I need webspace for a picture

This is me looking over the suburb I stayed in whilst studying in Korea from the neighbour's roof (which I climbed onto from my roof :P).

Oh that's right! There was this thing...

The moral of the story: I shouldn't blog..
But I have to write a Korean blog for assessment so I might-as-well do a practice one in English.

I'll try and start from where I left off as a memory exercise (I could probably use that kind of thing).
The day after I arrived I woke up kinda late. It made sense. I had no appointments and a whole year in which to explore Korea. Sleep was the perfect option. But at that time my stomach had to but in and remind me that I skipped dinner the night before and had only really ate airplane food the day before.
I knocked on my neighbour's (Eungsan's) door after 12 (or 1 even). He had said he would be heading to SNU to hand in some translations and he would be able drive me/show me the way. He hadn't even woken up but he quickly got ready and we headed to SNU for afternoon brunch.
The food was as traditional as you could get.. maybe. but it was sundubujjigae (a spicy stew with tofu), some fish that I enjoyed then and for some reason can't stomach now, and the regular panchan (side dishes; usually a kind of kimchi, rice (not really panchan) and some small nibbly things like mandu (dumplings)). The fish was small but it was the entire fish, and you basically had to skin it and bone it with your chopsticks. Talk about trial by fire.. But to my new friends surprise I had no trouble eating it. We went after that to try some coffee (my first in Seoul) and I spied on the menu the option of "nokcha latte" (green tea latte). We went then to my friends office, and on the way I saw snow being shoveled out of the walkways. The funny thing is, I hadn't seen snow the whole time I had been there. It was as though it snowed only in a space of 10 square meters and everywhere else was fine. warm even. On the way to Eungsan's office he said how he was surprised that a white guy like me was studying Korean and could eat Korean food. Apparently, in his experience, a lot of the exchange students from America don't try to learn Korean and neither do the military personnel who stay up to 8 years.

I went to the student center to check it out (and get a much needed Ethernet cable) and saw a lot of coffee machines around. Seriously a lot. Everything from cans of coffee like the one's you can get in Australia (from Korean marts) to warm and hot cans of coffee and big machines that dispense a paper cup for you (that for some reason usually have "PMS" written on them (and smiling guys giving a thumbs up)). Also the regular soda machines don't really have as much coke style sodas. They're there sometimes, but it's usually some kind of vitamin citrus drink or "pokari sweat" (korean powerade)". That discovery, when combined with the scarcity of overweight Koreans around led me to think that Koreans care more about health than Australians (and actually care, as opposed to yo-yo dieting when their feeling insecure).

I had my camera with me so I tried to capture the coolness of the campus. (including one from my first cyber bathroom experience. Just like the Japanese toilets. Yes, they have those here too. and you should know which button is the off button before you start pressing the others...)

(there are more on facebook if your that interested)

While I was aimlessly wandering around the University a Korean guy asked if I needed a hand finding somewhere. I wasn't really going anywhere in particular but I went over to say hey anyway. I can't remember what we talked about but it was probably all the obvious questions to which the answers are often soon forgotten. hence I cannot remember.. but he said that we should totally go clubbing together. I was like, yeah. but I didn't have a phone which complicated things so he went upstairs to grab a business card (all the post grads in SNU seem to have them) and we exchanged emails. He then quickly ushered me out, as a superior came in who couldn't speak English. He said that it's not cool in Korea to show someone above you (wissaram or above person) their shortcomings. He also said that clubbing is pretty expensive in Korea but he knows a few good places where the girls are cheap girls are cheap. Yeah, I did a doubletake as well. Apparently Korean clubs were somewhat different to Australian ones. But I knew that eventually I'd have to try. I emailed the guy once since and.. I should probably do it again... later..

That night I went to my first mart in Korea and was surprised to find that everything pretty much costs the same. That saddened my wallet and me, but I got a few necessities, like ramyeon (noodles)(you gotta..). Shortly after I endured a sickness unlike any other I've experienced. The second day in Seoul didn't exist for me I was just a wreck in my room and praying that I would eventually have the energy to find food and avoid starvation. I actually thought I was gonna die (I was kinda delirious so..).

The next morning despite feeling like utter crap I went to the orientation held the next day. And the bus didn't stop at the uni. And it rained. but that be another episode in a months time..

I swear these posts'll get shorter.. you know, when all the days blend into just drinking (that's actually gotten boring now though so I'm being more productive. yay!)...

I'm not gonna bother with the government endorsement from now as I'm doing it on that Korean blog and that's actually gonna appear on the school website.

I've arrived! In fact I've been here two days now, but it's starting to feel as though I've mentally arrived now, not just physically.

For the days leading up to my departure, I had been burning the candle at both ends, packing well into the night and getting up earlier to get last minute things done. I only realised at 5am on the night before my bus ride to Sydney that I hadn't actually booked the bus, even though I knew what time it would be. Unfortunately being in a 5am state of mind I chose a bus that would arrive in Sydney at 11.15 instead of the intended bus departing Canberra at 11. Hence, I had to force myself into bed to wake 2 hours later to rearrange the booking. All was going to schedule to catch the 11am bus but then I started rummaging through my bags for my student card to no avail. So I went to the counter to book the following bus and scramble home to find it. Funnily enough I had packed it, and I had left it behind at the bus station when I went home to look for it. I didn't need the card for anything on the trip except the bus ride itself, and perhaps to add insult to injury they didn't even ask me for it.

The bus ride was largely uneventful apart from a bus change midway, because apparently the air conditioning wasn't working. Upon arrival in Sydney, I proceeded to drag my 30kg bag around the International airport to scope the place out for my flight the following day. I grabbed a cab to my hotel and dumped my gear in my room and headed for central Sydney to share my last couple of drinks in Australia for the year with my friends, Keith and Ollie.

I knew that there could be some problems at baggage claim as I had a 30kg bag whereas it was supposed to be only 20kg. I had originally intended to use some charm and say something along the lines of, "doni eomneun daehaksaeng ineunde bulssanghaeyeo juseyo." (or "I'm just a poor uni student. Please take pity on me.") but the lady taking care of my bags didn't look Korean. I managed to avoid charges by taking half of the stuff out and making a new hand luggage bag.

The flight was long but it was fun. I tried practicing my Korean, but it's very difficult getting people to register that your speaking Korean when you have a white face. They assume you speak English and so the Korean you speak sound like gibberish. At one point they asked me whether I wanted egg or chicken and I responded "dalkeul juseyo." ("I'll have the chicken") and then they started apologizing profusely saying that they were out of egg and I had to have the chicken.

I didn't stick around the airport at Incheon once I got through immigration. I had to meet the manager of the SNU off campus housing to get checked in at my apartment so I didn't want to waste time. I hopped on the airport bus and started chatting with I guy called Zack who grew up in the Philippines but as a Korean citizen, had to come back to do military service. I got off the bus a stop or so early (seoul daehakgyo station (yeok) as opposed to seoul daehagyeo entrance (ibku)) and I reverted to exploratory mode dragging my once-again 30kg bag until my arms couldn't take it. It was a while after I decided to take a taxi that I could find one, I think I had moved off the main road and there were few coming through, but as luck would have it someone got out of a taxi a few feet away and I called out "Taekshi!".

My bag was too big for the trunk and the lid just loosely hung over it. I hopped into the taxi and proceeded to try to communicate my limited understanding of the address I had to get to. The driver couldn't really understand me and as I tried to elaborate in English I discovered that he hadn't two words of English to rub together. After I plug in my what I could of the address into his GPS, we approach the vague vicinity of where I'm supposed to be going and he starts expecting me to give him directions. I had absolutely no idea where I was so, we stopped continually, asking for directions from every man and his dog. After circling all over the hill in which I'm staying we stopped and I could see on the wall opposite, "seonggonghaneun salamdeul" (successful people), the name of my apartment block. I tried to tip the driver as I felt bad for not being able to explain better where I was going, but he refused probably feeling somewhat responsible for our scenic route.

I was 10 minutes late for my appointment and the guy who was supposed to check me in was nowhere to be seen but after knocking on the door for a while and setting off the alarms someone came down to put me out of my misery. My neighbour hearing me fiddle around with the keys thought I was a burglar and came to check it out, but seeing I was just a new tenant helped me get sorted in my room. He even offered me a lift to school the next day which came in handy in developing a mindmap of the area.

Just as I'm about to crash I hear the door knock, and it turns out to be the guy I was supposed to meet. Apparently there was a communication error and he thought he had to go to the school gate and I thought I had to go to the apartment, and he had been waiting for sometime. I felt bad but he said he was happy to know I was okay.

The guy, Sean (or Seungmin), left and I collapsed on my bed like a tone of bricks. That is the story of my physical arrival in Korea, but as it is already tomorrow I'll save the next to days for another time.

Peace out!


"Mr Jeremy Bruce is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Korea Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade".

Foreword

It's twenty days—and some—until I'll actually be flying off from Sydney into Korea to live and study for 11 months in hopes of grasping a hint of the language and culture of this inspiring country (They're the quintessential black horse in the world economy and their pop culture is dominating Asia).

I'm not much of a blogger (or one at all), but I anticipate this experience to so mind altering and paradigm shifting that I'll need a place to vent the resulting energy. That, and I find the idea of returning home to write mammoth essays after not writing so much as a cogent paragraph in English for a year, somewhat daunting.

I've always found the idea of blogging to be fairly narcissistic and self absorbed, but have probably mainly just shied away from it as a result of time pressures, real or merely perceived. However, as the Korean government doesn't like foreign students participating in their economy I'll find myself with an abundance of time and little money to throw at it.

I don't really have much more to say at this stage as I won't be setting out on my journey for three weeks, but I figured I'd chuck out a few paragraphs if only to get used to the idea of writing. With the clock nearing two, my bed is also looking quite inviting in spite of all the junk I've left on it.

Toodles Y'all,

Evanjellyan.

Oh, and I should probably add this. Contractual obligations and such.
(my favorite bit is "Mr Jeremy")


"Mr Jeremy Bruce is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Korea Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade".

(I would die over there without these guys' help though)