Gwangju and Samgye Middle

It's been an interesting few days since I've left the countryside of Gurye for the city of Gwangju and it'll all been a bit overwhelming to say the least! Our neighbourhood is nice, if a bit rusted looking. There's trees lining the streets and the buildings look like they're run down inside. But, once you get inside, the apartments are very nice. Kristen and I got lucky. Most of the other teachers have half the space we have. I think living in this apartment will go alright.
Living in the city however is another story altogether! I honestly don't know how I'm going to make it alive to the bus stop every morning! part of the route I have to take means crossing a two lane road with constant traffic. The woman who took me to the bus stop yesterday just started walking across the road and the cars would slow down! I just kept praying that my body would be intact once we crossed. Then she says, "I don't cross when it's busy like the Koreans do, I wait for a gap." I'm thinking: "what gap?!?!? what was NOT a gap in traffic!" Today, Kristen and I literally sprinted across the road when there was an actual gap. Apparently that's normal in Korea though.
Though our neighbourhood is fairly quiet, the city definately isn't. Going to Samgye Middle School yesterday was nice because it's in the middle of the country. Beautiful lake nearby and no high rise buildings. The teacher for Samgye used to live in the town, but because the teachers always complained it was too isolated they moved them to the city. So not only do I now have to pay $3 each way for a bus ticket, I have to bus 45 minutes twice a day and live in the city! I'd much prefer the countryside, but that's not really my choice so what can I do?
Kristen and I plan to travel a lot...but taking the bus to school was an adventure in itself so now picture two country girls trying to make their way around South Korea when they can't speak Korean...yeah, it's funny, I know!
The school is very nice though. My principle and VP are both friendly as are most of the other teachers. I'm not quite sure what they all think of me yet though. The teacher before me is a happy-go-lucky very creative 50 year old Australian hippie so going from that to a 21 year old Canadian farm girl in business clothes is a big change around. I've already been frowned upon for not taking a TESOL course before I came here (ok, they didn't say that was bad, but their expression said it all) plus they keep telling me that I'm not 21, but 19 and way too young to be teaching. I should mention that since Koreans are born at 1 years old, 19 really means in our years they think I'm 18. I guess there's not much difference between here and Canada since everyone in Canada thinks I'm too young for everything as well!
Korea is also full of death drivers. Their driving makes no sense at all! They stop in the middle of traffic lights, turn on red lights, honk like there's no tomorrow, drive on the wrong side of the road, drive REALLY close to pedestrians, and some how they don't kill each other.
On Tuesday I managed to figure out how to do laundry. Dump in detergent, push a couple buttons that look like they say "on" or "start", then cross your fingers and hope your laundry comes out clean!
Their playgrounds are a joke for a playground. They have them all over the apartment complex's, but they're tiny, rusting down, and very over grown. There's also no grass. Even the school's soccer fields have no grass. I miss grass. But then, I've mentioned that already!
I also miss western food. As good as Asian food is, it's difficult to eat it every day three times a day. Sure they have the same fruits as us as well as some other stuff, but things I never thought I'd miss I'm missing. Like REAL cereal, not this...I'm not really sure what to call it stuff I'm eating. Whole wheat bread. They've never heard of it. Butter. Sandwich meat. Cheese. Tomatoes that they don't force you to buy in bulk. Seriously, I went to the tomato stand in the grocery story and there was prepackaged tomatoes. I only needed one, so I went to the open box to pick one out. Some Korean came and started gesturing and talking really fast and motioning that I'm not allowed to buy just one, I had to buy the whole box. What am I going to do with 50 tomatoes?
I also miss understanding things. Trying to do things that I never even understood in Canada make it all the more frustrating here. Like the city bus for example. Those that know me know I don't take it alone because I don't understand it. Try it here when the old ticket selling lady can't even understand what the Korean's say let alone what I say! Buying stuff gets confusing. I really need an alarm clock, but they don't sell with batteries. I can't even ask where to buy batteries. It's all going to be a huge learning experience for me for a few months until I catch on to some things.
Last but not least, those of you who gave me King and Wilhelmina peppermints as a going away gift, they were gone last week already! I really wish I had some now, but you guys saw me at Elim...if there's peppermints there, I'll eat them. If there isn't, no big deal. But they were here and they're all gone! I'm pretty sure Kristen thinks I'm messed up. I had A LOT of peppermints here!
Until next time!