Written by 2.35am 20th of January
Tonight I decided to come online and read a certain blog that’s kept me riveted for some time now. Though I’m living it I’m still curious to see what has been said about the events of the last two days. What do I find? It sounds like our author is all alone here with nothing but a new mattress and noodles to entertain him! Well, I thought, time for some outside input so here I sit writing to you all.
Our story begins at Incheon airport on the 17th of January. Shelly and I walked out of customs at 9:30pm to find Sharad/Sanu/Sandal/Shiv there waiting for us! First thing he says “What took you so long?! I’ve been here since 6pm!”. Ok I exaggerate. There was hugging first hehe. We talked so much he could hardly get a word in edgewise! The reason we’d been late out of customs was that one of our bags was marked for a ‘random’ inspection. In actuality they may have scanned the bag and found something they didn’t like inside. Luckily for me I had declared the item in question so if it had indeed been random, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Our trip around India took us to many amazing places. In one such place I happened upon a silversmith. As I walked into his shop I caught sight of him inlaying gold wire into the sheath of a blade. I knew I had found a gem of a place! So you see, as I prepared to enter Korea with an item from that place of art, I was excited at the prospect of the giftee’s face! Unfortunately, even though I made no attempt to hide it, Korean officials confiscated the item on the grounds that it was pointy…. So are my knitting needles buddyyyy!! Thankfully, it will be returned to me on my departure and one day when Sharad returns to his room, it shall be there waiting for him (Australia will allow it into the country! Ah our wonderful land).
The cold as we walked out was hardly noticed in the excitement of our reunion. All of us being cold weather enthusiasts might have been another reason. None of us found ourselves feeling particularly tired so after our shuttle bus ride and checking in our baggage at a cheap hotel we headed back out. Oh and when we say it was a cheap hotel, don’t let the words fool you into misconception. It was great! Warm, clean and comfy. Well we wandered out of our hotel and decided to see what Saturday night in Incheon had to show us. If I had no idea what day of the week it was, I would have guessed it was sometime during the week. A time when everyone decided that it was too much trouble to go out and pay for it the next day at work. We wandered from bar to restaurant, from cold to too warm trying as many new places as possible. The only constant during this steadily blurrier time, was Soju. You think English is harder to speak the more Soju you drink? That’s nothing to trying to speak Korean. As the night progressed we learned a few words here and there (some of which I must admit I don’t remember anymore). There’s nothing like a foreigner attempting to speak your language to you to break the ice. We said hello in Korean to everyone who looked our way (a hint from our benevolent host) and thank you to those who helped us on our way. We found ourselves in an American bar, having to make sure they knew we were from Hoju (Australia) not America. As we weren’t hungry, we were happy to discover that despite this we were provided with snacks to eat to accompany the drinks which would have dissolved our stomach lining otherwise. I was told during and afterwards that the beer was ghastly but I quite enjoyed it. After the jetlag of flying and 2 months of being dry in India, I must have sadly forgotten the taste of good beer. Well I’ll know better when I come back home (hint hint my friends). As we walked from place to place we stopped to have snow fights here and there. We’re still awaiting our first sight of snowfall though. Apparently just before we came there was some, which is why it’s as warm as 7 degrees here.
It was a night filled with new experience and reminiscence! Home though a melancholy topic was interjected with laughter! It was almost like we were at home with him and you all during his surprise visit. We found ourselves in a singing room later that night! And what creates memories better than good company and good music. We screamed, shouted and cleared out the joint with our versions of such classics as Piano Man, Bohemian Rhapsody and Livin on a Prayer. We played pool, learnt a bit about a Korean version of the game and burnt our tongues with scalding but delicious coffee.
Tonight I decided to come online and read a certain blog that’s kept me riveted for some time now. Though I’m living it I’m still curious to see what has been said about the events of the last two days. What do I find? It sounds like our author is all alone here with nothing but a new mattress and noodles to entertain him! Well, I thought, time for some outside input so here I sit writing to you all.
Our story begins at Incheon airport on the 17th of January. Shelly and I walked out of customs at 9:30pm to find Sharad/Sanu/Sandal/Shiv there waiting for us! First thing he says “What took you so long?! I’ve been here since 6pm!”. Ok I exaggerate. There was hugging first hehe. We talked so much he could hardly get a word in edgewise! The reason we’d been late out of customs was that one of our bags was marked for a ‘random’ inspection. In actuality they may have scanned the bag and found something they didn’t like inside. Luckily for me I had declared the item in question so if it had indeed been random, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Our trip around India took us to many amazing places. In one such place I happened upon a silversmith. As I walked into his shop I caught sight of him inlaying gold wire into the sheath of a blade. I knew I had found a gem of a place! So you see, as I prepared to enter Korea with an item from that place of art, I was excited at the prospect of the giftee’s face! Unfortunately, even though I made no attempt to hide it, Korean officials confiscated the item on the grounds that it was pointy…. So are my knitting needles buddyyyy!! Thankfully, it will be returned to me on my departure and one day when Sharad returns to his room, it shall be there waiting for him (Australia will allow it into the country! Ah our wonderful land).
The cold as we walked out was hardly noticed in the excitement of our reunion. All of us being cold weather enthusiasts might have been another reason. None of us found ourselves feeling particularly tired so after our shuttle bus ride and checking in our baggage at a cheap hotel we headed back out. Oh and when we say it was a cheap hotel, don’t let the words fool you into misconception. It was great! Warm, clean and comfy. Well we wandered out of our hotel and decided to see what Saturday night in Incheon had to show us. If I had no idea what day of the week it was, I would have guessed it was sometime during the week. A time when everyone decided that it was too much trouble to go out and pay for it the next day at work. We wandered from bar to restaurant, from cold to too warm trying as many new places as possible. The only constant during this steadily blurrier time, was Soju. You think English is harder to speak the more Soju you drink? That’s nothing to trying to speak Korean. As the night progressed we learned a few words here and there (some of which I must admit I don’t remember anymore). There’s nothing like a foreigner attempting to speak your language to you to break the ice. We said hello in Korean to everyone who looked our way (a hint from our benevolent host) and thank you to those who helped us on our way. We found ourselves in an American bar, having to make sure they knew we were from Hoju (Australia) not America. As we weren’t hungry, we were happy to discover that despite this we were provided with snacks to eat to accompany the drinks which would have dissolved our stomach lining otherwise. I was told during and afterwards that the beer was ghastly but I quite enjoyed it. After the jetlag of flying and 2 months of being dry in India, I must have sadly forgotten the taste of good beer. Well I’ll know better when I come back home (hint hint my friends). As we walked from place to place we stopped to have snow fights here and there. We’re still awaiting our first sight of snowfall though. Apparently just before we came there was some, which is why it’s as warm as 7 degrees here.
It was a night filled with new experience and reminiscence! Home though a melancholy topic was interjected with laughter! It was almost like we were at home with him and you all during his surprise visit. We found ourselves in a singing room later that night! And what creates memories better than good company and good music. We screamed, shouted and cleared out the joint with our versions of such classics as Piano Man, Bohemian Rhapsody and Livin on a Prayer. We played pool, learnt a bit about a Korean version of the game and burnt our tongues with scalding but delicious coffee.
Outside the pool place:
Stumbling, we returned to our hotel at 6am and prepared to sleep til 9am at which point we were to go to our home for the next 3 weeks. Our trusty alarm (a mobile with low battery) failed us and we found ourselves emerging from the hotel at 12pm ready to tackle the 5 hour journey home. We had 4 bus rides ahead but in between each we stopped to take in the steadily less busy surroundings! From Incheon->airport, airport->Seoul, Seoul->Yeongwol and Yeongwol->Gurae! We ‘accidentally’ found our way to a Gloria, seeing reminders of home nearly everywhere. When you are away from those you love most, it doesn’t matter where in the world you may be, whether in the middle of the desert or in a busy city, your mind has a way of finding traps. Traps that shatter barriers and resurface memories you’ve pushed to the back of your mind in an attempt to live in the now and not be crippled by longing and loneliness. Being here must have taught my friend just how dangerous that can be. In my two days here, I’ve discovered just how much more proud I am of him! It was always wonderful that he had the strength to go out and live his dream. But coming here to actually discover the reality of what it is to live here, I am blown away with admiration. Before I embarrass him further though, I shall continue the story.
With all our stops in the middle, we arrived back to his place at around 11pm, were shown around, helped him set up that riveting mattress from his previous entry and sipped on some Dilmah. After settling in, we fell to our respective beds and floated to dreamland.
Yesterday
When Sharad returned from work at 5pm, he told us we had been invited out to dinner with a married couple who both teach at his school! We accepted, eager to meet new people. He warned us that a dinner invitation extended by two people might evolve into the town of Gurae choosing that night in particular to eat out at that particular restaurant (ok so it is the only restaurant in town but still). We had a lovely dinner which was a spicy chicken and potato stew, with the delicious side dishes that came with (mmmm spicy natli, for those who don’t know or spell/say it differently, it’s small dried fried fish! Indeeed mmmmm – somehow not as good as in Fiji though hehe)! The couple, Yongmin and Linda were very funny and we all laughed easily with our tickling (Linda’s word for kidding til Sharad told her otherwise). I have a feeling she will be teaching us Korean during the next couple of weeks. During the meal, the school bus driver wandered in and out and the school’s principal was somewhere about. When we finished dinner we all headed home for a cup of tea! We sat around chatting and laughing and giving an educational lesson about those of you at home. Ah the wonders of facebook show n tell!
With all our stops in the middle, we arrived back to his place at around 11pm, were shown around, helped him set up that riveting mattress from his previous entry and sipped on some Dilmah. After settling in, we fell to our respective beds and floated to dreamland.
Yesterday
When Sharad returned from work at 5pm, he told us we had been invited out to dinner with a married couple who both teach at his school! We accepted, eager to meet new people. He warned us that a dinner invitation extended by two people might evolve into the town of Gurae choosing that night in particular to eat out at that particular restaurant (ok so it is the only restaurant in town but still). We had a lovely dinner which was a spicy chicken and potato stew, with the delicious side dishes that came with (mmmm spicy natli, for those who don’t know or spell/say it differently, it’s small dried fried fish! Indeeed mmmmm – somehow not as good as in Fiji though hehe)! The couple, Yongmin and Linda were very funny and we all laughed easily with our tickling (Linda’s word for kidding til Sharad told her otherwise). I have a feeling she will be teaching us Korean during the next couple of weeks. During the meal, the school bus driver wandered in and out and the school’s principal was somewhere about. When we finished dinner we all headed home for a cup of tea! We sat around chatting and laughing and giving an educational lesson about those of you at home. Ah the wonders of facebook show n tell!
Guess the inspiration for this shot :D :
We were invited to teach at the school tomorrow. Probably the no-no-no mouthing and hand motioning Sharad was doing behind us made Linda change her mind. Later she said, as there will only be 2 students per teacher there, she feels we’ll have much too many teachers. But we may head there to see the school when the students have left and meet any teachers left behind. Now here I sit while all others sleep. When I find out how to post despite all programs and words being in Korean, I shall post this.
Ok I’m off to bed! Hope you are all well :). Take care, byeeee! *waves*
Ps. If any rumours are heard about us cleaning and cooking, I say it’s more to do with cleaning up after oneself and being independent than anything someone might say about knowing one’s place.
Ok I’m off to bed! Hope you are all well :). Take care, byeeee! *waves*
Ps. If any rumours are heard about us cleaning and cooking, I say it’s more to do with cleaning up after oneself and being independent than anything someone might say about knowing one’s place.
By Guest Blogger: Pavich.
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