Busy Day in Busanjin-Gu

Here is a quick update of what I have been up to because I know some of you are curious about the school, the students and how I am doing. Well, others just simply want to know if I am alive or not.

Last two days I have been working on a summer camp schedule (3 weeks in summer from July 25th to August 12th) and I finished it all yesterday night. I have no internet, TV or anything else to distract me from doing my work so I got it all done right away, even though my Korean co-teacher asked me to complete for Monday, July 4th but I got it done 3 days in advance. I have been reading the book my friend Meaghan got for me (Six Suspects written by Vikas Swarup), I have been trying to organize the paperwork, and documents for the school as well.

Yesterday, with the assistance of my Korean co-teacher, Lim Ye Jin, I got my health check up. Which sucked big time. I hate needles. Lousy blood test. Then they had to check height, weight, eye test, ear test, urine test, and the awkward x-ray test. At least its over with and I don't have to do that again. I also set up my bank account using KEB (Korean Exchange Bank) which has services in English and online banking that can help transfer money to back home. Very good bank! We also found a store that sells adapters for my laptop! 600 wons each (60 cents CDN each) and I got two of them. Very useful considering I need it for my laptop and my iPhone. Ye Jin also showed me how to use the subway services and showed me how to get a bus pass. The pass can save me money even though the price is 1100 wons (1.10$ CDN) per ride with no transfers but with the pass, the transfer is available and the ticket price is much cheaper too. At the end of the busy trip, we had some great Korean food that she recommended! It was super spicy (even for me) but I just kept eating away because it was that delicious! It was like chili chicken from a Chinese restaurant but Korean style.



Random pictures from the day at Seomyeon conjunction.
Hopefully I can get my internet service at my own place soon so that I can upload the pictures to the blog. I have lots of them too. Tomorrow, Thursday, June 30th, 2011 I I will get the ARC (Alien Registration Card) process in order to get other services as well. Hopefully the ARC arrives at the school in few weeks like promised.

The First Day

Wow! The first day of my teaching career in Busan, South Korea was great! The staff is superb! Everyone wanted to help me out, I met the English department, I have my own desk, my own laptop to use at school and the school is very big! 800 students big. The Vice Principal and the Principal were pleasant to talk to and the English Senior teacher is wonderful! Quite helpful and the Korean co-teacher has been resourceful and helpful throughout this transition stage.


The day started with a staff meeting for all of the school teachers and administrators. I gave a short speech about myself as an introduction (it was translated in Korean as well by my co-teacher). I was quite nervous and sweating a lot by this time. When everyone gave a round of applause it made me feel comfortable even though I am the only foreign teacher at the school of like 50 staff members. Since this is an "All Girls School" there aren't too many male teachers to begin with. Fortunately, there is an English male teacher (Sam) in the English department, who kindly introduced himself and made me feel part of the school community. Well, my speech was quite simple, I talked about where I came from, why I wanted to come to Busan, and what made me inspire to become a teacher.

The students are about to begin their final exams in few days so I don't have any formal lessons to teach this week. However, I did observe 5 classes and the students had many questions to ask! Some of the questions include: my height, my shoe size, my hobby, favourite Korean food, favourite colour, favourite K-Pop singer/group, favourite K-Pop song, how many siblings I had (and if they were older or younger), if I had a girlfriend, if I knew how to draw, if I knew how to sing, if I knew how to play the piano, and my blood type. There might be more questions that were asked but these were the usual ones I got.

Some of the statements I got are more flattering and some are over the top: I'm so tall, I look great, I look smart, I am a good drawer, my voice is hot like Justin Bieber and my favourite remark is the one where I look like Jacob from Twilight! Then they promptly asked if I had a six-pack like Jacob. I just laughed it off and said, "no, no six-pack but I do have a shape... circle!" They started to giggle away and it was quite a hilarious moment.

Oh, outside my office, there was a huge commotion during the transition of classes because the students really wanted to meet the new foreign English teacher. Many of the students were shy and curious but said, "hi" or "hello" whenever they could. They seem to love Justin Bieber, Super Junior and Big Bang a lot. I felt like a celebrity with the attention I was getting. I hope it doesn't continue for the whole year because it would become a distraction to the other teachers, the students and myself. I am sure it'll wear down as the days go by. I was able to eat a Korean lunch and the dessert was great! Ice cream filling inside a bun? I never knew that was even possible but it was delicious. Well, now my co-Korean teacher is going to help me with some grocery shopping and some items for the room (such as an adapter, iron, bed covers, etc). I'll keep you posted but I am so happy to be here now!

Valuable Information Post (V.I.P)

My Apartment Address:
Danggam 4 Dong
Danggam Jugong Apartments 102 Dong 705 Ho
Busanjin-gu, Busan
614-766

Basically, I now live at Danggam Jugong Apartment 102, room 705 and Busanjin-gu is the district in the city of Busan.

The School Address:
Yang Dong Girls Middle School
Yang Jeong 2 Dong 25-5
Busanjin-gu, Busan
614-851

Apparently mailing to this address is more reliable and quicker than to my own address according to the previous ESL teacher who lived and worked here.

Today I woke up at 8am, went to sleep at 8pm by the way. I went for a walk in the rainy weather from 9am to 10am just to get familiar with my surroundings. That proved to be tiresome as I had to walk up few hills! Then by 10:30am, I came back to the Internet Cafe to post my previous blog and then went back home around 12:30pm to take a nap until 5pm. 6pm I decided that I should take the bus and see where my school is exactly located at. So I took the 179 bus like the previous teacher (Kylene) told me to but I didn't know how long the bus ride would be. So, I asked the bus driver (clearly he did not speak English) but another lady overheard what I was asking and offered to help. She and another lady decided to get off with me and we took a taxi together to E-Mart. From there the lady pointed towards a massive hillside. I knew from Kylene's message that the Yang Dong school was up a hill. So I knew that the old lady was telling the truth and being honest with me. I walked for a good 10 minutes to see a school. It had playgrounds and a track. Nothing was written in English so I walked further up the hill to see another school: Yang Dong Middle School for Girls! I was so confused because I didn't know that I would be teaching an "All Girls School".

Yang Dong All Girls' Middle School!
Anyways, I saw this old man at the building and he told me that this was Yang Dong. Another man and his wife were there and they spoke a bit of English so they were able to call Im So Hyea (the senior English teacher) and she told me that this is indeed where I should be at tomorrow. At least I know where the school is at now! Phew.

I walked all the way down to where I was dropped off by the taxi, walked across to E-Mart and I showed the picture of the prong/adapter thingy that Chris (the friend I made at my building) told me to take a picture of using my iPhone. Smart of him to inform me that because it saved me time and effort to talk to the people working at E-Mart. Well they didn't have the item that I was looking for. They had adapters with circle inputs and rectangle outputs, I needed the opposite.

Well, I walked to the bus stop that said 20 and took the bus, to realize I wasted 1,100 wons ($1.10 CDN) because the next stop was the subway station! I just got off and walked to the next bus stop that read 179 (opposite direction - good thing for paying attention to where I was going) and headed home. It was easier now since I had a visual landscape of where I live. I guess being a visual learner helps in this sense.

My weekend has been going by super fast because everything is still a blur but it has helped me understand how foreigners in Toronto feel when they come to a big global city! I have a new appreciation for the lost foreigners in Toronto! The Korean people are so HELPFUL! They helped me big time like the lady on the bus, the old man, another man and his wife at the Yang Dong school and even the PC Internet cafe room because I didn't know what he said so I gave him another 1000 won thinking I had to owe more but he said "no" and gave me change for the 2000 won that I handed to him. This was earlier in the day when I used the internet from 10:30 to like 12:30pm. Now I am back at the internet cafe at 9pm to get a proper idea of the map of Busan.

Busan: The New Home

Nav and I arrived in Busan exactly at Saturday, June 25th 11:45am, local time as indicated. No delays, we got breakfast served to us, and the flight was great. 12pm noon, we were finished with customs, and other paperwork process. As soon as we got out of the airport, there was a driver waiting for us holding "Navjot Dhillion" sign. He spoke zero English but he was helpful enough to be with us until our co-teachers and representatives from the Busan Ministry of Education was with us.


Busan is in middle of the typhoon season so it was drizzling rain when we arrived but few hours later it started to pour like crazy! Nav and I said our farewells because his residence is located 10 minutes away from mine. He is in the Haeundae-gu district while I am in Busanjin-gu district. Nav and I already befriended a local resident (Chris) who moved here from Halifax to teach as well. He has been quite helpful and he informed me that I was taking over the position that his friend Kylene taught for three years.

Well, I am safely in Busan now. I have been using the Internet Cafe that Chris has told me about. I am still trying to figure out what my exact address is but so far I know that I am in Busan, South Korea, in the district of Busanjin-Gu and my building number is 102 and my room number is 705! I have taken some pictures of my room, so here you go!





The bed is a before and an after shot because I got new bed covers!
The co-teacher and the senior English teacher at the Yang Dong Middle School visited me and told me that I will be teaching grade 7, 8 and 9s and that there would be 34 students and that there will be a native Korean teacher in the classroom at all times. I am a bit nervous but excited as well. I will let you know how my first day of teaching goes soon.

Things to do: Get Internet at my own place so I don't have to come to the Internet Cafe and see everything written in Korean. I cannot upload any pictures for that particular reason. Hopefully I can get Internet in less than a week.

Fun in Beijing

I didn't get a chance to post a blog in Beijing because both Facebook and this website did not work for some reason in China! So I will update you on the Beijing experience before I get to anything else.

Oh, the irony - Air Canada & Pearson International Airport!
We arrived in Beijing at 5pm local time. Once again we got delayed by Air Canada's lame maintenance crew by 2 and half hours. Luckily, the flight was not cancelled. Unfortunately though, it caused us to miss our flight from Beijing to Busan (4:50pm departure). Nav and I managed to maintain our frustration with jokes (especially Niruban type of jokes - e.g., props bro, random pointing and laughing, licking lips, etc) and took everything positively. We even managed to make new friends as well!

Chicken option ran out in the economy class so I was able to get the meal from the business class instead while Nav ate the pork dish! One of the three meals from Toronto to Beijing.
We spoke to the Chinese Air Canada representative who was so helpful compared to the Canadian counterparts and that agent was with us throughout the ordeal. The agent and I joked around about K-Pop, learned about Chinese laws, Yuan currencies and about his job. He was quite helpful for a person who did not speak 100% fluent English and we would have been lost without him! The agent was able to provide transportation for us, along with a lady from Indiana who was also delayed thanks to Air Canada and that's when we met three vacationers who spoke Mandarin! They saved us so much time and effort, and made the communication process so smooth. They were very nice people and we even took some pictures with them!

The agent was able to provide us with a 5 star hotel - Crowne Plaza, a free buffet at the hotel (Nifa, you would have loved this! FREE BUFFET!?!), and certificate providing us with proof of Air Canada's incompetency.

Proof from Air Canada.



Anyways, we finally went to sleep at 12 midnight after Nav and I tried to communicate with the agency people. We woke up at 5am, took the airport transportation service back to the Beijing Airport, and took the Air China flight from Beijing to Busan! No delays, great service and the airport was massive! Modern but simple! Soon we will be in Busan, South Korea!

Mini Adventure at the Toronto Pearson Airport

So it was finally the moment I get on the plane with so much excitement and enthusiasm. My parents and my second sister came to drop me off but shortly after my cousins came to surprise me (Salini acca, Pratheep, Anoja, Bustala, Jaswan, and Stephi)! It was quite nice of them to do so. Finally, Nav along with his family and few of our mutual Brock University friends showed up too (Niruban, Vathanan, Theeraka and Priya).


However, after I boarded the 10:55pm flight we experienced numerous difficulties:
1st) Illegal pilots. Don't be alarmed, this is Air Canada's way of saying, "Pilots who are tired and have worked over 14 hours." They wasted 20 minutes in switching the pilot crew.

2nd) Leakage in the economy class from the ceiling of the aircraft because of the heavy thunderstorm and lightning. The stewardesses used plastic cups and a rag to hold off the rain water from soaking the seats and some of the passengers. (See Pictures for proof and evidence of their carelessness.)

3rd) We waited 2 and half hours and finally they told us to leave the aircraft so that the maintenance crew can come in and fix the problem. Well they couldn't.

4th) After waiting another 30 minutes, they finally announced that the flight is now "not flyable".

5th) Nav and I had to get off the flight, argue with an Air Canada agent and how we should be compensated. We were not alone. Few vocal people joined in and the Air Canada people had no choice but to... ... wait for it... give us $10 Tim Horton's vouchers!?! Nav and I made sure we used every penny of it. Of course we will.

6th) It's around 2:30am, we are stranded at Toronto Pearson airport. What do we do? Nav quickly talks to the agents and I quickly check out other flights that will take us to Busan as soon as possible.

7th) It didn't matter how much we researched and whom we talked to. We wouldn't be able to do anything until 5am when the "Ticket Booth" people open up. We waited and waited until 5am. We went and complained big time. Nav raised his voice and I pretty much told them that I would like to talk to a manager and if there is someone we could e-mail in order to get compensation. The person at the ticket booth was no use until Nav yelled at him and told him that we are not going for vacation but for actual jobs! The guy told us to be seated and he'll try to do something for us.

8th) We waited another 15 minutes. I got fed up and went back in line to talk to the guy again. This time he gave me blankets, toothbrushes, and other nonsense and informed me that he is trying to get us a direct flight from Toronto to Beijing instead of Toronto to Vancouver, and then Vancouver to Beijing. Unfortunately the Toronto to Beijing flight is at 1:10pm EST but we have no choice but to go on that flight now.

Now, Nav and I are basically tired, frustrated and disappointed with Air Canada and its services, or lack of. We will no longer be supporting them in any causes. Oh, we also met a pilot and a stewardess who finished their shift and told us about stories back in Vancouver, joked around for a bit and they were really friendly. Too bad they weren't working but the pilot was kind enough to take our blog addresses and wished us good luck on our journey.