Farewell Korea

I've just arrived back in the UK and am pretty groggy and jet lagged, so hope this makes sense! It seems strange to have left the place that has been home for the past year. Will I ever go back? Never say never.... for now, its onto pastures new. Next week, I am going on a week's holiday to Gran Canaria and after that it's onto Budapest to do a CELTA course which will allow me to teach in Europe and improve my teaching.

I had a great final weekend in Korea. On Saturday, Robyn, Claire, Abby and I headed over to Nathalie's apartment in Gwanghamun for some German food (courtesy of Nat) and margeritas to get the party started. After polishing off the bottle of tequila, we headed down to Hongdae and found a noraebang where we screeched out some tunes for an hour. We then went to a Ho Bar (there are about 10 of them now) where we decided to have some tequila slammers as we were all a little too sober. As we gagged on the tequila, we realised for sure that our bottle of tequila had not been the real thing as it was nowhere near as strong as the ones which we'd just knocked back! And where did we buy the knock off bottle from? Bloody Homeplus! After a couple of drinks, we went to Jane's Groove for one last boogie. I think I danced until 4am! Finally got back to Bucheon at about 7am and spent the day in bed!

I have mixed feelings about leaving Korea. I've made some good friends and hopefully will stay in touch with them. I've gotten used to feeling like I stand out wherever I go, getting stared at on the subway and having kids run up to me, saying "hi!" then running off giggling! I've found out that I'm a pretty good teacher and its something I want to continue with, at least for a few years anyway. I don't know if I will ever come back here again. I could see myself coming back to do another year, although at a public school rather than a hogwan. I would only want to work somewhere with less teaching hours (30 hours a week, especially when it is mostly preschoolers, is too much) and more annual leave (10 days a year is nowhere near enough time to recharge batteries, I don't know how the Korean teachers do it year after year. They say they are just used to it. I regret not having enough opportunity to visit the rest of Asia - I still want to go to Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Phillipines. So, you never know, I may be back...

Things I will miss about Korea

• food - samgyepsal, galbi, jjimdak, rice cake, bibimbap, dak galbi. The list goes on and on.
• friends - I'll miss the friends I've made here.
• travel - I still feel there's plenty of Korea that I haven't seen yet, let alone the rest of Asia.
• lifestyle - living in another country kind of divorces you from all the stuff that usually stresses you out. In the UK, I was always stressed about work, paying bills and 1001 other things. Here, I always make it to the end of the month with money left in the bank (a first for me!) and while work is hard, I teach and that's it. No more dealing with 5 different managers, endless phone calls and the many other demands on my time and coping ability.
• the low cost of living - free rent and cheap utilities = higher disposable income.

Things I won't miss

• food - no more turnip kimchi. That stuff will give you the most toxic farts known to man. Think brussel sprouts and multiply by 10.
• being stared at. A lot.
• The air quality. I'm craving some fresh Welsh mountain air!
• Korean management style. Rearrange the following words: pissup in a brewery organise can't.

I flew out of Incheon early on Sunday morning and organised for an English speaking taxi driver to pick me up from Bucheon. He was such a sweet man, he was originally from North Korea, had defected in the 1960s, but still had family in NK who he hadn't heard from since he left.

I flew back with Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. Must say that the food was the best I've ever had on a plane and they have these shell seats, so that if the person in front of you reclines their seat, it doesn't cut off your legroom. Great idea!

Jeonju

A couple of weeks ago, Robyn, Jeong Sook and I went on a trip to Jeonju, a smallish city a couple of hours south of Seoul. Jeonju is renowned for it's bibimbap, apparently the best tasting bibimbap in Korea. I was somewhat sceptical, but it seems they are right to blow their own trumpet, it was delicious!

Jeonju bibimbap

We stayed in a hanok, a traditional Korean style of building, in Jeonju's hanok village. We spent the day pottering around the hanok village and exploring Jeonju's main shopping area where I bought a fabulous leather satchel for about £27, bargain! We also drank omija berry tea in a traditional teahouse.

Our hanok and courtyard

Omija berries and tea

In the evening we went to Makkeoli town. Makkeoli is a type of milky rice wine served in a copper kettle and each round is served with a selection of side dishes. The more makkeoli you drink, the more elaborate the dishes become. Unfortunately for Robyn and I, most of the side dishes were seafood based and makkeoli is definitely an acquired taste, so we didn't proceed past the first kettle.

Makkeoli and side dishes

Blue skies in Jeonju

I would definitely recommend a weekend in Jeonju for those wanting to explore Korea. It was lovely to get away from the smog of Seoul and see clear blue skies again!

Christmas and New Year

I spent Christmas in Mid Wales with my family - we even had a touch of snow! NYE was spent in Cardiff with Lisa, David and Rhysian who cooked an amazing meal of melba toast with pate and rocket to start followed by venison steaks with roasted veg and mash and then pavlova with cinnamon sauce for pudding. My taste buds are tingling with the memory! We drank lots of sparkling wine and let off some fireworks in David's back garden at midnight. A lovely evening.

I flew back to Korea with Robyn. All was well until we landed in a blizzard at Beijing Airport where we were supposed to transfer for the final leg of our journey. Unfortunately, all flights were grounded and we spent many many hours queueing up for new tickets. We finally got new tickets which were for 3 days time...we then queued up in another line for a hotel and about 12 hours after landing, got on a bus to take us to a hotel.

The hotel was probably the worst one I have ever stayed in (and I've stayed in a few dodgy hotels). Our room was filthy and there was no drinking water available. My bed was broken, so I could only sleep perched on the edge of the bed otherwise my bum would be touching the floor! At breakfast, the only drink available was some sort of sour milk, not nice.

We were severely jetlagged, sleep deprived and dehydrated, so we made the decision to get a taxi to the airport where we could at least get some decent food and drink and possibly go on standby for a flight to Seoul. After a crazy taxi ride through the snowy streets of Beijing (swerving, overtaking, undertaking, cases jammed in every available space - all at 70mph) we arrived at the airport. Asiana had a flight definitely taking off within the next hour we were assured, so we handed over visa cards, dashed through security and landed at Incheon a few hours later. Unfortunately (yup, the last part of our journey wasnt going to go smoothly either...), the worst snow storm for 50 years had now hit Korea (we could only land thanks to Incheon's heated runways!) and we were advised not to take the bus back to Bucheon, so we decided to get as far as we could via subway (it was about 11.30pm) and cab it for the last few miles.

We reached Bupyeong without incident, apart from having to drag our cases up a few flights of stairs (helped by a Korean man who called us "babo" - stupid!). The snow was pretty deep, it was freezing cold and the streets around the subway station were strangely deserted. I waited with the cases while Abby and Robyn went to find a taxi. I had dressed for mild British winter weather rather than deep freeze and my feet and hands were blocks of ice by the time the others returned with a taxi. We eventually made it to Bucheon, I have literally never been so glad to see the familiar streets of Jungdong.

We had one more final hiccup. Robyn's door keypad decided not to work as the battery had drained due to the cold. We got hold of Janice (I'm sure she was happy being woken up so late!) who said she thought Keith had a key. Luckily he did as I think that by this point Robyn was on the verge of heading back to Incheon and the first flight back to the UK!

View from Hyundai Dept Store