After 2 wonderful days in Osan, we ended our trip with a game of bus roulette. We were directed to the bus terminal by a female soldier at the money exchange, and got on the correct express bus for the 45-minute trip back to Suwon, for the price of 1800 won ($1.50USD). The bus ride was pretty uneventful, the bus was not totally filled, and the seats were halfway comfortable.
When we finally got to Suwon we headed for KFC as I was craving mashed potatoes. Unfortunately, it seems that the fast food menus are nothing like back home - first there were no hotcakes and hash browns at McDonald's and now there were no mashed potatoes at KFC! I must be turning into a spoiled foreigner!
After a quick lunch, we got on what we thought was the right bus to take us back to Hwasung City. There were so many buses in front of the subway station, and all the destinations were written in Korean, that we had to go from memory what the correct bus number was.
We came to the realization after half and hour of riding on this packed bus that we were going in the wrong direction and were halfway to Seoul. Since we were both so new to the area, and had only taken the bus once going from Hwasung City to Suwon, we really didn't know what was the correct direction.
So we got off the bus and crossed the street and got on the same number bus for the half hour ride back to where we started. No on around us spoke a word of English (or pretended not to anyway) and our phrasebook proved useless.
So back at Suwon Station, we got off the bus and went to the tourist information booth, only to find that the woman there didn't speak a lick of English and didn't have a bus schedule or a map. What kind of tourist information booth is this anyways?
So here we were, still carrying our shopping bags, which were growing heavier by the minute, tired and hot, and without a clue how to get home, except to pay for a $10 cab ride. A phone call to our boss proved useless and more frustrating, and eventually someone sent us an angel in the form of a little old Korean man with a long white beard and a big brown hat who miraculously spoke English. He told us to get on the bus we had just gotten off of coming back into Suwon, and to ride it in the other direction than we had initially gone in. To think that we could have been home by now!
We found that we are not the only ones confused by the Korean bus system - Koreans are confused too! Most of them only know the bus numbers that take them to home or to work, so when you ask someone what bus goes where, they usually have no idea...and they have the advantage of being able to read where the bus is going!
Next time this happens, I'm splurging and taking a cab!!!
Saturday, November 30, 2002
The Military Police Know My Name
One of my American co-workers and I decided to go to Osan military base in Songtan for a day of shopping and fun. We knew that we couldn't go on the base without an escort, but there is tons of shopping to do in the area right outside the main gate.
So we took the bus from Hwasung City and got there around noon, and the first order of business was lunch. Spotting a pizza parlor, my first thought was SPAGHETTI!
This, however was no easy task. It took 15 minutes to order the spaghetti, which included 10 minutes with the Korean/English dictionary, and one phone call to the English-speaking owner to confirm that the spaghetti did indeed have meat in it, and that it would be almost impossible to find vegetarian sauce in Korea. So after substituting tomato paste for sauce, I came to the realization that I was going to become really skinny after a year in this carnivorous country.
After shopping for some of life's necessities, we decided to have a beer to cool ourselves down from being outside in the sun, and headed to the Golden Butterfly. As this is one of the largest U.S. military bases in Korea, there were more Americans on the street than Koreans, and this bar was no different. Well as you can imagine, we fell into a rowdy group of people and one beer became two, and then three, and on and on it went.
The little Korean man that owned the bar was so gracious, and soon he had brought our group one of his specialties, a huge bowl of CHERRY SOJU!!! with ten straws. With less than a week in South Korea, we were already diving into the world of soju, and realized we better get a hotel room as there was no way we were going to make it home tonight.
We were taken out to dinner by some crazy military guys and decided a pub crawl was in our best interest. We stopped in at a club where some hostess girls we had met were working. A true go-go bar with pole dancing and private upstairs rooms.
We had learned earlier that the girls came to South Korea to dance and would send as much money home to their families as they could. It's a hard lifestyle and the girls give up a lot to come to South Korea to work towards a better life for themselves and their families.
Anyways, we eventually ended up back at the Golden Butterfly again, with more bowls of cherry soju. We were sitting at the railing of this second floor bar and childishly tossing peanuts at our friends' co-workers below when...OOPS!! Someone tossed them at the MPs (military police) that patrolled the area, and when they turned around, everyone else had ducked below the railing except for me (I must have missed the memo).
So here I am getting scolded by the MPs for throwing peanuts, and I wasn't even the one to hit them! At one o'clock curfew is enforced for all military, and people came pouring out of the bars en masse a few minutes before one. Some running to make it back in time, as the penalty for being late is being arrested. So my co-worker and I are left to finish off...yep...another bowl of cherry soju! My head was beginning to spin by this point!
So we finally left the bar to head back to the hotel at around 2am and were stopped within 10 feet of the bar by two MPs and an OSI (Office of Special Investigations) officer. OH NO! NOT THEM AGAIN!!!
They asked us for identification, and we promptly told them we were civilians. When they asked us to prove it, we pulled out our driver's license, but it was not good enough. We tried to explain that we were indeed teachers, not military posing as teachers to avoid curfew, but they still did not believe us.
The whole situation was getting ridiculous! They insisted on escorting us back to our hotel rooms for more identification. After a short walk, that seemed to last forever, back to the hotel, we bolted up the stairs to get our passports. As quickly as we ran up, we returned down to the lobby where they were still there waiting for us.
Luckily we had our passports with us, as we seldom carried them. Since we had tourist visas in our passports, unlike military men and women who do not get their passports stamped when entering the country, we had passed their test were told we were free to go. But not before we received a scolding on the importance of carrying business cards and additional identification on us at all times.
While I understand they were just trying to do their job, and do it with the strictness necessary in this environment, I couldn't help but think....harrasment???
So we took the bus from Hwasung City and got there around noon, and the first order of business was lunch. Spotting a pizza parlor, my first thought was SPAGHETTI!
This, however was no easy task. It took 15 minutes to order the spaghetti, which included 10 minutes with the Korean/English dictionary, and one phone call to the English-speaking owner to confirm that the spaghetti did indeed have meat in it, and that it would be almost impossible to find vegetarian sauce in Korea. So after substituting tomato paste for sauce, I came to the realization that I was going to become really skinny after a year in this carnivorous country.
After shopping for some of life's necessities, we decided to have a beer to cool ourselves down from being outside in the sun, and headed to the Golden Butterfly. As this is one of the largest U.S. military bases in Korea, there were more Americans on the street than Koreans, and this bar was no different. Well as you can imagine, we fell into a rowdy group of people and one beer became two, and then three, and on and on it went.
The little Korean man that owned the bar was so gracious, and soon he had brought our group one of his specialties, a huge bowl of CHERRY SOJU!!! with ten straws. With less than a week in South Korea, we were already diving into the world of soju, and realized we better get a hotel room as there was no way we were going to make it home tonight.
We were taken out to dinner by some crazy military guys and decided a pub crawl was in our best interest. We stopped in at a club where some hostess girls we had met were working. A true go-go bar with pole dancing and private upstairs rooms.
We had learned earlier that the girls came to South Korea to dance and would send as much money home to their families as they could. It's a hard lifestyle and the girls give up a lot to come to South Korea to work towards a better life for themselves and their families.
Anyways, we eventually ended up back at the Golden Butterfly again, with more bowls of cherry soju. We were sitting at the railing of this second floor bar and childishly tossing peanuts at our friends' co-workers below when...OOPS!! Someone tossed them at the MPs (military police) that patrolled the area, and when they turned around, everyone else had ducked below the railing except for me (I must have missed the memo).
So here I am getting scolded by the MPs for throwing peanuts, and I wasn't even the one to hit them! At one o'clock curfew is enforced for all military, and people came pouring out of the bars en masse a few minutes before one. Some running to make it back in time, as the penalty for being late is being arrested. So my co-worker and I are left to finish off...yep...another bowl of cherry soju! My head was beginning to spin by this point!
So we finally left the bar to head back to the hotel at around 2am and were stopped within 10 feet of the bar by two MPs and an OSI (Office of Special Investigations) officer. OH NO! NOT THEM AGAIN!!!
They asked us for identification, and we promptly told them we were civilians. When they asked us to prove it, we pulled out our driver's license, but it was not good enough. We tried to explain that we were indeed teachers, not military posing as teachers to avoid curfew, but they still did not believe us.
The whole situation was getting ridiculous! They insisted on escorting us back to our hotel rooms for more identification. After a short walk, that seemed to last forever, back to the hotel, we bolted up the stairs to get our passports. As quickly as we ran up, we returned down to the lobby where they were still there waiting for us.
Luckily we had our passports with us, as we seldom carried them. Since we had tourist visas in our passports, unlike military men and women who do not get their passports stamped when entering the country, we had passed their test were told we were free to go. But not before we received a scolding on the importance of carrying business cards and additional identification on us at all times.
While I understand they were just trying to do their job, and do it with the strictness necessary in this environment, I couldn't help but think....harrasment???
Eating in skirts and noribangs
After being in South Korea for my first full day, in a temporary apartment, with no one to talk to, no idea where I was really, and nowhere to go, I was anxiously looking forward to another teacher arriving that evening.
But alas, a few minutes before she was due to arrive, the director called to tell me he had the wrong day and she wasn't coming in until tomorrow. Ugh! The good news he said, was that he was taking me out to dinner. Well, the night can't be too bad, better than sitting in this apartment complex in the middle of nowhere.
So I put on a nice skirt and shirt and waited for his arrival. An hour late, he came to pick me up and we drove back into Suwon (the town I was SUPPOSED to be living in) for dinner. He took me to what he considered was a typical South Korea restaurant. I slipped off my sandals upon entering, and realized everyone was sitting on the floor, and here I was wearing a skirt!
How the heck am I going to sit down at a table in a knee length skirt without giving everyone a crotch shot? That was the big question.
So I finally figured out some way to sit, while not the most comfortable. Man, I wish I was wearing pants. He asks me what I like to eat, and I inform him I'm a vegetarian, so he says he will do the ordering for us.
Waiting for our dinner to arrive, we engaged in idle chitchat about what the school was going to be like, that it would be open in the next few days, and that our apartments would be ready in the next few days also. Only the best for my teachers he says.
So the food finally arrives, and there's meat in almost everything. Wait, I know I told him I didn't eat meat. Was that lost in translation? Wait, I was speaking English....oh well, let's see what I can do about these noodles.
How newbies are supposed to master eating noodles with metal chopsticks I'll never know. Mine kept slipping off the chopsticks, back into the bowl or barely in my mouth. I was trying to be so delicate about it all that I really didn't end up eating much of it at all. I found the kimchi to be quite a treat, and didn't smell half as bad as the stinky sock smell I had been warned about, but it sure was HOT!
After dinner he stopped at a 7-11 for beer and took me to my first noribang. It's essentially a place where you pay for the right to sing as loud or as bad as you want in your own private room with a group of friends while they are vigorously banging on tambourines and singing along and consuming mass amounts of alcohol.
Somehow I think they missed the whole concept of soundproof walls as the groups around us were belting out tunes and banging on the tambourines as loud as they could, though they may have broken a few. It was pure torture for myself as it was only my director and I, and I was very sober, and he was insistent on singing every sappy song, complete with bad translation, that he could in the time allotted.
I was trying my best to look happy, so I smiled and nodded and banged on the tambourine like it was my job.
After an hour and a half of this madness, we finally left, but not without stopping at the bathroom. I guess I was expecting a western toilet because of the upscale decor of the noribang, but there it was in all its glory, a squatter, and not even a sophisticated one, just your basic bowl in the ground without the footmats. Well, as they say in Rome....make sure you have strong calf muscles.
But alas, a few minutes before she was due to arrive, the director called to tell me he had the wrong day and she wasn't coming in until tomorrow. Ugh! The good news he said, was that he was taking me out to dinner. Well, the night can't be too bad, better than sitting in this apartment complex in the middle of nowhere.
So I put on a nice skirt and shirt and waited for his arrival. An hour late, he came to pick me up and we drove back into Suwon (the town I was SUPPOSED to be living in) for dinner. He took me to what he considered was a typical South Korea restaurant. I slipped off my sandals upon entering, and realized everyone was sitting on the floor, and here I was wearing a skirt!
How the heck am I going to sit down at a table in a knee length skirt without giving everyone a crotch shot? That was the big question.
So I finally figured out some way to sit, while not the most comfortable. Man, I wish I was wearing pants. He asks me what I like to eat, and I inform him I'm a vegetarian, so he says he will do the ordering for us.
Waiting for our dinner to arrive, we engaged in idle chitchat about what the school was going to be like, that it would be open in the next few days, and that our apartments would be ready in the next few days also. Only the best for my teachers he says.
So the food finally arrives, and there's meat in almost everything. Wait, I know I told him I didn't eat meat. Was that lost in translation? Wait, I was speaking English....oh well, let's see what I can do about these noodles.
How newbies are supposed to master eating noodles with metal chopsticks I'll never know. Mine kept slipping off the chopsticks, back into the bowl or barely in my mouth. I was trying to be so delicate about it all that I really didn't end up eating much of it at all. I found the kimchi to be quite a treat, and didn't smell half as bad as the stinky sock smell I had been warned about, but it sure was HOT!
After dinner he stopped at a 7-11 for beer and took me to my first noribang. It's essentially a place where you pay for the right to sing as loud or as bad as you want in your own private room with a group of friends while they are vigorously banging on tambourines and singing along and consuming mass amounts of alcohol.
Somehow I think they missed the whole concept of soundproof walls as the groups around us were belting out tunes and banging on the tambourines as loud as they could, though they may have broken a few. It was pure torture for myself as it was only my director and I, and I was very sober, and he was insistent on singing every sappy song, complete with bad translation, that he could in the time allotted.
I was trying my best to look happy, so I smiled and nodded and banged on the tambourine like it was my job.
After an hour and a half of this madness, we finally left, but not without stopping at the bathroom. I guess I was expecting a western toilet because of the upscale decor of the noribang, but there it was in all its glory, a squatter, and not even a sophisticated one, just your basic bowl in the ground without the footmats. Well, as they say in Rome....make sure you have strong calf muscles.
What do you mean the school's not finished?
After a long flight from Detroit/Tokyo/Seoul, I was looking forward to meeting the director of the school I would be working at for the next year. After stepping off the plane and collecting my baggage, I looked around for the director and he was NOWHERE to be found.
So here I am, it's one o'clock in the morning, I'm in the airport in Seoul, I'm tired, sweaty, and all alone. After multiple failed attempts to use the telephone, a kind soul lent me hers to call the director. He tells me he's on his way to pick me up, that he had forgotten, just to stay put. No apology offered.
After waiting for a half hour, he finally shows up and informs me that he is picking up another teacher and we have to look for him. So I scan the empty terminal exit and see another weary looking soul like myself. Yep. That's our guy. So into the car we go, luggage stacked everywhere, and zoom, we're off. The director chats during the entire drive, in his passable English, while myself and my compadre obviously would have preferred a bit of sleep.
Upon entering the town of Suwon, I am fully awakened out of my half slumber by all the lights and people on the streets, not to mention all the KFC, McDonald's and Burger King neon lights shining like beacons. Wow, this is my town? Great! I can't wait to get out and see it.
Before I know it, my fellow teacher is dropped off at his location, and it's now just myself and the director. He explains that I'm staying just a few minutes away, and again we're off. A few minutes turns into 10, then into 20, and the city lights are quickly disappearing. We're almost there he tells me, no problem, everything is OK.
He tells me we will drive past the school where I will be working. At least I had one thing to look forward to. As I peer out the window, I realize that there are fields all around, and what looks like a small town in the distance. Wait! I thought you said I would live in Suwon! Oh, Suwon close, he tells me. Here, here is school, he says. That is the school? But it's not even finished! You told me over e-mail that it was ready for us to start working. Done soon, he tells me. Soon? How soon? I ask. Very soon! Don't worry.
Then we're off to my new apartment. Now the apartment complex is in the middle of nowhere. No streetlights, no shops, only fields. It's dark out, I tell myself, it'll be better in the morning. So we park the car and ride the elevator upstairs to the apartment. Upon entering the sparsely furnished apartment, he informs me that this is not the apartment where I will be living. That my apartment is still being built. WHAT??
So here I am, it's one o'clock in the morning, I'm in the airport in Seoul, I'm tired, sweaty, and all alone. After multiple failed attempts to use the telephone, a kind soul lent me hers to call the director. He tells me he's on his way to pick me up, that he had forgotten, just to stay put. No apology offered.
After waiting for a half hour, he finally shows up and informs me that he is picking up another teacher and we have to look for him. So I scan the empty terminal exit and see another weary looking soul like myself. Yep. That's our guy. So into the car we go, luggage stacked everywhere, and zoom, we're off. The director chats during the entire drive, in his passable English, while myself and my compadre obviously would have preferred a bit of sleep.
Upon entering the town of Suwon, I am fully awakened out of my half slumber by all the lights and people on the streets, not to mention all the KFC, McDonald's and Burger King neon lights shining like beacons. Wow, this is my town? Great! I can't wait to get out and see it.
Before I know it, my fellow teacher is dropped off at his location, and it's now just myself and the director. He explains that I'm staying just a few minutes away, and again we're off. A few minutes turns into 10, then into 20, and the city lights are quickly disappearing. We're almost there he tells me, no problem, everything is OK.
He tells me we will drive past the school where I will be working. At least I had one thing to look forward to. As I peer out the window, I realize that there are fields all around, and what looks like a small town in the distance. Wait! I thought you said I would live in Suwon! Oh, Suwon close, he tells me. Here, here is school, he says. That is the school? But it's not even finished! You told me over e-mail that it was ready for us to start working. Done soon, he tells me. Soon? How soon? I ask. Very soon! Don't worry.
Then we're off to my new apartment. Now the apartment complex is in the middle of nowhere. No streetlights, no shops, only fields. It's dark out, I tell myself, it'll be better in the morning. So we park the car and ride the elevator upstairs to the apartment. Upon entering the sparsely furnished apartment, he informs me that this is not the apartment where I will be living. That my apartment is still being built. WHAT??
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