Well my first day in Korea was half over. It was lunch time and after meeting "Amber" my first Canadian and fellow teacher I felt so much better and more optimistic. I felt like maybe things would work out and be okay, after all.
It was 1:00 p.m. and neither Tony nor Mr. Kim had shown up and neither had Mr. X. the school's owner and boss. So after some conversation in Korean [that of course I couldn't understand] Ms. Park was able to take me away from the school. I started to understand I was not only free for the rest of the day but for the rest of the weekend. I won't have to return to school until Monday. Yipee!
I needed to go shopping. I needed some food. I wanted to buy bread, peanut butter, and orange juice. I was not ready to eat rice for breakfast everyday - at least not yet. Also, I needed to buy a towel and a hairdrier. Ms. Park with much gesturing and some help from a Japanese Teacher at the school let me know that she would take me shopping for what I needed and then take me home to the apartment. I was amazed at her kindness but then I remembered that no one has given me any keys to the apartment yet. Soo maybe she didn't volunteer to help me maybe she was drafted. In any case I was just too happy to really care why it was happening.
It is when we went shopping that I realized that my changing only around $ 80.00 CDN into Korean Won [at the money exchange at the airport] had not been such a smart move since the banks were all closed and there were no money exchanges in Gumi. But, I did have enough money to buy absolute necessities especially with Ms. Park speaking Korean to all the shopkeepers and beating them down in price for me.
I didn't really notice it so much at the time but when I got back to the apartment I saw that no matter what the price tag said I had paid less. I then learned my cardinal rule for shopping in Korea - NEVER PAY FULL PRICE FOR ANYTHING!
After shopping Ms. Park took me back to our apartment. Then she showed me a corner store only about 2 minutes from our apartment. A husband and wife ran the store and the husband spoke some English. Ms. Park talked to him and introduced me and the husband translated for me. When they discovered I was Canadian [not American - like they had assumed] they seemded even more excited and happy to meet me. I get the feeling that maybe Americans aren't so popular here. What was that about?
This corner store was only about 2 minutes walk from my apartment. The husband and wife who ran it seemed very nice and when Ms. Park introduced me they give me some free bread. The husband laughed and told me "Korean people eat rice. Americans eat bread." 
This was the Kia car dealership in Gumi, Korea. I used it as a landmark when I was trying to find my way from the apartment to the school and back. I was so amazed how uniform in looks and behavior Korean people seemed to be. This picture shows what I mean. With only one exception everyone is wearing black clothing. It lead me to nickname Gumi "The City of Black Clothing".
Around 4:00 p.m. "Lucy" the teacher I was replacing showed up at the apartment. She had finished at the English Camp and she was leaving Gumi tomorrow by bus for Seoul. She gave me her keys since she was spending the night at some other teacher's apartment. I walked her [and helped her carry her luggage] to the main street so she could catch a cab. It was then that she pointed out "Amber's" apartment - it was only 3 houses away from mine. And, she invited me to her going away party that night. Since I didn't know how to get there she told me she would call "Amber" and get her to pick me up about 9:00 p.m.
Things were looking up. I was going to a party later and I have my own set of apartment keys. So, I decided to go for a walk to explore the neighborhood. I had to becareful and notice landmarks since I didn't have a cellphone and couldn't speak enough Korean to ask for directions if I got lost. Not to mention I didn't even know the address of my neighborhood little own the address of my actual apartment building.
Around 6:00 p.m. I was starving and after looking in the windows of a various buildings trying to guess what kind of business they were (since I couldn't read any signs) I finally looked in a window and saw multiple tables with cushions positioned around them on the floor. BINGO! I had found a Korean restaurant - or so I thought! It looked exactly like the Korean restaurant Mr. Kim and Tony had taken me to last night. I decided to go in and see if I could order anything to eat. I was so hungry and it was no wonder so far that day all I had eaten was some rice, some dried seaweed, some bug larvae.
I went into the building and whipped out my Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook and started to talk to the woman working there. She was very kind. Her name was Mrs. Kim. But what I soon realized with the help of my book was that this is a Soju Bong [Soju is a kind of rice alcohol] and this was a drinking room]. It wasn't a restaurant at all! When I realized my mistake I was embarrassed and wanted to leave but Mrs. Kim wouldn't let me leave.
This is Mrs. Kim. She worked in a Soju Bong in Gumi. It is a drinking room. But I didn't know that. I looked in the window and saw all the tables and I went in and using my Lonely Planet Korean Phrase Book tried to order a meal. Mrs. Kim took pity on me and called and ordered Chop Chae [Sweet Potato Noodles with spinach and fried meat] for me. She wouldn't even take a penny - or should I say won - for it. She was so kind. She tried so hard to speak English to me and we used my phrasebook and practiced on each other. I used The Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting or needing to speak some Korean. It's divided into sections based on need, ie. there is a section on eating out/ordering in a restaurant. That's the one I used here.
For information on this book go to
Lonely Planet Korean Phrase Book
This is picture of Chop Chae. It is a dish made of sweet potato noodles with onions, spinach, and fried pork or beef. It is good and not too spicey. It's a food my Korean friends had made for me in Canada so I knew I like it. My supper was EVER so much better than my breakfast!
After my meal I went back to the apartment and had a short nap and then I got up and got ready for the party. "Amber" came to get me a little after 9:00 p.m. and we took a taxi to some other teacher's house. There were so many people at the apartment that I couldn't keep them straight. After a couple hours there I felt like I needed to get away. I met a guy from New Zealand and his Korean girlfriend and they were leaving to go to some bar downtown. They invited me to go along with them. So, I decided to go. But not before I manage to borrow 50,000 won from a fellow teacher. I was amazed at how nice everyone was being. Also, one of the teachers wrote out the address of my apartment. He wrote out the Korean words in phonetically in English and told me if I say this to the taxi driver I would get home. So, off I went to explore more of my new city.
Here I am at WABAR my first night out in Korea. Wa-Bar was amazing. It had drinks from all over the world. It even had my favorite beer - Molson Canadian. I was smiling cause I felt like I found a "home away from home" there at Wa-Bar.
Here is a picture of Wa-Bar. See all the colorful bottles. I always said, "If you can't find your favorite drink at Wa-Bar then you just can't find it in Korea."
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