Movin' on to Busan

Alive and well and another day of teaching, except today is better because I have tommorow off.
The morning was the same as usual except i played dodgeball, Korean style with the kids at lunch. They are so damn hard to hit being small, I was always out quickly being a huge target and 40 kids all around me... bahhhhh still a lot of fun.

After lunch, my T.A. Ted took care of my class while they wrote a test, which gave me time to play a little pingpong with a couple teachers and one of the head Korean organizers. He beat me everytime, obviously though, but i put up a challenge. We got back to class an hour later and I tought a music class, but instead of getting my 16 year old kids to sing-along to The Lion Sleep Tonight, I got them to write their own songs or poetry instead.

Some of the kids picked it up quickly as I was teaching them about rhyming. Honestly if I had to learn another language and then think of rhyming words, id be losing my mind. They are a smart group of kids.

So my day ended and I went back home to relax for a bit, and made plans with this girl I met on KFF(Korean Friend Finder) to go to Busan for some drinks and a bite to eat.

One problem... I dont speak Korean and would have to get a bus, let alone the right one to the subway station and then find my way around getting on the right train and transfer and yadda...yadda...yadda....

So a group of teachers decided to go to Outback which was on the route to Busan. So I figured I could start the journey with them and then just continue on my way. Wrong!! They changed their minds but paired me up with my cleaning lady at the motel who was heading past the subway station. I write down how to say "thank you" formally, a-ja-ma-nee and we are on our way.

We stood outside trying to communicate, but she spoke no english. Most of the elderly dont speak English at all, but the younger generations are a lot more receptive to it.

Our Bus eventually comes, number 50, and we head to the subway station the last exit where I start at is called Nopodong. I paid for the bus ride 1300 won, sam cheon=1300(about 1.50 cdn) and we sit in silence while I begin to write.

The woman stays on the bus as I get off and I buy a ticket to Kyungsung University/Pusan National Unversity exit 212 on the green line. I start on the orange line and i have to transfer at Seomyeon a busy section in Busan.

So far during my travels ive seen 4 white people, not including the other teachers, but it does include me looking in the mirror. I have heard a lot of people say that they stare at us foreigners, i get a lot of glances but nothing to make me feel out of place. It feels like home here, well more of like a home thats not yours and when you are in it, people speak to you in a foreign language. And its not that you feel uncomfortable as much as you not having a clue to whats going on. So you smile, nod, or shrug until everyone and everything goes away. Home atlast!!!

I finally arrive at the university subway stop and make my way through the turnstyles and get to where im supposed to meet Jackie, thats her name by the way. She is Korean/American who moved to New Jersey when she was 9 and now shes back in Korea doing the same thing I am. But she tutors privately. I show up about an hour too early thanks to my cleaning lady, haha no she is sweet. I get a little grumble in my stomach and see all these kids walking with these kind of pogo-dog sorta snacks, but a lot more breading and sugar sprinkled all over it and ketchup and mustard.... so i follow my nose.

I left the subway station and get to the streets. Ohhh my god it was like NYC, neon signs everywhere, thousands of people, street vendors selling Louis Vuitton,Gucci,ps2 games and the pogo-dog vendor 'JACKPOT'. This huge thing cost 500 won, like 75 cents i couldnt believe it, so I wolfed it down and walked around the streets before heading back to meet Jackie at 9:45.

We hit it off right away. She seemed really cool and down to earth, but most important SHE SPOKE ENGLISH, so we walked around the streets looking for a place to grab a cheap beer and we ended up at Millers which was actually an american restaurant and served MGD,Bud,Coors and all the beers you cant find anywhere in Dokgae-ri. So we order some beers and just chat about life, her time in prauge, and our experiences in Korea.

When we are about to leave a table of Koreans next to us ask me where I am from I tell them Canada, and one of the guys says The Raptors so i pulled out my Toronto Raptors credit card they loved it. The invited for a drink, so we all cheeresed(made up word) in Korean you say Gom-bae, same difference. We talked for a bit, I got one of the guys business cards who works with Nike, Reebok and Converse distributing clothing I believe is what he said. The introduced me to this hot Korean girl at the table named Mishimcha(sounds like) but her nickname was cha-cha. She wanted my phone number but i dont have a phone so i gave her my email, she was excited. It was a pretty funny experience, but i dont know how the relationship could work out, with both of us being non-verbal... actually now that I think of it, this could work out great.

We leave and head to a foreigner bar called OL 55, its in the basement and has a very cool atmosphere and white people of everything. So we have a drink and listen to some live music. Its an open mic, and one of the guys singing was from Toronto, they were jamming some Pink Floyd Breathe. I was in heaven. We played some foosball, pool and chilled out until 3 am.
She had work at 9 the next morn, and I had to get back home, but the subway didnt open till 5am I found out right then. So after some persuasion, she left and I crashed in the subway station for an hour or so until it opened and made my way backhome.

I got home around 630 am and called it a night. Nothing to do tommorow but relax and thats all I plan on doing.

Heres to the mom and pops