around town, these days

After spending too much money traveling around South Korea on tour buses, generally getting very little sleep, eating and drinking too much,  these days (a phrase sometimes over used by Korean English speakers) i'm trying to enjoy more of what my community has to offer.  Because of a crazy work schedule and a location away from the main foreigner activity, it's been a somewhat slow process to figure these things out.

Hanging out with English speaking Koreans is also extremely helpful, but I've done less of that lately after the day, over a month ago I was kidnapped by a woman named Esther.  My boss introduced Esther to me one day at work and immediately she was determined to be my new best friend.  Although I'm not really sure because Esther's English was terrible.  While she didn't know to refer to herself as "me" or "I," she knew the word 'famous' and she said that 25 times about different things here in Korea she was trying to tell me about.  

I think Esther is probably a well-meaning person (who possibly wants me to hang out with she and her kids and be a free English friend).... The weekend after I meet her, she calls me in the early afternoon and says something that sounds like this

"Esther!!!!  Yogi!!! (meaning 'here') academy!  Meet?"

I think, uhhhhh, okay maybe a quick lunch because it's good to make new friends? Though I have other plans in a couple of hours, I don't consider the consequences of accepting this invitation....What part of "I have plans in a little while" will Esther not understand?  After four hours with Esther and then Esther and her children, as determined as she is to give me the tour of mostly things I've already seen, she eventually starts to grasp the meaning of "I already have plans."

It's stressful riding around in a car, not knowing if this unscheduled field trip will ever end.  My cellphone is dead and I'm unable to inform the friend I had plans with or the police that I've been kidnapped.  Esther takes me to the Home Plus to pick up her kids and while we're there, tries to convince me to sign up for a cooking class on Wednesdays.  She'd already told me repeatedly "Esther, Wednesday, Saturday, free."  

About the cooking class, to put it in the simplest terms possible..."Lindsey, Wednesday, working.  Two jobs."

She wants to know what time I finish one job and start the next.  She'll pick me up at one job and drop me off at the next.....

"Lindsey, Wednesday, free, no.   Wednesday, no time.  Kindergarden.  Hagwon"  

 

"Esther drive, time, yes."  

 

"Time, no."

 

Agghhhhhhh!   

 

The tour of the traditional Hanok village I'd already seen 20 times finally ends, even with plans for the rest of the afternoon and evening being mapped out, finally Esther understands.  I have plans!  

 

"Next Saturday?  Plans?"

 

Thank God I really was traveling.  I never answer the phone Tuesday night or Wednesday morning when I'm sure Esther wants to know about the cooking class again.  

My boss soon informs me "Esther's trying to get in touch with you.  You should call her, if you have time." 

Esther finally stops calling me before I had to check the laws about how to deal with stalkers desperate for English speaking friends.   

 

Of course there's so much to learn from people from other cultures, but when neither of you can communicate in a common language, this kind of friendship is entirely too stressful for me.  I hope I'm not a bad person because after working with beginning English students all day at work, I don't want to hang out with them in all of my spare time.

The moral of that story is when you're teaching overseas in a country where you don't know much of the local language, respect those times when you need to hang out with people you can communicate with or you might start going bonkers.

As I was saying these days though I was previously inclined to run out of town within an hour of my last class on Friday night, I'm staying in town looking for undiscovered gems. I don't need the help of Koreans who may have alterior motives to help me around town.  I keep making plans to get on the city buses just to see where they go, but because quite frankly after my nonstop travel weekends I began to feel like a bit of a fat ass.   Sitting on a bus is not the answer unless take it really far away and then walk home.   And well, I saw some pictures with me tagged in them on Facebook and realize it was more than just a feeling.  

About six weeks ago, the physical fitness bender started and I learned where exactly I'll end up halfway across town in about an hour if I just start running like Forest Gump in any particular direction or two hours if I walk at a more leisurely pace.  Last week, I found a Buddhist temple where a monk invited me for coffee.  Neither of us could speak but I enjoyed his company much more than Esthers.  This week, I figured out where the red light district is.  Next weekend, I hope to find something else.