Foreigner spotting with Bean Curd Bels
Two weeks down and fifty to go until the end of this contract. And what have I done since last I wrote to you. Well, my mission for the end of my second week was to find and befriend foreigners in this city. The first problem was knowing where to look. Based on previous knowledge of where foreigners gathered while I was in Mokpo I began to seek them out in their natural environments- starting with Emart. Emart is a chain store in Korea, well known to foreigners for its splendid stock of one variety of cheddar which puts it firmly at the top of the cheddar retailers in Korea, if not in the whole of Asia.
On the way to my new place two weeks previously I had seen the bright yellow lights of Emart nestled behind a sea of darkness. On closer inspection (that is to say in daylight) the sea of darkness proved to be fields that stood between me and my cheese. I questioned the Korean teachers at my school about Emart and they told me such tales of how difficult it would be to get there and back that I didn’t even dare attempt the journey for a few days. They stopped just short of actually telling me about the vultures that would be picking my bones clean if I should even attempt such a foolhardy mission, but only just. Then I got brave- or fed up with being stuck cheeseless in my little corner of the city- and got in a taxi and went there. And back with no foreigners in sight. Or mortal dangers.
My next ploy was to go to the beach which I did at the end of my first week here. And sure enough I saw one. But as I bounded over full of enthusiasm at the prospect of a conversation, where I could use actual words instead of much hand gesturing, I must have frightened him as he just said hi and then bolted for the woods.
Hum, not going well so far. And onto downtown. I went straight to the usual reliable haunt of McDonalds but a glance through the window revealed no-one but Kims and Lees. Refusing to be down hearted so early in the search I carried onto the English bookshop but nothing. As I plodded back to the main road to get a taxi home I saw one in the distance- a blonde girl. Learning from my previous mistakes I decided to play this one a touch more casually. So casually in fact that as I reached the girl, she walked straight past without any acknowledgment that she had even seen me. Maybe I had become so nonchalant as to actually render myself invisible to the naked eye- but I hoped not as this would make teaching a little tricky.
So bitter at this encounter I stuck to my own corner of town until the weekend. Well, that is not strictly true. I went to the beach nearly every morning last week because it was so nice and such a great way to start the day. I met an Indian guy who took the inevitable photo of me and his son and left, we barely exchanged greetings before it was all over, and this was still my longest conversation with a foreigner face to face in nearly two weeks. And then one morning, on the way to the beach, I saw an older guy waiting for a taxi but he had successfully hailed one and driven away before I reached him. Though I did manage to convince myself that he had got in a taxi simply because he had seen me but that it had been his plan all along.
Filled with determination I decided not to worry about it until the weekend. Saturday morning saw me walking into town which took about an hour (although, admittedly a substantial portion of this hour was spent sticking my visa card into every ATM I saw on the way in hope that one would take pity and actually give me money rather than a slip of paper covered in Korea but, alas, it was not to be that day). On arrival downtown I thought that I would explore the shops but instead I made it as far as McDonalds before spotting some foreigners. I must have played this one just right because they spoke to me and even engaged me in conversation. Within minutes they were drawing me a map so that I could meet the ‘gang’ later that night. Moments after that they decided that I didn’t seem so bad and I was invited to the movies. So, instead of ‘eye-shopping’ downtown I went for ice-cream, onto the movies, back to one of the guys’ houses, onto dinner, back to the house and then onto the first bar where I met the others. Then the second bar.
Things were getting decidedly messy for those around me but since my miscommunication with the ATMs I had more slips of indecipherable paper in my pocket than actual money so I was forced to tighten the reins a little on my drinking. I must have turned into something of a good luck charm for those that had found me first because when they left the bar they took me with them. And finally, 14 hours after arriving in downtown, I caught a cab home.
But the fun didn’t end there because I had exchanged phone numbers with a couple of people from the night before and so greeted my first visitor on Sunday. And she had very kindly brought me ‘food aid’ and also toilet paper (yes, had a memory of talking about toilet paper for quite some time the night before. All about how it is the ideal Korean housewarming gift, how I had won 24 last year in an arm wrestling competition and the fact that you have to buy 2 dozen at a time but then have nowhere to store them). We went for coffee at the beach and discovered that the coffee shop that I had had my eye on since I first saw it is universally agreed to have the best coffee in town- or so the foreigners sitting in there drinking it told us when we arrived.
So everything seems to be falling into place a bit for me now which is good. I have only been here just over a fortnight and I have made friends already which is great. I like the area that I am living in too- at first I was worried that it was a little isolated but since I now have contact with the rest of the city I enjoy it. But I was slightly perturbed when I found my little piece of Korea on the map to discover that its official tourist map title is ‘Chodang Bean Curd Village’. And the bus stop up the road from my house gave me even more detail when it announced itself to be in Chodang UNCURDLED Bean Curd Village. I am not sure whether it is a good or bad thing to be living in a bean curd village as it is not something that I have experienced before. But it seems to warrant a mention on the tourist map but I was still surprised to discover that none of the other foreigners in town had realised their proximity to a bean curd village. They must have just been overawed by the gramophone museum down the road.
So I have beaches, mountains, lakes and now friends, I am seriously considering getting a bike with my next pay cheque. Though it has been a very long time since I last rode one, I have a plan. They hire them out down by the lake and I figure that if I hire one and manage to ride it all the way around the lake without falling in then I will buy one! And I have found out that the cycle shop sells adult bike size training wheels just in case.
Over all, everything is working out nicely at the moment. I will be sure to keep you posted though.
Take care,
Love
Helen
xxx
On the way to my new place two weeks previously I had seen the bright yellow lights of Emart nestled behind a sea of darkness. On closer inspection (that is to say in daylight) the sea of darkness proved to be fields that stood between me and my cheese. I questioned the Korean teachers at my school about Emart and they told me such tales of how difficult it would be to get there and back that I didn’t even dare attempt the journey for a few days. They stopped just short of actually telling me about the vultures that would be picking my bones clean if I should even attempt such a foolhardy mission, but only just. Then I got brave- or fed up with being stuck cheeseless in my little corner of the city- and got in a taxi and went there. And back with no foreigners in sight. Or mortal dangers.
My next ploy was to go to the beach which I did at the end of my first week here. And sure enough I saw one. But as I bounded over full of enthusiasm at the prospect of a conversation, where I could use actual words instead of much hand gesturing, I must have frightened him as he just said hi and then bolted for the woods.
Hum, not going well so far. And onto downtown. I went straight to the usual reliable haunt of McDonalds but a glance through the window revealed no-one but Kims and Lees. Refusing to be down hearted so early in the search I carried onto the English bookshop but nothing. As I plodded back to the main road to get a taxi home I saw one in the distance- a blonde girl. Learning from my previous mistakes I decided to play this one a touch more casually. So casually in fact that as I reached the girl, she walked straight past without any acknowledgment that she had even seen me. Maybe I had become so nonchalant as to actually render myself invisible to the naked eye- but I hoped not as this would make teaching a little tricky.
So bitter at this encounter I stuck to my own corner of town until the weekend. Well, that is not strictly true. I went to the beach nearly every morning last week because it was so nice and such a great way to start the day. I met an Indian guy who took the inevitable photo of me and his son and left, we barely exchanged greetings before it was all over, and this was still my longest conversation with a foreigner face to face in nearly two weeks. And then one morning, on the way to the beach, I saw an older guy waiting for a taxi but he had successfully hailed one and driven away before I reached him. Though I did manage to convince myself that he had got in a taxi simply because he had seen me but that it had been his plan all along.
Filled with determination I decided not to worry about it until the weekend. Saturday morning saw me walking into town which took about an hour (although, admittedly a substantial portion of this hour was spent sticking my visa card into every ATM I saw on the way in hope that one would take pity and actually give me money rather than a slip of paper covered in Korea but, alas, it was not to be that day). On arrival downtown I thought that I would explore the shops but instead I made it as far as McDonalds before spotting some foreigners. I must have played this one just right because they spoke to me and even engaged me in conversation. Within minutes they were drawing me a map so that I could meet the ‘gang’ later that night. Moments after that they decided that I didn’t seem so bad and I was invited to the movies. So, instead of ‘eye-shopping’ downtown I went for ice-cream, onto the movies, back to one of the guys’ houses, onto dinner, back to the house and then onto the first bar where I met the others. Then the second bar.
Things were getting decidedly messy for those around me but since my miscommunication with the ATMs I had more slips of indecipherable paper in my pocket than actual money so I was forced to tighten the reins a little on my drinking. I must have turned into something of a good luck charm for those that had found me first because when they left the bar they took me with them. And finally, 14 hours after arriving in downtown, I caught a cab home.
But the fun didn’t end there because I had exchanged phone numbers with a couple of people from the night before and so greeted my first visitor on Sunday. And she had very kindly brought me ‘food aid’ and also toilet paper (yes, had a memory of talking about toilet paper for quite some time the night before. All about how it is the ideal Korean housewarming gift, how I had won 24 last year in an arm wrestling competition and the fact that you have to buy 2 dozen at a time but then have nowhere to store them). We went for coffee at the beach and discovered that the coffee shop that I had had my eye on since I first saw it is universally agreed to have the best coffee in town- or so the foreigners sitting in there drinking it told us when we arrived.
So everything seems to be falling into place a bit for me now which is good. I have only been here just over a fortnight and I have made friends already which is great. I like the area that I am living in too- at first I was worried that it was a little isolated but since I now have contact with the rest of the city I enjoy it. But I was slightly perturbed when I found my little piece of Korea on the map to discover that its official tourist map title is ‘Chodang Bean Curd Village’. And the bus stop up the road from my house gave me even more detail when it announced itself to be in Chodang UNCURDLED Bean Curd Village. I am not sure whether it is a good or bad thing to be living in a bean curd village as it is not something that I have experienced before. But it seems to warrant a mention on the tourist map but I was still surprised to discover that none of the other foreigners in town had realised their proximity to a bean curd village. They must have just been overawed by the gramophone museum down the road.
So I have beaches, mountains, lakes and now friends, I am seriously considering getting a bike with my next pay cheque. Though it has been a very long time since I last rode one, I have a plan. They hire them out down by the lake and I figure that if I hire one and manage to ride it all the way around the lake without falling in then I will buy one! And I have found out that the cycle shop sells adult bike size training wheels just in case.
Over all, everything is working out nicely at the moment. I will be sure to keep you posted though.
Take care,
Love
Helen
xxx
posted by Helen @ 11:17 AM
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