly grabbed Mikes books and schedule and started going to each teacher to see just what the deal with each class was. The usual, where are they and how are they, questions were answered by most teachers; though there were a few who just didn't understand why i would be teaching and why Mike wasn't there, and a couple who without saying it, refused to help me out. In the end everything was fine and I covered Mikes classes for the week and really enjoyed myself, and from what I was told at the end of the week, the kids enjoyed having me.
The rest of the week went by pretty well. I spent my time before work figuring out where Mike had left off with the kids and what I would be continuing with, and most nights came home after work to hang out and watch movies with Goah. We were watching movies because I wasn't aware that I indeed had internet and cable (though the cable is garbage) pre-installed in my apartment until Thursday when my director finally called the landlord to figure it out. But, while figuring out my cable and internet situation, she neglected to figure out my stove situation, and I have had no way to make food at my place, so have been eating out since I moved. She promised to figure that out the next week.
So now with cable and internet available, I went out Thursday night with Blake, Nathan, and Danielle for Kalmagisal in Sillim. Danielle wanted to have it one more time before she leaves Korea on the 24th. After dinner we hit up a patio bar and had a few drinks until just after 1am and called it a night. Friday after work, I picked up some cables on my way home so that I could check out this new cable and internet situation. As it turned out my cable doesn't include any of the regular channels, and my internet, though good needed some tweaking to make it work.
I was staying in Friday because a bunch of us were planning on going to Muuido Island for Saturday and Sunday to celebrate Alex N's birthday. This gave me a chance to plug in my internet and find out that the cable I bought had a slightly small end, and that the wall jack was lightly over sized. These two things together meant that my connection could not be maintained unless I held it tight. And, I'm sure you can imagine what kind of frenzy that put me into. I was ready to rip the internet right out of that wall, so I got out a screwdriver and calmly took it out to inspect it. I thought that maybe there was a way I could make the wall jack tighter, and when I saw that there wasn't the only thing I cold think of to tighten it up was to jam on of the screws into the jack on top of my cable that way it would press down hard enough to maintain connection. I did so and success!! Feeling good about my new internet fix, I finished my fried chicken dinner that I picked up on the way home and went to bed.
I didn't go out Friday night because as mentioned above we were going to the beach the next morning. Louise, Alex's girlfriend, had organized a bit of a party for those who wanted to attend, on the island just off the west coast of Inchon. So, Blake and I said we would be there and met up on the subway at 1030 Saturday, for the 2 hour trip out. We had to take the subway to the airport, a bus to the ferry terminal, a ferry for like 3 minutes across to the island, and then another bus across the island to the beach. Luckily as we got to the ferry we met Danielle and Magee, who were also going to the beach. Together we went to the beach, beating the rest of the group, who had said they were going to be at the beach by 11. We found a good place on the beach and set up shop just in time for everyone else to show up, then we all got beach huts to sleep in for the night and began the party. We grabbed some beers from the store and sat around on the beach for several hours. It was a little over cast but nice nonetheless, and even found some people to play volleyball with. As the sun began to set and the tide went out, we grabbed some galbi for diner then hit up the store one more time to get supplies for the night. After stocking up we hit the beach and just sat around chatting and such until the beach fire was started. We had nothing to do with starting it, but joined in and enjoyed for the few hours it was going, where I had some great conversations with several different people, one being from home and the other a girl named Lauren form South Africa. Eventually people starting calling it quits around 2am, but James and I stuck it out at the fire until around 430, which wasn't the best idea, because the longer we stayed out the more we consumed. So when we had had enough, and had stopped a girl from sleeping in the way of the incoming tide, we called it a night and hit our huts.
We didn't get to sleep for more than about 6 hours before we had to get up and give back the keys. Sleepy and a little hung over we all gathered on the beach and laid out our mats again, and set up for what was looking like a beautiful sunny day. As it turned out, the tide had come in and gone back out all in those few hours of sleep, so for the first half of the day we were left sitting on the beach just watching the water come back in, in the distance. Eventually around 230 with the sun blazing hot, the water came back in and we were able to get into the water. It was a great way to spend the rest of the weekend, and James even got to ride on the police hovercraft after kindly swimming way beyond where the police deemed safe to rescue a family's inflatable raft. We all had a good laugh, and at 6pm packed out things and made our way back towards Seoul.
Another week down, another sunburn on the list.
Well this week started off pretty boring. Since I was hired to be a teacher primarily for the middle school level at this new academy, and it was public school testing time, we had no kids to teach. Therefore, I had to hang out Monday and Tuesday from 2-10pm with nothing but the books we will be using for the middle school level to look though. They do seem more interesting than the books we used at Avalon last year (mostly because they aren't iBT TOFEL) and during my short stint with DYB, so hopefully things will go good once I get to start using them.
Anyways, as I was saying, things were boring to start the week but soon turned around. Unfortunately, my coworker Mike had a friend commit suicide back in the states and took off Wednesday afternoon, having only heard the news the night before. This meant that when I showed up for work on Wednesday I was told that I would have to cover his elementary classes for the rest of the week and into some of the next week. This was fine by me since I had been doing nothing for two days already. I quickly grabbed Mikes books and schedule and started going to each teacher to see just what the deal with each class was. The usual, where are they and how are they, questions were answered by most teachers; though there were a few who just didn't understand why i would be teaching and why Mike wasn't there, and a couple who without saying it, refused to help me out. In the end everything was fine and I covered Mikes classes for the week and really enjoyed myself, and from what I was told at the end of the week, the kids enjoyed having me.
The rest of the week went by pretty well. I spent my time before work figuring out where Mike had left off with the kids and what I would be continuing with, and most nights came home after work to hang out and watch movies with Goah. We were watching movies because I wasn't aware that I indeed had internet and cable (though the cable is garbage) pre-installed in my apartment until Thursday when my director finally called the landlord to figure it out. But, while figuring out my cable and internet situation, she neglected to figure out my stove situation, and I have had no way to make food at my place, so have been eating out since I moved. She promised to figure that out the next week.
So now with cable and internet available, I went out Thursday night with Blake, Nathan, and Danielle for Kalmagisal in Sillim. Danielle wanted to have it one more time before she leaves Korea on the 24th. After dinner we hit up a patio bar and had a few drinks until just after 1am and called it a night. Friday after work, I picked up some cables on my way home so that I could check out this new cable and internet situation. As it turned out my cable doesn't include any of the regular channels, and my internet, though good needed some tweaking to make it work.
I was staying in Friday because a bunch of us were planning on going to Muuido Island for Saturday and Sunday to celebrate Alex N's birthday. This gave me a chance to plug in my internet and find out that the cable I bought had a slightly small end, and that the wall jack was lightly over sized. These two things together meant that my connection could not be maintained unless I held it tight. And, I'm sure you can imagine what kind of frenzy that put me into. I was ready to rip the internet right out of that wall, so I got out a screwdriver and calmly took it out to inspect it. I thought that maybe there was a way I could make the wall jack tighter, and when I saw that there wasn't the only thing I cold think of to tighten it up was to jam on of the screws into the jack on top of my cable that way it would press down hard enough to maintain connection. I did so and success!! Feeling good about my new internet fix, I finished my fried chicken dinner that I picked up on the way home and went to bed.
I didn't go out Friday night because as mentioned above we were going to the beach the next morning. Louise, Alex's girlfriend, had organized a bit of a party for those who wanted to attend, on the island just off the west coast of Inchon. So, Blake and I said we would be there and met up on the subway at 1030 Saturday, for the 2 hour trip out. We had to take the subway to the airport, a bus to the ferry terminal, a ferry for like 3 minutes across to the island, and then another bus across the island to the beach. Luckily as we got to the ferry we met Danielle and Magee, who were also going to the beach. Together we went to the beach, beating the rest of the group, who had said they were going to be at the beach by 11. We found a good place on the beach and set up shop just in time for everyone else to show up, then we all got beach huts to sleep in for the night and began the party. We grabbed some beers from the store and sat around on the beach for several hours. It was a little over cast but nice nonetheless, and even found some people to play volleyball with. As the sun began to set and the tide went out, we grabbed some galbi for diner then hit up the store one more time to get supplies for the night. After stocking up we hit the beach and just sat around chatting and such until the beach fire was started. We had nothing to do with starting it, but joined in and enjoyed for the few hours it was going, where I had some great conversations with several different people, one being from home and the other a girl named Lauren form South Africa. Eventually people starting calling it quits around 2am, but James and I stuck it out at the fire until around 430, which wasn't the best idea, because the longer we stayed out the more we consumed. So when we had had enough, and had stopped a girl from sleeping in the way of the incoming tide, we called it a night and hit our huts.
We didn't get to sleep for more than about 6 hours before we had to get up and give back the keys. Sleepy and a little hung over we all gathered on the beach and laid out our mats again, and set up for what was looking like a beautiful sunny day. As it turned out, the tide had come in and gone back out all in those few hours of sleep, so for the first half of the day we were left sitting on the beach just watching the water come back in, in the distance. Eventually around 230 with the sun blazing hot, the water came back in and we were able to get into the water. It was a great way to spend the rest of the weekend, and James even got to ride on the police hovercraft after kindly swimming way beyond where the police deemed safe to rescue a family's inflatable raft. We all had a good laugh, and at 6pm packed out things and made our way back towards Seoul.
Another week down, another sunburn on the list.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Happy Canada Day, Now Get Off My Couch
June 28 - July 4, 2010
Well this week started out without much excitement, but then on Tuesday I had two big events, though one was bigger than the other. First, it was Japan's first game in the second stage of the World Cup against Paraguay, so I watched it so that I could support my new friends from Japan. Unfortunately they lost and were put out of the tournament.
Second, I heard from my recruiter and was told that my new school would have an apartment for my by Wednesday, which meant I could get off of Blake's couch and give him back his space by the end of the week. So, on Wednesday I met with my new director to go see the new place, and boy were we both disappointed, though I'm sure I was more than her. It turned out that the school had not been looking for a place for me since I signed my contract, but had waited until the last minute to do so and forgot about all the things we had talked about. I had told them that I didn't need to live super close to the school, and that I could have helped them find a place while I was waiting to start. This meant that the director had not seen the place before she signed a one year lease on a place that we both considered small when we saw it. That and it is up a huge hill that I will have to walk every night after work. Quickly the good news was turning sour, when she then told me that I wouldn't able to move in until Thursday or Friday because they were redoing the wallpaper Thursday morning, and that since there wasn't an actual stove in the apartment, they were going to have to see about getting one for me.
A little pissed, it was back to Blake's for a couple more days.
Thursday was my first day at the school, but all I was doing was watching classes and meeting teachers so that I could get a feel for the school. However, I was watching only elementary level classes, and I will be teaching mostly middle school children, but it was a start. After work Thursday we had planned on meeting in Itaewon, and by we I mean all my Canadian friends, at Rocky Mountain Tavern for some Canada Day celebrations. I had never been so when I got there I had a hard time locating the bar, but after about 30 minutes of searching I was in and cheersing with Blake, Danielle, Emily, and some other Canucks that had come out for the night.
Friday morning I got up and headed to my new apartment for the first time, since I had seen it with the director. When I got there I was surprised to find that they had given me a microwave, but no hot plate. So, I could reheat food, but had no way of actually cooking the food that I would have to reheat. It was a short lived situation. I left it as it was, grabbed a quick shower and headed of to work so that I could prep for the three classes I was slotted to teach. Then once I was at school and classes were under way, one of the Korea teachers came in and introduced herself and we had a quick chat. It went a little something like this:
"Hi, I'm Mark."
"Hi, I'm Rebecca. You must be the new teacher, right?"
"Yeah I just started yesterday."
"Oh, so you have an apartment near the school?"
"Yes I do. It's near the subway station."
"So, did you get a microwave with your apartment?"
"Yes I did, which is weird 'cuz I didn't get a stove and rarely use a microwave."
"Oh so you have the microwave! That's the microwaves from our lunch room. They gave it to you, and now we have no way to heat our food at school."
...............awkward pause..................
"Well, I don't need it, want it, or have space for it, so I'll bring it back on Monday."
"Oh really! That would be great!"
I found it very weird that the school gave me the microwave from the lunch room, but then again it is Korea and they do, do strange things most of the times. The rest of the day we laughed about it while I met other teachers and had a chance to teach my first few elementary classes. My classes went well, and my student were super excited to have a 'giant' teacher with all new information to tell them. I think I will like the chance to teach some elementary students this year. They are a fun and spunky change from the cold middle school children I have usually taught.
Friday night I slid over to Blake's house after work to pick up some of my things, mostly clothes in a knapsack that I had washed, because I had planned earlier in the week to go to the coastal city of Ulsan on the weekend to visit Mark and Amy Guston, my good friend Adam's sister and brother-in-law and kids, who will be heading home soon after a year of living here. I got to Blake's, quickly grabbed my stuff, and headed over to Gangnam to meet him and his friends JiYoung for a beer and some food. I didn't stay late, as I wanted to catch the last subway home at 1230 so that I could get some rest before heading to the train station at 630 Saturday morning.
I was in bed and awake again before I knew it, and heading for the train station to catch my 730 bus for Ulsan. I slept most of the way there, and woke up just in time to jump off in Ulsan, before the train pulled out for its nest stop. Amy and the kids, Clara and Will, met me on the tracks and we headed off to pick up Mark from work, so we could all get some lunch. After lunch, Mark had to go back to work, so the rest of us drove back along the coast, stopping at the Black Pebble Beach and Pine Tree Forest for a hike. After that we went back to their apartment, which in comparison to anything we single teachers get was gigantic, where we just hung out and chatted, waiting for Mark to get home from work so we could barbecue. When we were finished eating, we just sat around and chatted, sharing funny stories about Korea and life in general. It was a welcome change to talk to some friends from back home who aren't teachers, and who I hadn't seen in a while. At 11pm, with the kids in bed, we sat down to watch the Argentina vs. Germany soccer game, which ended with Argentina's elimination from the tournament by a dominating German team. I was a little upset, not that I liked either team, but because I had chosen Argentina to go all the way, based on their round-robin showings.
Disappointed I went to bed and waited for the kids to wake my up the next morning, which they did around 930. Mark had already gone to work, so we had breakfast, got ready and headed out to Gyeongju for the day. We parked at the Hilton hotel and pretty much walked around for an hour or so until we found the Silla Millennium Park, which had lots of craft booths and historic performances. We checked it out and Clara took some time at a pottery booth to make a bowl/flower pot, and then we watch a reenactment of an old ark battle. Just short of starving, we decided to leave and head back to Ulsan to get some food at a Turkish place before I had to get back on the train at 715. We ate, had a quick beer after some craft store shopping for the kids and I got on the train and was off to Seoul with but a few minutes to spare.
Once back in Seoul, I went to stay at Blake's once again so that I could take the rest of my things to my own place and start setting up shop.
Well this week started out without much excitement, but then on Tuesday I had two big events, though one was bigger than the other. First, it was Japan's first game in the second stage of the World Cup against Paraguay, so I watched it so that I could support my new friends from Japan. Unfortunately they lost and were put out of the tournament.
Second, I heard from my recruiter and was told that my new school would have an apartment for my by Wednesday, which meant I could get off of Blake's couch and give him back his space by the end of the week. So, on Wednesday I met with my new director to go see the new place, and boy were we both disappointed, though I'm sure I was more than her. It turned out that the school had not been looking for a place for me since I signed my contract, but had waited until the last minute to do so and forgot about all the things we had talked about. I had told them that I didn't need to live super close to the school, and that I could have helped them find a place while I was waiting to start. This meant that the director had not seen the place before she signed a one year lease on a place that we both considered small when we saw it. That and it is up a huge hill that I will have to walk every night after work. Quickly the good news was turning sour, when she then told me that I wouldn't able to move in until Thursday or Friday because they were redoing the wallpaper Thursday morning, and that since there wasn't an actual stove in the apartment, they were going to have to see about getting one for me.
A little pissed, it was back to Blake's for a couple more days.
Thursday was my first day at the school, but all I was doing was watching classes and meeting teachers so that I could get a feel for the school. However, I was watching only elementary level classes, and I will be teaching mostly middle school children, but it was a start. After work Thursday we had planned on meeting in Itaewon, and by we I mean all my Canadian friends, at Rocky Mountain Tavern for some Canada Day celebrations. I had never been so when I got there I had a hard time locating the bar, but after about 30 minutes of searching I was in and cheersing with Blake, Danielle, Emily, and some other Canucks that had come out for the night.
Friday morning I got up and headed to my new apartment for the first time, since I had seen it with the director. When I got there I was surprised to find that they had given me a microwave, but no hot plate. So, I could reheat food, but had no way of actually cooking the food that I would have to reheat. It was a short lived situation. I left it as it was, grabbed a quick shower and headed of to work so that I could prep for the three classes I was slotted to teach. Then once I was at school and classes were under way, one of the Korea teachers came in and introduced herself and we had a quick chat. It went a little something like this:
"Hi, I'm Mark."
"Hi, I'm Rebecca. You must be the new teacher, right?"
"Yeah I just started yesterday."
"Oh, so you have an apartment near the school?"
"Yes I do. It's near the subway station."
"So, did you get a microwave with your apartment?"
"Yes I did, which is weird 'cuz I didn't get a stove and rarely use a microwave."
"Oh so you have the microwave! That's the microwaves from our lunch room. They gave it to you, and now we have no way to heat our food at school."
...............awkward pause..................
"Well, I don't need it, want it, or have space for it, so I'll bring it back on Monday."
"Oh really! That would be great!"
I found it very weird that the school gave me the microwave from the lunch room, but then again it is Korea and they do, do strange things most of the times. The rest of the day we laughed about it while I met other teachers and had a chance to teach my first few elementary classes. My classes went well, and my student were super excited to have a 'giant' teacher with all new information to tell them. I think I will like the chance to teach some elementary students this year. They are a fun and spunky change from the cold middle school children I have usually taught.
Friday night I slid over to Blake's house after work to pick up some of my things, mostly clothes in a knapsack that I had washed, because I had planned earlier in the week to go to the coastal city of Ulsan on the weekend to visit Mark and Amy Guston, my good friend Adam's sister and brother-in-law and kids, who will be heading home soon after a year of living here. I got to Blake's, quickly grabbed my stuff, and headed over to Gangnam to meet him and his friends JiYoung for a beer and some food. I didn't stay late, as I wanted to catch the last subway home at 1230 so that I could get some rest before heading to the train station at 630 Saturday morning.
I was in bed and awake again before I knew it, and heading for the train station to catch my 730 bus for Ulsan. I slept most of the way there, and woke up just in time to jump off in Ulsan, before the train pulled out for its nest stop. Amy and the kids, Clara and Will, met me on the tracks and we headed off to pick up Mark from work, so we could all get some lunch. After lunch, Mark had to go back to work, so the rest of us drove back along the coast, stopping at the Black Pebble Beach and Pine Tree Forest for a hike. After that we went back to their apartment, which in comparison to anything we single teachers get was gigantic, where we just hung out and chatted, waiting for Mark to get home from work so we could barbecue. When we were finished eating, we just sat around and chatted, sharing funny stories about Korea and life in general. It was a welcome change to talk to some friends from back home who aren't teachers, and who I hadn't seen in a while. At 11pm, with the kids in bed, we sat down to watch the Argentina vs. Germany soccer game, which ended with Argentina's elimination from the tournament by a dominating German team. I was a little upset, not that I liked either team, but because I had chosen Argentina to go all the way, based on their round-robin showings.
Disappointed I went to bed and waited for the kids to wake my up the next morning, which they did around 930. Mark had already gone to work, so we had breakfast, got ready and headed out to Gyeongju for the day. We parked at the Hilton hotel and pretty much walked around for an hour or so until we found the Silla Millennium Park, which had lots of craft booths and historic performances. We checked it out and Clara took some time at a pottery booth to make a bowl/flower pot, and then we watch a reenactment of an old ark battle. Just short of starving, we decided to leave and head back to Ulsan to get some food at a Turkish place before I had to get back on the train at 715. We ate, had a quick beer after some craft store shopping for the kids and I got on the train and was off to Seoul with but a few minutes to spare.
Once back in Seoul, I went to stay at Blake's once again so that I could take the rest of my things to my own place and start setting up shop.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Sunrise and Sunset on Korea's World Cup Run....And a Trip to Japan
June 21-27, 2010
Well another week started, and I was still living on Blake's couch. Still having heard nothing from my school, I was getting worried that they may have forgotten about me, or if the fact that I was staying with friends meant I didn't need my own place to them. Then just as I was thinking it was time to make some calls, I got both an email and phone call from my recruiter. They both consisted of the same thing, but her need to be thorough was impressive. The issue with my apartment was not looking good, as the school had not yet found a place, and they were worried about the size of the bed I had requested. To me this did not sound promising, as it meant they were having a hard time finding a place larger than a shoebox for me to set up in. Either way, I relayed my concerns and my recruiter said she would look into it. The other half of the conversation was about my needed trip to Japan to get my Visa, but I'll talk more about that later.
During the day on Monday and Tuesday, I mostly hung out at Blake's to stay out of the heat; and since I was in, I tried to clean up a bit. Then Tuesday night Nate came over to Blake's after work and we watched the Mexico vs. Uruguay soccer match at 11pm. The object was to watch that game then grab a nap before the much anticipated Korea vs. Nigeria match at 330am, which would decide if Korea would make it on to Stage 2 of the tournament. However, Blake's friend YoungGin called and asked if she could join us for the game. This meant that we could not get in the nap we had thought about having, and that an all-nighter was inevitable. Nate called it a night after the first game, and left the 3 of us to wait out the 1.5 hours before game time. We did this at Blake's house until 3, then walked to the river to join the enormous crowd for the game. We thought that given the time there would be fewer people at the river, but boy were we wrong. It turned out that there were more than usual, due to the crucial outcome of this game. Luckily, the game ended in a tie and, with Greece's loss to Argentina at the same time, Korea got their birth to the next round.
After the game we headed to McDonald's for a breakfast sandwich on our way home. It was almost 630am and I had told Emily that I needed to come down for some new clothes and documents from my bags Wednesday, but was afraid I might not make it if I fell asleep. Then out of nowhere she called me and told me she had been up watching the game as well, so if I wanted to head to hear place then, that she would stay up to let me in. It was an extra 45 minutes that I had to stay up, but I couldn't pass up the chance to get some clean clothes. And my documents for the Visa trip to Fukuoka, I was about to make.
I got to Emily's around 730 and made a beeline for the couch, where I slept until 1pm when her alarm got us both up so she could get ready for work. I grabbed some new shirts and socks, and all my documentation from my suitcase, then talked for a bit with Emily about Fukuoka, since she also had to go there to get her Visa. She told me about some of the sights she saw and how I shouldn't take a taxi because they are so expensive, and you can walk most places. She headed to work and I headed back to Blake's around 3.
Once back at Blake's I packed up my backpack, triple checking to make sure I had everything I needed, and then had a two hour nap while I waited for everyone to finish work. After work Blake hit the gym, and then we went over to Nate's for some beers and meatball subs, and more soccer. We watched the Slovenia vs. England game, while watching online updates of the U.S.A. vs. Algeria on Nathan's computer, to see which teams would advance to the next round of games. We finished watching England and the U.S.A. winning and called it a night at 2am, as I had to be up and off to the airport by 6am Thursday.
While I was walking, I did see some pretty neat stuff. I started by walking past the Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome to the Fukouka Tower, where I took an elevator up to the observation floors to check out the city from above. It was a nice view, but I had lots of ground to cover, so I left there and started my downward spiral of lostness. I headed toward the Meinohama district to see the Ferris Wheel that is boasted as one of the world's largest. After seeing it, but not actually finding the entrance to Marinoa City (the amusement park), I accidentally flipped my map over and was looking at the wrong side of the city and thought I had to continue walking west to see some great sights. As it turned out, and I realized after two hours of walking in the wrong direction, the sights were to the east of Meinohama. So, disappointed in myself and with sore feet, I turned around and weaved my way back towards the rest of the city, following signs pointing to the city center. I walked inwards and found Ohori and Maizuru Park's, which I stopped at to sit by Ohori's lake, then continued my walk around some of Maizuru Park. After the parks, my feet were throbbing, so I hopped on the subway and headed into the city center, and got off at Tenjin Station. From Tenjin I walked around (just what my poor feet needed) to find a hotel. After pricing out a few hotels, and realizing the going rate for a single bed hotel room was $60-70, I thought about just sleeping on a park bench for the night. But then I realized how sore my feet were and knew that I had to get off them, even if it was only for a couple hours.
I bit the bullet and payed $68 for a place to stay, but they included a a breakfast, and the girls at the counter were cute and helped me find a place to watch that nights World Cup games. They pointed me in the direction of the closest area with a night life, and said I would be able to find a sports bar somewhere. So after a shower and some time off my feet, which were blistering, I limped out of the hotel at 1130 to find a sports bar. To my surprise, it turned out that the night life district in which they had pointed me was the Nakasu red-light district. Not what I was expecting, but I took it all in stride, wandering street to street looking for a sports bar, and trying to avoid the seedy night clubs and hooker bars. In the end I had almost given up, when I came upon a sign that was advertising the World Cup games, so I headed in and found a sports bar that was indeed showing the games. I watched the Slovakia vs. Italy game in an almost empty bar, with a few Japanese guys my age, who had befriended me, and who spoke decent English. After Slovakia won the game, they informed me that the bar was closing for an hour to get ready for the next game........Denmark vs. Japan (which had Japan's advancement to the second stage on the line), and made sure I promised to come back to watch. I indeed promised, because how many times will you get to watch a World Cup game in the country of the team that is playing, that and I had really wanted to watch the game anyways. So, I went back to my hotel and grabbed a 2 hour nap, since i had been up since 530am, and woke up just in time to head back to the bar for the game.
When I arrived, the bar had transformed into a huge party. They were definitely over capacity, but nobody seemed to care. The guys at the door recognized me from earlier, but were afraid to ask me for the cover price because they didn't think it they could translate it properly. As soon as one of them said a price, I handed them money and they breathed a sigh of relief and gave me the complimentary drink tickets and let me in. I quickly squeezed my way through the crown looking for my friends from earlier, but had no luck, so I just stood by the only spot in the bar serving drinks and waited for them to find me. While I was waiting to be found I watched the place light up when Japan scored their first goal, and then the party was on. People were constantly cheering and it was deafening, yet so awesome. Then, my bar plan payed off, and Yu (the guys name) came up for a drink. As soon as he saw me he squeezed his way though and grabbed my, a couple drinks, and then it was back to his table at the front of the bar to sit with the rest of his friends who showed up. We all sat together, while his friends talked to me and asked me all sorts of questions, and partied when Japan played well and eventually won.
After the game I went back to the hotel for another two hour nap before getting up for the breakfast at 9, and heading out to see a few more things before leaving. Unfortunately, my feet had blistered, and I looked like a hobbling fool as I walked to Teramachi temple area. After that, I had had enough and went to the embassy to pick up my passport, complete with new Visa, then grabbed lunch and went to the airport to wait for my plane.
My plane took off at 630 and I was back in Seoul by 730, and back to Blake's by 9. Once back in town, we had a boys night out scheduled for Friday, so I grabbed a quick shower and Blake and I headed to Gangnam to meet the boys for dinner. After some galbi we hit up Havana Monkey for some drinks before heading to the ever popular Gold Bar in Sincheon. Once at Gold Bar we sat around playing pool and darts, and Garrett and I talked football strategy (eventually he attacked me and I put him on his ass) until the sun came up and we all went home to get some rest.
I woke up at Blake's around one in the afternoon ad pretty much sat around all day waiting to go back to the Han River to watch Korea's next game against Uruguay, the first game in the second stage of the World Cup tournament. Blake and I headed to the park at 830, grabbing a pizza on the way and waiting for the game to start at 11. Nate showed up around 930 and we all sat together, under umbrellas, as it had started raining, until the game started. Once the game started, we lucked out and found a man selling rain ponchos, which we bought and put on so that our umbrellas weren't blocking everyone view. The game was looking with in reach, but in the end Korea lost a hard fought battle, which we believed they should have won, and were out of the tournament; thus killing the World Cup culture in Korea, and all the fun we were having watching the games outdoors with the thousands of fans.
Sunday was a relaxing day. I just hung out at Blake's until after dinner when i helped Danielle pack up some boxes she was shipping home, then headed down to have some late dinner with Emily and pick up some more clothes.
So, Korea put up a good fight but in the end the sun set on another World Cup for the Land of the Morning Clam.
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