It all started when my friend Cheryl received a call from a recruiter in South Korea about teaching English. I was sitting on her couch and I shouted out “tell him I want a job”. She did and I ended up in South Korea one month and 30 hours later, walking around the Inchon terminal immersed in a new world, alone and stood up by that same recruiter.
An hour had passed before arriving as my name rang over the speakers “Rouis, to gate 7”. Alex was finally here. He stood out, being the other only other foreigner at gate 7. And there I was looking for a middle aged Korean man through a busy airport the whole time. We boarded a bus, to which I now know was heading to Seoul, and I am told that I will be staying the night at the director of the English camps apartment. Alex turns out to be a nice guy, not that I doubted him (too much), and made me feel welcome as he filled me in on the history of the buildings we were passing- like hooters and outback.
Night was closing in, giving and entirely new perspective on the city, than day. The city was covered with millions of shining lights, making Las Vegas look like snow globe. We arrive at the boss’s house and I am greeted by his whole family; little Christina, healthy sized Chris, and his adorable wife Yun. Christina brought my backpack to my room, and I am shown the house and told to make myself feel at home. I sat in the living-room as Yun prepared me a traditional Korean meal. It was my first taste of real Korean food aside from the flight there.
The kids and I sat by my computer and used the webcam to talk to my mother back in Canada- I was told to get some rest because we had a long day driving across the country to Busan, which is in the south, of South Korea. I retire to my room, and due to the time difference, being 13 hours ahead, I couldn’t get to sleep, so I sat awake writing about my adventure so far.
The next morning, I had rice for breakfast before packing my bags and leaving for the terminal. I said goodbye to the kids and gave them both some Canadian coins to remember me by. The boss and I left his apartment and made our way through the city, giving me just enough time to be lost in it all. I could not believe the excitement of the city. I have always tried to walk into new experiences without expectations, so that I am ready for anything. So aside from knowing Korea was in Asia and that it had one of the biggest cities in the word, I hadn’t the slightest clue of what Korea was going to be like. I just knew that it was going to be different, and that I was ready for a change.
We arrive at the terminal around 9 am, giving me time to indulge in my first Korean beer Hite-(pronounced hi-tuh). If you are thinking “I can’t believe he had a beer at 9 am”, just remember that my body was running on a schedule of 13 hours ahead, so technically it was 10 pm which is a totally legitimate time to enjoy a beer. Enough being said, we boarded the bus and embarked on a country wide trip, which only lasted around 5 hours. We finally reached Busan after a long stretch of highway and some pit-stops in some small rural towns.
The countryside was beautiful- trees dotted the mountains where workers tended their plots of produce. We finally reached Busan and pulled up to a building embedded mountainside. So here we go I thought, this is my new home, let’s check it out.
I made my way to the 3rd floor and walked into a room of about 10 foreign teachers and 10 Korean assistants, bustling about a conference room littered with computers. I greet everyone and am partnered up with a Korean assistant named Hakeem, a fun loving, graffiti artist, in his mid 20’s. It seems like a great environment and it is well prepared, with supplies for teaching and for the students. We are briefed on how school is going to run the next morning when the students arrive and we all board the bus to find out where we are staying. The bus comes to a stop down a dodgy little alley, as we get out of the bus; we are guided to our new abode for the next month. I soon find out that it is a love motel, looks like I am in for one hell of a time.
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