Well, Christmas 2009 is over and done with and to be honest, it all feels just a wee bit strange. This past week was certainly a departure from my regular schedule. Last Monday was the first day of winter holidays for the kids at school. It was also the day that we left on a two day teachers trip, for the teachers association at my school. In all respects it was a riot. Most of all because it was anything but what I was expecting. One way of describing it would have been "hurry up and wait!" When I asked exactly where we were going and what we were doing no one seemed to know. You just have to trust sometimes that it`ll all work out alright somehow.
We began our trip by running (litterally) in a herd through the neighbourhood, to wait for the bus. Now, not quite knowing what the hell was going on I assumed we were running because our bus was leaving and we needed to get on it, but after about 25 minutes of standing there i realized that the bus was no where in sight and we were just vying for a seat we wanted. Instead I was treated to a berrage of well meaning questions from other teachers which were meant to show affection I`m sure but left me with the keen realization that well yes I do have terrible skin right now, and thank you for pointing out that i`ve put on some weight since beeing here and again no I still don`t have a boyfriend. Oh Jeese!
A further 20 minutes of standing in the cold led us to believe that there was a problem with the bus, so the administration told us to back to the school and wait. Which we did. For a coupple minutes before they told us to go and wait for the bus again at a different location. so off they ran again (this time I was expecting it) and when we came to the bus it occured to me that it would have made a lot more sense for the bus to have come to us. Trivial matters like these are wheat makes it all worth while though. So we had our goodie bags distributed and our itinerary loud speakered and our itinnerary changed seeing as we were now 2 hours behind schedule and whatnot. This was all done very quickly and we rushed on to our first destination.
It`s all a muddle of loading on and off and on and off and on and off the bus and shouts of `HURRY UP!` And Alex we must go now ou can`t look so long and again you must hurry now. And it occured to me that this was my first tour bus travelling experience and that I would never choose to travel and sight see like this EVERRRRRR! In the end though it ended up being a very jam packed day full of Korean country side, a coupple temples and some rather amusing cultural museums. Dinner was less amusing as they had made reservations at a seafood restaurant and i`m allergic to seafood. So I couldn`t eat much, the smell was making me nauseous, and I had tons of people asking me why I wasn`t eating something that would kill me or drink Soju which on an empty stomach is never a particularly good decision.
After dinner we headed to the hotel which we were staying at which ended up being quite nice. We were put into small appartments with 6 teachers 2 bedrooms. There were no beds or towels though. apparently you have to pay quite a bit of money to sleep on the floor and have a shower wedged into the toilet. I love it. The best part of the trip was the Karaeoke bar and pool hall they had in the basement of the hotel. Not a pool, but still a good time. I got to sing along with a coupple songs I didn`t and stare in disbeliefe at all the wild actions to the Korean songs that I didn`t know. It was hilarious although it was strange to remember that these were constantly your fellow staff members and all the appearances of rank and power still had to be preserved. No question. Seniority is no joke here. All of your actions have to be dictated by where exactly you sit on that totem pole of power within the school. The newbies always loose out. It was excellent to be able to meet many staff that i had never really spoken with before, and i think that my participation on this trip will only be a good thing for me in the end.
The next day was very much like the first. file on and off and on and off... hurry up and wait, etc... The very last thing we did was to go to this byob restaurant. Only it wasn`t booze it was beef!!!!!! HAHAHAHA! We were all given 15,000 W to go and buy our beef with and then we went to this restaurant and ate our fried beef. It was really delicious! But i haven`t had that much meet in a LONG time and I don`t think I necessarily want to in the near future. The most ourangeous thing was seeing how drunk everyone was getting at every meal!!!! All of the administration has a habit of being offered a shot and when you give a shot you have to take a shot and vice versa. So by the end of the meal, the senior staff are all blitzed!!! Then on the way back to Seoul, we sang karaeoke and passed around home made liquor. I felt like i was on my senior high school trip where the cool people sat at the back of the bus and got shit hammered and made a lot of noise. Soooooooooooooo funny!
What struck me on a cultural note was that outside of Seoul, Korean is like a giant farm... and a poor giant farm where a lot of people live in improvised shacks with limited heating and electricity. I really felt like I had made the right decision to move to the city, because i don`t know if I could handle a country existance here. Very intense.
The next day was when Chritsmas really began because I had the opportunity to go and meet up with Seul-Ki and her familly. She is the Korean girl who is billiting with my parents in Barrie while she attends high school there. Her parents work and live in South West seoul. She had come home for Christmas vacation and she was going to introduce me to her familly and give me my Christmas presents from mine. I was super excited to meet up with her because i felt like she was my little connexion to home. Rather unfortunately, her familly lives on quite the opposite side of town, so it wasn`t that easy for me to get there. And also, she was not feeling the best, so she wasn`t the happiest creature that night. Her family is great, and they ended up taking me to this super ritzy Italian restaurant, on the 48th floor of a building!!!! What was ever better was when they invited me afterwards to their appartment accross the street on the 59th floor of the largest appartment complex I`d ever seen!!!!!!!!!! It had airplane tower lights it was so high. Absolutely increadible! Her parents invited my to stay the night adn really who wouldn`t have!? the next day we had a 5 course breakfast prepared by Seul-kis mom and i could understand why she was homesick for korea because breakfast at my house comes without a spectacular view or hand made seawead wraps and miso soup served in porcelain dishes. Too bad. But you know, toast and coffee is good too.
They happened to live directly accross the street from a very large department store and seeing as I had just gotten paid and it was Chritmas eve, i took myself out Christmas shopping. then I managed to make it to a Chritmas service with my friend Silvia where we drank mulled wine and got rosey cheekes and had a good feeling of holiday bliss. Yeehaw! Gift ladden, I made my way accross town and then had a wonderful evening talking to friends on skype and feeling as though I'd seen my family or at least had the opportunity to spend some time within a family dynamic. On Chritmas day I had a real good chat with my family on skype. The bums have refused to use it till now and so this was the first time I've seen them in 4 months!!!!!!!!!!! Longer for my dad, brother and sister. It felt really great. Now they believe me that it's different from the phone and i think we'll speak more often.
Then i headed off to my friend Sarah's for Christmas dinner. She too lives completely on the other side of town, so I know i wouldn't be getting home that night. We decided to do a Christmas Stir-Fry! With mashed potatos and good red wine to drink. It was pretty hilarious! But comfort food is good no matter when and where. Afterwards we went out to walk around her neighborhood in Hongdae and then settled on going to "Obeg" club for the night. There was a really good drum and base and dancy music DJ playing and with the help of some yummy coktails, we danced the night away! Boxing day was a total waste of a day spent recovering from Christmas in a big way, but it had it's charms. Sarah and I basically spent the day munching on goodies and watching movies on her laptop computer and drinking lots of tea and water. Rough day, but still good. And tomorrow is the beginning of amonth of winter camp. I really have no idea what to expect, but I think it's safe to say that maybe that's a good thing. Because life here seems to be a lot better when you just take it as it comes.
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