Yes, I’m alive in case you were wondering. My lack of blogging ends now. I feel that quite a bit of explaining has to be done as to what I have done in the past, oh month or so.
Let’s go back, way back to the 9th of June. I arrived in Daegu for my job interview the next day. It was night and it was raining when I got off the speedy KTX train. Not really knowing Daegu at all, I decided that the best thing to do would be to head to Daegu station. The name implied some sort of centrality which I thought would be useful for nighttime adventures. Getting out of the subway, I found this wasn’t the case. There was nothing around the station at all. It was difficult to ascertain if I was just looking in the wrong direction or if it was all bad because the station itself was so huge that it took some time to walk around the perimeter, crouched under my umbrella as the rain pelted down. After a full circle I realized that I should really have done more research before embarking on this journey.
I jumped in a cab and went back to the KTX station. I remembered some motels in the area and directed the taxi driver to a big cluster of them, jumped out and found a room. 10 minutes later, I had a nice room and was trying to dry my wet clothes, while researching on the internet as to where I should go. Thanks to the Virtual Tourist website, I got the name of the real downtown area and hurried off to find out just how Daeguians get down.
The actual ‘party area’ of Daegu wasn’t even close to the size of any one of the party areas in Seoul. If you can picture it, basically it is a series of small roads in grid formation with neon everywhere. Restaurants, singing rooms, bars, movie rooms, clubs and convenience stores line the sides of these narrow streets packed with university aged party-goers. I spied a westerner and asked him where a good bar was at. He told me he’s heading to a party and I should tag along. So I ended up in a crowded bar full of foreigners and their Korean girlfriends. A few conversations later, I had some information about Daegu life and decided to make a move.
I headed out to explore more of the area and came across a club which had been mentioned on one of the websites. I headed in, figuring that I might be able to have some fun before retiring for the night. Inside, I walked up to the bar, found a couple of lonely girls and danced the night away while conversing in broken English. They took me to a singing room after that and by the time I got in a taxi and headed back to my hotel it was already morning.
The next day, I was rushing to my interview. Unfortunately, I confused the Yeongnam University Hospital station with Yeongnam University. Not just a little bit confused, but something like 30km confused. I rushed back to the station, in my suit, sweating profusely, apologizing to my potential employer that I’m just an idiot from Seoul and cursing myself for again not being adequately prepared. This would also occur the next time I had an interview a month or so later and I need to correct this habit if I ever hope to get a real job one day.
When I arrived there were an assortment of teachers from all over the world waiting for their turn. Among them was a 48 year old obese American who kept spouting out the weirdest drivel and creeping everyone out with his complete and utter lack of social awareness. There is no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t asked to teach there. However, neither was I. This may be due to my lateness, the fact that I have had to lie about my employment for the past 11 months (read the blog entries from last Aug/Sept for THAT story) or that I was a little casual in the way I talked about my future plans. All said and done, the Daegu trip was an interesting aside, but I really don’t know why I bothered interviewing for a position I obviously didn’t really care about. When I contemplate leaving Seoul, thinking of my friends, conveniences, wonderous subway system and all the girls I won’t be able to chat up in bars, I get the chills. I don’t think I’d enjoy losing all that.
So back to Seoul I came, first class because all the other seats were fully booked. A week later, I met up with the girls from Daegu. It turns out they actually live in Seoul and were just there to visit family. We had dinner, drank and watched the soccer inside a club. It was the day Australia played Brazil (and lost) and Korea played France (and drew). There was a distinct buzz after the game finished, but it was also morning, which didn’t feel great. Morning, no sleep and hot. Not a great combination.
Anyway, so time went by, working and playing. Keith was in the States on holiday, so things were a little lonely. If I had’ve been blogging at the time, he might have been satisfied to hear that his absence was sorely noticed, but he’s back now and happy to be here. Just last weekend he moved house, not far, but the amount of stuff that he and his girlfriend have coupled with the heat made it a strenuous task. Luckily their huge fridge was moved by a couple of Korean movers who did the task in exchange for lunch. During the process they kept saying how us foreigners were big but weak. I will admit that Koreans are surprisingly strong. Many men have thick bones and look a lot stronger than you’d imagine. We weren’t bothered by their taunts though. The fridge was on the second floor and the only way down was by way of the narrow stairs. My feet are way too big for them and the fridge is wider than they are. Over the edge is a sizable drop and the weight of the fridge was enough to crush. So they could taunt all they wanted because we were comforted by the lack of danger afforded by watching. To top it off, half-way down the stairs, they asked for help.
My own strength is pretty minimal these days, due to the fact that I never work out. Since arriving in Korea I really haven’t gone to the gym regularly enough to sustain my previous muscle development. I joined up again though. Let’s see if I can maintain a regular schedule and look muscular again. All I have to do is remember the shame from my arm wrestle of last year. Oh I didn’t tell you? Hmm, there’s probably a reason for that. Ok, so I was teaching in a middle school in August you’ll recall. During class one day I saw some kids arm wrestling. They noticed my interest and challenged me to a wrestle. Being a good sport, I took the challenge and beat the first kid. There was considerable interest in a teacher wrestling a student and they started to crowd around. They all started murmuring what I guess was “let’s test him against the strongest kid in class” at which point a kid at the back stood up, all businesslike and walked straight to the table and laid his hand down. He didn’t look big, so I took his arm and prepared to wrestle. He was only 15 after all. Then he beat me. He walked back to his seat without a word and I picked up what was left of my pride and resumed teaching. That was the last time I wrestled with a student who has gone through puberty. Now I just stick to the 8 or 9 year olds because they’re pretty much a sure thing to win against. Actually when I was in elementary school, I fell on my left arm and to this day I have a lump where the bone didn’t heal properly. My strength suffers as a result. I know, I know it’s a lame excuse but I’m sticking to it. I just need to get back to the gym so such an event will never happen again.
So that pretty much concludes my round-up of the past month. I would mention the Taiwan trip, but I think I’ll write that as a separate entry and backdate it to the time of traveling. I’m not going to go and promise I’ll write more because I’m lazy these days. But you will notice that I have posted a few photos of late. Too lazy to type it would seem, but not to click. Until next time, when the guilt of not writing gets too much for me.
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