Exploring my New Territory

Fun filled day 

I woke up this morning at 11am and after I got over the shock of almost sleeping for 12 hours and wasting my day away I kind of started to feel a little depressed because there is no one I could say good morning too. So I went to shower feeling all miffy and not in the mood for the day when I remembered making a date with Gezina aka. Christina (next door neightbour) to go and explore the outskirts of town.

And what fun it didn't turn out to be. Wow!! We walked all around the town for about 10km. To add on top of that it was an absolutely beautiful day today. I had to delayer myself twice because I heated up so quickly. I must say I'm going to be a little stiff tomorrow from all this walking but it's better than being sad and lonely. 

Korea love their parks. One thing I realised that differs between us in South Africa and Korea is the fact that Koreans absolutely love the outdoors. Needless to say that I would've loved it so much too if I stayed in a small apartment like most of them do. I saw some many families on a outing in the parks today and it's not only the primary school aged children with the family but the teenagers as well. This was quite a remarkable sight to see. 

We went to the Historic park in Jeon Gogeup (town I stay in). They have a very big museum in the park that you can visit so I will do that sooner or later. They also have all these statues of the ape man standing around or making a fire or hunting a mammoth. As I mentioned on facebook  they believe the cradle of the humankind lies within Korea. And as I assume they also still believe that man came from ape which I won't judge them on but seriously people need to get over that now. It's so not true. One really weird thing I saw was that they displayed rhino's which is quite funny considering they are one of the countries who buys ivory and get rhino's killed.

There is apparently a big festival happening in the park in May so I think I will go join that. Apparently they show the people of Korea how people lived in the Stone age by teaching people how to start a fire with stones and twigs. 

Another interesting thing I found out is that Korea only eat white dogs because they believe their meat is more pure than other hair coloured dogs. And this broke my heart because it's not like these people have black dogs or something but only white dogs and they eat them. And most of the dogs here is chained up. It's really sad. And I really hope that I will never come across a place that sells dog meat. I'm to much of a animal lover to think of eating dogs never mind the fact that I'm really trying to figure out why I'm eating meat in the first place... 

Anyway. When we got back into town I split from Gezina and went into town to do some exploring for myself. I must say their style of clothing is quite different but not to much different from the SA Chinese stores. The other thing I realised is that retail therapy is a thing and really does keep your mind occupied. I'm still a little on the scared side to spend money. Half of the things I wanted to buy today didn't have price tags on and when I ask the guy behind the till how much it is he answers me in Korean which I definitely don't understand. I didn't even understand when they gave me the price never mind everything else they said. I'll have to walk with a calculator so that they can show me on that.

And then of course which is probably one of the best things ever living here is that I met another foreign english teacher from the US who teaches at another school in the street on in my search for a restaurant to eat dinner at. It's quite great that it's so easy to point out who is foreign and who is not. And it's something we definitely don't get in South Africa. So we went for dinner and had a nice chat and now we might go out tonight to introduce me to some of the local beers in a local pub. I must say it's quite nice to just speak to people who actually understand you and who can communicate back.

It's super frustrating to try speak really simple english super slowly so that the Korean people can understand what you are asking or saying. But all in all the people of Korea is super friendly and really nice and they love laughing so it's actually nice being around these positive people. I just wish I understood them a little. But I'm teaching myself the alphabet on my cellphone and I'm translating words into english in order to understand. So eventually I'll be able to maybe communicate a little or maybe just understand their writing.