Business Meetings, Mountain Walking, Bake Sales and Christmas Trees

All manner of excitement has happened since last we posted a proper update. It's hard to know where to start!

A couple of weeks ago our friends at work, Julie and Nicole, sent us all a message on facebook informing us of an important business meeting coming up. It seems that Korean businessmen tend to have their meetings in bars and get well and truly hammered in the process, so the idea was we'd all dress as businessy as possible and go out and lay waste to Gwangju. We had an agenda and all applied formally for positions with 'The Company', and met for pre meeting cheese, biscuits and wine at Julie's apartment. Copious amounts of soju and fruit juice were consumed - by me mostly. We were informed prior to the event that someone was pretty much expected to be extremely drunk before the meeting began, and I felt it was my duty to step up to the task. I succeeded very well. By the time we got in the taxi I was becoming somewhat slurry and feeling a little ill, although I blame the latter on the heat in the taxi. When we made it to our chosen drinking establishment, we wandered in and found a table for all 9 of us. In the process, I was accosted by a 40 year old Korean man who could speak about as much English as I can Korean, who proceeded to hug me and force me to join him and his friend at their table. They gave me some food and wouldn't let me leave for quite sometime, but I eventually managed to escape and join the others. At our table I found an alarming array of soju and fruit juice smoothies being passed around, along with a suprising amount of free chips and a seafood platter which came free with the drinks. From here on my recollection becomes a little hazy, but I distinctly remember making my interview presentation, being bought another jug of soju smoothie by a friendly table of young Koreans, dropping a large prawn on the floor and then discovering that the bill came to about 3000 won each... £1.50-ish. When we left the cold air thankfully sobered me up somewhat as we made our way over to Speakeasy. There we danced around like fools for a while, until I developed an evil case of hiccups and had to go home. All in all, a pretty fun night! It did lead to a Sunday spent mostly sulking about how bad a soju hangover is though.

The following weekend we heard there was a bake/book sale at the foreigner bar to raise money for an orphanage. We walked downtown as it was quite a nice day and eventually arrived at the bar. It was pretty packed out with foreigners (it seems quite weird to see so many non-Korean faces now, I'm so used to being the odd one out!), all scrabbling for exciting food. We bought some shortbread and peanut butter brownies, and some ludicrously cheap and exceptionally well thumbed second hand books - my favourite find is the Bob Dylan Chronicles volume 1 for a mere 2000 won - about £1! It was really nice to see it so busy, especially as we got to see an English girl, Steph, that we met a while back. It's very nice to hear English accents! After that we went for a tasty Italian meal. We found a nice place with a set menu including two pasta dishes, one pizza, a chicken salad, a plate of squid rings, a soft drink each - with free refills - a single dessert between the 4 of us and a weird hot drink claiming to be coffee but that smelt vaguely of cinnamon and tasted like bitter water. Yummy. All this for just 8000 won each... just £4!

The following day we made our third trip to Mudeungsan for a spot of hiking. When we arrived we bumped into one of Becky's private students, Ron. He is a nice kid, but very cheeky and, since discovering we're together, has taken to calling me Mr Brooke. He was much more polite on this occasion, possibly because he was with his father, and offered us some tasty Korean snacks! We decided to take slightly different route through a building site this time, as on our previous hikes we haven't reached anything that could really be called a peak, or found any truly spectacular views, despite the beauty of what we could see. We'd never really been able to break the cover of trees. The new route started off pretty hardcore, but after about 25 minutes of pretty hard going, we started to see some really nice views over the city. It also pretty quickly became much easier going and relaxed. The views just got better and better as we climbed until we eventually reached the real peak and could see over the whole city. We stopped at the top for a while, sitting on a rock to eat some tangerines, before heading back down. Despite our regular photo stops and a lunch break, the whole hike was over in maybe 2.5 hours and with no aches or pains. It was a really nice hike, but from the top we could see that we'd only really conquered a relatively small mountain, and the real challenge is probably about 3 times as long. Another time I think!

Finally, it has become very Christmassy in our little apartment. Thanks are due to my amazing sister for sending us a small Christmas tree and a whole bunch of decorations, and also to both of our wonderful families for sending us copious amounts of exciting looking presents and food. It wouldn't be Christmas without our stockings!

Oh Korea, we love you. Let us count the ways...

Serbis! Whenever you buy anything, you get something else for free. Medicine (free vitamin drinks), cosmetics (free eye cream), bikes (free pump), Alcohol (free food), food (more food), cereal (free tea towel), hair gel (chocolate), Pyjama bottoms (free couple set hats). In special cases, walk down the street (mirrors, candy floss from a mobile phone shop).

 

Eating out is about as cheap as eating in.

People often give us things just because we're different (chestnuts, chewing gum).

People (especially kids) say hello to us everywhere. Small children love trying to chat to us and shouting out their random English phrases. Teenagers will shout at us when they're in packs or just after we've walked past, and then fall into hysterics when we respond. Adults usually restrain themselves from saying anything, and just watch us curiously.

Heated toilet seats. It really is so nice. Ooh and free mouthwash dispensers in restaurant toilets.

 

Condom machine in the hotel room.

Heated floors. Because feet really should get the most heat.

Service bells on the corner of the table in restaurants. No more trying to catch a waiter's attention. It took a little while to build up the courage to ring it for the first time, but now we love it!

Taking shoes off in restaurants. It makes me feel more relaxed and at home when I can sit on the floor and eat with my shoes off.

The food. Shabu Shabu and Gogi Mandu are amazing, as are many other things. Kimchi may not have become our favourite snack still, but there is a lot of tasty goodness about.

A naughty child is one who talks a little louder than you might like, or forgot their homework, rather than one who tried to stab another student.

Everything is available as couple set. Set menus, pyjamas, underwear, gym membership, duck statues... Just recently we've also started seeing couples sharing mittens on 'idiot strings', one mitten each while they held hands with their other hands. It seems to be incredibly special to be a couple in Korea. Although it would be preferred if we were married. Our students seem completely perplexed by the fact that we live together but aren't married.

But sometimes Korea, we find you a little harder to understand...

Supermarkets often seem to be arranged in a random order. When looking for specific biscuits the other day, we eventually found them nestled among the crisps, rather than on the more biscuity shelf in a completely different aisle.

Motorbikes on the pavement and using pedestrian crossings. We can understand that they'd rather not compete with the cars on the road, but it is slightly distressing when they speed towards you on the pavement.

Pedestrian crossings. When the green man shows (after you've waited 15 minutes), don't always walk, because cars will be trying to get across too.

Fighting when we expect to queue. Buying bus tickets can be particularly difficult and old women will shove you with all their might to get there first. I have become rather good at pushing forward to get on the bus now and saving a seat for Alan, who is finding his Britishness a little harder to shake.

Despite the fact that Korean girls wear the shortest skirts (and shorts) known to man - all year round no less - you'll still get disapproving glances for revealing your shoulders in summer. See also the restaurant that gave me the apron to cover my lower back.

Taxi drivers who watch TV. Don't get us wrong, we don't mean they shouldn't be allowed to watch confusing Korean soaps after a hard days work, but while they're driving? Having a TV screen next to the steering wheel seems somewhat dangerous, even if it doubles as a Sat Nav.

The gym's air con isn't switched on ever, even the height of summer (by all accounts, we weren't actually here then, but it was pretty toasty even by the time we got here). Some Koreans even work out in the sauna! On the other hand, windows are left open during snow in order to allow air to circulate through the building.

Unisex toilets, with the urinal located next to the shared sink.

There are loads of other things that fit into both categories, and we've only been here 3 months so far, so this list is sure to keep on growing. This is just a taster!

It's Been A While

We haven't posted in ages, but I just wanted to say we've added a whole bunch of new photo albums today so go look at them! A new post with actual information and exciting things will follow. Soon. Probably.