Irish Car Bombs and Sweet Serendipity

Last Saturday morning was a luxurious affair - a long, lazy example of the morning after the night before.  Sans hangover, thankfully, because, a) I didn't drink very much and b) even if I had, I just don't get hangovers.
( I think I've mentioned before how much God loves me! )

Anyway, I was actually in my apartment for long enough to clean and tidy it.  This is something which I've not had the chance to do for over a month, and I actually LIKE housework, so that will speak volumes of my deliciously hectic life.  Hence I spent the day doing a little light vacuuming and some very serious battery re-charging until 9 that night.  Then it was a case of "Once more into the breach, dear Friends...."  Our objective this night was 'Benchwarmers', one of Ulsan's most popular foreigner bars.
I learned about this hot spot long before I left Ireland, courtesy of the 'Ulsan Online' website.  I would never have predicted it taking me over four months to darken its doors!

I guess I just fell in with the wrong crowd!

Lush and I met in Mugeo and dined at one of my favourite Japanese places, 'Isakaya' where I had my first plum wine: different, but delicious.  Then on into Shinae and through a veritable warren to find the bar.  I would never have found it without a guide.  Lush had decreed that since I was Irish I simply had to have a concoction called an 'Irish Car Bomb' - Guiness into which you drop a shot glass with Jamesons and Bailey and immediately chug the lot of it before the Baileys curdles.  I got it down in one shot without retching, which seriously impressed my neighbour the Bar Prop.  Bomb is right though!  That thing hit my stomach like 4lbs of lead!  So when our gang from the night before were all set to relocate to W Bar, I did not want to know.  Quieter, more sedentary pursuits were called for, so Lush and I headed back to her place to watch the first episode of 'Hana Kimi', one of our favourite dramas.

I crawled home just after 2am, tired, but well pleased with my weekend so far.
The next day, Sunday, I was up and off to help out with the Youth Group at our church.  Hmmm, help out sounds way too selfless - I love spending time with these kids, they're so bright and funny and so very committed to their faith.  Not to mention willing to help me with my Korean pronunciation!

After church I began what theoretically was a simple bus ride to the grocery store.
Here comes the Sweet Serendipity bit:  I caught my usual 104 to the University, no worries there, but then brain freeze kicked in and I caught the wrong bus.  Before you could say Jack Robinson I was bussing through countryside.  What the frick!!  I will admit to having a slight panic attack at this point, not having enough Korean to make my predicament known to the bus driver, or even just ask where the hell we were!  Thankfully, that only lasted a minute or so and sanity returned in the from of my Inner Copped On Person announcing pithily:  You idiot.  All you have to do is get off the bus, cross the road and catch a bus right back the way you came!  Sheesh!!

And that Dear Readers, is precisely what I did.  It gave the bus driver a bit of a land when I pressed the stop button seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  He asked if I really wanted to get off here?
"Neh!  Yogi kwenchanaiyo!"  (Yes!  Here is fine!)
I few minutes later I found the reason for his surprise, we were 10km from a major tourist attraction, the Ulsan Wildflower Learning Centre, which he had naturally assumed was the Waygooks destination.

   
I didn't care.  It was a glorious day and I had my parasol.  I was in the middle of rice paddies surrounded by mountains.  See for yourself:

I don't know why it is, but the very shape of the mountains around here captivates me.  I think it might be because it reminds me of images from 'L'Indochine' a movie set in Vietnam which I watched as an impressionable young teen and one which formed my earliest impressions of Asia.

So I rambled about happily for a bit and then ambled over to the bus stop.  Parasol notwithstanding I was damn glad to get on the air conditioned bus.  After all that walking about in the heat, there was nothing for it after getting back to Mugeodong, but to head into Holly's Coffee for some recuperating.

Their tag line is "Fresh coffee in a Romantic Space" and they deliver both.  I spent a blissful 90 minutes reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while listening to Jazz and Classical music.

Just what the doctor ordered:

It slowly dawned on me that this was the first day in weeks where I had spent several hours out and about on my own.  It gave me a chance to slow down and count my blessings.  Yes, yes, I know that anyone with half an eye can see me crowing about my blessings fifty times a week on my Facebook stati, but they are off the top of my head instant reactions.  That Sunday, all to myself, I got a chance to be still and let the realisation of my good fortune sink into my bones.

It's heady stuff, I tell ya, being this happy ALL the time!

Puttin' on the Ritz!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the absolute, classic, all time great night outs are the one which are NOT planned.

In my (not humble enough) opinion, these are very closely followed by the nights when all you want to do is crawl home and hide under the duvet, but you drag your sorry, 'cat dragged you through a hedge backwards' carcass out instead.
'Virtue is it's own reward' is far too priggish, but I do think it's a case of reaping the rewards of keeping your word.

Such was the case last Friday night.  I had worked late, I was tired, hungry and suffering from a killer headache.  I was supposed to go to Tae Kwon Do and birthday drinks and I did not want to do either.  I wanted to swing by the pharmacy, load up on painkiller, taxi home and not get out of bed till Sunday.
I did swing by the pharmacy.  For the Tylenol we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful!  I also hit McDonalds - no way was I cookin' tonight!  I skipped Tae Kwon Do.  (My Kwan Jan Nim will not be happy about that, seeing as how I have a belt test in two weeks) and went home to nap.  At 9.30 I arose from the dead, so to speak, and did what every girl knows to do to psyche herself up:  I set up my Kpop playlist to full volume on iTunes and lashed on enough face paint to stop a train!  I was dancin' around and prettified in no time.  So off I headed into Shinae to meet the gang (an entire actual gang, only one of which I actually knew).

I love, love, LOVE walking around Shinae at night.  I really must get some pictures for you.  It is so gloriously and ridiculously over the top with neon signs, and the streets are so littered with flyers that you could be walking on psychedelic carpet.  All the while, I'm slip, sliding through crowds of Bright Young Things. The boys in particular are a delight, so dapper and groomed that in Ireland it would be automatically assumed they were gay.  I seriously believe that Metrosexual Man originated in Japan or South Korea!

I arrived at W Bar, my first actual pub outing since arriving in Ulsan, and wouldn't you know it..........

(a few weeks before, one of the foreigners at church expressed surprise that I hadn't met any Irish in my four months here, seeing as there were plenty of them in Ulsan.  I laughed and said that's because I was hanging out in churches and not bars)

...... I met my first Irish person in Ulsan.  Well, technichally, Northern Irish, but it was only the other foreigners who could be bothered being picky about it.  We Celts had bigger fish to fry, like deploring the lack of decent Guinness and rain that was actually cold!  I had a great time and met some lovely people, including one adorable Korean, let's call him S, who must surely be the current holder of the title, 'Korea's Gayest Man, 2011'!

Now bear in mind that I started the evening with a head that felt like it was the Trojan Horse with all the Greeks having a mad Stag night, and you will understand how I completely flabbergasted myself by not simply doing 'a lap of honour' as originally intended, but staying in the bar till 2,  AND THEN repairing to a nearby Norae Bang to party it up for another two and a half hours.

Three weeks before my 34th birthday, it's nice to know that 'You're only young once' is still applicable. 
Albeit sporadically.

And here comes Exhibit A

Woohoo! Asaah! and various other exclamations of delight!

All the mulling and brooding I did on Tuesday about language and barriers seemed to break through a mental block I had about using the (very) few Korean words I actually have command of.

And yet again, as is so often the case, once I had made the mental shift, the universe obligingly re-aligned itself to facilitate this epiphany.  Composing Tuesday's blog post in my head all day left me bound and determined to stick my neck out and be willing to look like an idiot.  After all, it worked for learning how to roll my French 'r's' - which I now do delectably thank you very much!

Accordingly, on Tuesday evening, for the first time in four and a half months, I found myself leaving work at the same time as the very Kindergarten teachers that I want to talk to most.

A quick explanation as to why this is extraordinary:  In my daily school routine I usually only see some of the Kindy teachers when I am teaching their students.  They start work before me and finish after, while throughout the day itself they work from the Teacher's room on the top floor, while I'm rocking the English Zone.  We don't even have lunch together.  Yet every day, they are so gracious and respectful to me and so phenomenal with their kids, that I feel like these are exactly the kind of Korean women I would like to have as friends.

So anyway, Tuesday evening, and I am walking down the street with four of the Kindy teachers and one of them, Miss G,  asks me:

"You going home?"

"Aniyeo (no).  DVD Bang."

Four very startled girls exclaim "Alone??!!"

"Aniyeo!!  Chingu Elizabeth!" (no. friend)

(I wanted it crystal clear I was going with a girl, cos when a guy and a gal go to a DVD bang, they ain't there to watch a movie.)

Four very relieved girls, "Aaaahh!"

"We watch Korean movie with Gong Yoo."  (korean actor)

Beautiful bonding moment as five women stroll along, contemplating the gorgeousness that is Gong Yoo.

"Maeil, I watch 'Coffee Prince'.  Chincha chua!" (everyday, really good)

That was it.  A pretty short exchange, but it completely changed the landscape of our relationship.  It made us real to each other.  They saw me trying.  They learned that I know enough to know going solo to a DVD bang is weird and they now know I like Korean men.  Progress.

The next day, by yet another freak of timing, I was in the office while they were collecting the kids milk. 

"You see movie?  DVD Bang?"

"Neh. (yes) Gong Yoo movie absoyeo (not there).  We watched 'Naesarang ssagaji'. (my love slave)  Kyeopta! Chincha jaemi!" (cute. very funny)

That evening as I was leaving, Miss G looked up and said "DVD Bang?"

"Aniyeo." I grinned, "Tae Kwon Do!"

"Tae Kwon Do?! Chincha?!"

"Chincha!" I replied, still grinning.

I love it when life just works!

To have another language is to possess a second soul. Charlemagne

I received an e-mail this morning from a shiny, new friend, who shared something hugely and incredibly significant. (No, I'm not going to tell you what it was!) With just three short sentences I was left feeling impressed, awed, humbled and honoured.
It got me to thinking yet again, about that subject which is closest to every writer's heart - communication.

We writers have this foolish conviction, this hope masquerading as arrogance, that we have something worth saying. Something that someone out there will respond to. So we hone our skills and polish our words, before hurtling them into cyberspace. It's why every single one of us update our Facebook status with everything from the mundane, the bizarre and the downright random. We hope to connect, to hear, "Really?!", or better still, "Me too!"

This morning's email brought to a head something I have been mulling over for a while now. The message was so short, yet so effective that it brought me face to face with my gnawing inability to do the same in the language of my newly adopted home. For the past week in particular I have been increasingly frustrated by my lack of Korean.
Mostly because I have been measuring myself with the wrong yardstick. By that I mean that I have been comparing my current rate of learning with previous experiences in Europe - somehow managing to completely discount the fact that having learned both French and German in school, I had a whopping great head start for assimilating any European language I found myself in need of.
Nah, that would have been far too rational. Instead I was beating myself over the head with the aforementioned yardstick, telling myself that after four and a half months in any country in Europe I would be damn near fluent, not the stuttering idiot I am over here! From that perspective, my tiny cache of Korean words looks pathetically insignificant.

To the staff at my school, and various other Koreans I converse with regularly however, I am making incredibly impressive progress. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder!
Though I deeply suspect that they are judging me not on liguistics alone but rather on my assimilation into Korean culture as a whole,
Now on that head I do feel quite proud of myself.

I can say 'Hello' in three different levels of politeness and these days automatically bow instead of shaking hands.
I know my eating and drinking etiquette and which inoffensive Western hand gestures are considered rude here.
I watch Korean dramas (fairly obsessively it must be admitted) and listen to Korean pop music - I even have my own Korean party piece for the Norae Bang!
I have started learning Tae Kwon Do and speak of my future in Korea in terms of several years rather than the standard 12 months.

I even eat the dried squid!!

All of this seems to add up to a case of my actions speaking for me when I myself cannot.

I am grateful that I can offer these gestures of good intent to my Korean colleagues; tiny acts of gratitude for their endless warmth, grace and generosity. But for an Irish girl who fattens on conversation like it was good red meat, this is a paltry consolation.

I want to speak with the women I work with - I want harmless chats about our favourite Korean actors and singers and deep, long talks about the differences and similarities of our cultures. We both come from colonised countries which were divided in civil war: add some beer and soju to that conversation and we've got ourselves an all-nighter!

In September I will begin a four month course in Korean at Ulsan University. Boy am I ever looking forward to the competence I'll have by Christmas!

Travelling to Korea has been by far the biggest adventure of my life time. I have moved entire continents beyond my comfort zone and yet landed into a state of unremitting happiness that I have never known before. The greatest cause of wonder to me is that, as deliriously happy as I am here right now - I know, that I know, that I know, this is just the beginning.

Once I have a way to fully and meaningful communicate with everyone around me.............wow! How my world here will open up!

And since you've stayed with me for the whole post - away and make a cup of tea for yourself!

50 Million Mothers

An ex-pat on one the the foreigner forums said that living in Korea felt like having 50 million mothers,

He's not wrong.

Item: there was the elderly Ajumma who gave up HER seat for ME on the bus. We were just approaching a bus stop at the time, so I naively assumed she was getting off the bus and just making sure that I was the one to get her seat. Oh if only! We passed that stop. And the next one. And the one after that. All with me sitting and her standing. Honest to God I wanted to burrow through the floor. The next stop was mine, and I scuttled out of there as fast as I could, giving her a sincere but embarassed, 'Kamsahamnida!' (thank you) as I went.

Item: The school cook, who upon seeing me trying and failing miserable to debone small fish with my chopsticks, simply sat down, took a bowl and started doing it for me. She fired off some rapid Korean to one of my co-teachers, then turned to me and said, 'Baby.' To which I replied with a loud and plaintive, 'Eomma!' (mother). It was worth it to see the shock on her face at the Wagookin speaking Korean. Especially when the shock dissolved into delight!

Item: Last saturday, bussing home from the department store with a bag of multi-media delights. I was standing beside the seat of this adorable looking Ajumma, real apple dumpling cheeks and gummy smile. With that same smile, she simply reached out, took my bag and placed it on her lap for safe keeping.

Item: Since the hot weather really kicked in last week, our after school kids have begun showing up for classes every other day or so with iced coffees or ice creams bought by their Mums for us pathetically grateful teachers. You have no idea how heavenly an iced Mocha can taste after an hour of teaching action songs in 33 degrees.

Item: Last month at a teachers dinner the topic of conversation moved to the new Korean English teacher the school will be hiring over the summer. Our department head thought it would be a great if we could hire a man, as the rest of the English teachers are women and it would be good for the kids to have a mix. I laughed and said, 'and if he could be single and in his thirties, so much the better!' Five minutes later, I kid you not, our lovely Director turned to us and said, 'that new teacher, we should try to hire a single man, for Kate!'

Item: But the mothering to end all mothering (by which I mean that unique mix of compassion and gut wrenching embarassment) happened over lunch last Thursday. As you all know, I have rather thin hair. As some of you know, this was caused by heinous amounts of stress 15 years ago. It had come up in conversation with my co-teachers before and I had mentioned vague plans to use acupuncture. Last Thursday, the Director came and sat on one side of me, while Cook stood behind Mr. Science Teacher, who was sitting on my other side. The Director put her hand on my arm and turned to Miss V., my 'Designated Translator'. The long and the short of it was that Director and Cook had put their heads together and come up with a plan to cure my hair. It turns out that Cook - whose hair I have been lusting after for the past four months - once had less hair than I, and after one year of treatments she had gained the crowning glory she now possesses. They are going to take me for my first appointment next week.
Now all of this was lovely, and I deeply appreciated their interest in my welfare.......

but sweet Mother of God! Did that HAVE to have this conversation right over the head of the ONLY young and attractive male in the school!!
Aish! Chincha!!

Honeymoon

I've been in South Korea for four months now and from what I'm heard from some other English teachers, right about now is when the honeymoon period should be coming to an end.

I, however, can't for the life of me see that happening and have noticed that the teachers who gave me this advice are ones who only partially involved themselves with Korean culture. None of them, after 12 months, could speak a sentence in Korean - a lack which embaresses me after four months,** though my co-teachers are really impressed with my vocabulary. Neither did they have friends outside of the short-term expat community.

True to my nom de plume as An Accidental Pilgrim, I have been blessed to have, through no merit or effort on my part, fallen in with a group of friends who are as enthusiastic about Korea as I am. There are teachers who are here for more than one year and thanks to Tae Kwon Do and church I am meeting and making friends with ....gasp!....actual Koreans! Who are delighted to help me learn Korean, provided I do likewise for their English. Fine by me, says I, one good turn and all that!

The other NET (native English teacher) in my school asked me the other day if I was going to stay longer than a year, as I seemed to enjoy Korea so much. I answered that I may even stay longer than two!
I thought for a few minutes about how to explain how much I like Korea, and came up with this response:
"You know when you fall in love with a guy: you think about him all the time, everything he does makes you smile. Even the weird quirks are endearing rather than annoying. You bore all your friends talking about how amazing he is. You are happy in a relationship, so now you want all your single friends to be this happy too and you try to match them up....."
My friend nodded quizzically, smiling while trying to figure out where the hell I was going with this!

"Well, that's how I feel about Korea right now. I walk down the street with a big, goofy grin on my face all the time cos I'm so happy here. I listen to K-Pop and watch Korean dramas, I'm even trying to convince my sister to come out here!"

My friend laughed and said, "Yes, you'll definitely be here for a while - now we have to introduce you to some men!"

Which is another reason for me to smile - as I think Korean men are positively gorgeous!

Somehow, I think this honeymoon period is going to last for a long time to come.


Edit: Thanks to avid listening to K-Pop, I can now say two sentences in Korean - "I'm getting tired," and "I'm going crazy."
Sentences with limited applications, ok - but I look forward to suprising the hell out of some Koreans when I do use them! heh heh heh!!

Norae Bang or Bust!

It's true what they say : it's always the nights when you really want to curl up at home in your pyjamas, yet instead you drag your sorry carcass out - those are the nights that are usually epic.
I worked late this evening, due to glitches in my handling of Korean word processing, and when I got home all I wanted to do was snuggle up to some Korean noodles while watching Taiwanese drama and nursing my cough. I'm a girl of simple tastes!
But when I got home and checked my mail I had a message from a Tae Kwon Do buddy letting me know that our Kwan Jan Nim (our Teacher) was being interviewed by a reporter from Seoul who was also going to take photos of the class. So all the students were being called in, looking all shiny for the camera. After the photo shoot we had a short practice and I was still intent on crawling back home........but then, food was delivered - little pieces of chickeny heaven that perked me right up and when someone said 'Norae Bang?' I said, 'Hell yeah!'

I've been to my friends Phillipino Norae Bang a few times but this was my first time at a proper Korean joint with some of my Korean friends. Between the natives and the long-termers who have been here over a year, we had some good Korean music going on.

I even stumbled through my favourite ballad from the drama 'Secret Garden' thanks to Dutch courage and LOTS of prompting from Insu.

My personal high point of the night was the last song, which was 'Sorry Sorry' by SuperJunior as sung by Elizabeth and Insu.

I've linked the video below so you can see for yourself how catchy it is!









The building didn't look like much from the outside, but as you can see, this joint took Karaoke seriously!