Before I begin, a shout out goes to Anika for giving me this idea. I should have done it for my family and friends when I was in Australia but never got around to making one. I figure this is an easier way for everyone to keep up to date with my Korean experiences compared with mass emails.
That being said, on to Korean craziness day number 1. Yesterday afternoon I departed for Melbourne airport only to arrive at check-in and have them tell me that the total combined weight of both my bags was nearly 30 kilos overweight (A 20 kilo limit and mine were about 50 kilos total). Now let me explain that when flying into and out of the United States, they have a per piece weight limit of either 50 or 70 pounds (23 or 30 kilos give or take). So flying over to Australia wasn't an issue. I even mailed a box home, sent some clothes home with my grandparents, and Matt when they came to visit so that I wouldn't have this problem. Well, on wonderful Thai airways there is a 20 kilo limit for all bags combined. At $24 AUD per kilo over, I was looking at something near $460 to get my freaking bags to Korea. Thank god Alex was at the check in with me because through his sweet talking the lady behind the desk, I was able to put some clothes in my purse to carry on, and overstuff one of my bags to 28 kilos and she would only charge me for the weight of the other bag, which after moving a lot of stuff around came out to around15 kilos. This saved me $100 bucks. Slightly relieved (but still pissed I had to pay that much money to get my bags over there, reason number one why the United States is the best country in the world), we walked over to the entrance to the customs area.
I never realized how hard it would be to say goodbye to all of the friends that I have made over the last couple of months, because I don't know for sure when I will see any of them again. Some tears were shed by all parties (spaced out through the previous couple of days), but I eventually made it through the gate to customs. With red puffy eyes, I said goodbye to Melbourne and the life I knew there.
My nine hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand was at 4:05 PM. Thai Airways, despite their dumb baggage policies was actually a pretty nice airline. In my experience so far, I have learned that only do US airlines charge you for drinks and food, while most other international airlines (Qantas, Thai, etc) feed you every few hours for free. You get on the plane and they give you nuts, three minutes later they come by with drinks (any kind of alcohol you want), another half hour goes by and in comes dinner number one (yes, number one of two). You are even given a choice of lamb or chicken and as far as airplane meals go, it wasn't that bad. In between hot towels, you are served more drinks, coffee, tea, etc. Oh I forgot to mention that this flight was EMPTY. I literally had the entire row to myself to sprawl out and sleep which was pretty awesome. Unfortunately there were no personal televisions so we all had to suffer with their poor poor movie selection of Dragonball-Z or whatever it is, some Julia Roberts movie (the only one I watched) and Monsters vs. Aliens. Luckily I had my laptop with me and it had just enough battery left to watch Dirty Dancing, my all time favorite. After a two movies and some sleep they served dinner number 2...garlic prawns. Again, not bad for an airline.
So finally we get to Bangkok which is three hours behind Melbourne, so it felt like it was around 2:00 AM to me. Bangkok airport is a lot bigger then I thought it would be. I get off the plane, and spot a departures board to check my gate number. Figures it isn't up there, so I go to the information desk to find out. Here begins hand gesture/non-English speaking experience number one. I try to explain that my gate isn't listed, but naturally, she didn't understand and told me to go check the departures board (which I already did). Finally after a lot of pointing and the lady conferring with the other chick behind the desk, they tell me that it is B4. They point me in the right direction and off I go. After walking for what seemed like half a mile, I made it to the security checkpoint before the B terminal. I didn't really understand this because I was already in the International terminal and there were tons of other gates that were accessible without having to go through security so I wasn't sure why only those traveling through the B gates needed to be re screened. Anyway, I got through the checkpoint and made it to the terminal. Now this is where I officially get my "your not in English world anymore" welcome. I was literally one of two non-Asians on the entire couple hundred person flight. Of course since I was the one who looked different, everyone seemed very interested in staring at me, probably trying to figure out why the hell I was going to Korea (at this point I was asking myself the same thing). We board the plane, which was smaller and older then my first flight and a lot more crowded. I was sitting very snugly next to this pretty big guy. Luckily I was able to sleep most of the flight (in between feedings of course).
So I arrive in Busan, South Korea after a 6 hour flight at 7:15 AM. Before you get off the plane they make you fill out three forms, customs, quarantine, and something else I'm not sure of (maybe declarations?). Well on each of the three forms it asked for my Korean address. I only knew that I was going to be staying at POSTECH university. So it began at the quarantine stop where they took your temperature (paranoid) and took form number 1 from you. Of course they questioned me on the fact that I didn't know the address but I tried to explain the best I could and they let me through. Second was customs, again I got questioned about the lack of address, and after a five minute conversation of me trying to explain why I was in Korea and how I can take an entire class in one month, she let me through too.
Finally I met up with Dr. Ryu (RPI professor) and Dr. Jung (POSTECH professor) who were there to pick me up and take me to POSTECH. Apparently I got special service because it is a 1.5 hour drive from the airport and they usually make students take the bus. On the way we stopped for coffee which was more like US coffee then Australia coffee (I am going to miss their coffee so much). We eventually made it to the university where I was shown the classroom where my lecture will be given as well as a short tour of the lab I will be working in. I met a bunch of the graduate students in the lab that I will be working with but here lies my first problem. They all have Korean names so I can't remember them for the life of me. I was thinking of giving them nicknames, but I don't know if they would like that so much. Getting used to this lab should be interesting seeing as I am doing experiments and using equipment that I have absolutely no experience with. On the bright side though, the lab is in the midst of some big work so there is a good chance Charlie and I could get published.
Next, I was shown my dormitory. I am on the fourth floor which is all female, and there is no elevator. This isn't a big deal except for we had to carry my enormous bags up all four flights. I carried the lighter one and Dr. Ryu opted to carry the heavier one. He was struggling a little but we made it. I got to my room where I met my roommate. She happens to be American (from NY) but I'm pretty sure her parents are Korean because she speaks fluently. Its a relatively small room with a hall bathroom but its alright for the month I will be here. A member of Dr. Jung's lab showed me the cafeteria and student center with the primary objective of finding an ATM. I had no Korean won on me and felt like it was a priority to get some. The first two ATMs we came to did not take international cards but the next two did (thank goodness). The exchange is somewhere around 1 USD to 1200 Korean won. Kind of weird if you ask me. Their bills are in 1000, 5000, 10000, and 50000 denominations. I made my way back to the dorm where I spent the afternoon unpacking and emailing. I'd kind of been living on the pack of Tim-tams I bought before boarding the plane in Melbourne (couldn't leave the country without them), because I was too afraid to go figure out the food situation (I've never had Korean before). I brought sheets for my bed with me but did not have a pillow. After first going to the housing office to ask them where to borrow one, they sent me to laundry. I found laundry and asked the lady for a pillow. Naturally, she didn't speak one word of English. So there I am doing the sleeping charade so that she might have an idea of what I am looking for. She walks back into some room and lo and behold comes out with a pillow AND a blanket. I was pretty stoked about the pillow success so I decided to go back to my room and reward myself with a nap because I felt like I hadn't actually slept in a very long time. Two hours later, I wake up and realize, I'm starving. I decided to brave the elements and find some food. I walk down to the Cafeteria that Gina (Dr. Jung's grad student- I remember her name because we have it in America!) showed me earlier in the day. I walk in and there is this glass case with three different meals in it. Two were 2000 and one was 4000 won. This is the equivalent of less then 2 and 4 dollars which is dirt cheap for food in my opinion. The descriptions were all in Korean of course so I chose the one that looked the most appetizing (letter B meal). Next to the case there were these machines that people were putting money into a receiving a ticket back. I figured that is where you bought your meal and the ticket is how you redeemed your food. I walk up to the machine, and guess what, it is all in Korean! So i stand there looking like a freakin idiot because I don't know which option to push. I ask this guy next to me for help but he didn't understand me really. I ended up just guessing and pushing a button, sticking in my 2000 won and taking my ticket. I walk into the cafeteria where there are three windows, one for meal A, B, and C. I thought I pushed B but I wasn't completely sure and the ticket was in Korean so that didn't help me. I walked up to window B and put my ticket in the little box. The lady is motioning to me to take something but I had no idea what she was talking about. Thirty seconds later I realized she wanted me to take a tray and then grab all the miscellaneous food items on the counter. Unfortunately the silverware was composed of a spoon and chopsticks. For those of you who know me well, you know I can't use chopsticks no matter how hard I try. I desperately looked around for a fork and luckily I found one. Thank you POSTECH for considering your non-Korean students. On my tray was some kind of clear soup with something that looked like seaweed in it, a bowl of steamed rice, some tuna looking thing, a cabbage dish with what appeared to be tomato sauce on it, and a vegetable noodle something or other. I went to find a seat, and begin investigating my food. I start with the soup. It tasted something like really old fish. In otherwords, I didn't eat it. Next I tried the tuna concocktion. That actually tasted like tuna to my suprise, so I ate it. Next was the cabbage tomato sauce thing which turns out wasn't tomato sauce. I actully couldnt tell you what it was because it was so spicy that it burned all of my tastebuds. I'm not a huge fan of spicy food so this was difficult to handle and I didn't have water, so I used rice as a substitute. Next was the vegetable noodle thing. They weren't noodles as it turns out, I think it was more of a vegetable like legumes or something. It wasn't too bad but didn't have a whole lot of taste. Needless to say, I ate my bowl of rice with some soy sauce and I have a feeling that is going to become a serious staple in my diet during the next 28 days. I will continue to try the crazy food that they give me but will be much more careful of spiciness...lesson learned. After I was done eating, we had to return the trays. This seems like a pretty simple concept but of course the directions on where to put what was in Korean. So I stood there again, like an idiot, until I could watch someone else put their tray away.
On my way back to the dorm I stopped at teh campus store to purchase some shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Seems simple right?? NOT. The shampoo was easy but turns out in Korea, conditioner is called rinse. It took me a minute or two to realize that they were the same thing. Lastly, I sought out to find body wash. I found a dove bottle labeled body wash so I went with that. Well, this body wash bottle was coupled in a little package with another smaller bottle that said light moisture lotion. I needed lotion too so this seemed perfect. I paid and went back to my dorm where I decided to test out my lotion. Here another lesson was learned....in Korea, light moisture lotion actually means SOAP, and body wash means SOAP, so I ended up with two bottles of SOAP. Of course, I am expecting lotion to come out of the bottle labeled light moisture lotion, so when I start rubbing it into my hands, it is just smearing around and getting all sticky and soap like. Somewhat of an annoying experience, but live and learn.
That is when I decided that this blog had to be written and that if today is any indication of my experiences to come, it will make for somewhat of an interesting read.
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment