Exploring the City

So I had the last two days off from school, as the semester doesn’t start until tomorrow (September 1^st). As I’m new to the city, I took the opportunity to explore the area.

Yesterday, I wandered through Pukyong University, which is right by my house, and continued on to Gwangalli Beach. Pukyong’s campus is fairly dull, though some of the architecture is quite modern and cool. There is also a really nice garden type area with a running stream (not sure where it goes) and lots of plant life. There is a sitting area that is best described (Editor’s Note: by me, not someone who is actually good at describing things) as a Korean gazebo. It’s just like an American gazebo, though the pillars are engraved with Buddhist designs and the roof is the classic “upward half circle, downward half circle” (I believe that’s the technical term) Asian roofing pattern. I decided that I’m going to learn ukulele in that garden, as I recently claimed one that had been left behind by a previous EPIK teacher.

From the garden I went to check out the campus gym, as I was thinking of joining one. Unfortunately, Pukyong’s gym is crap. It’s probably no more than 500 sq feet, and filling sweating, grunting students. No thanks. But nearby is a small, enclosed Astroturf soccer field that’s open to the public. Perfect size for some 4 v 4. Hopefully I’ll be able to organize some games there; it’s too close to not take advantage of.

From Pukyong I walked to Gwangalli beach, which took 20 minutes or so. The walk was nice, and the beach is stunning. From the shore you’ve got an incredible view of the Gwangan Daegyo Bridge and downtown Busan. I think I’ll be spending a lot of time there, too, especially because drinking is legal and, according to wikitravel, “fireworks are tolerated.” Schwing!

Once Max was off work, he and I shopped at MegaMart, which is a superstore chain in Korea. And they’ve got everything. Think Costco, but not as cheap and with more reasonable portions. I got a bunch of frozen stuff, all of which has proven to be delicious.

Today, I started by checking out Kyungsung University, mainly to see the gym. The gym is absolutely gorgeous, but pricey. I’m still debating joining, as it would cost around $41/month and I’d be limited to a 3 hour window (6-9pm) that I could come each day. If I decide to join a gym this will likely be the one I go with, but there is a Tae Kwon Do studio right by apartment that I may join instead. That would probably be more fun, too, so I just gotta check the studio and prices.

After seeing meandering through Kyungsung, I decided to take a practice run to school. When I went in on Monday, my co Teacher Su Jong met me and we took the bus together. However, that was to be in by 10am. If I’m gunning for 8:40, it will be rush hour. And the bus will take over an hour. So I’ll need to take the subway and then transfer to a bus.

Su Jong had given me directions of what to do, but since I lack foresight I neglected to bring them. So once I got off at my subway stop, I was lost looking for my bus stop. It took over an hour and help from three very nice people (only the last person, a kind old man who spoke pretty good English and who approached me because I looked lost, ultimately got me where I needed to be) to find the bus stop. So thank goodness I decided to practice.

But the best moment of the day undoubtedly occurred as I was walking back into the subway station to return home. As I was descending down the crowded staircase, I made eye contact with a Korean guy, who smiled. I smiled back. As we passed, he put his fist out. I bumped it. Turns out he was just checking his watch. Awkward stares ensued.

Now, in my defense, I’ve never seen a person reach across as far as he did to check the time. I just thought he was being friendly and hip to the scene of American first bumping protocol (as I am). But I predict this defense would fall upon deaf ears, and the jury would convict me of being an ugly stupidbrain.

First Weekend in Busan

Hey Gang! Sorry I haven’t written in a while. Orientation was pretty boring with classes from 9am to 8:30pm. Didn’t think you’d care to hear me complain about dry lectures and mediocre food. The lone noteworthy point was that I fell in love with my orientation class teacher named Yuna. But, alas, she lives in Seoul and has a boyfriend. Phooey.

On Friday morning I left Jeonju for Busan at 6:30am. After about a 3 hour bus ride, we arrived at an elementary school to meet our co-teachers. I was picked up by He Jin, my co-teacher, and Su Jong, the school’s EPIK coordinator. They are both incredibly nice and I’m so lucky to be spending the year working with them. Though I will not be teaching with Su Jong, she’ll be helping me with living in Korea. Tomorrow, for example, she’ll be meeting me to take the bus to school and taking me to the immigration office in the afternoon to get my Alien Registration Card (ARC). I need that badboy to get internet and a phone (if I go for a plan instead of prepaid).

Once we collected my luggage, He Jin, Su Jong and I went to our school to meet the principal, vice principal, and go over my contract. The principal and vice principal are both very nice, though only the vice principal speaks English. They each told me that I was very handsome though, which was greatly appreciated. I responded each time by saying “Thanks! I love Korea, because I’m not handsome in America.”

After meet-and-greets and going over the contract, I went out to lunch with my co-teachers. It was a buffet, and while I was up for a refill Su Jong paid the bill! It was exceptionally nice, but I was bit bummed because that was my secret plan to win their good graces. I suppose now I’ll have to put in the effort and just be likable, but that’s so 1997 (Editor’s Note: I don’t know why I picked that particular year. Also, pretty crappy joke).

After lunch, I was shuttled to my apartment in Nambu. I’m not going to bore you with a poorly-written description of the place, so I’ll just let the video I made do the talking for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttRRPhcb9wE.

There are three reasons I absolutely love my location. First, I am only a five minute walk to other Max’s apartment, and Nick is a 10 minute subway ride away. Second, we are about 20 minutes by foot from Gwangalli beach, which is supposedly one of the nicest in Busan. And third, we are right by two Universities – Pukyong National University and Kyungsung University. This means the nightlife is poppin’ (as the cool kids say), there are plenty of young people around, and, most importantly, they all speak some English! Really excellent.

Anyway, back to my day, because lots of people (read: my parents) want to read about all of the interesting things I do. Once I got into my apartment I immediately (and very interestingly) napped for a couple hours. After I awoke from my slumber, I whipped out the ol’ computadora and learned that my neighbor has wifi with no password. Cha-Ching! So I got on the facebook, chatted up Nick and Maxwell, and we met up for dinner (at the highly authentic Popeyes Chicken) and drinks.

Unwittingly, the first place we wandered into was upscale and expensive. So upscale, in fact, that no one was in it except three beautiful bartenders. After they got us our drinks (the cheapest beer was about $5, which is pricey by Korean standards) they sat down in front of us and stared at us intently. Not awkwardly, they just seemed fascinated by us. They proceeded to ask us, in broken English, several questions about ourselves and America. One bartender in particular struck my fancy, as she had a gorgeous face and really endearing mannerisms. But when I asked her “Nam ga chin goo issae yo?” (translation: do you have a boyfriend?) she sadly said yes. (Editor’s Note: the “sadly” in the previous sentence refers to my sadness. She said “yes” quite happily). Phooey again.

Nothing noteworthy really happened again until the following afternoon, when Max and I tried to get to Eulsukdo, a small island that’s part of the city of Busan, to play soccer. There had been facebook posts about a foreigners league, and we wanted to check it out. Max had been in touch with one of the team managers, who gave him directions to the field. Or so we thought.

We had been told to get off at Hadan, but there were several stops with Hadan in the name. We ended up getting off at the Hadan Hospital stop, and then tried to get directions to Eulsukdo. Unfortunately, the people in Hadan do not speak English nearly as well as those on Nambu. When we explained where we were going, most people only understood the soccer part, and ended up directing us to a soccer field at an elementary school. Luckily, we saw a white person there, who was able to direct us toward where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, it was probably about a mile from where we were.

Following his directions, we were able to find Eulsukdo. On the island, however, we didn’t know how to get to the fields. We were misdirected twice before we finally found the pitch. By this point, we had probably walked for 2.5 miles.

When we finally arrived, two teams were in the middle of playing. As we’d read on facebook, there are three teams in Busan. Busan United was presumably the top team, winning the league for 6 years straight. The team Max had been talking to won its first game 3 months ago. The third team, Inter Busan, didn’t recruit on the facebook page.

After talking to a sub, we learned that Busan United and Inter Busan were the teams playing when we arrived. Unfortunately, we couldn’t talk to the captain of the team Max had been talking to because he was refereeing. Once the game was over, we introduced ourselves and he gave us a spot on this rag-tag team. And when I say rag-tag, I mean really rag tag. The goalie and left mid didn’t speak any English, though they weren’t Korean. I think they were Eastern European, but that wouldn’t make much sense because one of them was black. For the life of us, Max and I couldn’t figure out what the hell they were doing in Korea. There were also three Korean players who didn’t speak any English, one of whom had great ball skills but absolutely no idea how to play the game. And there was one obese guy who could barely move, let alone run, and for whatever reason he was playing midfield. Though I hadn’t played in over 9 years and told the captain as much, he stuck me at center back along with Max.

We played two games, one for a half hour and the other for 20 minutes. Somehow, we only gave up one goal. Most of the credit goes to our keeper and poor shooting, because our mids never came back to help. Both games were spent almost entirely in our end, usually 6 or 7 attackers against 3 or 4 defenders. I played ok; had a few nice plays and a few blunders. I don’t think I’ll continue playing, though, as the team is abysmal and only a couple players on the team made me feel welcome to be there.

Once we were back (which took over an hour as we had to wait 30+ minutes for our bus) Max and I showered and got some grub. We then met up with Nick, who met a foreigner named Chazz while coming to us via subway. Chazz was a teacher in JET, and he seemed pretty cool. He had just taken a tour of North Korea, so that obviously piqued our interest.

Once at the bar, though, the group opinion of Chazz immediately began to sour. He hit on literally every girl he saw. And when the occasional girl gave him the time of day, HE SHOWED THEM HIS PICTURES OF NORTH KOREA. And these weren’t pictures of poverty or anything. These were photos standing with North Korea guards. Literally every girl he showed was offended, but he kept doing it anyway. It sucked.

Luckily, a very friendly guy named Oh Kiu Guy began talking to Nick and me in English. He was really nice, spoke English well, and bought us a round of beer. Turns out he is the manager of the ship manufacturing company, so Nick and I guessed he is pretty well off. At the end of the evening he gave us his number, telling us to call him so he could take us out with his friends. Once we get phones we will definitely be calling him.

Well that’s all for now. I’d apologize for rambling, but I’m guessing no one will actually read this far. Toodaloo.

Adventures in Korea!

Oh hey friends! Long time no talk, at least via the blog. How I’ve longed for warmth of your watchful gaze upon my supple text. But enough small talk, I’ve got a story to tell.

I flew to Seoul from SFO via Singapore Air. All I can say that is WOWZA. The service was absolutely fantastic. The food was delicious. The drinks were plentiful and, even sweeter, free. The famous “Singapore Girls” lived up to expectations; they were gorgeous. The male flight attendants were pretty dashing, too. All around a simply lovely experience.

I did, however, have my worst foot-in-mouth moment of my life. I’m talking a monumental, gargantuan, foot of a giant infested with athlete’s foot. Straight in my mouth. And the giant had a toe fetish.

It occurred when I was probably 6 drinks in, and feeling a pretty healthy buzz. I was feeling antsy as I’d been sitting for 4+ hours, so I went to the back of the plane to stretch. Across the way, I see a guy with the same idea as me. He looked strikingly like a young Harry Potter. He struck up a conversation, and it turns out that we’re both EPIK teachers. After shooting the poop for 20 or so minutes, he says to me “We’ve been talking for 20 minutes now, I’m Ashley by the way.” His name threw me a bit, so I responded by saying “Hey, I’m Max. Nice to meet you. I think you’re the first guy I’ve ever met named Ashley.” Ashley looked at me stunned. He said “Are you serious? I’m a girl.” Yikes.

Thankfully, Ashley couldn’t have been classier about it. She laughed it off, saying it was a new haircut that she knew looked boyish. We talked for another 15 minutes or so, but the entire time I was mortified. I said goodbye and I haven’t seen her since.

I’m fairly certain that I would not have made this egregious error had I been sober. But, being tipsy, I just never questioned the initial judgment I’d made when seeing Ashley from 20 feet away. Curse my nearsightedness (and my drunken stupidity).

After the flight, I had to take a 4 hour bus ride to Jeonju University, where we’re having EPIK orientation for a week. We didn’t get to our rooms until midnight, and then had to be up for a medical exam at 7:40 the following morning. Since we were having our blood tested, we weren’t allowed to eat or drink. So I went to bed famished and thirsty. But at least the internet’s fast!