hungry waygook

I contemplate the looonggggg the journey ahead as I complete my third weekend in South Korea....

There is allegedly a tight-nit foreigner community in my city.  So far, I've had little opportunity to make friends. Since my arrival, I've had conversations with a total of three other native English speakers.  I've seen another four in random places; two eating in a restaurant and one walking down the street.  The remaining person, I detected by the cell phone conversation he was having on the street below my window.  He was yelling at the person on the other end GET SOME HELP, TALK TO A COUNSELOR.

Oh, not to forget, the night I arrived, my Engish language contact person took me by closing  hour at one of the foreigner bars where I observed the terrible dancing/stumbling of an extremely intoxicated, mostly caucasian crowd.  While I'm sure if it existed, there would be enough video footage of my own drunken episodes that crosses the line between the appearance of fun and WOW, that's just ridiculous, maybe a bit pathetic.  Anyone who's read much about TEFL teachers in Korea has heard the stereotypes about how there is a tendency for total alcoholism. And while I say this, though I don't want to drink until my Korean life is unmanageable, it would be nice to have a friend or two to share some drinks with once in a while.  I don't yet have a single friend here.  Oh well, I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to make money right?  Give it another two months exactly like this and it will start to bother me.  In this city, making foreigner friends will involve being proactive about finding them and right now I have other preoccupations.  

On the job, right now the main thing I have going for me right now is patience.  My experience with uncouth passengers in the airline industry and previously the antics of children with emotional problems and behavior disorders in special ed classrooms, provides me with the ability to remain calm.  In several aspects of this job, in general I know what I ought to be doing, but it doesn't mean that I know how to do any of it well.  The best way I can describe it is as if I was supposed to cook a meal that I've never prepared before.  I have most of the ingredients, but I don't know the way to the store to buy the rest or once I get there I can't read the labels because they are in Korean.  I don't know how long to let the bread rise, or how long to leave it in the oven.  

Speaking of food, eating is one of the hardest aspects of South Korea.  If I were in Seoul or Busan, it would probably be a little easier to find recognizable food stuff.  Going out to eat alone makes me feel like a deviant.  Korean restaurants are not designed with a table for one or an a la carte menu.  In my city, besides Korean food, there is plenty of Japanese and Chinese food.  In the Japanese restaurants, I can order sushi, a bowl of udon noodles, tempura, etc.  I haven't figured out the Chinese restaurants yet.  I stick to places with pictures on the menus, but that doesn't ensure I get what I would like.  At Java Joe's, I pointed to a picture of Belgian waffles, ice cream and strawberries. The counter server asked me some questions in Korean to which I replied mul-ah-yo or "I don't know."  I ended up with plain waffles with powdered sugar and a side of whipped cream.  It's a little embarrasing.  Otherwise besides Japanese and Chinese food, there's Tous Les Jours and Paris Baguette Bakeries.  And who knew that even know they don't serve dessert in Korean restaurants, they make some mean pastries/cakes in their own bakeries.  The biggest surprise has been the pizza.  I don't just like it because I know what it is, it's amazing.  I lived in New Mexico for several years and good pizza is hard to find and is usually the wood oven style.  It's the most like Aurelio's (Chicago) handtossed version. Mmmm.  I just can't eat it every day.  Depending on what you order, there are some toppings I never would have thought about including pork ribs, hot dogs, corn, and sweet potatoes.  What I won't be finding here, unfortunately is Mexican food.  

I have a stove top, a microwave and a toaster oven, but I can't read the labels in the grocery store any more than I can a menu.  I finally had someone help me figure out which tea with the green box is not corn based (yuck).  So far all I can manage is cereal and ramen (curry flavored! I never had that option before).

Besides searching the internet for the magic TEFL bullet for improving my methods at the hagwon and studying basic Korean via youtube, my favorite past time in South Korea is getting lost.  I ended up in a city of about 700,000 people, 100,000 less than Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Considering that the population fits in about half of the space of my city, I imagined it would be easy to get around....In my temporary accomodations, I couldn't walk around the block without getting lost, partially because it was more like an octopus than a block.  Now as long as I don't stray too far, there's a grocery store tower and a church tower I know to look for.  As stressful as it is to get lost, it's boring to not stray too far.

Today I went for a bike ride and tried something I should have done all along.  Relying on my terrible sense of directions and shoddy 'landmark based' mental notes always leads me the wrong way.  Today, besides my camera, I brought a notebook and charted the streets in the romanized version on the signs...beginning on Jangseunbaegi-ro, passing Sotae-ro, Geomaseo-ro, Nanjeondeul-ro..[on return turn left, Rosetown Apartments/Family Mart will be on right] now at Nanjeonduel-ro.  Pass by Geomanam-ro, Geomajungnang-ro, Yongri-ro, Sonjeong2(gil), pass San Sun High School.....hmmm Nanjeonduel-ro seems to change names now I'm going down Geonapyeong-ro [to return home remember to turn right at the large red sunglass emporium just past where the long wall says "it's possible." Continuing on to Yongmeori-ro past Hyojacheonbyeon2[i]gil, past 'Wedding Castle', Ganbyeon-ro, cross bridge at the river past rows of communist block style apartments 'Hyundai #102-103-104-105-106 (opposite 'Wedding Castle') take dird road to checkered brick path to green paved path, pass under bridge with a mural of the cityscape and of the guy smoking opium I thought of taking a picture of. The next aquaduct I pass by says "I remember the days" [this will be on the right on the return].  Pass under green metal bridge (no artwork underneath), sign on the ground says 3,300 M. Pass soccer fields and then turn around, vary route only slightly by going up ramp and riding along Sanae-ro on a path parallel to the river path, cross street at Sanae-ro/Hyojan-ro start following arrow to the university, rows of monster commie apartments on the left/park to the right.  Going down Hyojan-ro away from the third and most ornate bridges I've passed and find 'Primopasta.'  I'm very hungry and believe there is a good chance that I'll be able to read the menu.  Eat some 'Cajun' pasta that tastes like spaghetti with a slightly spicy marinara.  I drink two 'Hites.'

My experiment was successful!  

Not only did I find my way home, but after the waiter at Primopasta spoke English to me, four others followed suit.  I wanted to give each of them a big hug.