The Happy Cow, the Angry Squid, the Handsome, Big Eyed Pinocchio Teacher

The first Korean I met (and my bosses husband no less) gave me the "aah...very handsome" spiel...they have a reputation for being rather preoccupied with appearances, so it wasn't really suprising.

After leaving my stuff at my place, I spent the first night at Kyle and Amys. We had some pizza, which was actually pretty good....and a large was like $5.99! I managed to fight off the jet lag and go to bed at like 10:30 Korean time. Kyle said I'd be up by 5 and I definitely was. But so was he, so we checked out the roof and went for a walk around the place.

The next morning (still feeling good) I went to school with Amy to check out the place. It was nice. Pretty small, 4 or 5 classrooms. The staff were all really nice. I'll put some pictures up later....

At school I was told I was much more handsome than the previous teacher....but lest I get a big head, I also had children burst out laughing, scream and point at first sight. That was an interesting experience....I got "Pinocchio" "Big eyes" and "Teacher! Dark Circles!" (their eye sockets don't have the same shape at all, so they think we have shadows under our eyes) Go figure. At least I wasn't alone. Apparently Kyle got "harry potter" and "mountain head" I think they've seen like three white people in their lives.

Speaking of foreigners, I haven't seen any....none. Until I went to Kyle's school and he teaches with a couple. But they don't count. I haven't seen any non-Koreans out and about. It's kinda weird not gonna lie. All the kids stop and stare.....sometimes with their mouth open...seriously....
If they're not too stunned they say 'haawllooow' or yell "way-goo" - (foreigner), some kids were running around the shopping aisle to get a look at us, pretending to look at auto accessories and sneaking glances. Some little kids don't see us until they look way up and then they stop dead in their tracks, or grab Mommy as hard as they can.

If you were wondering about the squid and the cow...Those are my landmarks to get home...which was a chore in itself believe me....I had a key, but I had only been there jetlagged in the dark and all the buildings look the same. My route home is past the pillars of doom, then the angry squid, turn right at the happy cow.

My Apartment

I have now moved into my apartment which is kinda fun. It's a smallish batchelor dealio...its decent enough....the guy before me left me a TV and satellite and pots and pans and a clothing rack and even some food, so that was really nice. I haven't watched my satellite yet, but maybe I should since I'm probably paying for it. I can get BBC and CNN and some western news channels so that will be nice. If you want the tour (complete with British Tour Guide) check it out...

The Trip

For anyone not in the know, I left this past weekend to teach English in Korea for a year. Now you're caught up.

Before I took off, my parents and I spent the weekend in Vancouver at our favourite bed and breakfast place & visiting delightful places like sunny Stanley Park, the office of the Korean consulate general, and um...Office Depot & London Drugs.

Just before I got on the plane, the first wave of “what are you thinking?” hit me like a soccer boot to the face…I guess it was starting to sink in...

The flight itself was uneventful, aside from the doofus beside me who decided to put a weird table thing under both of our feet, condemning me to uncomfortable shifting the entire 11hours… not much else to report from the flight, looking around the plane at a sea of black heads….I was glad I wasn’t blond...I’d stand out even more. More on that later.

Kyle and Amy met me at Incheon Intl in Seoul. I got through customs with no problems, no lost luggage, so that was all good. The first breath was hard, the air was almost chewable it was so thick. Like getting off the plane in Hawaii or Israel kinda…it was 25c with about 85% humidity. Apparently last week it was 35c with 98%. I can’t wait. August is supposed to be the worst.

We caught a bus north to Wonju and the bus ride was about two hours long. Oh, and I decided to be adventurous in the first five minutes and try a random drink I’d never had. It was gross. Don’t ever buy a pale green drink called “17”. It tasted like really really burnt cheap watery cold coffee mixed with heavily cremated green tea leaves. Mind-numbing fatigue notwithstanding, the thing that made the biggest impression was the green rolling hills. Apparently like 85% of our Province is tree covered. Definitely some photographic potential.

The Trip