Anyong what? Super mass confusion!

I'm in Korea, and I'm running on adreneline. Everything is neon and people talk strangly to me. Since I can't sleep, I went to the nearest computer bar.

On Saturday, my parents and myself drove to Winnipeg and hooked up with my sister there and her boyfriend. Good times were had. The five of us went to Montana's for food and beer, and then another beer. Rhia and Jordan were dropped off at "Rhia's" house and my parents and I went to our hotel. After a bit of talking and reading, we were all asleep. A shower and breakfast in the morning, and it was off to the airport. Goodbye and photos followed, and I hopped on the place in a lovely centre seat between to ladies who were substantially larger than me. One of them was working on some assignment all the way to Vancouver, and the other didn't seem to educated and wouldn't shut up. For someone who was probably around 50 years old, she was asking the same questions that I would expect an eight-year old to ask (Where's all the snow?, is Vancouver bigger than Ottawa?, Where's South Korea?, etc.). It got old fast. Thankfully, I managed to sleep for about half of that leg of the journey.

I'd never been to the Vancouver airport before. It is very big. It is very, very big. I talk like I'm six. I got suckered into a shoe-shine by some arabic woman. It felt more like a foot massage. I liked it. It felt nice. Next on my agenda was wandering aimlessly around the airport. It felt like I was in Asia already, because everyone was Asian. I was already in Korea and I hadn't even left Canada! I bought a box of maple cookies, packed them in my bag, and boarded the plane. There didn't seem to be much for immigration. Just another checkpoint and that was it.

The plane to Seoul must've been about 80% Koreans. I sat down in my window seat of the 767 and relaxed, thinking that I had both seats to myself (the seats were arranged 2-aisle-3-aisle-2). I was wrong. A beautiful Korean girl, named Sil, had a seat next to me. She turned out to be amazing. The flight itself turned out to be generally boring, other than looking at Vancouver Island, Japan and South Korea from the window. I didn't sleep one bit. I read, watched some TV, listened to some music, vegged, and talked to Sil when she wasn't sleeping (which was often). At the beginning of the flight, she gave me her business card (number, e-mail, etc.) and told me to call her if I was ever in Seoul. Cool. It's always good to have a nice girl offer to show you around a bit.

During the flight, we had to fill out an immigration form. When I arrived at Incheon Int'l airport, I had to get into the non-Korean citizen line to get my passport stamped and hand in my immigration form. Sil got in the citizen line, and got through it rather quickly. My line was slow. I thought my cute little guide had disappeared! I found out the my passport is a "re-entry" passport. I think that means that I can come and go from the country as I please, without having to apply for a new passport (until this one expires in a year). Since Sil was gone, I figured that I was on my own at this point. I made it to the baggage retrieval and there was Sil! She was waiting for me. Actually, she was also waiting for a few clients to help them get where they needed to go. While she was doing that, I grabbed a cart and gently placed ;) my two suitcases on it, along with my backpack. Before long, Sil was back to me. She found an ATM for me to get some Korean won. The machine rejected both my bank and credit card! Nooooooooooo! Luckly, Sil led me to another machine. This one used the Plus banking system and worked fine with my cards. I took out 300,000 won and was content. Next was to get a bus ticket for the Gimpo airport shuttle bus. It costed about 4,500 won. Sil walked with me outside and I got on the bus.

Thanks Sil! You were a lot of help. I really appreciated it!

After I chose a seat, near the centre of the bus, a young couple, maybe a couple years older than I, sat down right behind me. The girl was Korean, but her boyfriend or husband was from Winnipeg. He'd been travelling on the same planes as me for the entire trip! His name was Trent, and he and his significant other were on their way to Cheju (Jeju) for a few weeks of vacation. He used to be an ESL teacher there. He had lots of great things to say about Cheju, as well as his old boss there. He suggested that if I keep teaching, so consider working for his former boss.

In between talking to Trent, I had a chance to look out the window and see some of Incheon/Seoul, as well as the ocean. It definetely looked like a huge city! Before long, we were at Gimpo airport. Trent and his girlfriend said that it was best that we wait until the next stop to get off, as it was a better location at the airport. At the next stop, they said the same thing. None of us realized that was the last airport stop. We'd missed out stop! Trent's girl told the bus driver to stop, and we got out at the light. We only had a block to walk, but during that one block I learned something very important about Korea: Pedestrians do not have the right of way. The green hand game on the light, signalling us to walk, but the traffic just ignored it! Krazy Koreans. Eventually they stopped, but you certainly have to have your eyes open when crossing the street here! I arrived at the airport just in time to make my flight to Ulsan.

The plane seemed like a 757 sized plane. I was one of four non-Asians on the plane. I was definetely in Korea. While in flight, they played some background music; classical. It was relaxing. Then, in less time then it took me to get from Incheon Int'l airport to Gimpo airport, we were in Ulsan. Neon was everywhere. Every building has neon. There's even a giant ferris wheel, at the Lotte Department Store, that lit up the area. It's am amazing atmosphere.

My boss, Gwak Hae Bong, was at the airport to pick me up; holding up a sign with my name on it. He doesn't speak English. It was amusing. Koreans are crazy drivers. They make drivers in Quebec seem like safe drivers. He showed me where the school was and then drove me to my apartement. It's not that close to the school. I'll probably have to take a bus. We got to my apartment. It's on the second floor of some building and it's super small. It's one-room, but a water-closet. The WC floor is also the shower floor. I can take a shower and a shit at the same time! Weeee! I have a two-burner gas stove, and a full sized fridge/freezer. There's a TV that only has Korean channels. I have a single bed, but Gwak did provide sheets, a quilt and a pillow for me. I'm glad that I brought a Canadian-sized pillow from home, because this one is small. I was also provided with dishes; a frying pan, a couple of pots, some cups, bowls and plates, a cutting board and a chopping knife. I also have a stirring spoon and chopsticks. I guess I won't be using a fork unless I buy one.

At this point, I decided to find somewhere to contact my parents. Since I couldn't figure out the pay phones here, but went to a computer bar. That's where I am now. It takes up the second floor of a building and has lots of neon. People seem to play games, eat chips, drink Pepsi and smoke in here. I think that I'm the only one who's typing anything. When I went up to the desk, I found out the employee here doesn't know a lick of English. Nothing. After talking to each other in completely different languages for a couple of minutes and realizing that we weren't getting anywhere, he handed me some card and told me in an indecipherable sign language what I was supposed to do. I just looked at him like I was an idiot and he got the hint. He led me to a computer and have me a platic card. I think that when I'm done on the computer, I give it back to him and then I have to pay according to how much time I was here for.

That's where I am now. I think I'll try to find my apartement, as well as a store with food and toilet paper.


Anyong!