What happens when I explore Busan…. May 31, 2008

My advice to you is explore Busan without meaning too..sometimes thats when you come up with the greatest stories.

Warning this post is a little crude. Not intentionally but the events themselves were crude and I cannot think of a polite way to write about them.

I am writing this post because the last few weeks my walks home from somewhere have had a common theme. Going to the bathroom in public.

When I first got to Busan 9 months ago I was quite shocked to watch as a taxi driver stopped his car got out and pissed at the side of the road. But as I have seen that several times now it doesn’t shock me.
Last week, walking home on a busy street, some elementary school boy is pissing against the wall looking at me..I was shocked. But that is nothing compared to tonight…
I was walking home along the trail near oncheonjong, and went on a backroad…and low and behold a husband and wife. At first it looked worse than it was…i am not going to go into too much detail so use your imagination. the man was standing up and doing his business..the woman was sitting down doing hers a few feet away, but from my perspective her head was ..at ahem..level. So while shocked I was relieved I really didn’t interrupt anything.

I find it funny that they are so relaxed about that..but not relaxed about other things.

Also tonight, i walked into the middle of a fight. As I cannot understand Korean, I have no idea what it was about. But it had all the makings of a korean drama. Two men, two women. One woman standing by the tall man, another woman hugging the tall man from behind crying, and the man instigating the fight..i

oh and there was a traditional korean dance thing going on which was nice to see.

Absolute illumination…part 2 May 24, 2008

When I first started blogging a few months ago, a reader referred to my blog with the title Absolute illumination.  I think this title is appropriate to describe what happened to me this week.  Along with my rose coloured glasses coming off, i discovered a long hidden quality I have…gumption.  I usually only use this trait when I am drunk (which is very rare) or in moment of rashness.  What happened this week has not tainted my great experience in South Korea.  It has just removed the naivete from me and I no longer wish to be blind.  I must have been in denial for a long time though.  For, after I had made my reasonable request and was denied, after I realized how little value I am to the school, after I said all I needed to say,  a huge weight has been lifted from my body.  The exhaustion that I have been feeling for the past two months is gone. I am refreshed, eager to fulfill the end of my contract.  And close the chapter of my life that is this school.

The rose-coloured glasses are off… May 22, 2008

First of all, I am truly enjoying South Korea. I have made great friends, met the love of my life and taught great kids. So I am happy.

However…
I did a lot of research before I came here about hogwons. I prepared myself for what my experience would be like. And there have been few surprises. Till now. Maybe arrogance on my part or the belief that one can be rewarded for their loyalty and hard work. And upon preparing for the meeting I found several other abuses of the contract that up until now I have been willing to let slide. However their inflexibility to work with me has disintegrated any weakness on my part. Luckily I have just two months left. But this is a warning to those coming to South Korea. Work with your school but if they aren’t reciprocating working with you use your contract. They are not your friends, no are they loyal to you as employees. I admit I was foolish and won’t make that mistake again. I hope you will not either.

This is my only negative experience in South Korea. Oh I definitely do not suggest you work for …………………..

Weekend in Seoul May 14, 2008

Inevitably, if you are dating someone worthwhile, you come across your first trip together. For me this can be the dealbreaker. I love to travel and if the trip is spent constantly fighting, well that is a definite turn off.
So while I was looking forward to this trip with excitement, I was also dreading it, very anxious about it. I love my man, who I will call Big C. I knew this trip he’d see all of me, the parts he hadn’t seen. It is like undressing in front of someone for the first time. You’ll hope they like what you see and are scared they won’t.
Anyways…the trip was wonderful on so many levels, and put me at ease. It actually made me more sure of the relationship and how serious it is becoming, actually how serious and stable it is.
First we got the ktx. We went first class which was nice. We got out our mp3 players and settled in. Took some beautiful couple pictures and I fell asleep. So comfortable, no pretense and it was a relaxing ride.
We got to Seoul station and while Seoul is huge, but not bombarded by the overwhelming towers that is New York city. My first impression is that its not as bad as I thought.
Big C and I went to Jeonpu where we were going to find a cheap motel. Unfortunately our taxi driver didn’t understand what we said or refused to listen to what we said. For he drove us near the area, and then turned and went in the opposite direction. Big C told me to relax and just follow the taxi. But what should have been a 5000 won taxi drive turned into 10000 when we both agreed we’d had enough. So we got out, hailed another taxi and called the interpretatin service to make sure we didn’t have the same problem. Because Big C had stayed there before, I followed his lead. That area was lit up with lanterns and many cultural things to see around. We had a nap and
unpacked and then set out to see the big city.
We set out for Yongsan, which is the electronic district of Seoul. Big C wanted to look for Grand Theft Auto 4 and I was thinking of a digital camera. The taxi driver dropped us off near Yongsan but we couldn’t see the electronic mart. However we were right across from the War Memorial which was also on our list so we decided to do that instead.
The memorial is amazing. Great picture taking opportunities. We were lucky they were showing the dead sea scroll exhibit so we took advantage and had a great time.
Then we went to Yongsan. We found the electronic mart and spent a few hours there. But there were nno really great deals so we left somewhat disappointed.
We went back to the hotel. Then we went to look for dinner. There was a huge gathering around but we didn’t know what it was. Assumed it was for the lantern festival. We walked along the river and found Bennigans. We had a great dinner and then called it a night. Not a single fight.
The next day we went for breakfast and then decided to go to Itaewan, the shopping market of seoul. I had heard it had great shopping for westerners, especially overweight ones like myself. i was disappointed. There was little that fit me and what did was too big and too ugly. Then we went to the Palace, which the land is quite beautiful but the temples, buildings all look the same on the outside. We saw a little bit of a korean drama before we left. We went back to the hotel and then out to a pub called the Rocky Mountain Tavern. A great little, Canadian themed pub that was filled with Americans. Big C and I met his friend there and had a great night. I was tired and so we left and went to bed. Did not have a great sleep and we had a slight tiff but it was such a comfortable weekend, that didn’t mar it at all. The next day we went to Seoul tower, I left my souvenirs in the taxi and so that ruined my mood a tiny bit. The view from Seoul tower is amazing. Then I took a picture of all these padlocks that were locked to the fence. They all had korean inscriptions on them. I later found out these are messages of hope and love. What a great idea.
Then we headed to Seoul Station to come home. We found a tgif fridays and had an amazing lunch for a great price. Then we came home, exhausted from a wonderful, loving, fun weekend. A huge sense of relief that it turned out to be more than I could ever hope for.

About a man….. May 2, 2008

Theres an ongoing saying about foreigners coming to South Korea. They are either unpopular back home, running away from something, paying off debt, wanting to travel or all of the above.

I fit into three of those categories. I had debt I wasn’t comfortable with, haunted by images of a relationship past that was long dead, and I have the adventure bug in me that wants to see the world.

I came to South Korea, with the knowledge that I would learn to be comfortable alone and accept the fact that I won’t get married. Depressing eh? Well the truth is I do many things on my own and I am very comfortable doing them alone. I have been on several trips, I eat out I go to the movies. I meet a lot of new people that way. South Korea just enhanced that by giving me more things to do.

What that has done has helped me discover my love for hiking, and beaches and mountains. I have become comfortable in my own skin and regained my strength. It was on one of these solo jaunts that I met him.

Someone totally unexpected..never imagined anything would happen. He is funny, intelligent and tall. He challenges me, annoys me, loves me, surprises me and calms me. This wasn’t part of my plan. I’m a planner, I like to set goals and achieve them. This is hard to do when it comes to dealing with other humans. He messed up my plan and I have been having fun ever since.

I am at a crossroads now, between my old life and what is to come. I can feel that what is about to happen is about to be very good. But like Lot’s wife in the bible, its too tempting for me to look back at my old life. I am about to take the leap without knowing where I will land.

I think single women, like myself, here, we stereotype the foreign men in South Korea. Stereotypes always have some basis but the problem with stereotypes is they always discount a lot of people. I think if you are meant to date in South Korea it will happen. Until then, enjoy South Korea, enjoy yourself, don’t indulge in the pack mentality too much, spend a lot of time on yourself. If you don’t date here, at least you LIVED in South Korea. And by living I mean, doing more than getting drunk every weekend.