My Students Are Trying To Bamboozle Me, Busan, and a Crazy Bus Adventure! What a week!

Finally a new post! Sorry it has taken so long, I have been so busy with moving and being a social butterfly this week!

Here are a few random things to get this post started, and yes it will take you a while to read this one but there is no rush! Just a warning though, another one will be out Sunday!

#1 -Everyone here is now calling me Annie Dukes – I’m not sure how I feel about this yet.

#2 – My snuggie is fabulous – thank you mom!

#3 – I’m slowly seeing the world one day at a time and I want to go to Seoul soon! Maybe in a couple weeks! I also want to do some hiking while I’m here in Daegu.

#4 – There are no street signs here in Korea, they identify everything by intersections in neighborhoods, not a good thing for lost foreigners!

#5 – I’m glad that English is my first language because it is one of the hardest languages to learn so be thankful that you already know it.

#6 – I want to join a yoga class after I get paid and I also want to learn Korea but haven’t quite figured out how to go about this yet. This is going to sound strange coming from me but I’m really considering joining a gym, it’s cheap and I hear they are fabulous, it’s just impossible to exercise indoors here, too small of an area.

#7 – South Korea needs to invest in some city planners to make this place smell better. The reason their air quality is terrible is because their sewer system needs some work! It smells like shit, literally shit, everywhere you go. These people are incredibly smart over here, you think they’d be able to figure this air pollution thing out! Sewer gas has to count for at least half of it!

We call it the Daegu “gu” and in Pusan or Busan this weekend we called it the Pusan “poo.” Next it will probably be the Seoul “shit.” I hear it smells about the same there.

Now on to the good stuff….

Last Friday – First day completely on my own! It was a pretty easy day. I had a few problems with having everything changed over in the computer system but it worked out and Justin came in to watch my classes over the camera system. Everything went well and Friday night after work we all went out for dinner. It was a traditional Korea dinner, we had to take off our shoes when we went inside and we had to sit on the floor at little tables on pillows. The majority of the food was pretty spicy but there were a few things that I could eat. I had this amazing egg soup? I’m not sure what it was called but it was so good! The main dish was tofu and beef in some spicy broth with cabbage and then they also brought out meat that was marinated and grilled in some spicy sauce. I tried everything even though it was spicy. There was plenty of Soju (rice liquor) flowing, it just kept coming and coming like water! I also tried macali? I’m not sure if this is how it’s spelled but it tastes like chalky wine, at first I didn’t like the flavor but by the end of the bowl that I was drinking out of, it started to taste pretty good! I also had to do a special drink with Justin since the party was for us! Lol We all know that I’m not a big fan of beer, I’ve tried tons of different beers but I just don’t like it. Well this drink was Korean beer mixed with soju, pretty much equal parts, and the goal is to chug it and whoever finishes first wins! Well, I couldn’t even finish half of it so Justin beat me and then finished mine too! It tasted so nasty. I got to see my Korean co-workers and my Boss annihilated so that was a fun experience also! After dinner everyone was a little drunk but we didn’t end up going to a noribong. Instead I just cabbed it home with everyone else and went to bed. We were all getting up early to go to Busan the next day so I don’t think anyone wanted to do anything too extreme.

Saturday (Busan) – I got up around 10, got ready and laid out everything that I needed to pack and then I headed out to find a backpack before Justin came to pick me up! I got the cutest pink backpack with gray accents with sparkly writing, it’s very girly but I love it! Justin came around 12 and we headed to the train station, we met up with everyone else here, there was about 10 of us altogether. We didn’t get seats on the train next to each other but it was only an hour on the train so it wasn’t a big deal. I was passed out while everyone else kept going around filling up each other’s beer cups.  They got a picture of me sleeping with my mouth wide open like Julie! I was a little embarrassed but it happens. I wonder how many people have pictures of me like this? I’m sure more than a few. We arrived in Busan at about 2 and took cabs to Haeundae beach, one of the 3 beaches in Busan. First, we had tacos and nachos for lunch at this western place. The tacos were alright but Patrick, he’s from a different school, brought his New Jersey white trash girlfriend with him and she was fucking CHAIN smoking at the table in this small enclosed restaurant. It was blowing directly in my face and 3 other peoples’ faces. I was so annoyed. I think she was also a little drunk and while we were all trying to eat she kept going on and on about how much she loves cigarettes, she was literally screaming it for everyone to hear, this only amused one other person and that was of course, her white trash boyfriend Patrick because he was also smoking. I really just wanted to let her know that smoking like that was in no way attractive and that it’s also not very funny to say that you love cigarettes like that, it’s really not funny in anyway shape or form, then I would have preferred to slap her like the New Jersey white trash that she is but I refrained for the sake of the group. I didn’t want things to get off to a rocky start so I decided to keep the peace. I’m sure everyone else probably would have appreciated it though. It could have been hands down one of the worst meals I’ve had just for the sole fact that I couldn’t breathe the entire time! After that fiasco, we headed out to find a cheap hotel for the night. I shared a room with Karissa and after we put all our stuff down we headed for the beach. We stayed out on the beach until after dark just drinking and having a good time. It was pretty cloudy and there wasn’t much sun so it was cold to say the least. A couple of us wanted to leave but when your with a big group it’s hard to please everyone, this is the only reason I don’t like traveling with other people, that and most of the time it doesn’t really get split evenly money wise. After the beach we headed back to the hotel, freshened up and then hit the casino! I played some slots but I lost more money than I won, only like 10 bucks though, it was fun. After the casino we tried to find something to eat and ended up at this Thai massage place instead? I’m not sure how this happened but I really wanted a massage and so did the guys, it was only 80 for 2 hours! That’s so cheap but instead we decided to eat and had burgers at some western place. They were really good even though I’m not a hamburger fan. After that we went to a bar and had a drink or two before calling it a night.

Sunday – Day 2 in Busan – Some people left early because there was a softball game going on in Daegu and some of the people played on the league and had to leave early, the rest of us headed out to the beach, I made a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way(which btw is so much better here than in America, more selection, and better donut flavors and awesome teas and drinks!) It was really nice out, 73 and sunny with a light breeze. Perfect beach weather. The guys played frisbee and us girls just soaked up the sun. After that we all went to the Aquarium which is supposed to be the best one in Korea, I haven’t seen any others yet but I would agree that it was a really nice aquarium, they had pretty much everything you could think of but the penguins were the cutest! They had some type of African theme going on that didn’t quite fit with anything and at the end of the aquarium they had 2 lions and then 2 tigers in these small cages the size of a bedroom in an American home. It was so random and so sad all at the same time. Come to find out – this is “very Korean.” Like I used to say…it was a very Spanish thing to do”…this was a very Korean thing to do..only in Korea would you see something like this (I’ve already experience many of these things)! Next we headed over to another beach that was nicer in my opinion. We got some drinks and walked around. They had a huge bridge there and I took lots of pictures for some reason. We headed back to the train station after that and headed home. I was actually awake on the way back so I got to see the surrounding area and it’s very obvious that farming is still a really big thing here. I knew this already but seeing all the fields helped put that into perspective for me. I also got to see the mountains! They are like WV mountains but a little bit bigger. After we got back to Daegu we headed downtown to grab a bite to eat. We at at this place called Italy Italy where you can create your own pasta or pizza for like 8 dollars. It was so amazing. We also had a bottle of red Spanish wine so it was perfect meal in my opinion! After dinner we walked around downtown and they showed me this place where you can get “bag drinks.” Basically this is a drink in an extra large Capri sun pouch and you can pick your liquor and your mixer. It only cost 5 dollars and after you buy 4 you get one free! Another thing about Korea, they are CRAZY about their membership and loyalty cards here, every place is like this, they give you a card, you get stamps, you get free stuff. You all know how this works but, here you get a card like this everywhere you go! It’s pretty cool! Anyways, the bag drink was delicious and by this time there were only 4 people left in our group so we sat in the park and enjoyed our drinks before heading home.

Monday – Back to work. Monday I worked at the Susung branch with Karissa, Jeremy, and Robin. It was my second day by myself and my first class tried to bamboozle me! It was terrible. They were like, “Teacha, teacha, game, game, Justin always lets us play games on Mondays!” Such liars! I made them do work but I was definitely too nice! I also received a gift from Hanvit for Teacher’s day! It was Saturday and I heard that usually when it falls during the week they take all the teachers out for lunch and the kids bring gifts to school. We all received these really nice tumblers, you know a stainless steal cup or whatever to keep your drinks hot or cold. I originally got a black one but I switched with Brendan for a baby pink one which is obviously my favorite color! It was a very nice gesture, they love to give gifts here in Korea.After work I packed things up because I was moving into Justin’s apartment the next morning, Tuesday.

Tuesday – I woke up early so that I could move all my stuff, which isn’t a lot but, it was pouring the rain outside! I moved once suitcase and decided that I wasn’t doing any more moving in the rain! Work was good, my classes were really quiet so it was hard to get much out of them but the day went by pretty quickly. After work I headed over to Manchon, where I was living and went to this wine bar for one of my co-worker’s birthdays. I told you how we all have birthday’s in may so it seems like every couple of days I’m going to someone’s birthday party! I had one glass of champagne and then I headed back to my place to finish my packing so that I could move. It was like 2 in the morning but it wasn’t raining and Brendan offered to help me because he lives in the same area that I was moving too. I finally got everything in the door and then I started to unpack. I only finished unpacking my clothes before I went to bed that night, I was exhausted.

Wednesday – I worked at Beommul branch. Wednesday’s are my favorite because I only have 3 classes and they are the two very last periods of the day so I have all day to plan. Also, these students are my favorite group of students. I only see them once a week but when I do see them I get to teach them listening and writing, which is my favorite to teach. I’m not sure why I like teaching writing so much but I really love it! These kids are really smart and this class is well balanced when it comes to having fun and learning. I really enjoy this group. After work I was supposed to meet up with Karissa, Joel, and Chris to play trivia downtown. I committed to this a week earlier BUT, I had a problem catching a bus downtown. This was an adventure. Here in Daegu, a city of 2.5 million people, no public transportation runs after 11pm. I can’t quite understand this because first of all, most students don’t get out of school until 10, and second because, again, this is a city of 2.5 million people and I think it’s safe to say that everyone stays up pretty late here in Korea, not as late as Spanish standards, but pretty late. So I go to catch a bus, I had to wait 15 minutes so it was already 10:45, the bus finally comes, I get on, pay for the ride with my transport card, I take my seat and start reading my map to figure out where I’m going. Well three stops later and who knows how many blocks I look up because someone is yelling in Korean and I seem to have been the only person on the bus! I thought that maybe this was the last stop and low and behold I guess I was right. However, I didn’t go down or get off without a fight. I went up to the front, the bus driver didn’t know any English, I’d be surprised if he knew what “Hello” meant. I tried my best with sign language to tell him where I needed to go and how to get there and that I was angry because I had paid for a ride! He was practically screaming at me after a few minutes and being extrememly rude, he wasn't even trying to understand me, he eventually pulled up to the next bus stop and a group of younger adults helped to translate. Long story short they said, I had to take a taxi which I was not about to do. So I was like whatever and got off the bus after arguing with this annoying little old guy for 15 minutes. So I proceed off the bus and then once I’m off, I realize that I don’t even know how to get home! I also didn’t know what to say to a cab in order to get home! I wasn’t paying any attention to where we were going because I was busy reading my map so I just headed in the direction that I thought I was supposed to go! I have noticed that anytime you are in doubt to stop and ask a younger child because they know better English than any adult! I walked about 8 blocks and had to ask 2 different teenagers how to get back to a main area. I also had no cell phone to notify my friends that I wasn’t coming anymore. So, after I had eventually made it back to the main intersection where I started I had to use a pay phone to call my friends… only problem was that the phone I was using only took 10, 50, and 100 coins BUT, it just so conveniently happens that it wasn’t taking 100 coins that night and that appeared to be all that I had aside from a couple of 10 cent coins which was barely enough to make a 30 second phone call! OH KOREA! My friends were bummed but happy to hear that I had made it back safely after my bus adventure. I had to cool off for an hour after I got home, I was pretty pissed. This stuff happens, I know this and I have experience this type of cultural interaction many different times in my travels but oh my, this was my first angry Korean experience and it would have at least helped if I knew some basic phrases to work with! What a night!

Thursday – I worked at Susung and after being bamboozled by my students on Monday I really had to lay down the law. I wasn’t too strict but they could definitely tell that I meant business and I had to slam my hand down on this one kid’s desk who never seems to pay attention, ugh, he really annoys me sometimes! After work we all attended a TND which stands for a Thursday Night Dinner. I guess it’s something that all the English teachers do every Thursday so that all the teachers from all the branches can get together. Usually one person does the cooking and the hosting and then it changes the next week but this week Chris hosted and called a “potluck” so everyone brought something. After work I went to the store with Karissa to pick out something to make, we settled on Mondu with vegetables. It ended up being delicious and there was a variety of other things there also. It was a great night and it was fun to hang out with everyone that I don’t get to see from the other branch.

Friday –Buddha’s Birthday! I got up fairly early and headed downtown to meet Chris because he was going to help me get a cell phone! We picked out a store went in and were there for more than an hour trying to fill out all this paperwork, I was surprised that these young adults working there couldn’t speak hardly any English. It was a bit of a fiasco and by the time we left I was exhausted. I also didn’t leave with a cell phone because it was Buddha’s birthday and no cash register transactions could be made because all of the banks were closed! Ugh, it was fustrating so after spending all that time there I didn’t even get my phone! I met up with Karissa who had just had her hair cut, it turned out pretty good and I think when I need to have mine trimmed I might go to the same place. We had lunch at this place called Gorilla Burger, I have heard a lot about it from everyone so she decided to take me there to show me what it was all about. I’ve heard that it is the best burger in Daegu but honestly I wasn’t really all that impressed, it was just a burger. After that it was off to work! Most hagwons are closed for Buddha’s big day but Hanvit stayed open. All of my students showed up and I’ve found out that most of them are Christian. A few students didn’t come to the academy because they were Buddhist but only 3 or 4 I think. Many celebrations were happening around the city in the temples and I asked my students if any of them had plans for the weekend but as usual, they just wanted to sleep! After school I just went home, I was too tired to do anything else.

Saturday – Karissa, Jeremy’s girlfriend (Chanel) and I had planned a girl’s day out downtown however the rain kind of hampered our plans! I slept in until 2 and it was awesome! Not that I can’t do that any other day but it was just nice waking up knowing that I didn’t have to get ready for work! Ah, I live such a hard life! Lol I finished moving into my apartment that morning just cleaning and organizing, pretty much what I do best! Around 6 I headed over to Karissa’s and we headed downtown on the subway. We tried to pick up my cell phone but as it turns out since I got my bank account with my passport instead of my ARC (Alien Registration Card) (which came Wednesday by the way – so I’m officially here legally!) I wasn’t able to get it until I gave my card to my bank! Ugh, again, I was frustrated and decided that if it didn’t work out Monday that I wasn’t even going to mess with it anymore. Next we did some shopping in the underground mall in the subway station. I didn’t buy anything because everything I tried on was too small for my boobs! Ugh, see people here in Korea are all very flat chested, I haven’t seen anyone bigger than a B cup and even that’s pushing it! If I wanted to buy a bra here I’d just be shit out of luck, so I guess I will have to spend the extra money to shop at the Gap and Zara because none of the dresses at the boutique shops are going to fit right. Kinda depressing because they have such cute things! After shopping we had dinner at this Italian restaurant, it was very good and the staff was very nice to us! We then headed over to met up with Joel and Chris who were at this western bar playing darts. We played a couple rounds, I did really good the first time but the second time I did terrible. It was happy hour so we had a drink or two and then headed home. It poured the rain all day and we just didn’t really want to be out in that weather anymore.

Sunday – It also rained all day. It was such a gloomy weekend, I’m not a huge fan of the rain and when Monsoon season gets here I might never leave my house if this is what it’s going to be like! I did leave once to go to the Dong-A which is this huge department store close to my house, it’s like 8 stories and 2 floors are strictly groceries, I wondered around in there for quite a while and bought some interesting items to try. I tried lots of samples again and ended up buying a few of the things that were on special!

Monday – Back to work! I had to go downtown early so I woke up at 8:30 probably the earliest that I have been up in months! I started with the bank, turns out I had to close my account and open a new one, the lady didn’t speak any English but we figured it out together! I’m telling you what, I’m pretty much an expert on communicating when you don’t speak the same language, you just have to think outside the box, speak slowly, and explain yourself in anyway possible! After getting things sorted out at the bank I went to catch the bus to go downtown. So the bus pulls up, the door opens, and low and behold it’s the same old, little, Korean man that I had the argument with the other night about making me get off the bus! Ugh, I couldn’t believe it. He said a few things to me like I could understand what he was saying and then a couple of times on the way there he was yelling stuff at me. I told this guy twice that I couldn’t understand him but he just kept talking like I was magically going to understand at any moment, I hate ignorant people like this and he was turning out to be one of them. As we were getting closer to the stop downtown he was yelling more stuff at me and looking at me to the point where everyone on the bus was staring at me as if they weren’t already amazed by me. I wanted to throw around swear words at this point but he probably wouldn’t have understood anyways so I just got off the bus and I think that I’ll just take a different bus to the subway and take the subway from now on. I really don’t like that guy. Once I got downtown I had to locate the cell phone store and as soon as I showed up they recognized me of course. I was finally able to get my phone and while I was waiting the cell phone guy tried to pick me up! He wanted to take me to lunch and kept asking me all these questions about if I had a boyfriend and what not, it was extremely pathetic, but I read an article on the way Korean’s date the other day and it’s very different from how we do things in the Western world. It was a little awkward because at this point the guy knows my phone number ya know but whatever. After getting my phone, which is also baby pink and super cute, I walked around downtown and went into some stores. I didn’t buy anything though and headed home. I stopped and bought 2 little rugs for my apartment and then went to work. Work was good for the most part, my classes were fairly well behaved and I made it through the day. I got reimbursed for my transportation and Min mi, a Korean lady I work with took the bus home with me to show me what numbers to take and everything. She’s so sweet! I downloaded and watched the Blind Side last night, really good movie, if you haven’t seen it you should rent it! The internet here in Korea is like high speed on crack compared to the internet back home. You can download an entire movie in 20 -30 minutes, a TV show in about 4-5, and one song, in less than 25 seconds. The download speed is great but the streaming quality is a little less notable. Either way, I love the Internet here, it’s great! It’s also only 20 dollars a month! Hahahaha Ahh, I might never come home! Also, cable is only 3 dollars too and it turns out I get like 8 English channels!

Tuesday – Today I slept in and when I woke up I did some cooking, I cooked three meals to take in my lunch this week and then headed to work. Work was good, we will be doing level testing for the first 3 days of next week and then I will be getting 3 of Brendan’s classes after testing so I will have a very busy week next week! After work I grabbed a quick bite to eat with Brendan. We ate at this toasty place where you can get a sandwich on toasted bread with a hamburger, a fried egg and cheese for 2 or 3 dollars! It was delicious and it’s cheap! They also have other combinations but I only get what I can see a picture of! Haha

Other Random things:

This week, Thursday night dinner will be at my place/house warming party. I need ideas for what to make! Suggestions please!

Also two of my fellow co-workers that are from Canada are in their late 20’s and have never owned a cell phone. I find this odd considering their demographics.

After teaching for a couple of weeks I’ve discovered how much I really like my job! Who would have thought that I would be a teacher? Not me! It’s also really cool to be on the other side of things in this world of education! It’s has it’s perks!

I’m slowly learning how this foreign community works, people are always coming and going, signing new contracts and finishing old ones. It’s always changing and everyone knows everyone. It’s also really cool how I already had like a set group of friends once I got here, I seem to get along with all these people really well and I’m so glad that it has worked out the way it has! If anyone is considering teaching in a foreign country, make sure they have other English teachers at your school and make sure the city has a good foreign community, I hear Korea’s is the best.

Again, sorry this post was so long, I definitely went too long between posts this time but these people here have been keeping me so busy! I promise a new one every Sunday at least!!

Annie