August 20/21 2009

My adventure in Korea started with a day-long flight from Ottawa to Toronto to Tokyo to Seoul.  My first 5 minutes in Japan saw me searching for a washroom at the airport.  I walked in, pushed the door of the stall  open, and BAM! Hole in the ground toilet.  Um… ok.  I think I’ll pass.  Japanese people act as if they have never seen a white or maybe tall person before.  Maybe they haven’t.  In fact, I’m glad I could be their first, as they craned their necks taking long, hard gazes UP at me.  Suddenly, nobody spoke English anymore.  My flight into Seoul consisted of some what I expected were Japanese tourists, several Koreans, and myself.  Oh, and the other white dude I decided to approach and speak to.  Unfortunately, he didn’t really speak English as he was… maybe Swiss or something.  First and last assumption I make about the other white foreigners in this country.  I made it into Seoul at about 11:30 PM.  Someone representing the school I will work at was waiting for me at the airport.  My first extended contact with a native Korean.  Our near 2 hour car ride consisted of heavily weaving in and out of traffic while his GPS screamed at him to slow down, paying money to the ridiculous number of toll gates in this country, and answering strange forward questions for instance about my religious beliefs.  When I got to the 2 bedroom apartment I would be sharing with another teacher until my own apartment was ready the following week, I crashed after being awake for maybe 30 hours.  Welcome to Korea.