Arrival Pt. 2

Ok so here goes the second part of a three part arrival series.

I lied when I said that nothing much had happened on the plane ride. Something really funny did happen. I was sitting next to a sweet older Korean lady. During the last three hours of the 14 hour plane ride we got to talking. She was giving me advice on Korea such as things to see, the people, the culture. I have been keeping a moleskin notebook with all the important information in it that might come in handy one day as a travel guide to some people. She saw me writing in it as we talked and offered to write, in English, some of the spots she was talking about visiting while I was in Korea. After writing a few pages she started to drawl Korea so she could show me where the island was. As I watched her I noticed she was basically drawing a penis with some “stuff” coming out of the tip. I started laughing to myself. She saw this and got confused until she looked at it again. She blushed a little bit and started laughing out loud herself. I had heard that Koreans love drawing penises on things but Jesus Korea; at least wait till I land in your country to show me this. I took Asiana airlines and not only did they have movies to watch that were still in theaters in Korea but they also has game pads way nicer than hotels for you to play video games. Already I was starting to see how much more technological advance they were than us.

I landed around 3 in the morning and it took me about an hour to get through immigration and customs. They had an airport taxi driver meet me to take me to my apartment. We arrived around 5 in the morning and I passed out around sunrise while trying to unpack.

As you can see in the pictures the apartment was a little different than what we are use to in the States. First off you have to take off your shoes before you enter your apartment. This is not only tradition but serves an important function as well. Instead of central air they heat and cool the floorboards. This is controlled by a thermostat on the wall which you can see as well. Some of the dials I do not understand but this thermostat controls water temp(bottom dial), heating said water(bottom right button to start heating)  and floor temperature(very top dial for temp in C, top right button to activate it.) The bathroom is one giant sink. You can literally do all three S’s at the same time. I found out a few days later that it is a good idea to get shower shoes (basically non-cloth sandals) so your socks do not get wet when you use the rest room. All you do it turn a little dial on the sink nozzle and it switches to the showerhead. I will go on record and say it is very fun to spray water everywhere while you are showering; it reminds me of being a little kid. Next we have the bed. Usually Koreans sleep on the floor on a mat with just a blanket over them. Because it is an apartment they got me a bed but there is little difference. The bed is rock hard with a pad over the mattress and a tiny blanket that just barely covers me. Sheets are not a big deal here and more people find them a bit silly. Then we have the laundry room. Dryers are VERY scarce here so usually they just have a washer and a place to air dry your clothes. Luckily the doors into the laundry room are very heavy so it does get warm enough to dry them quickly (a day or two for jeans.)

Back to the first day. I awoke a few hours later, around 9am, to school the sound of school children walking to school. Unable to sleep and knowing that I would rather suffer to get back on a good sleep schedule I stayed awake. It was around this time that I remembered that I had no information about the school besides it address. I didn’t know when I start, if they were coming here to get me, etcetc. I wanted to seem pro-active to I decided to walk in the direction of the children. I walked up to the school, and many staring eyes from the windows above, and told them I was their new English teacher. They seemed confused as they already had two English teachers but took me up to the administrator room. This is a room where all the head and co-teacher sit in between classes. I met one of the English teachers (Shella) and told her about my predicament. She, being the sweetheart she is, called the school and said that I was not to start till next Monday (it was then Wednesday mind you.) I then met the other English teacher Paul and we all had a little laugh about it with mine being way sadder than theirs. The principal of their school invited me to lunch. We all went into the lunch room after taking off our shoes and sat on the ground to eat. I believe they had rice (as with every meal), some spicy soup, Kimchi (I will go into this popular food later), marinated roots of some kind and beef marinated with the bone. I, being the tired poor fool I felt like, tried to eat one of the bones not knowing what it was. I have always had a phobia of bones in my food and almost freaked out in front of these strangers. Luckily the tiredness overwrote the phobia and I pushed right on through to the rice and Kimchi. I thanked everyone and started walking the six block walk back home.

On a side note, I need to say something about the Korean culture. They fully believe in sharing anything that is theirs with other people. The principle inviting a complete stranger to lunch is a perfect example of this. I will show more of this principle later on.

After walking home again I finally crashed around 3pm and slept till 10am the next day. Screw you jetlag, I conquered you. I wondered around town for a while getting lost for hours upon hours. Both teachers agreed to meet me the next day after they got off so once I finally found my way home in this strange city I sat at home and waited for them.

I think this is a good stopping point. I will post the third installment in the next few days that will bring us up to current day Korea. In the meantime here are some of those NY pics and other random ones taken during the first day of getting lost.