The End... or is it? (post from England)
I am officially old--I bought a pair of jeans from Marks and Spencer yesterday and just caught myself admiring them. I have stolen my sister's boots to go into London for the day as it snowed last night and the evidence is still on the ground. Just a couple of weeks late for a white Christmas. I have been home for two weeks now and at times it still feels weird--mainly when I have to pay for something and have to choke back a "HOW MUCH???!!!??? ARE YOU HAVING ME ON???" The other thing is that I keep wanting to speak Korean to people which is really odd as I don't even know that much Korean. I only really learned how to order beer, food, ask the price of something, and ask the way to the toilet. Therefore whenever I am in any of those situations I want to revert to my Korean. Which means that whenever I find myself on the verge of a "maekju juseyo," I have to do a quick swerve to "two pints of Stella please, mate" instead. But I have now managed to stop bowing to shop assistants which is a relief.
It is weird to think that it is only two weeks ago that I was violently ripped from the bosom of my Korea family or, rather, willingly walked through the departure gates on my way to Christmas with my family in England. I had had a fantastic weekend in Seoul with around 12 people coming all the way from South West Korea to party up the last weekend before Christmas. Rebecca even stayed with me until I went through the automatic doors through to the departure gates and waved to me every time they opened until I made it through to immigration. So I have to admit that I felt the love that weekend--despite severe sleep deprivation and hangovers all round. In fact, I think that I was drunk every weekend for my last nine weeks or so in Korea--including two goodbye weekends in Seoul and several nights in Naju.
My last day at work was a little harrowing though as I had to say goodbye to my little ones. It was really tough to say goodbye as I was holding back the tears time and again over the course of the day as the kids threw me parties and handed me goodbye notes:
"Hi Teacher, It is Judy. I am sad because Helen go England. One's adieu to Helen. love Judy."
"Dear Teacher. I love you. Love Juliet."
"Hi Teacher, it is Julia. Good Bay. Love Julie."
One girl gave me four photos of herself in a frame and a lovely card with her email address, homepage address, and phone number with strict instructions to ring her when I got back to England. I think that I will email her instead. By the time that the teachers all gathered in the teacher's room to say goodbye, I had had enough of pretending and let the tears roll down my face freely which I think unnerved most of the teachers as many of them have never even spoken to me. My final class was held in the chicken shop below the hagwon with beer and soju with my adult class then onto a Korean barbecue for Rebecca's birthday. I have to admit that pretty much the most stressful part of the whole weekend was the 3am jaunt with Margo to bring my goldfish and bags to Rebecca's house--the goldfish to stay, and the bags so that the boys could carry them to the bus station for me--it made sense at 3am let me tell you! I stayed up until the wee small hours on Friday night and after 90 minutes sleep it was time to leave my little one room and head to Seoul.
Sleep deprivation made us very talkative and we only shut up when asked to do so by a Buddhist monk a couple of hours into the journey. Bleary-eyed we arrived in Seoul and caught cabs to Insadong where I had stayed the week before and where there is excellent markets full of stuff which I had earmarked as potential purchases after receiving my final pay check. We ate at the Outback Steakhouse, true to form, and then went back to the motel so that poor little Helen could have a sleep before hitting the bars. It was when we were trying to catch a cab to Itaewon that we discovered that Seoul has three rush hours--one in the morning, one in the evening and one between 1-4am! I was almost in tears when I thought that I was going to spend my last Saturday night in Seoul standing by the roadside watching empty cabs rush by. Fortunately, a friendly policeman hailed two cabs for us and we got to the pub with 20 minutes to kill before closing. Needless to say we managed to fit around three pitchers in during that time. Then it was off to Hollywood Night Club (opposite the UN disco) which was great fun and we danced like people who had never heard Western music before. Time for a quick toastie before heading back to the motel and chatting until 9am. The wonderful people at the motel didn't throw us out in the morning so we had a lovely late start.
Throughout the day people started to drift off home in dribs and drabs until it was just me and Rebecca left, which was when I discovered the reason that I don't live in Seoul. Now, I had been warned that there was no soju to speak of at the airport so I thought that I would be clever and stock up before that. And then it happened. We realised that THERE IS NO LEMON SOJU IN SEOUL outside of the kettle bars. After spending much of the last six months working out how many bottles I could bring back with me, I got onto the plane the next day totally unaccompanied by the reassuring chink of soju bottles. Had I not cried all the tears that I had when saying my goodbyes then I would have been bawling like a baby on the plane because of this!
Needless to say, this has some effect on my decision of what to do next so you might well see me in a nori-bang somewhere near you soon!
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It is weird to think that it is only two weeks ago that I was violently ripped from the bosom of my Korea family or, rather, willingly walked through the departure gates on my way to Christmas with my family in England. I had had a fantastic weekend in Seoul with around 12 people coming all the way from South West Korea to party up the last weekend before Christmas. Rebecca even stayed with me until I went through the automatic doors through to the departure gates and waved to me every time they opened until I made it through to immigration. So I have to admit that I felt the love that weekend--despite severe sleep deprivation and hangovers all round. In fact, I think that I was drunk every weekend for my last nine weeks or so in Korea--including two goodbye weekends in Seoul and several nights in Naju.
My last day at work was a little harrowing though as I had to say goodbye to my little ones. It was really tough to say goodbye as I was holding back the tears time and again over the course of the day as the kids threw me parties and handed me goodbye notes:
"Hi Teacher, It is Judy. I am sad because Helen go England. One's adieu to Helen. love Judy."
"Dear Teacher. I love you. Love Juliet."
"Hi Teacher, it is Julia. Good Bay. Love Julie."
One girl gave me four photos of herself in a frame and a lovely card with her email address, homepage address, and phone number with strict instructions to ring her when I got back to England. I think that I will email her instead. By the time that the teachers all gathered in the teacher's room to say goodbye, I had had enough of pretending and let the tears roll down my face freely which I think unnerved most of the teachers as many of them have never even spoken to me. My final class was held in the chicken shop below the hagwon with beer and soju with my adult class then onto a Korean barbecue for Rebecca's birthday. I have to admit that pretty much the most stressful part of the whole weekend was the 3am jaunt with Margo to bring my goldfish and bags to Rebecca's house--the goldfish to stay, and the bags so that the boys could carry them to the bus station for me--it made sense at 3am let me tell you! I stayed up until the wee small hours on Friday night and after 90 minutes sleep it was time to leave my little one room and head to Seoul.
Sleep deprivation made us very talkative and we only shut up when asked to do so by a Buddhist monk a couple of hours into the journey. Bleary-eyed we arrived in Seoul and caught cabs to Insadong where I had stayed the week before and where there is excellent markets full of stuff which I had earmarked as potential purchases after receiving my final pay check. We ate at the Outback Steakhouse, true to form, and then went back to the motel so that poor little Helen could have a sleep before hitting the bars. It was when we were trying to catch a cab to Itaewon that we discovered that Seoul has three rush hours--one in the morning, one in the evening and one between 1-4am! I was almost in tears when I thought that I was going to spend my last Saturday night in Seoul standing by the roadside watching empty cabs rush by. Fortunately, a friendly policeman hailed two cabs for us and we got to the pub with 20 minutes to kill before closing. Needless to say we managed to fit around three pitchers in during that time. Then it was off to Hollywood Night Club (opposite the UN disco) which was great fun and we danced like people who had never heard Western music before. Time for a quick toastie before heading back to the motel and chatting until 9am. The wonderful people at the motel didn't throw us out in the morning so we had a lovely late start.
Throughout the day people started to drift off home in dribs and drabs until it was just me and Rebecca left, which was when I discovered the reason that I don't live in Seoul. Now, I had been warned that there was no soju to speak of at the airport so I thought that I would be clever and stock up before that. And then it happened. We realised that THERE IS NO LEMON SOJU IN SEOUL outside of the kettle bars. After spending much of the last six months working out how many bottles I could bring back with me, I got onto the plane the next day totally unaccompanied by the reassuring chink of soju bottles. Had I not cried all the tears that I had when saying my goodbyes then I would have been bawling like a baby on the plane because of this!
Needless to say, this has some effect on my decision of what to do next so you might well see me in a nori-bang somewhere near you soon!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted by Helen @ 5:30 PM
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