Lost in Ulsan!

I have to report about the first (and assuredly not last) time I was lost in Korea.  [This was about 1 week ago]  I planned on visiting a music shop to get some guitar stuff.  My co-teacher Jack is lending me his guitar until I get paid at the end of the month, and buy my own.  He hasn't played in a long time so his guitar needed new strings, and I needed other miscellaneous things like pics and a strap.  I learned that there was a music shop nearby in Seonamdong, or 'Old Downtown.'  I had to take the bus for the first time and was excited to explore, but had very limited directions to this music shop.  I did have a map that my co-teacher Jack printed off for me, but everything was in Korean, and all I knew is that the store was a block or two south of a school. 

When I was on the bus, I asked a high school student in Korean (using my handy dandy phrase book) how to get to Seonamdong.  I figured out that that is where he was getting off the bus, so at least I knew what stop to get off at.  When we got off I asked him if he knew where this music shop was and he had no idea.  I decided to just wander and see if I could find it, which worked out because I needed to buy some things at other stores anyways (like a belt, and slippers for my school).  I was about to walk in the complete wrong direction, when I spotted the WaBar, a Western style bar (that is a chain bar in Ulsan) that I had just read about at http://www.ulsanonline.com/ so I stopped in.  I figured they might be able to help me find my music shop.  It took a while, but with the help of 3 employees and a bit of confusion I ended up with a make-shift map of how to get there (pictured below). 

Old Downtown is very cool, it's got this huge outdoor mall type deal.

Picture I took at WaBar.

Picture of the map they drew for me!

I finally found my shop and... it was closed!  Of course, so at least I knew where it was and ended up going with a buddy a couple days later.  It was about 9:30 PM so I walked around to a couple more stores and then headed to a bus stop.  While I was there a high school kid came up to me and started speaking to me in English!  Apparently he had studied English as a foreign exchange student in Chicago for a year, and is planning on going to college there.  We chatted for a bit, then I got on the wrong bus.. NOW FOR THE LOST PART, haha.

Music shop that was closed.

Picture of the street the music shop was on so I could find it when it was actually open.

I get on the 104 bus, that had taken me to old downtown, but apparently I took it going the wrong way.  As time went on I noticed that I was the only passenger on the bus, and I was like "uh-oh."  Believe it or not this is not the first time I have managed to find myself at the end of the line of a bus route, being told to get off (happened once on Lake-tran back home).  At this point I am extremely exhausted; I had been at my school, gone hiking, been exploring/shopping, and now I'm just trying to get home and it wasn't happening.  I figured I would take a cab, but I was not in the main part of the city anymore (at a bus station) and I didn't have a cell phone.  The bus driver wrote 2 bus line numbers on the paper I showed him with my address, but I was still stranded.  Finally a bus driver tried to talk to me, failing miserably, and then had me get on his bus (free pity ride).  I sat on his bus for about 15 minutes while he watched a portable television.  I had NO IDEA what was going on, but after a bit he took off.  We were back in the city, but I didn't have a clue if we were going to be heading back to my area, or when I should get off, so I just thanked the driver, told him "tehk-see" and got off.  Got a cab, and made it home (for 10 bucks instead of 1).  It was crazy!

Exploring Ulsan, day and night!

My second day in Ulsan was very eventful with Jack and his family.  He picked me up and we went to an ancient village which was about a 45 minute drive from my motel.  We had lunch there and then walked around this village.  Then we met up with some good friends of his, Mr. & Mrs. Kim who are music teachers at another school.  They are also world travelers and speak pretty good English as well!  We saw an ancient temple and then walked around sight seeing a bit.  We decided that it would be a great idea to visit the next day (Sunday) and play some music together! 

So on Sunday Mr. Kim picked me up around 2 in the afternoon, we bought some snacks at a couple different places and then got to his house.  I played a couple songs for them on guitar and then tried out some traditional Korean instruments!  I (attempted to) play a bamboo flute, which was very difficult since I've never played a wind instrument (except a harmonica), but it was fun.  I started to get it to make noise at the end of my attempts, and now I feel like I need to buy one and master it!  I also played a janggu (Korean drum), which I had played at orientation.  The last one I played was gayageum (traditional Korean string instrument), and that was awesome as well!  (Unfortunately no pictures of that event)

Mrs. Park, Chan-Ee and myself at the historical sight.  We were at Gyeongju, and there are a couple of websites from the pamphlet if you are interested in learning more about this place: http://guide.gyeongju.go.kr & http://yangdong.invil.org

A beautiful Lotus flower.

This tree is over 500 years old!

Chan-Yuk sleeping on mommy.

Before trying rice candy.

After trying rice candy.

Probably the cutest kids in the world!

Chan-Yuk and I trying to escape!

The woman to the far right is Mrs. Kim.

A very nice dinner that I was treated to!

Mr. Kim and I!

Mr. Park, myself and Mr. Kim at dinner.

Since I was spending all this awesome time with my co-teacher and his friends I missed out on some opportunities to hang out with my new friends who were new to the city as well. So Monday after my first day of school was over I met with 10 of my new friends for dinner. I took a taxi and we went to a Korean BBQ which was really good! It was really nice to spend some time with my friends from orientation again, and we went out to a Nore Bang (Like Karaoke, but you have a private room) for a couple hours. It was a blast!

At the Korean BBQ.

My terrible photography skills capturing parts of my friends!

At the Nore Bang! (pronounced "nor A Bong")

It was rowdy!

So as usual I'm behind on updates, but It's because I'm having such a blast!

So my last post covered my first week in Korea at orientation, and this post (and the next couple) will try to cover my first week in Ulsan!  I arrived last Friday (August 26th) at the MOE (similar to our Board of Education) headquarters in Ulsan, and there was a mix-up.  When my co-teacher got there he was talking a lot with the MOE superintendent looking confused, and I guess somewhere along the line my name was written as Ry an (ReAnn to Koreans).  So the next stop along the line my gender was changed to 'female.'  So everyone at my new school (except the students luckily) were expecting a woman English teacher!  Now this is especially unfortunate due to my long hair haha.  It wasn't a big deal, and I didn't get the jokes that I was sure would follow, but a bit of excitement to start off in my new city!

That night I had to sleep in a motel because the last EPIK English teacher wasn't leaving until the next day. This wasn't bad at all though because I was able to have dinner with her (Lizzy from the UK) and my co-teacher (Mr. Park). This was awesome because I got all of the insider information about the school I am teaching at, and some great tips for a brand new foreigner in the city!

The elevator in my motel, it was pretty cool!!

The hallway of my hotel.  Before the flash from my camera it was actually really dark and had those red lights all the way down it.. the first time walking down that hallway alone was pretty scary! haha

Outside my motel.  (The Amal Motel)

Mr. Park (or Jack as he told me to call him) and his two sons, Chan-Yuk and Chan-Ee.  They are so cool!

This is the boys, Jack, Lizzy and myself at Jack's parents house for dinner.

And this is with Jack's wife!  (She was very nice and speaks pretty good English as well)

So much has happened!!

So I appologize if I've left anybody waiting for new posts, I've been so busy the last week and have been having such a blast!  During my 8 day orientation at Jeong-ju University I made many new friends, learned a little Korean and Hongal (the symbols), learned about teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language), and learned a lot about the Korean culture.  I also participated in a talent show that was amazing that I hope to post once I get the video from my new friend Sarah! 

So there is no way to really cover all of the amazing experiences I have had in this past week or two, but hopefully the pictures will help!  (BTW I have hundreds of pictures already!  So I'm only putting so many up.  To see more check out my facebook or email me and I can send more!)

Part of Jeong-ju University



 Some new friends leaving a coffee shop.  This was the first time I was somewhere with no English on the signs.  It was scary! haha The gentleman in the middle's name is Jim, and he saved us.  I didn't have my phrase book and he has lived in Korea for 2 years teaching in Hogwans (private schools).  He ended up being a good friend this last week.

 Walking down the strip we familiarized ourself with after the coffee shop.  (PS all I had to say was coppy americano if I wanted a coffee lol)

 Here is some Korean cafeteria food, which at the time of this picture was amazing.  Now that I've been around I know that it was not nearly as good as it gets, but still not bad.  The red stuff is Kimchi which is a side with almost every meal you get in Korea.  I was warned about it: 'it's cabbage that they stick in a hole in the ground until it ferments, the smell is terrible!'  Well most of that is true, but I tried it anyways.. and love it!  It's spicy and goes good with almost everything, so if you ever get the chance be brave and try it!

 My roommate Jaime, def a cool dude from Northern Ireland.  I was Skyping my parents early one morning and he walked through the background in his boxers.  My mom just thought that was SO funny haha (like blush central haha)

 Opening ceremony of orientation.

Lots of people!  I think it was a little over 400 people at our orientation.

 Traditional fan dancers.  They were very good and they make shapes like flowers and butterflies and are very elegant.

 This traditional drum quartet is called samulguangdae.  It was very cool to watch and I recommend youtubing it to see what it's like.  I'll take this opportunity to mention that my new camera is glitching, so I haven't been able to take many videos.  Hopefully I'll get to the bottem of it soon, but the pictures will keep coming!  Also we went on a field trip to see an old village and experience authentic Korean culture.  I'll get those pictures up as well, but I mention it now because we learned how to play these different percussion instruments!

 I forget the name of this traditional drum dance, but it was very entertaining, and in this case was performed by the same girls who did the fan dancing.

 Taekwondo!  This also was very entertaining.  They probably broke over 100 boards and did tons of flips.  Throughout orientation we had several classes which were mostly lecture, but one was in a gymnasium: Taekwondo!  It was very fun, but boy was I sore afterwards!  It was really great though and I am seriously considering joining a Taekwondo studio around here.

 Dude got up there!

 Our first class, and that's Nicole!  One of our two EPIK teachers, and she is seriously like the cutest thing ever, I really wish I would have gotten her being awesome on a video haha

Opening ceremony dinner.  I didn't really know these people when I took the picture, but I became good friends with most of them :)

 Yeah, that watermelon was EPIK!!!!

PS:  I am adding the link to our talent show video now.  It is also in it's own post from October 10th, so this is a double post.  There are related links for other talent show perfomances as well!

http://www.youtube.com/user/SarahSuperSmile#p/u/8/DQv5bRJPfqk