FIRST MONTH OF TRAVEL

My spelling is horrible, I know so no need to comment on it!!!! :)

In a month I feel that so much can be done in terms of travelling in Korea while teaching english. I had my head screwed on straight for the first time, my mind was set on making the most of my stay. The end of my first week ended up being amazing! I got to rock the slopes of Yongpeong Resort for free with my school and they even paid for Giuli to join us on the Satarday session. Its the Olympic resort for the PeongChang 2018 bid.
                                                                                                                  

               

The first Satarday after a morning of snowboarding Giuli and I met up with friends that we had made at EPIK orientation. Sally and Craig. They are both from the UK and have that accent that no person can hate! Craig was also "placed in the sticks" and had to commute into Gangneung to see Sally who he is dating. Needless to say the city was the place we wanted to be and we arranged to stay with Sally and go out for the night.

When we arrived we were told by Sally, "we meeting the others later, they just busy pre drinking". HA HA HA HA Rhodes is never that far away, even when you on the other side of the planet. So we did a bit of pre drinking ourselves where I was able to smash quail egg for the first time.

That night we met up with the others for supper. We had duck which was another first for me. In Korea they have this method of cooking where they put a braai on the middle of the table and make you cook the food. Its so smart actually, reduces the amount of kitchen staff you have to pay.

This is a picture of Lilli and Craig

This is Sally and Giuli

This is the rest of the duck smashing crew

We managed to drink alot at this stage of the night and things seemed to go pear shapd from here. We ended up at a bar where it was all english teachers and not one person that I remember was in much of a good state. I even met up with Rudyard Yee, the guy I was replacing at Hoenggye. I always said that when I travel, I dont want to be the guy spending all his money on booze and not travelling, I loved my weekend but I was feeling a bit giulty about wasting so much money on booze. That being said, it was an awsome weekend with everyone and I wouldent change it for the world.

The next weekend we decided to go to Seoul and meet up with Tracy, Al and Ryan (Belgium). These are friends of ours from South Africa. We got there super late and I was determined to smoke a hubly bubly and eat good food! Seoul is not for the faint hearted, it is confusing and busy! We ended up going into town and having sangiepsal for supper which is the whole braai method with pork. You cook the meat and wrap it in lettuce  with all sorts of other goodies. Its really NICE and is one of my favourites in Korea.

After the supper, we had already piled into soju, the liquid of death and we went in search of a hubly bar. We ended up finding one and it was called RIAANS pub which sounds so South African it was scary! We then decided to go and see K-pop bands which is all the rage in Korea. I must say that I can definately appreciate the dancing and the music but its no Jack Johnson or Donovan.

The next morning I was hungry again believe it or not and I decided to try something completely different and new. I had exactly what I had the night before because its what I knew and loved and why change a good thing.

We went shopping for the day and im not going to dwell on that. We went for dinner at a Korean fast food place and had a pork cutlet and like a sushi thing which is actually good too. By this time we were joined by Tracy. 

We went from supper to a pub, from a pub to bowling and from bowling to a noribang. This is the typic weekend in the city. It was great fun catching up with old friends. We stayed at Als place and the conversations in the morning were always amazing!

The thing with the city is that there is not much to do desides party. Giuli and I decided that we definately needed to get out a bit more and see nature. So over the next two weekends, thats exactly what we did. We went to Odaesan and Soracsan National Park.

For our trip to Odaesan National Park Ryan joined us. We visited three temples, besides being surrounded by the natural beauty of the area. The first temple was called Woljeongsa Temple which is very touristy but still amazing. I ended up being so in the moment that I spent so much money on insence! Talk about spiritual!

We decided to go further into the mountains and visit Sangwonsa temple which was actually so far away. It was here that I decided to make an offering of insence (actually I just thaught it would be cool to light insence in the temple). The old lady who looked after the temple decided to give us food for no reason, this was such a  strange and new experience. It was here that we came across a bell that was made in 800. WOW that is so old!!

We decided to go on a hike which took us much further up the mountain. We came across Jeongmyeolbogoong shrine. This was truly a place of absolute silence and even I felt so taken aback by its absolute beauty. It was so incredible to be in such a spiritual place and to be so alone in the mountains.

The next weekend we went to Soracsan National Park which is close to the city of Sokcho. The park was expensive due to all the tourists but it was worth every cent. We first took a cable car up a nearby mountain and once at the stop, we hiked to the very top of the mountain. This was not a tiring hike but, even if it was, it would have been worth it! it was so beautiful! Ill let the pictures do the talking.

Next up for the day was a hike to a rock that we had to try and push over. We had no idea how far it was but we just did it anyway. It ended up being about a 10km hike and was super tiring. Im keen to hike all the way up the mountain the next time I go there. From the boulder you can hike to the top of a mountain that is capped by a giant granite dome. This was really amazing to look at and the closer we got, the more I wanted to hike to the top. The photo of Giuli is infront of a shrine that is built under a massive rocky outcrop at the end of our hike.

This was the first weekend away trip that Giuli and I stayed in a hotel. The hotel was convniently located close to a hole in one pub which is basically a place where the ladies of the night hang out. I wonder what our hotel is used for?? We stayed in Sokcho where we wondered around the next day as well. We came across an Italian restuarant which had Giuli and I (more Giuli) so happy! The scenary at the harbour was amazing and it was great just wondering around and not knowing where to go or what to do.

THE TRUE TEST

Giuli arrived at my place in Hoenggye (correct spelling) and I could see she was in panic mode and I tried to hide it but so was I. The first thing I told Giulz was, "we will talk later". I said my goodbyes to my co-teacher and everyone else who was there. I Escorted Giuli to my flat and the conversation began.

We were basically in the worst positions in the world. We were far apart, our apartments really sucked and we literally had no clue where we were. We contacted our parents and our recruiter to discuss our situation. Our parents were super affirming as they have always been and that allowed us to feel more comfortable. We then contacted our recruiter who told us, "put a brave face on and we will sort this all out". Well there is no point even bringing him up anymore, in the end he was no help and was a man that was all about talk and really had no backbone to ensure any action.

So we came to the realization that we were basiclly in the position where we had to suck it up and stay, or leave Korea (NOT AN OPTION). To make ourselves feel better we went to the city to do som touristy things and eat western food. We went to  Gangneung and then realized that we had no clue where we were and that we had no clue how to catch a bus or a taxi? The taxi thing might sound crazy but in SA we had never caught a taxi before. After a mild panic we finally decided that we would make a plan to get to the beach and we would spend money to make us happy!

We managed to catch a taxi and told the driver, "we want to go to the beach"... mmmm Korean guy, beach??? anyway we got dropped off at some park which was along the beach. The fencing behind me is used to keep the North Korean border hoppers out. How do we get to water?? Anyway alongside the beach was a forrest with a path, we decided the best option was to follow the path and we will end up somewhere. Along the path we came across wild gun huts which are used to, im guessing shoot people who come into South Korea. We followed this path for what seemed like forever and we came to a beach covered in snow with a coffe shop on its bank, YES!!

We immediately went in for coffe and felt more relaxed than ever. It was such a great place and we had never been stared at more in our lives!

We then carried on our walk and came across the wildest thing! You can actually choose a fish from a tank to eat, how's that for fresh! These fish tank efforts blew my mind, literally. We carried on our walk and came across an island/wetland effort and it was beautiful. Giuli and I loved posing with the statues that were scattered all around the island.

While walking along the pathway, we came across 'western looking people' who spoke english. We literally latched on to these unsuspecting pedestrians and they made us an offer we could not resist, "come to coffe with us". We joined them for coffe and it turns out that they are english teachers too. We discussed our situation with them and they really helped us with what to expect of our stay in Korea and how to do basic things like take a taxi to the CBD. Sheenay was the magic work, Sheenay mc donalda, the 'a' at the end to help me sound korean/american.

You can guess what we did next! Sheenay, mc donalda. We rocked up at a pizza hut and just loved life. Our confidence in Korea was restored. We rocked a peperroni pizza and took a taxi to bussa terminalla and went home.

We had made the decision to go with whatever Korea had to throw at us. We were on a mission to love our stay here, no matter what!

THE REAL WORLD

Jeonju University Resedential Building

The picture on the left is the residential building that all the EPIC's (english teachers) stayed at. The horizontal section is the dining hall which served buffets three times a day. Food which was interesting to say the least.

While staying on the third floor, in a room with my friend Ryan Stephen, I drew up some unrealistic expectations for my stay in South Korea. These being (1) I want a "great" apartment, (2) I want to be near to Giuli (my girlfriend who I applied with), (3) I want to be just outside a city, in a semi-rural area and (4) I want to get along with my co-teacher.

  

While staying at, "The Place For Superstars" (the quote on the building above) I met up with some really great people from all over the world! I made friends that were from England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.A. To the right are two friends Matt and John who are from the US and UK. We all hyped each other up so much that my expectations grew and grew and I became more and more exited to get to my school and become a part the the lifestyle that teaching in Korea had to offer!!                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                    

My best option for an apartment

The day finally came, we were going to sign the final contracts! Giuli and I were placed in the same "district" but were on different busses. mmmmm. We were super confused and enquired about it, we were told, and I quote, "its ok, it was just up to the co-teachers where to fetch you". So we reluctantly went with it.

Everyone raced to their dorms to see where it was that we were all being paced. It was not much help as it was school names and they did not register on google. Giuli and I did manage to find the district that was on both our contracts. It was pyeongchang. It seemed to be small but we applied together so at least we will have each other.

We jumped on the busses the next day, all eager to meet our co-teachers and find out where it was that we were being placed. The trip there was eventful in that the bus drivers truly feel that it is the BEST idea to drive as quickly and use as much road as possible when delivering live cargo.



Fish fields in Whenge

 I arrived at a city called Gangneung, where my co-teacher picked me up. We travelled to a village called whenge and I was told that I am teaching in four schools, I dont have an apartment yet and Giuli is over an hour away. REALITY HIT HARD!! I went with it and met the principle, vice-principle and the head teacher of Doam middle school which is my base school. I was then told that I have to go and look at apartments, the best option they gave me was the photo you see above. The inside looks in worse condition than the outside and it stinks of urine and fish. The fish smell is from the massive fish drying field conveniently located behind the building. I hit an all time low! Giuli was probably freaking out, im in the middle of nowhere, my apartment sucks and I cant show it as it might offend my co-teacher.

I was invited for a early supper and I went with my co-teacher, Young-Me and Rudy (the EPIC im replacing). The supper was about half done when I recieved a frantic call from Giuli asking where I was and that she wanted to see me NOW!! I knew the position she was in and could relate without having said a word to her.

SPELLING WAS NEVER MY STRONG POINT :)