I feel lucky to have ended up in a place with such great people.
My first apartment was ready to go when I got here, but apparently when my principal told the landlady that a foreigner was moving in, she'd have none of it and cancelled the lease. Liz was kind enough to let me stay at her place for the night and took me to the school to meet everyone. I spent Friday observing classes for 4 hours and then Mrs. Yun (my principal) took me to my new apartment.
I have one word for my new home: flash. Brand new, it has an automatic keypad lock (so I won't have to worry about forgetting my keys and it locks itself!), a nice little kitchen, a tv, and a sparkly clean bathroom. The plastic is still on my door handles! I can't say the view is great, but when I was hanging around today, I overheard the piano lessons from the school next door. Free classical music, a nice little home and good friends. Who could ask for more?
I spent my first night out in Gwangju at a couple of music events. A group of foreigners volunteer at the orphanage here in town and they were having an open mic night as a fundraiser. I got to meet a ton of new people as well as hang out with Liz's friends who I'd met the night before. I also had to try out my first traditional toilet here. Let's just say it's...different.
We then moved on to the Speakeasy, which is apparently the best foreigner bar in town. They were having a punk rock night with Korean bands playing. It was jam-packed and the music was fantastic. One of my friends took me for a walk around the downtown area and showed me where all the Western restaurants are (yes, they have Pizza Hut, Outback Steakhouse, Baskin Robbins, Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, Starbucks, and a bunch of other places I've seen at home). Then it was back to another place for karaoke and more conversation.
It's nice having found a group of foreigners. Everyone is really friendly, since we're all in the same boat. It's like a giant family. All the people I met were interesting to talk to and so much fun to hang out with.
Of course, a good night out with friends always ends with a snack before going home and last night was no exception. One of the guys, CJ, has a favorite a street vendor whom he calls the Chicken Lady. Chicken Lady serves chicken on a stick that she deep fries in oil and then dips in barbecue sauce. You can also get ham, egg, and cheese toasties, spicy potatoes, and some traditional food I didn't catch the name of. It was great! And cheap. :o)
While we were eating at the stall, a group who'd performed at open mic night found us and one of the guys still had his guitar out. He started playing a song and a Korean couple stopped and gave the guy some money. So, being a good busker, he played for them. Yay for busting down cross-cultural barriers.
And for those of you who are wondering: Koreans singing punk rock look, act, and sing just like North Americans playing punk rock. No accent, all crazy.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
It's a Long Way Down...or Over?
Well, that was an incredibly long marathon trip everyone. In case you're wondering though: Air Canada has surprisingly fantastic trans-Pacific flights. Not enough to rival Air NZ, but pretty decent.
Leave it to me to find an adventure in the most random of places. My first flight out of Saskatoon was pretty uneventful. I had 5 hours to kill in Van City, so I bought my historic Obama is President newspaper and killed the time really well, along with a few coffees from Starbucks and a couple of wanders around the terminal. The flight to Seoul was pretty full and I noticed when I got on that there was a big group of seniors heading on with these memorial t-shirts. They were all wearing shirts with pictures of soldiers and what company they were with and where and when they had served. Since most of them looked like they could be earlier pictures of the people wearing them, I assumed that it was a group of war veterans going over for some kind of memorial service. Well, my guess was close. When I went to the back of the plane to stretch, I had the privilege of meeting a Korean war veteran. He told me that the group was actually a group who had lost family members in the war and that he was the one and only veteran amongst them. Then the stories started to flow. Half an hour with that man and a Korean man who joined the conversation gave me some big insight into how far Korea has come.
The war ended in the late fifties and left Korea desolate. Fields had become swamps, mountains had been scarred with bombs and the rivers were full of mud. In 2008, Korea has the best economy of all the Asian countries (according to my Korean friend). Seoul had become a metropolis of skyscrapers and there's very little area on the peninsula that doesn't have a city on it. It's really incredible.
I also got a warning about Kimchi: apparently the Koreans would bury pots of kimchi (pickled cabbage) in the ground and when the Canadians came up mountains or hurled bombs, they would sometimes accidentally blow up these pots of kimchi. Which, by the way, stank to high heaven. Good to know...
After my 12 hour flight, catching the bus to Gwangju turned into a exercise in humility. They speak English in Seoul, and quite well I might add. That doesn't mean that my pronunciation of Korean places is any better. I nearly ended up with a ticket to Wonju! Good thing I had my guide book with me...which I proceeded to leave behind on the bus. No worries, though. Liz was at the bus station after my four hour bus ride with a friend to help me get home. Then we went for dinner (which included kimchi) and a walk.
By the way: Kimchi's pretty good. :o)
Leave it to me to find an adventure in the most random of places. My first flight out of Saskatoon was pretty uneventful. I had 5 hours to kill in Van City, so I bought my historic Obama is President newspaper and killed the time really well, along with a few coffees from Starbucks and a couple of wanders around the terminal. The flight to Seoul was pretty full and I noticed when I got on that there was a big group of seniors heading on with these memorial t-shirts. They were all wearing shirts with pictures of soldiers and what company they were with and where and when they had served. Since most of them looked like they could be earlier pictures of the people wearing them, I assumed that it was a group of war veterans going over for some kind of memorial service. Well, my guess was close. When I went to the back of the plane to stretch, I had the privilege of meeting a Korean war veteran. He told me that the group was actually a group who had lost family members in the war and that he was the one and only veteran amongst them. Then the stories started to flow. Half an hour with that man and a Korean man who joined the conversation gave me some big insight into how far Korea has come.
The war ended in the late fifties and left Korea desolate. Fields had become swamps, mountains had been scarred with bombs and the rivers were full of mud. In 2008, Korea has the best economy of all the Asian countries (according to my Korean friend). Seoul had become a metropolis of skyscrapers and there's very little area on the peninsula that doesn't have a city on it. It's really incredible.
I also got a warning about Kimchi: apparently the Koreans would bury pots of kimchi (pickled cabbage) in the ground and when the Canadians came up mountains or hurled bombs, they would sometimes accidentally blow up these pots of kimchi. Which, by the way, stank to high heaven. Good to know...
After my 12 hour flight, catching the bus to Gwangju turned into a exercise in humility. They speak English in Seoul, and quite well I might add. That doesn't mean that my pronunciation of Korean places is any better. I nearly ended up with a ticket to Wonju! Good thing I had my guide book with me...which I proceeded to leave behind on the bus. No worries, though. Liz was at the bus station after my four hour bus ride with a friend to help me get home. Then we went for dinner (which included kimchi) and a walk.
By the way: Kimchi's pretty good. :o)
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