Renewal

I'm writing this inaugural entry at 7:47am my time. I think the first thing I'll be getting used to, among many things, is knowing that I'm almost a day ahead of all of you. It's 3:47pm (Pacific Time) in the afternoon there. Sixteen hours ahead.

I'm up this early because I just completed my very first random act - I'm very proud about most of my random acts by the way. I'll give it a lengthy preamble.

Last night at about 7:30pm I went outside to call for a taxi, with a piece of paper I was instructed to give to him or her. It read, "Please take me to a 7-11 and a rice wine bar". Here's a very, very fun fact about Korean cities: there aren't exactly street signs here, at least for directions. It's a very new, western concept, to mark streets with signs and establish directions that way. They rely, much more, on landmarks, and points of interest, to find a location. So apparently, where I wanted to go was near both of these. So after flagging down a taxi (they're plentiful here, and to wave one down you extend your arm at waist-level and pretty much fondle the air) I hopped in, said "An-yong ah sayo" (hello) and he started speaking quickly. I said "ka jew sayo" (please take me to...) and handed him the note. He nodded, and sped off.

Taxis move quickly and recklessly here.

Kathryn was waiting for me outside the destination and promptly paid him, and handed me the remainder of Korean won. One dollar of American currency (USD) is roughly 1,000 KRW (Korean won). Right now I have about 40,000 won on me. We're going to the bank tomorrow so I can cash in the rest of my American money.

We went upstairs and I was introduced to my boss, Ms. Yoon. She was a very nice lady, and the night I arrived here I met her husband, Mr. Ban. In Korea, last names among spouses are not shared. I also met "Grace" and "Jane", two other teachers in the school I'm working for. They, however, are Korean-English teachers, and I strongly suspect their real identities are not as simple as "Grace" or "Jane". We toured the school, which took only about three minutes. It's not very big at all, and occupies only a single floor of an eight-story building. The top floor is a Hof (bar).

We said goodbye to Jane, Grace, and Ms. Yoon, and proceeded into downtown by foot to a restaurant by a name I can't remember. It was a sit-on-the-floor establishment, which was very cool if you consider intermittent leg naps as fascinating. Keep in mind that the entire time we were out, Kathryn and Hugh were filling me in on societal norms, customs, not to touch the button near a crosswalk because they're made for blind people and you'll be laughed at, and how it's expected you never pour your own drink, or hold a drink with one hand when yours is being poured. We had water, Hite (Korean beer), and Soju (rice wine) to drink. They explained that while pouring a drink it's customary to hold the container with one hand while your other hand touches your own shoulder. The closer to the heart, the more you like, or love, the person. So, we each had our turn in pouring drinks so I could learn these rules. And for drinks of the rice wine, the eldest always have their glasses held the highest. Age is important here, as is respect. Seems to be a complete escape from America.

The food was great, and the kimchi was as spicy as I imagined it'd be. We had kimchi to start, followed by a deep-fried pork dish, and a "sweet and sour" sauce. This is not the pink goo thrown into your bags at 2:23am from Jack in the Box. It was a dark brown mixture with fresh vegetables and indigenous plants thrown in. It was incredibly good, and I believe I ate the majority of this at our table. We also had a noodle dish in another brown sauce, and it was also a very new and amazing tasting item. The problem with this is that we had these metal chopsticks that were flatter than chopsticks you or I might be used to. So it was harder to eat the noodles, and I didn't prefer to make a scene. Eventually I caught on to the dumb-American-exposing device and ate the food in victory, while many clapped and cried. An older Korean man sat next to me at one point and began to stare, apparently admiring the color of my hair and the pigmentation of my skin, and circular constitution of my eyes. Hugh was trying to speak with him, but his intentions were only to sit down and admire me for a minute. He gave us toothpicks and then he left.

We left there, and walked around the area. It's a very bright place, and even in a smaller city like Mokpo you will still see the lights and vibrancy. Hugh received his black belt recently in Tae Kwon Do and had to run over to the dojo to grab something. I told him, as I've told a few people back home, that learning a form of martial arts is a serious goal of mine while I'm here. He was excited to hear this, and spoke with his master and student peers about my interests. I think I'm going to meet them today, and I might get started pretty soon. When Hugh was gone Kathryn brought me up to where I'll be staying. It's their apartment currently, but it will be mine on Thursday morning. It's a small place, but I definitely liked it. Everything I need, essentially, is there. And it's about a five-minute walk to the school, which is perfect. We were talking about the job itself, and she assured me that once I develop the fundamental tasks as a teacher, it's very easy. She was saying that students sometimes say the most retarded things that she can't help but laugh at. In fact, Kathryn reminds me of Lindsay. She's very outgoing, very loud, and very funny. She said one time, while teaching phrases associated with a family setting, she asked one of her students "How many children will your wife have one day?", to which the boy responded, "My wife will have 500 children. And then she will die." It was exactly as hilarious as you can imagine it'd be.

We walked around more, and I stopped by a bakery to grab some snacking food for my motel here in Mokpo. All of this food looked amazing, and I settled on two cornbread rolls, a large sweet potato-raisin bread loaf, a tuna roll, and a "hot dog", although from the looks of the contents it seems to be a Korean knock-off. In fact I'm going to try it right now. One second.

Wow. That is an incredibly tasty item. It looks like it has salsa, cilantro, cheese, and mayonnaise on it? I'm sure I'm 100 percent wrong but that's what it looks like. It was a good buy. So, we picked up those items, and I was able to make my first transaction in Korea. There's one thing I should mention about the culture, which I absolutely love and consider a rarity of people in America: The people here are very nice. Crime, here, I'm told is almost nonexistent. Although alcohol abuse is a problem, even the drunks are friendly. We honestly saw two guys, sloshed and disorientated, emerge from a hof and literally fall into a street. And they didn't even get up quickly. They lay there, laughing, and eventually rose and continued to stumble across the crosswalk. Hugh looked at me and said "nothing like getting sloshed on a Monday night, eh". Hugh is English by the way.

They showed me to a point where I could walk home, and we said our goodbyes. It really isn't hard at all to navigate around this city. It's not small, but there are landmarks like the Yudal Mountain to consider as a compass. I have seen this mountain so many times while obsessing over Korea during the preceding months. Yesterday morning, my first morning here, I opened my motel window and realized my room is staring directly at it. It's not exactly a mountain, but it is a giant monument that overlooks the city. Hugh apparently hikes up it twice a week. I think I'm going to adopt the activity as well. I took a picture of this.

I woke up early today, by chance to be honest, and thought to myself, "I want to run around the city as the sun rises". And I did. I was gone for almost two hours. Opportunities as these were once only thoughts of mine that I'm now able to fully obtain for my own. There's a conservative aura about this place that I can't explain yet, but I'm already appreciating and enjoying it very much. This is my home now, and aside from the language barrier that I imagine I'll breach relatively soon, there is nothing stopping me from flourishing and learning from this journey, which I'm quickly seeing, knowingly now, as a wise decision. It does feel like home to me.