Let The Korean Adventure Begin!

Alan (Background); Natasha (Foreground left of Alan);
Andrea; Debbie; Maralieze (right to left of Alan)
waiting in Singapore

Tuesday 18 Aug: 2010

I arrived at JHB Airport and took my seat at gate 18 and no sooner had I done that did an Asian looking man come up to me and ask if I was going to Korea. After a quick exchange of introductions (His name was Alan Cho from Cape Town), he motioned to go and sit with himself and the other Eager South Korea bound flyers. It was there that I met Andrea, Andreya, Maralieze, Lauren, Debbie, and Natasha (Pics posted from Airports), all of whom had come via Cape Town. We were all on the same flights together and resolved to keep each other company over the long trip. At first I was not all too sure about these strange Cape Towniens but after chatting to all of them over the course of 2 hours in departures I came to realise my fears were unwarranted.

The Flight:

Both my initial and connecting flights were with Singapore Airlines. I will begin this section with a note of praise for the airline. IF you should ever find yourself travelling to a destination that uses Singapore as a carrier, I can and do strongly recommend them. The Food was brilliant: Lunch/Supper-Oyster Beef with noodles rounded off with a fruit salad, Breakfast-A tomato omelette with fruit salad and a roll. Lunch on flight 2-Fish sautéed in a creamy mushroom sauce with salad and a pineapple upside down cake. And the service great. My only concern was turbulence and screaming babies. The in-flight options were plentiful with loads of different music and about 30 different movies. There was also “learn a language”(which I tried briefly) a range of Nintendo and other game, and a range of genre’s of different TV series. I entertained myself on the flight to Singapore by watching 2 episodes of “How I met Your Mother”, 2 episodes of “Big Bang Theory” and the movie “Wild Target”...

ASIDE – Movie Review:

A distinctly British comedy starring: Bill Nighy as a lonely soon to be retired assassin for hire, Rupert Grint (of Ronald Weezly fame visa vie Happy Potter) as Nighy’s initial problem but soon to be apprentice and finally the lovely Emily Blunt who is a rather cunning petty thief. This delightfully clever film charts their adventure together after they create a problem for themselves by ripping off the wrong guy (played by some other famous British guy). An action packed, drink your tea and eat your scones, while sniggering at the odd yet wwwww-itty black comedy that deserves a Wronger Rating of “who gives a crap” and a Barry Wronger-should-stick-to-Art-house-film-reviews, I-just-want-to-watch-a-movie-that-brings-a-smile-to-my-face-and-a-chuckle-to-the-air rating of 8/10.

...so continues the recount of my flights

Even though I took the sage words of seasoned traveller, Mr. Stuart “567” Buchanan to heart and suffered my way through a glass of Whhhhhiskey on the rocks, alas it did not end my mile high insomnia. Sleep was at a premium DESPITE HAVING 3 SEATS TO MYSELF (I know right!!!...) due to the regular seat-belt clipping turbulence (meaning I would have to get up from my comfy sleeping position, but to clarify I actually don’t mind the turbulence... It like im driving in a car on a bumpy road and generally fall asleep at the drop of a hat with that) and less than regular and thus more frustrating, baby-crying in the row in front of me. I think I got about 1.5 hours on an 8 hour flight. On the connecting flight to Seoul I THINK I got 2 hours sleep as for 5 of the six hour flight I listened to music by great names such as: Muse, Biffy Clyro, We are the Fallen (they sound like an Evanescence cover band), Stained and Vampire Weekend, and there was a sizable number of songs that I don’t remember listening to, thus I must have been sleeping mustn’t I? When walking onto my connecting flight, I entered through the wrong door and got a first disgusting account of how the affluent live. I walked through both 1st and Business class to get to my seat. TV’s bigger than most families own, Reclinable seat beds, and treatment deserved of all travellers but reserved for the well to do BAST**** and planet destroying company flyers.

Of all things flight related this paragraph has been reserved to pay homage to the “hot towel” handed to you upon takeoff and before landing of each flight with this humble Asian airline...

An Ode to the Hot Towel:

Oh how I detest the clammy, sticky, smelly and greasy results of adventure travel
I sit in squalor with thoughts of a hot shower and a head-and-shoulders clean once more
Just as I can’t bear the thought any longer and prepare to end... my sorrows with a glass of Whhhhhiskey... on the rocks... you enter my life in all your fluffy, warm glory
Handed to me by a pair of shimmering hands you ease my troubles with one wipe across my face
The Warmth
So Soft
So Clean
If but for a moment...
Alas just as we connect you are snatched away from me by the same but now dull and sharp arms of “THE MAN”
Oh Hot Towel, I await your return.

Nuff said.

Singapore Airport @ 06:30

In Singapore for 4 hours:

I clean myself up upon landing as the female travellers on my journey seek the cleanliness of the showers. Alan and I explore the duty free tech shop where I buy a 10Mp camera, a 4 gig memory card, 4 rechargables, 2 universal adapters (ADVICE FOR SOON TO TRAVELLERS: that just by the way I end up not being able to use as the pins are too small for the SA 3 Pin plug, so before you buy a universal, take your plug that you need to adapt, with you and ask for the appropriate size), and a new 2 gig MP3 player for about R1300 – better deal than I would have gotten in SA. All the while the weather was muggy and about 25 degrees at 05:40 in the morning. Transfer between flights is easy and well sign posted, so once I exchanged my US Dollars for Korean Won (with no commission required-so do that in Singapore and just carry the cash with you if you are coming to this part of the world) I sat and chatted to my travel-buddies-but-becoming-friends as we waited at the gate to board. ADVICE: Travelling with people of making friends as you go is definitely a must as it makes the trip seem so much shorter. We got chatting about packing woahs... well, I thought I was worried about being over-weight with my eventual 25kg being well under the 30kg limit, one young lady who shan’t be named packed 50 KGS!!!!! She had to unpack half of that at the airport before she flew out of JHB.

Aug 19th Landing in The land of the Morning Calm:

Adean - My room-mate for Orientation

We walk in at arrivals after a pleasent exchange through immigration and customs and the 1st thing we see is a largish Afrikaans woman handing us packets of Biltong to advertise that she and her hubbie (Billie was his name-the least “Billie” looking “Billie” I have ever seen). It is there that we meet another young lady, Susanne (Suki for short), who was also on our flight but we didn’t know. I also then meet 4 people : Ann (From Maritzburg), Adean (from Rustenburg and my eventual roommate),
Lisa and Melinde (from Pretoria) who were on the Dubai flight. After struggling for 20 mins trying to call home to let family know of my safe arrival, I eventually call home and the go to catch my bus to Jeonju University , where our 10 day orientation is being held. The bus trip was 3 hours and stopped somewhere on the side of the road where I sundenly clicked: I am hungry but I can’t read what is in the packets... All i want is pie... I’M IN SOUTH KOREA! I end up buying a box of the only thing I can identify after 14 hours of flying, due to the picture on the box – choc-chip cookies (my supper). Now all I can think is: SHOWER + BED = JOY. Nearly there...

Arrival At Jeonju:

Bimbim Bap for lunch

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!! Travel time : Flights (8hrs+6hrs) + Transition (4hrs) + Airport (2hrs) + Bus (3hrs) = 23hrs ( on 3.5 hours sleep in total). We sign up for out rooms and gift packs (banana, fruit juice, golf shirt, alarm clock and orientation info and Adean (now my roomie) and I head to Room 602 on the 6th floor of Star Towers Dorm. It is quaint place. I have lived in a tiny Res room and this is just a little bigger than that but more than adequate for the 2 of us (though I quickly learn Adean is a “noisy” sleeper and have to sleep with ear plugs now). Best thing = SUPER FAST NET ACCESS! Which we spend 1.5 hours trying to sort out 1st. Once done and I have let everyone know I am safe we head to sleep. This is when I had my 1st and hopefully only bout of homesickness for about 40 min. Though the hear didn’t help. (ADVICE: 98% humidity in summer every day and every night. Temp range while I have been here 25 Min (including the nights) 35 Max Pack lots of shirts). Once I got the AC working I got to sleep in more comfortable conditions (despite the rock hard bed).

Aug 20th Orientation Day 1:

An easy day. Breakfast, campus tour, lunch, opening ceremony and welcome supper.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony for the orientation was really enjoyable. We were treated to a 5 drums dance (Pic) where you have 5 dancers who beat on a set of 6 hide based drums and they all do so choreographed and in unison. It is mesmerising to watch. Following that we had a Taekwondo demo (Pic) where the best bit was when the whole group just broke out the disco dance moves to some Korean pop music.

5 Drum Dance

Taekwondo Demo

We were also treated to a Korean Fan Dance (Pic) where about 10 ladies in “Hanbok” – traditional dress created shapes and movements with a combination of Fans. That was really beautiful to watch. By this time I have met Jeff (From Boston; potential hiking buddy and general allround good guy = winner), Matt (From Florida), Terrick (Baltimore), Eugene (Wisconsin I think), Andrew (New York), Joe (Iowa), Brianne and Ryan (Not sure), Mark (Not sure) Jesselle and Joesiah (California I think), Samantha and Courtney (From Florida and both keen climbers, we going to keep in touch for that), Ian (from Scotland but has bureaucratic parents so has that Hugh Grant kind of accent insead – good guy. I have already spent a good 3 hours chatting to him about the state of English sport, Zimbabwe, his Government, District 9 (HE ASKED!) and our Government) and Chris (From Houston – went to the Peace (HOW COOL IS THAT-I KNOW SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY DID THAT!), lived in Namibia for 3 months, loves BILTONG (not Beef Jerky) and good BRAAI (WHAT A LEGEND!!!).

Fan Dance

Food: Thus far the food is amazing! We had our welcome dinner on the evening of 19th and there was SOOOO much sushi, sashimi, nigiri and salad. Fruit was plentiful as well-I got ragged because of the amount of litchi’s I was eating. EVERYTHING traditionally Korean is Spicy (Pics). If it is red in colour then just prepare yourself. We have had Kimshi (spicy pickled cabbage I think, though the dish Kimshi more refers to anything that has the same kind of spice as the cabbage version. NOTE* You say “KIMSHI” when posing for pics here instead of “cheese”), Bulgogi (Like a beef Broth) Bimbim bap (giant bowl of stuff that you add rice too and mix together). There are no knives. You use, spoons for dishing and eating rice, chosticks and a folk (not sure why exactly the fork but is id highly useful). There are no distinguished meals here. You can have the same kind of food for all 3 meals in a day (so like there is soup available for Breakfast, lunch and supper, the same with Kimshi, pickled cucumber and salad and a range of meats).

My Table: Adean - right of him and around: Lisa,
 Malinde,Some dude from the US, Some girl from the US,
Victoria, Maralieze, Suki, Jeff from Boston

My WELCOME DINNER

At the welcome dinner, in true SA (More Rhodes) style there was one bottle of Chilean red wine (a very nice Cabernet) to share between 11 people (Pic), so when other tables started leaving my table commandeered a couple of the half drunk bottles and we finished them off. Following that we bought some stuff to drink at the food mart down the road and drank that as well. Karaoke was suggested but I for one was really tired to decided to call it an early night. I have 13 months to sing a lot of very bad Karaoke.

I find myself in a cultural conundrum-I have met so many Americans that I have started to choose my words carefully so that they know what I am talking about.

The View form the 18th Floor of the Dorm

E.g. I talked about sleeping with the air con on and one chap asked me what i meant by air con.
Getting documents certified for us getting is getting them notarised for them.
When talking about what I studied I need to explain it in terms of freshman, sophomore and senior.
Another Saffer refered to a “costume” to swim and the Americans had no idea what she was talking about until we told her to say Swim suit.

Friday 20th Aug:

I had my Medical – eye-test, colour blindness test, urine and HIV test, blood pressure, height and weight and a chest X-ray (Done in a mobile Radiology van!!). Following that was lunch and then our 1st talk by someone who works in the education industry. It was interesting in parts with a chat about the history between Japan and the Northern side and definitely useful but I just could not stop falling asleep. We also had our 1st Korean lesson, which was really confusing but it is actually a remarkably designed language based purely on a phonetic structure. The teacher did not speak one word of English but kept repeating until we got the idea. It must have been like training a bunch of monkeys, to her as we just stared at her all confused and dumbfounded. She was really sweet and very patient with us though which is definitely a lesson I will store for my teaching. It’s great that we are given the opportunity to learn it, it is just a shame that it is at the end of our day when we are all so tired.

Saturday 21 Aug:

We had a full day of classes (Pics). The 1st was on Task based learning. I mention only because the Air con was not working and by the end I had literally sweated out probably 2 full glasses of sweat! (Gross right? Well imagine sitting in that with 35 other who are having the same problem!!!) We then had a talk on Teaching Reading an about travel, making presentations, and project based learning as well as our 2nd of 3 Korean classes (I think I can crack it. I just need to practice a lot!)

Following that I went out Drinking and for Karaoke!

In the Kareoke Room: Nicole (front), Ian in
white, Joe- back right, and another
American

I got the second highest score of the night with my tone deaf rendition of Muse: Feeling Good. We had all had a bit to drink in the local pub before we got there. I had 5 shots of Soju (Wiki it – it is like a vodka mix and was told don’t drink it, I will die! Funnily enough I was fine. Though I think If I hadn’t had the flavoured ones I would have found it bit more difficult to stomach) and a couple of glass’ of beer. I was out with a few South Africans(some of the girls I flew with) and a bunch of American + a couple of Canadians and Ian the Scot. Joe the one American paid for the Karaoke session which was really nice of him. We sang some serious classics, Andy Williams, John Lennon, Billy Joel, Elton John, Journey, Blink, Aretha Franklin, R Kelly (not a classic but a good group song) and Queens Bohemian Rhapsody. I have Vids, but will see if they are good enough to put up as the light was terrible.

Sunday 22 Aug:

Drinking Beer and Picking songs - I promise I am in some of the picscoming up!

(A CLIP OF MY 2nd PLACE FINISH - Camara work by Joe)

Courtney in the Gallery

Whilest at the temple

Today we went to a temple and a cultural village and spent the day with the lovely Courtney from Florida as we walked around the cultural village and the temple and just explored really. It was a really good day with tons of Pics. We watched and participated in a dance, made fans, had Bimbim Bap for lunch (see pics below) walked around a temple, a wine museum, and an art gallery. Just have a look at what I put up and see what you like.

Me in the Art Gallery

Some of the Art!

That will do it for my 1st Korea blog post – it’s been a biggie and I will probably have one more biggie when I give details about my school and place of residence but after that they will be shorter. I promise!

*DISCLAIMER ON PICS – I did my best with the equipment I had so I hope you can see them well :)

Tune in next time on “Geoff’s Asian Adventure” for more exciting thrills and spills, heart ache and sorrow!

Eating Bimbim Bap for Lunch

Courtney, Malinde and I cool off in the stream after the temple visit

Me at the Temple