Jeju Island

So this past week I have spent on my jolly hollies in Jeju Island I had tried to book some hotels but all off them seemed to be full, so I decided to wing it and just turn up and find some places to stay. I am normally a pretty organised and planned person so this was a little outside of my boundaries. But still as my new mantra in South Korea is 'It's a challenge, it's all a learning experience' I decided to go for it. Plus I was not going to sit in 'The Goon' for a whole week.

So this was the route I took over the 5 nights I was there.



So a run down of the week...


Sunday
The flight was so short, I wish that all my flights were only 36 minutes long! There was the favourite korean game of rock scissor paper to win tickets for some show. Unfortunately I fell asleep so missed out. I arrived at the airport, picked up a map and jumped on the number 600 bus. My original plan was to get of at Jungman Resort. I thought seeing as this was a touristy area so the best place to find a hotel. Nothing really took my fancy, as it all seemed like really expensive hotels. I stayed on the bus and eventually got off at the world cup stadium. I had a look around and then met a girl from the US. She pointed me to Seogwipo and I ended up meeting her that night to watch her sing and some of her friends do some readings.
I booked into a hotel, feeling pretty happy with my self that this was all turning out ok and I had somewhere to sleep.
I headed down to the harbour and went to Choenjiyeon water falls.




Monday
I decided I wanted to go to Jeju Sculpture park, the woman at reception did not really speak much English but pointed me up the hill to the bus station. After waiting fro 10 minutes at a bus stop, I asked some and realised I was on the wrong side. I went over to the other stop, stood there for a few minutes, and found out I was still in the wrong place. Fortunately a lady, literally took me and lead me round the corner and I found the actual bus terminal!! I was told I had to change buses somewhere and hopped on a bus. After about 20 minutes on the bus, I saw tourist information centre and thought someone there would speak English. Bob's your uncle I was also sorted and get back on the same bus number that I had got on before brandishing a note in Korean that said Sculpture park, which I waved at the driver. After another 20 minutes the driver stop and waved at me and pointed around the corner. I was there!! After about 2 hours, I had finally made!! I was soooo proud of myself. To top it off the place was beautiful and empty. I spent a several hours wandering around. and was chased by some ducks!





I then headed to Yeomiji Botanical Gardens, Choenjoyeon water falls and then the beach. I decided to stay in Seogwipo for another night.


Tuesday
After being groped by an adjama (a little old lady) at the bus stop, I was on my way to Pyoseon. I went to Jeju Folk Village and then spent the afternoon at the beach.


Wednesday
The plan was to head to Gimnyeong, find a hotel and then go the Manjangul caves. However after getting off in Gimnyeong, I couldn't find a hotel, so got back on the bus and headed to Hamdoek instead. Found a hotel then got back on the bus to go back the way I had come previously! I got off the bus at the entrance of the caves, which was about a 30 minute walk down a road and was chased by 2 Korean sisters who kept saying walking walking and marching on the spot. We finally figured out we were going to the caves so shared a taxi and wandered around the caves together. We then went to Kim Nyoung Maze park. The girls lived in Busan so now I have people to stay with when I go there!


Thursday
I made my way to Jeju-Si for my last day before heading home. The bus driver had plonked me in the front seat and kept pointing at things I should look at. I found a 'hotel' near the bus station to make it easier to get to the airport the next day. I went fora wander around and walked down to Tapdong. Then it started to chuck it down. I mean it was thundering, lightening and CHUCKING it down.



Fortunately I had booked tickets to see Nanta so went off to sit in a nice dry theatre. The show was amazing!!!





So that was it!
Originally I was pretty nervous about traveling around by myself, but it was actually fine! I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. It was also a huge confidence boost knowing that I can successfully travel somewhere where I don't even speak the language, by myself and have a great time!
Yay me!


See the over 200 photos here!!

I had to put together a video for the speech contest on Saturday... so here it is!

This is what I have been doingfor the past 3 months....



(I did not chose the music..)

Weekend in Gurye-gun

This weekend I headed to Gurye-gun. A friend is part of Korea on the Rocks and they were going climbing at Youngseo Popko (The Forgiving waterfall) everyone had gone down on Friday night, so I had to head out.. on public transport.. by myself. We all know what happened last time I took public transport on my own... I ended up taking a 6 hour detour!So I got to the bus station, managed to but a ticket to Iksan, got on the bus, got to Iksan bus station, managed to Iksan train Station, got a ticket and was on a train an hour earlier than predicted and managed to get a seat! Yay me!!!

While on the train I managed to pick up 2 English guys who were also part of the climbing group.We got a taxi to the water fall and it was beautiful. For the whole weekend, I basically just lay around in the sun, read my book, socialised and enjoyed being out of 'The Goon'. There was about 30 'yong-gooks' and quite a few Brits there, which was nice. I also met an American whose Grandmother lives in Chester!!!Louise and I hiked up to the top of the waterfall to watch the sunset and take some photos. Then in the evening we had a camp fire and some singing. As there were a lot of people, it turn into slightly like spring break but on the rocks so there were a few 'men down' because of too much booze, too many rocks and lack of light.I ended up camping in Louise's tent with her and doing pretty much the same relaxing as on Sunday.

We headed home and only managed to standing seats. We managed to find a ledge to sit on in one of the cars, however it had a full view of the men's toilets, where the men never seem to be bothered to close the door!

Photos of the weekend here!

More random thoughts and observations.....

Why do the traffic lights on the 6 lane road I have to cross on the way to work, never work in the mornings.

There seems to be a competition as to who can have the smallest pencil case. Mine is big enough to carry a small Chihuahua and amazes the kids.

Women tend to find the shortest shorts they can and wear high heels to go hiking in. You can have the shortest shorts ever but you must wear a baggy top with them. Shoulders must be covered.

There are at least 3 Lotte Mart shop assistants in every isle, ready to help you - whether you want it or not.

Some Koreans do not say excuse me. They either wait 20 minutes for you to figure out they are there. Or completely shove past you.

Rock scissors, paper stone, sorts out every small child's arguments. They completely abide by the outcome.

Some Koreans like you to see what they are eating, after they have chewed it for a few minutes. They talk with their mouth open all the time.

The majority of Korean construction is baddd - including my leaking window, handles falling off the door at work, the floor flooding and bad ventilation, so the tables grow mould!

When Koreans gets a snotty luggie in their throat, they just hack it up and if you are like my co-worker spit it in the bin next to my desk.

If you have a sofa delivered or something equally big, it is delivered through your window, on a lift that whizzes it up the outside of the building. This is pretty impressive when it is on the 15th floor.

People - especially women smoke in bathrooms. Including my neighbour, so it drifts through the air vents into my bathroom.

Bathroom stalls have mirrors in them. Like - on the back of the door so you can do your make up and pee at the same time! Or at Thursday Party, the mirrors are that bug you can watch yourself pee... just what you have always wanted!

***Dislaimer - Please note these are my observations and do not apply to every single Korean - just the majority!!!!

Doljanchi

For my first doljanchi, this was pretty spectacular, the parents had gone all out! They had hired a huge hall in 'Korea Wedding'. At the entrance there was a table with a very expensive looking photo album of the baby, photos printed on to ceramic plates and a gold cast of the babies feet and hands.



There was a huge buffet, spread along the back of the hall, with an open kitchen will people cooking more food. There were balloon displays, 2 projector screens, running a video and photos of the baby, a stand up poster screen with a picture of the baby.

The food was AMAZING! There was sushi, caviar, oysters, shrimps, all kinds of rice cakes, fruit, salad, kimbap fried vegetables, soups, kebabs. ALL KINDS!!

We then sang happy birthday and the doljabi took place.

This is a video of the Doljabi, where the baby picks the object,



He picked up the string which signifies a long life but also picked up a mouse as well, showing he would get a job in technology.

It was a pretty interesting experience. When we left, we were given a box of rice cake and a towel, with the baby's name embroidered on!

More photos here!

Well this week has been challenging to say the least!! A few issues at work which actually haven't made life that difficult for me but caused a lot of shouting at each other between my co-workers.

To be honest it is all pretty ridiculous and petty but I am very proud of myself and the way I have reacted. Instead of screaming back and throwing a strop. I aired my views calmly and clearly. I have found that I am standing up for myself in a quiet and mature way. Before I would have moaned about the issue to my friends and not done anything about it. Now I am confronting them in a composed and restrained manner. Or so I like to think!!

Well, we all have a meeting at 9am on Monday with the Dean to discuss everything, so we will see how it goes!!

I think out of all the countries I have visited, this one is testing me the most. It is testing my working relationships and how to deal with pesky co workers. It is testing me on how to live alone. It is testing how I cope with a completely new culture, that I have never experienced before. It is testing my communication skills at work and in general day to day life.

However despite all of this, I am actually enjoying being here! I enjoy being challenged every day and experiencing something totally new and different.

So this weekend is going to be slightly more laid back than last weekend. I am going to a Jo's friends babies first birthday party. Otherwise known as doljanchi. It is a pretty big deal here. So should be interesting!

Well what a mammoth weekend!!

Friday started off pretty busy as KM had decided to combine the lessons in the morning. The meant I was teaching the adult and 5/6 grade class together for 90 minutes and then the kindergarten joined towards the end as well. So after scrubbing the underneath of all the tables because they had a thick layer of mould growing on it, (The joys of working in the equivalent of a cellar in wet humid Korea) I got to go home at 4.30!!

Jo and I were heading to Seoul for the weekend end to go to her directors restaurant and some workshop, I want really sure of the plans. She picked me up at and we headed off to Deachon. (Remember the place that took me 6 hours instead of 1!) We picked her another teacher and her 2 children.

We got to Seoul about 12 and went night shopping Dongdaemun Shopping Center we shopped there until about 3am and then continued to the restaurant. We got to Yangju-si at about 5.30am and settled into our room above the restaurant. We were then brought beer and proceeded to actually get very drunk considering it was now 6am!!

About 11.30, a woman came into our room and started to literally pull the blankets out from underneath us. She needed to clean the room for the next people and considering we were staying for free, we obliged. We were then sent into the roof which had a deck type thing with a cover and we slept there for another few hours. It was all very bemusing and comical.

We then woke up again at about 1.30, when Jo's director came up and we had some lunch. The workshop never really happened as we were too hungover and the person who was running the workshop didn't arrive.

We left abut 5 o'clock to make our way home. However we found a really nice Sculpture park and went for a wander around that.

We then found another sculpture park and art museum called Jangheung art park and looked around that one.

Then we found some amusement arcades and stayed there for a couple of hours. By this time , it was about 8.30, we decided it would be easier to stay and go home the next day.

However this weekend was a holiday weekend so all the rooms were booked up. We got back to the restaurant and slept for a bit in a tiny tiny room. We were then woken up again about 2am, and told the room was too small for us and we were to go and sleep in the restaurant. Fortunately part of the restaurant was Korean style so it had underfloor heating. We all went back to sleep in the restaurant - including the director and his wife!

I have begun to realise that I never know what is going to happen in Korea, so you just have to go with it!!!

On Sunday we set off around 10am and headed to Cheongam folk museum.

After this we drove to a pottery place. Which was really nice but after waiting an hour and 20 minutes for the girls to decide what colour pottery to buy in one of the shops, I was ready to leave.

By this time it was abut 4.30, the kids were really tired and whiny (as they had been most of the weekend, but that is a different story) I finally thought we were heading home.

Then I see a Hollywood style sign saying English village. Next thing I know we are driving up to it and parking. The English Village is really well known in Korea. It is basically a specially build village all in Englsih style where kids can go and learn English. Then Jo tells me were are only about and hour and half from the North Korean border! So I was estimating it would take about 4 hours to get home. THEN, I find out they want to look around the village but you have to pay to get in. BUT if you wait until 5 you can go in for free. By this point I was guessing I would not be home until 12/1 o'clock and was seriously annoyed.

We had a wonder around, it actually was pretty interesting but mainly amusing to see how thy had interpreted how an English village should look! There were a couple of Romania's working there, that I had a chat to in English also.

Finally we left at about 7pm and started on the way home. Having had enough of the kids, I plugged in my ear phones and tried to get some sleep.

Before I went to sleep, I noticed that the river we were driving along was protected by barbed wire and ahd military watch posts every so often. It turns out it was the Han River and the North Koreans would try and attack by the river.

So I finally got back to 'The Goon' at about midnight. I have never been so happy to be home. It was a fun weekend but a looooooooooooooooong weekend!!

So this is a rough idea of where I went!

Pics of the weekend here!

This week has been pretty busy.

Monday - Victoria and I went to the Music cafe. I had a bit of a moment while we were there. People have lessons in the cafe, so we saw a flute lesson and 2 old men had a singing lesson. The singing was so beautiful and amazing. It made me have an 'oh my goodness I am in Korea moment' Then the owner tried to show us how to sing. Every time we go he always trie to teach us something. He also gave us some corn on the cob grown from his own allotment.

Tuesday - I had Korean lessons with Jo and Louise. Apparently I was supposed to have them with KM but either she didn't tell me or as usual there was a miscommunication. She was not to happy and it all included some table banging and questions about if I was seeing a boy.

Wednesday - Jo and I went to the the gym at 6.30am!!! because we and a few of the foreign teachers were going for Pizza hut that night. So we completely over ate, then headed to a bar with a beer garden. We bumped into some more teachers and all got bitten to death by mosquitoes together!

Thursday - I asked again for my payslip, which I have still not received and was laughed at! Got a little frustrated with Korean culture today and just the fact that KM and I really struggle with communicating with each other. I was asked to great some sentences for 'Snack time' activity. I had taken a couple from the book the uni has produced. It said 'I couldn't take a milk/bread' I said that it was incorrect English, and was told it was American. Even if it was, it would still not make sense, so I was told it was Canadian!!! Either way, I will not teach it as it is completely incorrect! I also found out from my adults, that my adult class was cancelled for Friday. KM then told me that the main school was closed and I would be teaching at the other school.
I then met Jo at the gym and we cycled for about 15 minutes, all through out Jo kept poking me saying we have both had a bad day, lets go to dinner instead! I finally relented and we went for a really nice meal in Sky Park which has a really nice roof deck.

Friday - I went into work at 11 prepared to sit there until 3 as my adult class had been cancelled and I had no prep to do. To find that the school was locked up with a note in Korean on the door. I wondered over to the other village, to see where I was supposed to be and got sent home until 2.30!! YAY!
So went home cleaned my apartment, did some laundry, did all my ironing and made some tomato soup out of some huge tomatoes Jo had given me!

So some things in South Korea are pretty expensive, like milk , fruit and especially cheese. This milk is about £2.

However some things are not... for examples, Soju, the national drink.
You can buy soju for about 50p!



So if I get paid the wrong amount again.. at least I know I can afford some soju!

Jo and I hit up the 1,000 won shop, the Korean version of the pound shop. I got lots of goodies for my apartment. Then we decided to try out E Mart, where we tasted squid, bread, yoghurt, black bean noodles, ginseng, cereal.

Then we grabbed some dinner, then we didn't want Lotte Mart to feel left out, so dropped in there!

Also available at Lotte Mart...

puppies!



All in all we did shop til we dropped!

Pay day!!!

At last after 6 weeks of working, I have finally be paid. The first time in over 8 months!!!

However, they did not pay me enough.. ha I know no one is ever paid enough. But I was supposedly only paid for one month, they were 'keeping the other 9 days and would give it to me when I finish'. I have to check into this as Jo seems to think this is wrong. However even if I was paid for a month I am still about 300,000 short and I know that is not all tax/pension etc. I tried asking for my payslip but got pretty much blank stares from KM. I know I do have one as I asked the university directly previously to make sure I got one.

I had one of my first really really frustrating moments in South Korea. I have been here for 6 weeks,. I have been doing a good job, so please just pay me what you owe me. Everything here is never straightforward and it can be so frustrating. I just have to remember, it is a different culture and take a deep breath. But at then end of the day I did get paid!!!!

So Jo and I went out for dinner, had a bottle of wine,. We headed down to Eunpa Park.

At night the bridge is all lit up and some ties there are light shows or water/fountain shows. This time there was a concert... aimed at old people. But it was fun all the same. I also 'borrowed' some flowers from some huge flower displays. The are now in a cut up fanta bottle next to my bed!

Then we went to a swanky cafe/bar called Cafe Seventy two. It was really nice with sofas and a huge windows so you could see the street. Definitely felt like I was more in New York.

If you ordered 2 KGB drinks then you got a free gift... of insoles... that added 2cm to your height! Jo was very excited about this!

We then headed off to a very posh noreabang compared to the one I normally go to on Bar Street. The good thing abot being with a Korean at a Noreabang is that even if you sing badly, they don't realise as it's in English.

Today, I have just cleaned my apartment in my underwear (because I can, because I live by myslef! mwhahaha!) I am going to go food shopping this afternoon and then might head to the 1,000 won shop to buy knifes, forks, glasses and other exciting things for my apartment!

More Pay day pics here!

Thunder, lightening and lots of rain... and that was just inside my apartment.

So I joined the gym yesterday, had an hour and half work out, then sauntered home in the rain listening to my music and dancing at the traffic lights in the lightening.
Fortunately I got home before it absolutely started lashing it down - completely monsoon styley.
Then I heard some dripping.... the top of the inside pane of my window had water seeping through it.
I had no idea what to do and ended up calling Saint Jo and asked her to bring some tape around. She came over, by this point it around 11.30 and the leaking had got worse and close the my plug socket.



Her friend, went knocking on all my neighbours doors to try and get a phone number for the owner of the building. She managed to get hold of it and gave him a call. 20 minutes later he was over. The guy above me had already had the same problem, so they were aware of it. He apologised and offered to put me up in a hotel. (Can you ever imagine the Super doing that in NYC - not a chance if it was outside 9-5, he wouldn't even pick up!!!)

They left and came back 20 minutes later with some towels and some tubs to catch the rain. They asked if there were any other problems. I mentioned that there were a lot of mosquitoes in my apartment even though, I kept the screen shut and that they seemed to be a gap in the window. He said he would look at it when he fixed the window tomorrow.

So Jo tried to control the leak until it stopped raining.



I came back from the gym after work today and the tubs of water had been cleaned up, my wet towels put on the washing machine and this note...



So it all worked out ok in the end and I got some flowery smelling mosquito killer!

Locations of my adoring fans!

So I have a stat counter on my blog. I just found out I can see what city people are from who visit my blog. There were some pretty surprising results!
Someone in Spokane Washington is the top visitor.... not sure who that it. And then second is someone in Seoul... again not sure who that could be, unless it is Cho from the Flying Cows office in Seoul!
Vietnam and Mexico also showed up.
Some of them I look at and know who the person is, others I have no idea!
Anyway I though it was pretty interesting.. here are the results.



(Click on it to make it bigger)

Make a comment and identify yourself if you want!!!

*** OO I have just found out how to find the referring link as well.. quite a few hits have come from searches for 'hair braiding in Ghana'. Quite a few from my facebook page but lots of direct links - obviously my more adoring fans!! The Mexico and Vietnam are from some website called the blog fantasy stock market?! Apparently I am valued at B$1,000.00... hmm interesting! Now I am obsessed as to stalking you all!

Games, wrong buses and MUD!

Well activity day is always fun day, but this one was prettty tiring. We did sports and games with the kids outside. I had to do the same games, trying to explain it to them, act it out when they didn't and also join in occasionally, for all 4 classes!

This is a pretty good video of a rely race and gives you a good view of the apartment complex that the students live in. The thing they run around is stairs leading down to where I work!



There are more pictures here.

That night was Helen's last night in Gunsan, as she has a new job in Seoul. So we went out for a few beers which inevitably lead to Noreabang. I love it!! Although looking back at videos and hearing yourself sing is not always a good thing!

Then Saturday Jo and I were supposed to be driving to Mudfest. However there had been something in the news about children getting a rash from the mud and Jo decided not to go. Everyone else had already headed up. I wasn't sure about whether to just spend the weekend in Gunsan or to actually get on a bus and figure things out for myself for the first time! So I decided it would be a challenge and I needed to get to grips with the public transport as opposed to being a sheep and just following everyone else.

So made it to the bus station, asked for a ticket to Deachon, got on the bus and everything was going swimmingly. However, I began to realise this bus was taking far longer than it should do and realised I was heading to Daejon!! The guy had misunderstood me! So I ended up in Deajon, found out I couldn't get a direct bus to Deachon, I had to go to Gongju and get another bus. So what should have been one bus and about an hour ride, took 3 buses and about 6 hours!!!



The green route is the one I should have taken, and the red one is the one I did take!!!

The scenery was pretty spectacular - I saw a suspension bridge that had supports made out of huuuuge chillies.

I also made friends with a couple of Ozzies on the bus. One of the who used to Nanny for Sally who ran the Australia office for Cross-Cultural Solutions!!! Such a small world!

So finally made it there about 8pm at night, meet up with some of the others, had a few drinks and went to a overpriced dive of a night club!

On Sunday as everyone had already done the mud stuff and it was chucking it down, most people went home. Louise came back to the beach with me. We both went to mud jail, where we got buckets of mud thrown over us, then we went to the mud pit, where again people threw mud at you. The mud is not thick but more like runny grey water.



We then rinsed it off a bit in the rain and then ran into the sea. It was pretty choppy and windy and rainy but definitely a once in lifetime experience. I don't have many pictures as I was too muddy. But here are the few that I do!
Then had a super short journey home and just put the washing on!

A very jam packed and entertaining weekend!!

I had my first proper Korean lesson with Jo on Monday ans she set me the task of learning the alphabet.
It is actually really difficult! First you have to learn what the symbol is, then what sound it makes, then what sound it makes with all the other. Each symbol can be combined with other symbols to make a syllable, you then have to put all the syllables together. Then you finally have the whole word and what is sounds like. Then you have to figure out what that sound means!! It is like learning something 3 times!!!
Also some symbols are a G or K, P or B, or an L or an R. Which makes it even more difficult. This also explains why Koreans say lice instead of rice.

It has definitely made me respect my kindergarten classes for knowing their ABC's! And made me appreciate how much the students do know

I had to post this video. It cracks me up sooooo much. Daniel was trying to get the student to write their names but using their hips...
the results are veryyyyyy amusing!



This weekend I am off to mudfest. Yes it does exactly what it says on the tin. Practically every foreigner from the whole of South Korea will be there! The mus is supposed to be really good for your skin. Here's hoping because my face looks like a pepperoni pizza at the moment!

Also on a reflective note.. this week 3 years ago I first moved over to NYC to work for Cross-Cultural Solutions!!! I can't believe that is was 3 years ago! So much has happened since then. I have visited 6 countries, 14 states, moved back to the UK, moved over to South Korea, changed career direction, met hundreds of fabulous people and those are just the main things.

I am very grateful to CCS and everything I learnt there. Especially in regards to cultural differences and being flexible. It is definitely serving useful in dealing with KM! It has also helped me to embrace new cultures and helped me to integrate more efficiently and with less culture shock.
Moving to South Korea was a piece of cake compared to dealing with finding an apartment, sorting out my visa etc like I had to to in NYC! I just wish KM would realise that!

Oo, also managed to figure out how to get my pictures off my camera.
Here are some from the Music Museum on Sunday.

These are the tins for needles for gramophones






Well off to bed, its activity day tomorrow, doing sports with the kids and discussing families with the adults. Let's hope I don't stress out to many foetus'!

Scary foreign teacher terrorises expecting mothers

So after chatting with Jo, I realised I may have been a bit hard on KM. I am her first foreign teacher and am also fiercely independent. We just need to learn each others boundaries and figure out how to work harmoniously with each other.

I went into work today. I answered all of her questions politely. Where did you go what did you do. How many boys were there. How old were they. How many times did you go to the bathroom this weekend... (ok maybe not the last one but nearly)

Then she began to discuss the adult classes with me. I had previous been told that my pub quizzes were stressing out the 2 unborn babies in the class. On Friday I had done an episode of Friends and got them to answer questions about it. It was pretty hard actually. There were no speakers, so they couldn't really hear anything and I realised that it was hard at the time.

She proceeded to tell me, my lessons were to hard, they were scared to come to my activity lessons on Fridays and it gave them all headaches. I am not allowed to introduce any new materials. I am only allowed to use thing from book. I am also not allowed to lesson plan any more.

I was gutted. I knew my class on Friday was hard. I don't know how much of it is true or how much she is just exaggerating. It really knocked my confidence and I was dreading the adult class. I really felt like saying ok you teach the class and I will just assist.
She was just so patronising about it though. She was saying they are mommies they are not very good. For a start, they are mums and also they grasp of English actually very good. They are here paying to learn, so I am not going to be really easy on them as they are here to learn. They have to be challenged in order to advance.

Anyway, we will see if anyone cries on Friday.....

Also on the boy front. She was asking about the boys at the air force base from the weekend and did I fancy any of them. I told her no. She asked why not? Why did I not have a boyfriend. I tried to explain to her that boys were too much trouble and I wanted to be able to go and do my own thing. She responded by going oooo I see you like girls with a shocked look on her face. I tried to rectify the situation by saying, no I like men, black men actually. Her response what black and pretty much utter terror. At this point I was wondering what she would find more accepting.....

Multi cultural celebrations!

This week was lots of celebrations. On Wednesday it was Canada day so we got together with some Canadians, South Africans, Americans, Brits and Koreans to celebrate.



Friday Jo and I went to see Transformers. My first Korean cinema experience. It was great as the movies are in English with Korean subtitles!

Saturday was July 4th. So a few of us headed over to the airbase to be signed in by some guys called Swank, Slick and Riddler. There was lots of drinking, bonfires, dancing and merriment.



Victoria and I decided that we wanted to leave and tried to.... but we could as we had to signed out by Swank... who we couldn't find.. it was all very complicated and confusing and we ended up leaving with out our ID to come back later and get it.

We headed off to 'America Town' which was pretty seedy. There are bars, clubs and shops with 'American sizes.



I got a taxi home and the taxi driver proposed to me several times. I told him I was not interested and only went for black men. This did not deter him and he went in for a kiss goodbye when I got out of the taxi!!!

Today Helen and I had a date day. We went out for lunch, then had a stroll around Eunpa park. We went for a boat ride on the lake in a tiny little boat with a very very slow engine. We may have also broke the steering but it was all ok!
Then we went to our fabulous little coffee shop.


(photo pinched off Helen! Thanks!!!)

They have a music museum above the shop. Basically as you can tell by the picture they collect a lot of stuff.I think the shop and museum is just a front so they have space to show everything.

The museum was pretty amazing. There were old gramophones, wax cylinders and photo lps, all kinds. The woman lived in Germany so she would speak to us in mixed Hangul and German and showed us everything. She kept opening the cases and making us old things from the 1800's! At the end she said htere is no culture in Gunsan, no culture!

So yet another successful weekend in Gunsan!

You say Potato, I say potatah

Had a pretty funny/ embarrassing / culturally insensitive mishap today.
The wheel on my chair broke yesterday, so I want to swap it for another chair that was also in the office. I was told I couldn’t because it was a cheap chair. It looks pretty swanky to me and I needed a chair. Again I was told was not allowed to use it because it was cheap. I have taken to telling KM what I think but really fast in English so she doesn’t understand. Makes me fell a lot better!!
So my response was this is so silly, I need a chair, why can’t I sit on it, you are so silly and flounced off to teach.

So Daniel came over today to fix my chair, again I was like why can’t I sit in that chair. He also said no.

Then during the planning meeting Daniel said he would sort out the chair for and it was a cultural thing that no one sat in the Bosses chair. I was like ok fair enough but I was told I couldn’t sit in it because it was cheap. It turns out KM was saying Chief not cheap!!! Oooops!!!

Random, thoughts, observations and annoyances

You can do u-turn in the road - there is even a lane for it

It seems pretty acceptable, if there is red light to drive down the wrong side of the road and cut in front of the already queuing traffic.

You do not get a cash card automatically with your bank account

You get charged if you take money out, if it outside banking hours

Koreans do not cover their mouths when they cough

It is totally acceptable to have a roll of toilet paper on the table in restaurants

If you got out not wearing a massive visor, gloves, and this random long sleeved sun arm sleeves, you are looked at weird

Small children wear t-shirts with inappropriate English on them. (Think a 10 year old with the F word on her t-shirt)

Soju is cheaper than milk

Everyone knows where Manchester is because of Park Ji-Sung

I am glad I introduce myself as Jocelyn not Joss, as every laughs when I say Joss as they think it sounds like Jaws. Then then do a shark impression

Signs for crab in English are normally spelt crap. For example 'bagel and crap salad' (photo hopefully to come)

Hmmmm those are all the ones I can think of.. I need to write them down as there are some pretty funny ones!

Birthdays, water skiing, face plants and LOTS of fun!

Well.. Where to start!

It was Helen's Birthday, she stayed the night at mine on Friday night and Jo surprised her and came round with a cake about midnight. Helen and I were all showered and ready for bed and it descended in to a cake fight.



We finally got to bed about 1ish and then were in a taxi at 6.30 on Saturday to get a bus to go water skiing.

We took a bus to Seoul and got ther about 10.30, we then took the subway across Seoul to get a train to Cheongpyeong Lake and arrived about 1.30. We headed straight to the lake for a water skiing lesson.
The guy who spoke English was not around until to so the girls went out on a 'peanut'



and the guys did fly fishing.



Slightly feared for my life here and am pretty sure this was not covered by my travel insurance but was loooooots of fun!
Then we had the water skiing lesson and then into the water.



I managed to get the position right but I could just not hold on to the bar so face planted pretty much every time. It was really fun but very tiring!!



We were then taken to out cabin, it was a big log cabin that had about 4 apartments in them. It was such a beautiful setting, we had a BBQ and then a group of Koreans who were also staying there introduced themselves, which lead to soju drinking and drinking games.
I headed to bed early as we were going to do more water skiing the next day. The boys however stayed out, judging by the smell of stale alcohol in the room the next day drank a lot more!!!

Day 2 of the water skiing was better, I could stay up for longer but still could not hold my grip.

Check out here for all the photos and I think videos of the many face plants and fun!

Videos to upload but don't seem to be uploading.. watch this space!