Mt Yudalsan

So we've discovered a whole other part to the city ---Mokpo is huge! We finally go a hold of a map of Mokpo and found our way to the other side of the city where we could climb mount Yudalsan. The "mountain" is only about 280m above sea level, but the hike was long and we were were pretty tired by the end. Another couple is talking about doing a hike up a mountain that is closer to 900m high and that is not far from Mokpo, so I think we will join them for that hike and then actually be able to say we hike up a mountain. The hotel in Italy where we stayed on our honeymoon was higher up in the hills than Mt Yudalsan so I think we are ready for the next challenge! The view was quite impressive though!

The start of the climb was almost the prettiest - a perfectly manicured little park with this big sculpture - no idea who it is because nothing is written in English!


For the most part, there were stairs and cleared paths to follow to the top of the mountain.

This was the view of Mokpo from the top.

A bit tired by the time we made it back down, but perfectly placed were these little resting huts where we re hydrated and regained a bit of strength!

Yesterday Milton and I also had our first "celebrity" moment when two young boys followed us around town for a bit. These kids must have only been about 7 years old and they were playing around in the streets when they saw us. Like everyone who sees us in the streets, they started out by yelling any English words they knew and giving us high fives. They then followed us to the E-mart where we were doing a bit of grocery shopping. They tried to put toys in our cart so that we would buy them for them and they looked quite surprised that we kept refusing. Is there some kind of tradition that I don't know about where foreigners buy gifts for everyone they meet?! We thought we had lost them when we went down to the first floor but they managed to find us again in the freezer aisles where they decided it would be fun to just hang off our cart while we shopped. This got pretty tiring after a while - they had been following us for over a half hour. I told Milton to get rid of them, a task at which he failed pathetically. And finally when I started to shoo them away with my hand and started saying "find mommy" they protested in disappointment but got the message and took off. After that we thought we were safe until this morning when we ran into them in the Internet cafe! Thankfully, they seem more interested in the online gaming that is going on, but they still come and offer us single little puffed rice snack (think a single chip or Cheetos stick) when they want to yell some more English at us. We'll be sure to bring the camera next time so that we can post photos of them.

Tomorrow should be an adventurous day too...we are off to get our alien registration cards, open bank accounts, and try to connect Internet and phone service. Milton's co-teacher has taken on the task for us and I thank god she volunteered because I'm not sure we would succeed at all the tasks with the help of my co-teacher. She means well but this is what I got as instructions from her:

The top left is apparently the map showing me which building I need to go to. I couldn't tell it from any other intersection in the city!

Top right is the list of things i need to bring or do in order to get my alien registration. I understand the price: 10 000 won is what I will have to pay (equivalent to 10$)

I think the white piece of printed paper is something I am supposed to give the immigration office as proof that I am working here, and on it, on the three little post-it notes are the address, phone number and something else that I can't read because it is all written in Korean!!!

So like I said, tomorrow should be an adventure for us and I am really glad that Milton's co-teacher will be taking us to do all of this because I think she at least understands that we don't speak Korean yet. I'll let you know how it goes!

Learning lots!

I have a bit more time tonight to write so I thought I would fill in a few details from a few other things that have happened since we arrived last week.

I guess the first adventure was heading to the hospital for HIV and drug testing. We were a group of about 50 foreigners and so the education office organized a group trip to the hospital rather than leaving it up to us to do on our own, which was a really good idea b/c it was a bit of a process. We arrived in one building where we sat and waited to be called in alphabetical order to go in and see a doctor. He asked a few questions (are you healthy? do you have allergies? etc) and then printed us our bill. We then headed to another area of the hospital to pay our 36 000 won for the blood and urine tests we were about to do. We then headed to a completely different building and had to find our way to a second floor area where they would do the blood test. Once we found the spot, we had to wait in line to get a number, then wait again for our number to be called. They had about 6 nurses all set up behind a counter waiting to take our blood - picture the passport office where you get your number and wait to be called but instead of going to a counter and handing over documents, you throw your arm on the table and they stick a huge needle in your arm. Once the blood was taken they gave you a little plastic bottle to pee in. The bathroom was conveniently located right next to the blood taking area. You needed to give at least 30 ml which for some people seemed to be a problem and the Koran's were very strict on this and made people head back to the washroom for more pee. Once you had the required amount you walked back to the blood taking area to hand in your sample. This was the most embarrassing part because unlike home where they give you a little brown bag to put your sample in, you had no privacy and had to do the walk of shame across the waiting area with your pee perfectly exposed. We all saw who was well hydrated and who wasn't! Other than the part where you had to wait in line at 4 different places to get everything done, the whole thing was pretty painless and fairly efficient. A few Canadians were a bit disappointed to find out that the drug test was mostly for methamphetamine and hardcore drugs - not THC. It turns out that a few years ago all the Canadians were failing the drug test b/c of their smoking habits so they eliminated that drug from the list.

I'm also posting a few photos that we took since we got here. These first few were taken on our field trip day to the folk village and to the Songgwang (?) temple. We also had two traditional Korean meals that day -- i suffered a bit and only ate the rice!

Folk village

Milton with his co-teacher Mirah and her son, and me with my co-teacher Seul Gi

Me struggling to find veggies and food that has not touched seafood. The second course was a communal bowl of soup that had whole brown shrimp (heads, eyes, and all) floating around in it.

The table looks great but what was in the bowls was less appetizing...

Milton actually ate these little fish-eew!!!

The work that went into painting these temples in unbelievable!

It was crazy hot walking around all day in the sun so this is me stylin' in my new Korean straw hat that I picked up for 5 bucks!

Some more lovely Korean artwork...

instructions on how to use the washroom:

Not sure what this carving's significance was at the historic folk village?!

My own beautiful artwork...a traditional Korean fan that members of the higher class would normally carry around. Made this fan on Thursday at the National museum in Gwangju, but we really could have used them earlier in the week when we were melting in the extreme heat!

In the streets of Gwangju - no clue where I am or which direction I should go in!

And one last pic for my family... does this look at all familiar??? the smaller Korean version of the old family vehicle.

So that's it for photos for now. If you check Milton's blog I think he posted the pictures of our apt. I've been typing and adding photos for an hour now and don't have the patience to add anymore! so check out his blog if you want to see our new pad.

Today was a pretty good day... My teacher actually showed up at noon and took me to our school. I met the principal and vice principal and we all went out for lunch. My co-teacher told the principal that I'm not big on seafood but that i love chicken so the meal was a nice surprise ( i had prepared myself for the worst!). we sat on the floor Korean style and had a whole chicken each (tell them what you like and you'll get it!). Its a small whole chicken boiled in broth and then they add rice that is then served to you exactly that way. So its like chicken soup but with a whole chicken! The meal was good and then we were back at school were i picked up my teacher's editions of the English textbooks, had a look at what my schedule will be like, and found out that someone will be picking me up each day to get to school. It was a much better day than Friday was and I am feeling much better about my job now. I also found out that, like Milton, I don't have to go to school this week -YAY, one more week off!

One more last little bit before i log off. A few things I've learned so far in Korea:

1- everything in Korea is completely backwards to what common sense would tell you. For example: red lights you drive right through, just honk your horn before you do it; things that should be salty are sweet, think sweet garlic bread and sweet spaghetti sauce; and things that should be sweet, like cookies, aren't that sweet.

2- its OK to hit apparently - i had my first hitting experience yesterday while on the payphone with my mom. A Korean woman apparently didn't want to wait for me to get off the phone, she just slapped me on the shoulder a few times and pointer at herself to let me know it was her turn! I've been warned to avoid the staff room too b/c teachers will hit each other to solve problems at school.

and much, much more... but I'll save it for another day b/c you must be sick of reading by now!

So that's it for now. still no Internet or phone at home, but i found out today that we need our alien registration cards to set that up so hopefully we will get those Friday and by next week we will be back in touch with the world!

Arrival in Mokpo

So we have finally arrived in Mokpo and are pretty much set up in our apartment. We arrived in Gwangju Saturday aug 16th and had orientation until Friday. Lots of seminars on what we will be teaching and presentations about the culture and what to expect from our students. The week was long but most of the orientation was useful. We also had a few field trips in there to a Korean folk village, the national museum, and to a temple retreat.

Friday was the day our co-teachers were to pick us up and bring us to our apartments...it was quite the day! I had met my co-teacher earlier in the week as they were invited to join us for our field trip to the folk village. My co-teacher is very nice but I think taking care of me is a bit too much responsibility for her. Her name is Seul Gi and she is 23 years old and just starting teaching this year. She was so nervous the day she came to meet me. In Korean culture, the older you are the more respect you get even if you are only a year older than someone. So since i have more teaching experience and since i am 3 years older than her she (according to her culture) owes me lots of respect. She has to bow to me and serve me (and all the other teachers in the school) meanwhile, I'm the one out of my element and have no idea how I'm going to teach these little Korean kids! So Friday she was supposed to come get me in Gwangju and bring me to Mokpo. She didn't show. She had asked Milton's co-teacher to pick both Milton and i up and bring us to Mokpo. Milton's teacher for some reason decided to bring her husband and her son which then meant that there was no room in the car for me or my luggage since Milton and his luggage barely fit! So we asked her to just see if one of the other 15 teachers or principals going to mokpo could take me. Makes sense in Canada right? well, not in Korea. So before i know it i have the supervisor for high school teachers in mokpo approaching me and trying to figure something out for getting me to mokpo. If he's involved it's a big deal (which means someone somewhere down the line got in big trouble!) He came back to find me a few minutes later to tell me that my principal was on the way and would be there in an hour to get me. Him and then the language program director for the province came to find me to tell me that plans had changed, that my teacher was on her way but she got lost. I carried my bags down to the front doors and was waiting when the supervisor came back and told me to load my bags in his car, he would be driving me. By this time I'm totally confused but just happy to have a ride. It turned out that Milton and I loaded half our bags into his co-teacher's car and the rest into the supervisor's car who drove both Milton and i to Mokpo. Someone is in serious trouble now we figure if he is driving us!

In the car we were told that he was driving us to Milton's school where Milton's co teacher and mine would be joining us to take us to our apartment. It was only and hour drive from Gwangju to Mokpo and we got to Milton's school (under the pouring rain) and there is no sign of my teacher or Milton's teacher at this point so Supervisor Kim accompanied us into the school to meet Milton's principal. Milton's principal didn't speak a word of english but was very nice and gave us the tour. Milton's school is AMAZING! it is brand new and super clean with all kinds of high tech equipment and a huge gym (which is important b/c the teachers in korea all play volleyball on Wednesdays for some reason and the foreign teachers have to play too). after the tour we head back to the Principal's office and wait for our teachers to show. Milton's finally shows but still no sign of my co-teacher. After an hour wait and several calls she finally shows up (she got lost because she is also a new driver and just got her license!) My teacher finally walks in and everything seems fine - no shouting or even anything that seemed like an angry tone, but words were exchanged in Korean so i have no clue what was said. They offered her a drink which she took and then suddenly out of no where burst into tears and ran out of the room! What is going on?!?!?!
she comes back in and i just feel so bad for the girl but there isn't much i can do. I tried to figure out what was going on but she doesn't speak much english either. What i think happened is that she was leading a school scouts camp that day and had tried to make arrangements for me to be picked up by Milton's co-teacher. Milton's co teacher can't do anything without her husband (he had also accompanied her to the folk village earlier in the week) and so when she filled the car with her hubby and son and figured out there was no room for me and our luggage she got on the phone and tried to bail on my teacher. I think my teacher got in huge trouble and just couldn't take it anymore and broke down. I tired to tell her not to stress it was all OK, i made it to Mokpo, but the Canadian laid back way just doesn't exist in Korea. Why they put a new, inexperienced teacher in charge of hosting the foreign teacher is beyond me -- they really could learn a thing or two from the new teacher inductee program like Ontario has!

Finally around 5pm we arrive at my school (after getting lost b/c my teacher can't drive and doesn't know her way around) and my school is the dump next to Milton's. It is tiny, and so run down. It is just outside of the city and, of course, there is no bus that will get me there so I'm not sure how this will work. and by this time the principal has left for the day, who was the reason we were going to the school in the first place. What a day!
They finally take us to our apartment which was the ray of sunshine that day - we finally find our home for the next year and can unpack after living out of suitcases for about three weeks now. We are very happy with our apartment! we have a kitchen, a bedroom, a living room, and a spare room - all separate distinct rooms as apposed to a square box, open concept apt that some people have been unfortunate to get. We live a block from E-mart (like K-mart with a grocery store) and we are right in the middle of the city. The gym is also one block away and another girl who has been here for a few months is going to help me set up a membership. We can walk to the waterfront - about a 15 minute walk, and have already discovered lots of nice little restaurant/bar and shopping streets. we are surrounded by mountains that we will eventually hike up, and we have already been looking at used bikes so we can get around town that way too.
We made a few immediate purchases - speakers for our computer so we can play music, a spaghetti pot for Milton and a small oven (like a big toaster oven with a rotisserie) for me b/c i can't stand the thought of frying everything for a year! (Emma, you'd be proud of my oven purchase. For starters it was on sale for 49$, and then when the salesman said they had none left, I got the floor model for 39$!)

So we are pretty much set up here in Mokpo. I am meeting my principal tomorrow - I think. My co-teacher asked me to meet him Monday but wasn't sure when. When i asked her how I would know when and where she said she would call me. I reminded her that she had just picked me up and obviously I hadn't had a chance to get a phone. She then said she would call Milton's phone. Again, i reminded her that Milton was in the same boat as me - she is not the brightest I think (she also loves to talk to me in Korean as if i have any idea what she is talking about!) So I tried to skip a few steps and I let her know that we also had no home phone yet and no Internet. "Oh" she said. "DUH!" i was thinking. So i asked her what time, and of course she had no clue. So i said pick a time and come get me and tell your principal that's when I'll be at school. For some reason this will not work. So the plan for now is that I will wait downstairs at my building and someone, she doesn't know who, will come and get me a noon and I will somehow meet the principal. We'll see how it goes ---it may be a good story for my next entry !

Hope all is well in Canada! I'll have Internet and phone soon (Milton's co-teacher who is a bit more reliable said she will help us set that up this coming Friday) so hopefully we will be in touch with you all soon! I'll also post pictures soon.

ciao for now!

First experience with Koreans: Visa Application

And so the adventure begins... We've got jobs, a place to live, our plane tickets and the only thing missing are our work visas. The application process for our visas has had us in Toronto three times already. There are actually 4 steps to the visa process, and here is how it has gone for us:

Step 1: take notarized vulnerable sector search police checks to Korean consulate to have them "verified". This means we drive to Toronto after having them stamped and sealed by a lawyer only to have them stamped again by the consulate stating that they the notarized copy is in fact an original, already notarized copy of a clean police check. This stamp of course is nothing fancy, it looks like a postage stamp and you pay $2.20 for it. You then wait a week before doing anything else because you have to make them think that you have sent off this copy to your employer in Korea so that they can see you are not a criminal and that they can in fact hire you to work for them.

Step 2: After waiting a week, we head back to the consulate with a folder full of documents including a signed contract, original degrees, sealed transcripts, your passport (which they hang onto for a few weeks --eek! a bit nervous about that one) and your application form. You hand it all over along with 55 bucks and they give you a time and date for an "interview".

Step 3: the "interview". We head back to Toronto for what we've been told are interviews for our visas. Keep in mind we've already been hired by a school board in Korea and have signed contracts, so we are not sure what they could be asking us in an interview at the consulate. So Milton and I spend almost two hours in traffic trying to make it to the consulate for our interviews yesterday at 3pm. We had been given a slip of paper the day we applied for our visas that told us to be on time, not to park behind the consulate, and to fill out yet another form for them. Following those orders, we pay for parking on the street a block away, we arrive at least ten minutes early and the only thing missing on our forms is the address of our employer in Korea. So here we are dressed nicely and well prepared with photocopies of every document, we arrive and announce at te reception that we are here for interviews at 3pm. We are directed back to a room where we find 15 other people sitting waiting for their interviews at 3pm too. hmmm... looks like we may be here a while.

The first group of about 8 people go in ( we figure they are calling people in alphabetical order as I've seen then our passports and files were at the bottom of the pile held by the woman running the show). A young guy arrives all dressed up in a suit and tie at 3:02 asking for his interview and we see his expression which must have been what we looked like when he finds he has to sit down on the bench with the rest of us.

Waiting, waiting still, and the the woman asks if anyone has parked behind the consulate? Two people admit that yes they have and she tells them to go move their cars to public lots a few blocks away. These people are worried they will miss their interviews but go and do as they've been told.

Finally, the first few people that were called are coming back with yellow post it notes and calling names for the next people to go be interview. After about a 45 minute wait, my name is called. I'm ahead of Milton so we guess maybe its not in alphabetical order. I grab my folder of documents and head to what i think is the interview room. Oh wait...nope, another waiting room! this one at least has nice sofa's to sit on. There are about 4 other people waiting and a table full of post it notes placed in the order that we are supposed to take them when we leave to call the next Visa candidate. In comes Milton a few minutes later and takes his place in the second waiting room.

The room is divided by thick green curtains. we are in a small part that is sectioned off and like i said, there are couches and a coffee table where we wait. On the other side of the curtain we can see a huge conference table that must seat at least 30 people. At the other side of that room is yet another heavy, green curtain and on the other side of it is the office, the official interview room.
Milton finally gets called (we can't figure out how this works because now he has been called ahead of me although i had been called out of the first waiting room earlier than him) and he sits down for his interview which lasts about 4 minutes. he is asked what his name is, his date of birth, why he has travelled to japan so much (they have our passports and can see our travel history), and then the big question is asked "why do you want to work in South Korea?" He gives his answer and comes out and sends me in.

I step into the room in front of the desk and here is the dialogue of my interview:
Interviewer: Your name is?
me: Ellen Walpole
I: Your sate of birth?
Me: April 1982
I: that man before you, he was your husband?
Me: yes he is.
I: he doesn't say much. (the interviewer and his assistant start to laugh)
Me: Oh...that's not really like him (but I'm sure they don't hear me because by now they are laughing uncontrollably and ridiculously loud)
I: thanks you can go (they're still laughing)

My butt has barely touched the seat by this point and I'm already being escorted out of the room. It literally lasted 10 seconds. I am so confused at this point and have no idea what's going on. I start to walk away and see Milton looking at me from behind the curtain at the other end with the most shocked expression on his face because in a building where there has been no noise whatsoever (you could hear a pin drop in both waiting rooms) he suddenly hears te burst of laughter and can't figure our how his wife, who doesn't have a single funny bone, has somehow made this very serious man behind the big desk laugh out loud so that the whole building shakes in the ten seconds she was beind the curtain.
Well, i can't figure it out either! so I ask Milton what he said in his interview and he of course is asking me the same question. So now we wait to find out if we have earned our visas or not. I'm not sure how they will make a decision based on our interviews, or why they even call them interviews in the first place. At this point we are thinking it was a bit of a test. The guy who was late (arrived at 3:02pm and was asked why he was late) and the people who were told to move there cars after being told not to park there in the first place didn't follow directions and maybe they won't be given visas? We have no idea, but we are keeping our fingers crossed and will keep you updated, but to say the least, it was quite the waste of a day and a very strange experience.