me, myself, and...me again.

So my first couple of weeks in Korea were pretty quiet. I mean, really quiet. My first weekend in Korea was spent just walking the streets by myself, feeling envious of all the happy people around me. Hey, I used to have friends too! The thing about Koreans is that they don’t seem to enjoy doing anything alone. It’s not nearly as common to see them eating alone in restaurants. And hey, I didn’t want to draw more attention to myself by being not only the loner but the guy who couldn’t speak any Korean. So it’s a little embarrassing to say that for the first couple of weeks the main decider in choosing a place to eat was by how many other people were inside eating alone. OK, I guess I’m insecure or whatever.

zero samples for you, we prefer to look good instead

I met a few pretty cool guys at the orientation. One from Ireland, another Wales, and the last guy was an American. However, they were all going to be teaching at the same school in Daejeon, while I was going to Busan all alone. A couple of them had already been in Korea for a couple of years, while the Welsh guy and I were newbies. But what set me apart was that these guys had actual teaching experience under their belts. Me, I was happy to just let the other guys do the talking. Although I did find it a little funny that one of the comments about my performance at the orientation was ‘needed to be a little more proactive in discussion. Quietness may be mistaken for apathy.’  If only you knew.

That Friday afternoon we all parted ways and made our way down to our respective schools. The other guys got off at Daejeon and then I was alone again. It’s a good thing I enjoy my own company (as sad as that may sound). I met the office manager at the train station and the first thing he says to me is, ‘You more handsome than in your photos!’ I was like, ‘uh, thanks man?’ Needless to say the train ride afterwards was a little awkward. Well I made it down to the school and met my supervisor Arthur who, by the way, was nothing like I expected. Just a really chilled out guy, nothing at all like the image I had of him in my head. It makes me wonder why it didn’t carry over through his emails and phone calls but I digress. I met the other teachers who were a bunch of really cool guys. Surprisingly, the idea of teaching didn’t scare me all too much now. The great thing about YBM is that the students do most of the work, and the teacher is just there to ‘facilitate’ discussion. Which is fine by me. And I got pretty lucky with all my students, even if they did complain that I talked too fast. Maybe you listen too slowly! But I kid. It’s hard to speak at their level without (to me) coming off condescending…but they seem to prefer that so who am I to say otherwise...I’m sure when I get back to Perth I’ll be so used to speaking at half speed people will think I’m a stroke victim. At least I’m not mumbling right?

busan. it's actually kinda pretty at night

whatup korea.

So the first thing I remember when arriving into Seoul was that the city was big. Not just big, I mean huge. Massive! I mean, the city dwarfed Perth. And it just kept going on and on. I’ve never seen a city so large, it was really an ocean of lights. First impressions of Seoul Gimpo Airport were good. Everything looked so clean and modern. I mean, the floors looked so clean you could eat off them. Took a train from the arrivals area into the heart of the airport where I could finally see the people that I would be living amongst for the next year. Koreans! And man, what a relief. What’s this? Asians actually lining up in an orderly manner?! It seemed too good to be true. Every time they had to push past they would apologise and bow. I also got my first glimpse of the strange breed that is the Korean girl…and man, all the anxiety I had about coming here just vanished like that. They were seriously hot, and all of a sudden I started feeling pretty good about my decision to come to Korea!

Got through immigration without any hassle and jumped on the ‘airport limousine’ into Seoul City itself. Let’s all just agree that it’s a bus, airport limousine just sounds silly. The hour long drive was pretty uneventful, they were showing some Korean drama on TV. I recognised the show; my mum watched it pretty religiously back home. And it got me thinking a little about home, like what my parents might be doing at that very exact moment. To be honest, I knew leaving my friends and family all behind was going to suck. But I felt most guilty about leaving my mum back in Perth.  It just didn’t seem fair to her that both my brother and me had left home now…but it was going to happen sooner than later right? I’m sure she just expected it to be much, much later haha. But maybe it’ll be a good trial run for when I actually move out! At least that’s what I tell myself to make me feel better about leaving.

When we finally reached the centre of Seoul proper, it struck me just how many people there were actually walking around. I mean I’ve been to Beijing before but I don’t ever remember there being such a large concentration of people on the streets. There were bright lights and neon signs everywhere and I noticed that everyone here drove a Hyundai. Even the buses were Hyundai! And all the cars looked so new and clean. I was also pleasantly surprised that I didn’t hear the constant sound of car horns in the background (none at all, which sadly I cannot say about Busan…but that’s the topic for another post). Finally got off the bus in Jongno where the training was going to be held. Met a guy called Mike who showed me to my apartment (the fittingly named Samsung Motel). He didn’t stick around but I can’t blame him. I’d rather be doing other things at 11.30PM on a Saturday night…anything that doesn’t involve waiting around at a bus stop in the freezing cold!

tennis balls on the chair legs, wut?

The first thing I noticed about my room was the…décor. It was pretty clear what this hotel was used for. I tried not to think about how many people have had sex on my bed and watched a bit of TV. They had an entire channel devoted to Starcraft replays! This was the Korea I was expecting. Flicked through the rest of the channels and they had a couple devoted entirely to adult entertainment. Go figure. Would it be embarrassing to say that I switched back to the Starcraft channel?

I went out around 1.30AM for dinner and the first thing I see as I walk out is some drunk guy being ejected from a Korean BBQ restaurant. He’s yelling at the top of his lungs, some woman is trying to stop him from coming back inside and as he begins to walk away he trips over a gas can and almost takes out the entire tent with him (yeah, they eat Korean BBQ in tents too!). She then calls the police while he's still lying on the pavement screaming at her. Meanwhile everyone is walking around like nothing is going on. Typical Asian behaviour as you know. Found a small place where you order via a vending machine and the cook brings the food out to you. I was surprised to find out that I ordered cold noodles but they were good nonetheless! Also had some kimchi for the first time and yeah, it tastes about the same as the kimchi back in Perth. On the way back to my room I see a couple of cops trying to shepherd the same guy away from the other tents on the street. They definitely have a lot more patience than Australian cops. Finally ended up crashing around 5AM. And so endeth my first (somewhat eventful) night in Korea!

tasty, healthy and dog free. mmmmm

so singapore...we meet again.

So I got the option to organise my own flights to Korea. I figured; why not stop over in Singapore? Catch up with friends, blah blah. I only came back for the fried carrot cake. One of the weird things about Singapore to me is that it just feels like home sometimes. And I’ve been maybe a whole 3 times? I think it’s the people…my whole life I grew up around Malaysians and Singaporeans so I guess I just feel more comfortable around them. And Singapore is as multicultural as Asians can get. This time around I didn’t do too much sight-seeing or shopping…just chilling with friends. The first day I hung out with my cousin CY (cheers for putting me up again, cuz!) and had some of the best dim sum I’ve had in a long long time. To me, dim sum is like crack. And I can't say I've ever had a bad day which also involved dim sum of some kind. And I don't mean to say you can't have a bad day on crack either, haha.

good luck in kobe minzy!

In the afternoon I met my buddy Minzy at Ion for a coffee and some kaya toast (which I also regret not bringing over, d’oh!). The lady behind the counter was a bitch but now that I think about it, I’m the one paying for fucking toast. She has every right to treat me like an idiot, because frankly I am one. Minzy was another friend I met on my study tour in China last year who funnily enough is going to Japan next month to teach English! After that we went outside and took a few photos. Or squatted around out the front and tried to take some shots from arty angles. I guess people thought we were looking for some contacts or something?

After that I met another friend of mine, Jean (who I met through a mutual friend of Minzy’s, coincidentally) and had a walk around Orchard Road. Or it would be more apt to say I carried her stuff while she went shopping haha. Yeah yeah, I’m a chump. After that we had a wander down to Clark Quay for a few cold bevvies =) I just wish they had some micro-breweries in Busan! Brewerx can make a mean pale ale, just sayin’.

The next day I saw Jean again and had some pork intestines for breakfast…om nom nom. Yeah I know what you're thinking, but it tastes surprisingly good. Who would have thought eating the digestive organs of a pig could be so delicious? I don’t know what’s worse for jews and muslims; circumcision or giving up pork. I think I’d rather go to hell than give up bacon. Hell to me is a place without bacon anyway.

After that I met up with Yanggs (who I met the last time I came to Singapore) and her friend Sarah for some noodles in Chinatown! To me all of Singapore is Chinatown but hey, whatever. So we chilled out for most of the afternoon. And those girls can seriously talk…I don’t think Singaporean girls ever have to deal with awkward silences hahaha. And by that point I was feeling pretty wrecked so I was happy to let them do most of the talking...I can't say there's ever a dull moment whenever Yanggs is involved!

celebrating her
 birthday 3 hours early,
what an eager beaver

That night we went out for dinner at Baa Bar where Sarah and Jade were working…met up with another friend Nurulia and had a few beers. Had a bit of cake for Yangg's birthday...quality. That girl Sarah can bake! Went back to Sarah’s house where Nurulia and I had a lengthy chat outside about how much responsibilities suck. In case anyone isn't clear on this, they do and they do big time. We ended up catching a taxi later to Zouk to meet Jean, her friend Lin, Zach and a few other peeps. And now that I’ve been there, I can safely say Metros can suck it. The music was good and I even got 

chillin with jean and lin at zouk

groped on the dance floor…winning!

After that I had some bangers and mash     (and then got some food…hohoho) and got ready to go straight to the airport (7am check-in, ugh). And then I had a mini freak-out. The entire time I was getting ready to go to Korea I never worried about anything, strangely enough. But as I was leaving Zouk it suddenly dawned on me that I was now leaving everyone I knew behind…and it really scared me. I was going to be all alone and that depressed the fuck out of me. And I’m pretty sure the alcohol didn’t exactly put me in a balanced state of mind either. Thankfully I had a pretty awesome friend around to talk me out of being a bitch =) Cheers Yanggs!

So went straight to the airport around 5.00AM and said my goodbyes to Yanggs around 6.00AM. I wouldn’t say we were the freshest looking people in the airport at that point. I was completely fuckhoused the entire Saturday. Slept for most of the flight to Seoul, periodically waking up to gawk at the crazy hot Air Asia hostesses. That day was a little hazy to say the last. Now, next stop Seoul – Incheon!

peekaboo i see you!

smell ya later perth.

So today marks 4 weeks of being away at home. I figured I would give into the tired old cliché of starting an expat blog…I’m not the best guy at keeping in touch with people so this is by far the easiest way of letting my friends and family know how I’m going. If anyone cares, anyway.

So, where to start? At the beginning of this year I was pretty unhappy with the way my life was turning out. I shouldn’t have been…I had just graduated, and I spent my entire summer chilling with my best friends. No pressure from the parents to find a job, I had the time to do anything I wanted (which was nothing, and I dare anyone to prove they are better at doing nothing than I am). I had everything to look forward to really. But I just felt…empty. Like something was missing. I was bored of Perth. I felt like my life was out of my control, like I was supposed to find a job after graduating and settle into the 9-5 life. That was fucking scary. I wasn’t ready to become a responsible, productive member of society. I worked full-time for all of two months last year and I felt like locking the office doors behind me and burning the whole place down. Seriously, picking lint out of my belly button was more exciting than that job. So what did I have to look forward to? Staying in Perth seemed like the safe option. Since I came back from my 2-month holiday in China I always entertained the possibility of going back. Maybe not China (don’t get me wrong, I had an awesome time there) but somewhere else in Asia. Where English wouldn’t be the native language. Just somewhere completely different. I mean, shit is pretty much the same anywhere you go. But I was just so tired of my life in Perth (although I do miss my friends and family like crazy). So sometime in January the idea of going to Korea entered my mind. Japan was too expensive, and there was no work to be found in Taiwan. Teaching ESL was going to be my ticket out. 

After months of fruitless searching (application after application with no result) I had all but given up. Until I got an email from some guy called Arthur Haaxman. Apparently someone had passed along my resume to him and he wanted to set up an interview. Cool. I figured if it didn’t work out I’d just give up on the idea of going to Korea. 3 days later I have a voicemail on my phone telling me I got a job in Korea, and training starts in 5 weeks. So how did everyone take it? I think they were just surprised I finally followed through with something that I said I’d do. I couldn’t believe it either. It didn’t sink in for weeks…not until I started saying my goodbyes to everyone. That was tough…everything was so rushed towards the end. I wish I had made more of an effort to see everyone before I left. But hey, goodbyes have never been my thing. At Perth Airport my dad told me to be brave (I guess because he thinks I’m a huge pussy) and my mum even teared up a little. And after that I was on my own. 

Did it sink in then? No, it all still felt pretty surreal to be honest. Almost left my passport in customs (yeah yeah) so at that point I was thinking, man, I’m not going to make it. I won’t be coming back with a passport and kidneys this time hahaha. The flight was pretty uneventful, tried to get some sleep but had no luck there. Bleh. Next stop, Singapore!