Welcome To Haman
December 10, 2005
It's 8:11pm and I'm in the motel A-Na-Da in Haman (room #305). It is certainly warmer here than in Montreal! Today it was around +12 during the day. The trip here was mostly uneventful...not necessarily a bad thing when you're talking about a long trip like that.
I left Montreal a little after 8:00am on Thursday, Dec. 8. I've never been so close to missing a plane in my life! By the time my luggage was sorted out, i.e. taking the guitar (which cost me a U.S.$130), weighing the luggage, and having the luggage sent directly through to Busan ahead of me, it was 7:15. Boarding on the plane started at 7:20! But, I still had to go through customs and screening. Oh ya, and then I had to pretty much go to the furthest end of Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport!
One little curiosity...when I was going through screening I saw the people ahead of me take off their shoes, but I decided that I wouldn't unless asked. I wasn't.
Luckily I ran part of the way and that was a bit of a challenge with the stuff I was carrying, but by the time I boarded the plane it was after 8:00am. I was the second last passenger to board.
The flight to Chicago was great! No turbulence, no problems.
Once in Chicago, in the land of the free and the home of depraved, my biggest challenge was finding where I needed to be and getting there. I didn't have any U.S. currency on me and asked a couple of places if they took Canadian money. No! So, I found a currency exhcange place (also a challenge) and converted my paltry CAN$20 to U.S.$12.70. Oh Joy! That at least bought me a bottle of water and some dried fruit snacks.
Finally, time to board Japan Airlines flight #003 to Tokyo/Narita. No problems here either, except this time I did have to take my boots off.
The flight to Tokyo was also not eventful, just very, very long. There was a TV screen on the back of the seat ahead of me and I could watch a number of movies in English, i.e. Godfather 3, Polar Express, Wedding Crashers. There were also some video games available, i.e. Solitaire, Invaders, Virtual Bowling. I played "Invaders" a few times.
It took about 12.5 hours to fly from Chicago to Narita. We landed at Narita airport at 5:00pm local time which was like 3:00am for me, but in between movies and games, I slept. I probably got about 3 to 4 hours sleep on the plane,so when we landed I felt pretty good. I was in this long line of people waiting to go through immigration/customs and was about 15 minutes from finally getting to an agent when I saw a sign saying that foreigners should go to Counter 'A' before going through immigration. So, fine I leave the line after having been in it for 40 minutes or so and I go to counter 'A'. When I get to Counter 'A' I see a sign saying that people holding passports for the U.S., Canada and about a half dozen other countries don't need to go to Counter 'A'. They couldn't have said that on the first sign? Anyway, by 6:00pm I made it through customs and screening and was waiting outside for a free shuttle bus to take me to the Nikko Narita Hotel.
The room (#619) was small, but I was happy to take my boots off, have a shower, and lay down. I bought a lemonade at a vending machine, went back to my room and went to sleep around 8:30pm. I woke up at midnight and thought I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, but I did. The next thing I knew it was 6:00am. I had to catch a shuttle bus at 9:15am. The concierge at the desk had given me the schedule for the shuttle bus and another piece of paper which I didn't unfortunately look at. It was a coupon for a free buffet breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. If I had known that I wouldn't have cashed a U.S.$50 travellers cheque to buy breakfast which cost about $20.
Well, at least I had some Japanese Yen that I could use to buy some postcards. I bought 5 of them, and the stamps necessary to mail them to Canada. I wrote a quick note on each and mailed them just in time to catch my shuttle to the airport.
Finally, the plane to Busan. Again, a very easy, non-eventful flight. It took about 2 hours to get to Busan. After customs, immigration and screening I walked into the arrival area to find a couple of men holding a sign saying "Welcome Pierre!". They introduced themselves...Dr. Cho (director of the Haman school board) and Kim Dong-Jin, a teacher at Chilwon Elementary school where I'll be teaching.
It took about one hour to drive from Busan's airport to Haman City. My kind benefactors took me to a restaurant for a traditional Korean lunch...rice, vegetables, kimchi, fish, salad, grilled pork and lots more. We sat on cushions with our legs crossed under the table. I unfortunately (for myself and everyone else) had to take my boots off. The director showed me the proper way to eat with chopsticks. One stick is held immobile low down between the thumb and forefinger while the other one is manipulated by the forefinger. Both men also taught me quite a few useful Korean words. They seemed impressed by the amount of Korean that I've picked up over the past few months. I don't know what I'm going to use it for later, but I'm going to learn so much korean in the next 12 months!
After lunch we went to the school. Although it's about to celebrate its 100th year the school looks nice! I start work on Monday!!!!
My apartment in Haman isn't ready yet, so I'm spending my first few days in a motel, (A-Na-Da Motel) in room #305. Fortunaetly, the motel room has a computer with internet access and even better, it's free. Until I move in to the apartment next week the only thing I need to pay for is my food. I will have high speed internet access in my apartment!
Tomorrow, I'll try to scare up a knife, so I can spread the peanut butter and jam on the bread I bought, and a spoon so I can make coffee. I'll also take a little walk in the immediate area, study some Korean, and maybe call my Korean co-teacher to introduce myself.
9:15pm. I'm tired. Time for bed.
December 11, 2005
I was wide awake at 1:30am. I tossed and turned for a few hours and finally couldn't stay in bed any longer so I got up --- it was 4:00am. I watched some tv, had a peanut butter and jam sandwich and of course a cup of coffee.
I puttered, I rested, I wrote emails. Then, the manager of the motel came knocking at my door to give me some clean towels. Before she left I asked her if I could buy a knife and spoon somewhere, but she offered to lend them to me. Yeah!! I had been pouring the coffee directly from the jar of "Tasters Choice" into my cup and estimating the amount. I hated to do it, but I used my brand new chopsticks to spread peanut butter ... not the best, but what are you going to do? The manager came back a little later and I asked her where the nearest restaurant was located. She went away and came back with an empty kleenex box which apparentl had a restaurant advertised on it. I recognized the word for rice in korean and told her, "yes". I told her I also wanted "kimchi" (fermented cabbage and spices), the national dish of korea. She wrote the number on a pad I handed her.
Within 30 minutes there was a knock at my door and the delivery guy came into the foyer. He took the dishes out of a warmer and layed them on my floor. He asked for 4,000 Wan (about $4.00). There was a big plate of rice with some dark sauce, a bowl of spicy fish soup (really good!), and of course a bowl of kimchi. It was all really, really good!!!
I watched an episode of "The A Team" as I ate. Then, feeling the need for some fresh air and a little exercise I brought my dishes to the office downstairs (I didn't know what else to do with them), and went for a little walk. Here are some of the pictures I took on my way.
I only went out for perhaps 30 minutes and as I returned to the hotel the delivery man, driving a scooter stopped and asked me if I brought m dishes downstairs (I think?). I sort of signed to him that I did. He seemed satisfied, said goodbye and drove off.
I'll spend the remainder of the day uploading pictures to the blog, listening to some Eva Cassidy, maybe watching some TV, trying to read a korean newspaper, and preparing for tomorrow - my first day working at Chlwon Elementary School!!
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