First Blog From South Korea

Well, I have now been in South Korea for four days, I can tell you right now that I love it. Damn fine country. Nice, friendly people. Delicious food. But, I will get to that in a bit. First things first, the story of how I got here.

I left Olympia on Feb. 23rd. Like when I went to Chile I caught a shuttle up to the airport. My flight was at 5:30PM so I got picked up at 1:30PM. The ride up was relatively uneventful. I had a chance to talk to a lady from Minnesota about travel and such, so that was nice, helped pass the time. I got up to Seatac around 2:30PM, and checked in. Then I went to my gate and passed through the fastest security line ever. No one was in line, it was nice. I got to my gate and hung out, made some calls and got onto my computer. As it turned out, one of the other teachers, a girl named Avery, was passing through Seatac and taking the same flight as me to LAX. So we met up and started talking. The flight to LA wasn’t terribly eventful. When we got to LA we had a hell of a time finding our next terminal, what with it being in a separate building. But we got there. I made the mistake of forgetting to empty my water bottle before I went through security, and so had to go through the line twice. But we had a long layover so it wasn’t a problem. I knew that another teacher going to Ulsan was one the same flight as Avery and me. A guy named Jeremy. I got the gate but there was no sign of him. So I made some last phone calls, cancelled my cell phone service and waited. Eventually Jeremy showed up. His flight had been late from St. Louis, so he didn’t get there until around 11PM. We talked and hung out until our next flight was ready to leave. This would be a 13 hour flight over the Pacific to Seoul. I had the good fortune to get a window seat so I was able to spend the majority of the flight sleeping. Which was lucky because 13 hours is a long time to just sit and watch the same movies over and over again. I was sitting next to a very strange woman though. When I woke up she started telling me all about her acting days. She was either the most ditzy woman in the world, or she was completely drunk. I couldn’t tell which… maybe a bit of both.

We landed at Incheon airport in Seoul at around 7AM local time. We got our bags and went through customs. Then we exchanged some money, and went and found a nice quiet patch of floor to sit on so we could use the free wifi at the airport. Our next flight left at 1PM from a different airport entirely. So we had time to kill. After using the internet for an hour or so we went and caught a train to Gimpo airport. This was an adventure because we had to haul all of our bags the whole way, no carts. I was pouring sweat by the end. After a thirty minute train ride, and some wandering around, we finally got to Gimpo airport. From there we would take an hour flight to Ulsan. We had some time so we went and got some food. Then we went through security and went to our gate. We had a two hour wait until our flight so we talked and waited. Finally we got on the plane… which got to the runway… which then stopped because of mechanical problems… which allowed enough time to pass for the weather to deteriorate… which cancelled our flight… and all other flights to Ulsan that day. So we were suddenly stuck in Seoul. All the things we had been worried about had gone off without a hitch. This was supposed to be the easy part. A short, one hour flight to Ulsan, then up to others to tell us what to do and where to go. But alas, it was not meant to be.

We got back to the terminal and tried to decide what to do. Fortunately we had been given a number to call in case of a problem like this. So we called Scott Kim, who told us we should try to exchange the tickets for a flight the next day and then get a hotel room. So we exchanged our tickets for the first flight to Ulsan the next day, leaving at 6:50AM. Then one of Scott Kim’s associates came to the airport and helped us find a hotel to stay at. He called the hotel who told him they would be sending a shuttle to pick us up along with all our many bags. Well, that shuttle turned out to be a sedan. We had to cram all of our bags into the car, and then fold ourselves into it as well. It was not the best car ride I have ever experienced. But we got to a hotel and the driver said he would take us back at 5:30AM the next day. We rented two rooms for the night, one for Avery and one for myself and Jeremy. And so it came to pass that my first night in South Korea was spent sharing a bed with another man. Hell of a story though.

We got up the next day went to the airport. And SUCCESS! We made it to Ulsan with almost no difficulty. From there our various co-teachers came and picked us up to take us to our apartments and schools. We made plans to meet up at 10am with the rest of the group of new teachers and then took off. My co-teacher picked me up last. His name was Myeong Song Ho, or just Song Ho. He helped me take my bags to his car, then we left so he could show me my school and apartment before bringing me to where I was supposed to meet everyone for lunch. As we started off I couldn’t help but notice that we were leaving Ulsan behind us… and we just kept going. Next thing I know we are pulling into a small city called Namchang, fifteen minutes south of Ulsan. Didn’t see that one coming. He took me to my school, which is called Onyang Elementary School. He showed me around and introduced me to some people. Then we went to find my apartment. This proved to be rather difficult, and it took us around thirty minutes of driving around to find it. We went up and I dropped by bags off. Then he took me back to the school for a moment before driving back up to Ulsan so I could meet with everyone.

I met up with the group in front of the Hyundai Department Store. This was the second moment I felt discomforted by where I was going to be living. Everyone else was talking about how they lived just a few blocks away, or just on the other side of the city. I, on the other hand, lived completely out of the city, in a different city. A much smaller city, that took 15 minutes to get to by car or taxi, and 40 minutes to get to by bus. “Well,” I thought to myself, “That blows.” But oh well, such is life. When the whole group was there we went to a restaurant and had some amazing Korean food. Korean food is incredible and I am sooooo happy I get to eat so much of it over the next year or two. While we ate, a teacher who had already been here for six months named Kasham gave a presentation on what we could expect about living in Korea. She gave us a great rundown of proper manners and the like. It was very nice. Our group won’t get an orientation until the end of March, which makes no sense, but welcome to Korea. So this was the closest we would get to an orientation. After we ate everyone made plans to meet up that evening… except me, because I had no idea how to get to Ulsan from Namchang. I wasn’t terribly happy about that, but I decided to look at it in the best possible light. Yes, I would be very removed from everyone I knew up to this point, but it would give me the opportunity to delve much deeper into the culture of this country. So I felt a little better about it.

My co-teacher came and picked me up and took me back to my place. Then he took me to the store and helped me by some essentials. Water, garbage basket, chop sticks, cups, ramen and of course, soju. Soju is the drink of Korea. It is basically some kind of rice liquor that tastes like terrible vodka. But who am I to turn down a free drink, especially from an elder in Korea. We went back to my place and had a couple shots of soju, then he walked me around so I would be sure to know where the school was and how to get there. Only a ten to fifteen minute walk from my front door to my school, not too bad at all. He walked me back up to my place, and then I was on my own. I fortunately found out I could steal internet from someone and was able to get online and talk with some people and check in the family for the first time since Incheon the morning before. On a brief side note, my apartment is amazing. I have a kitchen/dining room, a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. It is definitely not a small studio apartment. I watched some TV on my computer, and I was getting ready to head to bed, even though it was only 8PM when there was a knock on my door. And who should be there but a fellow foreigner.

As it turns out, there is another foreigner living in my building with me. His name is Matt Smith. He also teaches at my school, but he works during the day and I work the after school hours. Anyhow, Matt was kind enough to come up to my apartment, introduce himself, offer to show me around Namchang, and then invite me out for drinks up in Ulsan that night. So I said, hell yes, and we were off. First there was a forty minute bus ride to Ulsan, during which I met another foreigner living in Namchang, a Scottish girl named Cat. We made it into new downtown and then met up with another foreigner named George. Downtown Ulsan is divided into two parts. Old downtown, or Shanae, and new downtown, or Samsan. We spent that first night in Samsan. It was a fun evening, full of beer and soju drinking. We took a taxi back at the end of the night and I got home around 3:30AM, exhausted.

I slept until 12:30 the next afternoon. Then I took a shower and got ready. Around 2 I went down to Matt’s apartment. From there he walked me around Namchang and showed me where everything was. The best thing about Matt so far is that he may love Pizza even more than I do. So I now know all the best places to get pizza in Namchang, thank God. Not that I don’t like Korean food, because I love Korean food, but there is no greater food in the world than pizza. We walked around Namchang for about two hours, then we caught a bus to Shanae so I could see that. We walked around for a bit then walked over to Samsan before catching a bus back to Namchang for dinner with the Namchang crew.

There are currently nine foreigners living in Namchang. I got to hang out with six of them that night. Brian from Tennessee, Andy from New Zealand, Gerard from Ireland, Clare from Maryland, Cat from Scotland, and Matt from Arizona. We all met up at a Korean BBQ place. Korean BBQ is amazing. The bring you a tray full of raw, marinated pork, then you cook it yourself on a small BBQ built into the table you are sitting at. Combine that with about fifteen Korean side dishes and you have one hell of a fine meal. This paired with beer and the occasional shot of Soju made for a great dinner, which led to us going to a local bar, which led to us going to Ulsan and staying out until almost 4AM.

By the time the next morning rolled around I was pretty beat. This was Sunday, and since there was no school Monday because it was a holiday, we had another day to just hang out. It also happened to be the 28th, which means the Namchang Market was up and going. So Matt, Clare, Gerard and I went to the market. Then we went to the store and bought some beer and went and sat on our roof for a couple of hours and just hung out. My very good friend Hannah had gotten back to Ulsan late the night before, so I had plans to meet up with her and some other people for dinner that night at 7PM. So around six Matt and I went and caught a bus into the city. When we got there Matt took off to go and meet some other friends, and I went with everyone to dinner. It was pretty bizarre for one interesting reason, that reason being that of the six people who went out to dinner, four had gone to school at Western. So it was pretty strange to have four people from Bellingham all sitting together for dinner… in Ulsan, South Korea. After dinner we went back to Hannah’s place, had some wine, played some Korean games, hung out and talked for awhile. At some point during the night I was suddenly hit by what had happened down in Chile. It was a very sobering moment. I had been aware of it since the night before… but it didn’t sink in until then. That’s when I really started worrying about my Chilean friends. I went to bed fairly early that night.The next day, being today, was Monday, a holiday, so no work. Hannah came down to Namchang to visit and see my place. So we hung out for a few hours, read some Nietzsche, talked about stuff. It was a good time. After she left I went to the store, then came back and ironed my clothes for work tomorrow and cleaned up a bit around the apartment, and ate some food.

Tomorrow is my first day of school. I don’t really know what to expect. I’m pretty sure that I won’t be teaching tomorrow. I think I am just going in early to introduce myself to the staff and the students. I think there will be a welcoming/beginning of the new year ceremony, and then lunch. I’m not sure when I’ll start teaching yet, but I am very excited to begin. My first days in Korea have gone very well. I started off being somewhat apprehensive about my living situation, what with being so far away from everything, but now I am very happy about it. There is a very nice, very cool community of other foreigners out here. It’s a small city so I won’t be overwhelmed. I can make it into the city in less than an hour, and then retreat to a more quiet area when I’ve had my fill. It’s really a perfect situation for me. I think that it is going to be a great year. Well, that’s all I have for now. I hope everyone is doing well, and I’ll try to keep everyone updated from here on out. Chao.