June 10th: On Thursday evening around midnight we arrived in Seoul, South Korea. My contact, who we shall just refer to as Mr. Kang which is undoubtedly the name of a million Korean men, misunderstood and thought we would be arriving on Friday afternoon. He informed us we would need to get a hotel for the night and start our journey to Mokpo in the morning. We were greeted by a very "eager" taxi driver who insisted on taking us to our destination. He also insisted that our destination was not a good choice, and therefore he would take us to another one. We pleaded with him to drop us off at the specified hotel, he refused and politely pulled the taxi over to continue to argue his point. First lesson, never argue with a Korean taxi driver, he will always win. We arrived at his hotel of choice and as promised were driven to the airport to catch the bus to Mokpo the following morning.
June 11th: After waiting for the bus for about an hour all the while getting long glances from Koreans, we boarded the bus. Luckily, faithful travel partner Travis Tanner asked the bus driver if it would take us to Mokpo. By asked I mean awkwardly pointed to our bus ticket and the bus driver nodded. Even more lucky, the nod in fact meant yes this bus was going to Mokpo! On the bus ride, we stopped for a bit, and the bus driver offered us ice cream, Mr. Show-Off (otherwise known as Travis) replied Kamshamneeda. (Thank you in Korea) The bus driver turned back around and began to chat in Korean as we attempted to explain that was about the extent of our Korean language skill. Lesson two, don't flaunt your Korean unless you can at least say three or four additional sentences.
At the bus stop Ms. Shin and Ms. Park from Hyein Girls Middle School picked us up in their very small car. We rode with suitcases on our laps, and our new friends giggled at the silly Americans in the back. I feared for my life several times. Lesson three, red lights in Korea are optional. Also if a driver wants over, he/she simply honks and then proceeds over regardless of cars in the other lanes. Apparently, a honk is fair enough warning to get out of the way. We arrived at our apartment and by apartment I mean a bathroom, with no defined shower or bathtub and equipped with a washer, and another small room, which serves as kitchen, living room, bedroom, and every other room one would have in their home. Ms. Park told me that "I was much more beautiful than my picture" well unfortunately her English isn't exactly clear and the elevator didn't allow for the most conducive listening environment, I misunderstood and thought she was referring to our baggage as being "much more." So I was like "Yeah, I know." Lucky for me, these reponses in Korea are common (at least among my middle school girls) but when I realized I tried to explain, but maybe that was also lost in translation!
More to come, but I have to go because we are getting hungry ! My first weekend and first week of school in Mokpo will be posted in a few days hopefully!
Love this!
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