The trip over was a piece of cake. Tim left from Ottawa and I left from Fredericton on Tuesday evening, August 24th. We met in Toronto where we also met up with our recruiter, May Kim (ESL recruiting) and then with my sister, Amy and her boyfriend Chris. We checked in to Korean Air, said some more goodbyes, gobbled down one last CDN meal at Tim Hortons (of course) and then ventured off to our gate. Given that our gate was comprised of 95% Asians, I already felt like we had left Canada before we even boarded the plane.
The 13.5 hour flight was great. We had our choice of movies, slept quite a bit, and ate our first Korean food. Tim played some video games on the tv screen, but I opted out of that.
We arrived in Seoul at about 4am on Thursday morning, and wandered around the Incheon airport for a few hours before getting on our last short plane to Busan. We were both struck by how safe we felt as soon as we arrived in Korea. People were sleeping on benches all over the place, and we followed suit. I got to see a neat automatic toilet cover in action ( difficult to explain via blog, should have taken a pic).
We arrived in Busan later Thursday morning, where our vice director, Michelle picked us up. She drove us to our temporary home at the Shanghai Motel in Busan where we stayed for an hour before going to meet our new co-workers for lunch. The motel we stayed at is known as a 'love motel' because in Korea these types of motels are used primarily for extra-marital purposes and the like. Also, young couples who typically live with their parents until married, go to these hotels with their bf/gfs.
We met up with our co-workers at the school (Corem English Institute(?)) and walked down to have some bi bim bap at a restaurant nearby. YUM! Basically rice with unknown vegetables and an egg on top. I am sure I will be able to differentiate the food better later on, but right now it seems that most things are 'rice, unknown vegetables, and sauce'.
We then returned to the school and observed a few classes and did some orientation before taking the school bus down the hill to our love motel and conking out for the night.
The next day we also spent observing, and was also followed by conking out at about 8pm at the love motel.
On Saturday we were taken to the hospital by Michelle in order to get our medical tests done which are needed for our Alien Registration Cards. It was neat to see a hospital in a different country, but it was basically the same as a western hospital. We had hearing and eyesight checked ( I won, with 20/40 vision) and then peed in a cup and donated about 500mL of blood.
After having starved all Saturday morning ( prior to bloodwork) Tim and I took our first cab ride (3$) down to Hyundae and splurged on burgers at ' Char Burger'. We both agreed they were the best we'd ever had. We then went to a store called ' Home Plus', which in Korea is similar to Walmart or Sears at home, a 5 floor department store with groceries and a food court on the first floor.
We were a little disappointed that prices weren't as low as we had hoped, but this is only our first shopping experience, so we are not making any generalizations yet.
On Saturday night we met up with our co-workers again for a going away party for Jenny and Nakao, the teachers from Ontario who we are replacing at Corem. They took us to Gwangali ( pronounced Gwana- Li) Beach to a couple of bars and to meet a bunch of new people ( local and foreign). The night was a blast, and I was introduced to my new favorite food ever : DDUKBOKKI. Yes, Margaret, I found them.
This little treasure is made of rice pasta and swims around in hot pepper paste, covered in cheese. OMG, amazing.
We stayed out at a bar called ' Thursday Party' on Gwangali beach until about 2am, which is pretty early by Korean standards, then took a 6$ cab home ( cabs are cheap!)
Saturday we went to Hyundae beach, via cab of course, and walked through Dongbaek park on our way to the beach... beauty!! We then bought Tim a new bathing suit (5$) and proceeded to rent some inner tubes to go play in the giant waves. What an amazing day!
We met a random Korean on the beach who offered us some bread, to which I said 'no thank you', and then he went on to tell me he was a bread maker (oops).
Saturday night was another early night before starting work again on Monday morning.
There are many more details that I am sure I've left out, but the first week in a new country is a lot to take in and remember and write down!
I have been running most mornings, along the river that leads into the ocean, on a really nice path. The weather has been REALLY hot and humid ( yes Ottawa, hotter than you) so it has been a bit of a struggle at times.
Tim and I joined a gym just down the street from our school/ apartment, and it is going to be one of my favorite places, of that I am already sure.
I miss you all and would love to hear from you!!! HEARTS!!
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