Hello again!
Okey, dokey! Here goes instalment #2....The weekend.
So Sat morning, I woke up, thrilled at the fact that I could lie in and be lazy for a few hours before meeting my Korean friend, Kim Gyo Lim, at 1pm at school - they have school every fortnight. Can't remember if I mentioned it, but her parents had invited me to their home for the weekend. It was raining outside - lovely CT type weather - so I revelled in the knowledge that I could snuggle up with coffee in front of my newly installed internet tv (which I'm convinced is the same darn thing as DSTV, but there are definitely 1 or 2 more options). Anyway, so snuggle up I did, and proceeded to watch Star Wars. Ah....glorious decadence!
And then the ph rang! Dang! It was my co-teacher - the one I love so much. Well, he needed some documents from me to forward to the Office of Education - documents, I have to add, that I had wanted to give him 6 weeks ago when I first arrived, and he told me to keep it cos no one told him about it! GRRRRR! Meanwhile, on Star Wars, Anakin was being tempted by the Dark Side... Being sorely tempted by the Dark Side myself, I politely informed Lee (co-teacher) that I would be at school at 12:30. End of call. Back to Jedi warriors battling the Dark Side and cold coffee. 15 mins later...Lee phones again to inform me that someone from school will come to collect the docs. OKAY, say I! Back to Star Wars. 10mins later, the doorbell rings. I send EVERYTHING he could possibly need. By this time, Anakin is selling his soul to the 'devil' in the name of love. 20mins later the ph rings.... Lee needs my original passport....In the NAME OF LOVE, I very darkly inform him that I am now highly irritated and that the Education Office needs to decide what the heck they want, and they are conducting themselves in a very UNprofessional manner. To which he replies that he, too, is now irritated. Again, I inform him that I STILL will only be at school at 12:30. The Force is with me... I shall not be moved! If you know me well.....you know NOT to disturb me when I'm watching a good movie! LOL! And have you guessed the finale yet? 5 mins later...the doorbell rings. The same lady - our admin lady, sweet cutest, funniest girl ever - has trekked in the rain yet again to collect my passport. By the time all that was done, I had only 40mins or so before I had to start getting ready to leave. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my new lover and friend - 'Internet TV'......
Okay, so I'm now at school to meet my friend. But then she was meeting with a parent. The other teachers were ordering lunch, so I placed my order, and joined them for lunch. (I don't get it...in SA, we couldn't wait to leave school, here, they hang around as though they have nothing better to do! Already they had to work on a Sat, and then they still hang around...) After lunch, they proceeded to pile work on my friend - she's a new teacher, and young, so can't say anything. New, young teachers are the pack donkeys here. Anyway, so we eventually ended up leaving about 3pm. She is also a new driver, with a new car...and was quite scared cos the rain was pouring down. We drove at 50km/h for an hour until we reached her home town, Sangju.
My first time in a Korean family home. Her father is a government official, so quite well off. He built his own home. Very nice and comfortable. What a lovely family! Warmhearted, kind, sweet, considerate. It's obvious that this family LOVES. They immediately took me for a drive to a nearby Buddhist temple to walk around, then to a bicycle museum. The Sangju town motto: one man, one bicycle. After that, supper..the best Korean food I've had since being here. Her mom knows her stuff! After supper, Gyo Lim took me a for a walk round town. We ended up at a delightful little coffee shop, that could have been somewhere on Long Street, CT. Back home and to bed. Breakfast the next morning...freshly made rice cake, which her mom had just made, pastries and fruit. (apparently, her mom had been worrying about what to prepare for me for breakfast - too sweet!). Then off for a long drive to an historical mountain - Meongseong Saejae. Had lunch at a restaurant there. Then we set off for a 2hour hike. Thankfully, Gyo Lim, got us out of the long walk by taking me on a tour of a film set located there. Traditional Korean set-up including king's palace, torture racks, jail, homes of the rich and poor, tradiitional pubs and restaurants. A famous Korean tv soapie gets filmed here.
It had been raining the entire time, so our shoes were coated in mud. We stopped at a river's edge to wash the mud from our shoes, and I was extremely humbled as Gyo Lim's mother squatted and washed the mud off my shoes with her bare hands. That's a big deal for Koreans as they will wear gloves for almost every menial job. After that, they took me to the Museum of Roads, located at the same place, and then home. The rain only let up when we left Sangju.
An absolutely lovely weekend with a beautiful Korean family.
Till next time....
Love, Andrea
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