Korea is called the Land of the Morning Calm. I woke up this morning pretty calm even though my teaching contract is starting to look like it's pretty broken by the whole accommodations issue. The room was really cold but the flimsy looking Korean-style blankets (picture a thin duvet) were really warm. Not a bad night's sleep by comparison with the past few days.
I went for a long walk around the neighbourhood, had a look in a couple of shops. The Koreans on the street seem cautious but friendly, naturally, considering I was sort of dressed like a well-kitted out bag lady.
Last night at the airport Chris, Tanya and Susan handed me a couple of big bags of groceries. This was a bigger godsend than I could have imagined since this morning I'm in a place with no kitchen but managed a breakfast of instant mocha, mayo sandwiches and fruit. I feel like a king! Well, okay, I don't feel hungry and I'm alive and kicking. Good enough.
Luckily I packed my army gut wrench (knife/fork/spoon kit), a bowl and some chopsticks. I forgot my melmac mug though, so I'm drinking coffee out of a bowl today. :D Another godsend is this hijacked open wireless connection I'm hooking up to to post and surf. What is needed will be provided.
I'll post some pics later.
31 January 2007
Arrival in Busan
I'm in Busan now in a run-down yeogwan. Chris, Tanya and Susan met me at the airport, along with my recruiter. They brought me a couple of bags of groceries and said "Hello!" before taking off. They were going to offer me a place to stay with them if I was being put into a yeogwan. Mr. Joe told after we left the airport that I'd be in a "studio-room" until Saturday when I'd be moved into a new apartment.
Mr. Joe, the recruiter, took me to meet my co-worker and I found out a number of unexpected facts:
1) I will be the only native speaker at my school.
2) the accommodations are shared, not single accommodation as advertised.
3) the teacher I met will be my room-mate.
4) I have a single-entry visa, so unless I can get a new visa issued by immigration I can't leave the country and re-enter on this visa. I.E. no trips to see the neighbouring countries.
5) the work hours are not as previously advertised.
I'll find out more about this tomorrow when I can have a chat with Mr. Joe. To quote Jayne from Firefly, "I'm smelling a lot of 'if' coming off of this plan." Right now I'm going to get some sleep and meet my school director tomorrow.
Mr. Joe, the recruiter, took me to meet my co-worker and I found out a number of unexpected facts:
1) I will be the only native speaker at my school.
2) the accommodations are shared, not single accommodation as advertised.
3) the teacher I met will be my room-mate.
4) I have a single-entry visa, so unless I can get a new visa issued by immigration I can't leave the country and re-enter on this visa. I.E. no trips to see the neighbouring countries.
5) the work hours are not as previously advertised.
I'll find out more about this tomorrow when I can have a chat with Mr. Joe. To quote Jayne from Firefly, "I'm smelling a lot of 'if' coming off of this plan." Right now I'm going to get some sleep and meet my school director tomorrow.
30 January 2007
Maple Leaf Lounge
Woke up this morning, bought a razor and shaving cream to shave off three days of scruff so Korean immigration won't put me in a zoo. Washed out my nice, but filthy, shirt in the hotel sink and put on a tie. The hotel was spartan but clean, a basic room, fairly large, internet services in the lobby and a no-frills family restaurant. It felt good to get a decent night's sleep and a hot shower or two after the bizarre life of airport transitions the past couple of days. Man, did I ever feel like a bag of crap when I woke up, I need another day of sleep.
I took the shuttle to YVR and picked up my first-class ticket. They sent me through the "Executive Class Express Security Check-in" which took about twice as long as a regular check-in because there's only one station as opposed to four in the regular line.
I went to the Maple Leaf Lounge to see what all the fuss was about. They have free papers, snacks, noodles, beverages, beer, wine, liquor, lots of stuff. They also have internet terminals and printers. It's nice, kinda like a big internet cafe with free food and so on. I'm not sure how much better than a regular flight the first-class thing is, I mean you're still just sitting in a chair for the trip, but the lounge services are great if you have to spend a lot of time in airports. I'll have to see if you can get passes for just the lounge services.
I checked the departure board and noticed that my flight is delayed 15 minutes. Hopefully this won't mean a day of waiting in Incheon Airport before I can get to Pusan. I really do enjoy the journey but I'd like to get to Busan someday.
I took the shuttle to YVR and picked up my first-class ticket. They sent me through the "Executive Class Express Security Check-in" which took about twice as long as a regular check-in because there's only one station as opposed to four in the regular line.
I went to the Maple Leaf Lounge to see what all the fuss was about. They have free papers, snacks, noodles, beverages, beer, wine, liquor, lots of stuff. They also have internet terminals and printers. It's nice, kinda like a big internet cafe with free food and so on. I'm not sure how much better than a regular flight the first-class thing is, I mean you're still just sitting in a chair for the trip, but the lounge services are great if you have to spend a lot of time in airports. I'll have to see if you can get passes for just the lounge services.
I checked the departure board and noticed that my flight is delayed 15 minutes. Hopefully this won't mean a day of waiting in Incheon Airport before I can get to Pusan. I really do enjoy the journey but I'd like to get to Busan someday.
Labels:
Travel
Journey Interuptus
Alright, so I quit my job in IT to go wander up and down upon the earth for a while.
That was the easy part, I think.
I packed up and/or discarded my possessions that wouldn't fit into two old army duffel bags a few days ago and went to get my flight to Korea. I had no idea that getting to Korea would be such an adventure!
Sunday afternoon Amanda noticed that my Air Canada flight to Toronto was delayed by four hours. That meant that there was no way to make my connecting flight to Seoul. I called Korean Air and they said there were no flights available until February 8th. Crazy!
We went to the airport and the nice Air Canada lady (Trudy) made alternate bookings to take me to Vancouver to catch a flight out the next morning. Off to Toronto I went, got there at 1 am and waited for the ticket counter to open for the leg to Vancouver. There were lots of people hanging around waiting for morning, sleeping on the floor, on their luggage, on seats. I tried it but couldn't get any sleep. Coupled with the fact that I hadn't slept much in a couple of days, everything had a sort of surreal haze to it.
So I get my ticket and go to wait for the flight to Vancouver. I was starting to wonder why there was nobody at the gate booth when I saw the flight number change. My flight had been canceled. No notice, nobody at the gate to say anything, I don't even recall an announcement.
Off to the service desk in Toronto. The clerks there were really nice and there were a tonne of angry people, but most of them got some sort of arrangements. The lady looking at my stuff saw all the changes I had had and started looking for alternate arrangements. When I told her I had been in the airport for about 12 hours, she looked like she was going to cry. She fixed up my schedule and got me a flight to Vancouver, put me in a hotel with meal vouchers and booked me first class from Vancouver to Seoul. Not just first class, she put me in seat 1A!
The funny thing is that the only thing that bothered me about the delays and changes was the lack of sleep. I actually enjoyed the difficulty of getting it all sorted out. I didn't freak out and yell or cry, I found that a smile and some politeness actually got me a far better deal.
I now have a stapled pile of itinerary change forms, etc. that's starting to look like a book. Hilarious! I'm disappointed by Air Canada's dropping the ball three times in two days, but I got something valuable out of it. It made me happy.
I'm off to Incheon Airport, Seoul, tomorrow at lunchtime and then on to Busan.
I had a big meal of fish and chips and shrimp chowder just now and I'm off to have a shower and sleep in a bed for the first time in almost three days.
monk
That was the easy part, I think.
I packed up and/or discarded my possessions that wouldn't fit into two old army duffel bags a few days ago and went to get my flight to Korea. I had no idea that getting to Korea would be such an adventure!
Sunday afternoon Amanda noticed that my Air Canada flight to Toronto was delayed by four hours. That meant that there was no way to make my connecting flight to Seoul. I called Korean Air and they said there were no flights available until February 8th. Crazy!
We went to the airport and the nice Air Canada lady (Trudy) made alternate bookings to take me to Vancouver to catch a flight out the next morning. Off to Toronto I went, got there at 1 am and waited for the ticket counter to open for the leg to Vancouver. There were lots of people hanging around waiting for morning, sleeping on the floor, on their luggage, on seats. I tried it but couldn't get any sleep. Coupled with the fact that I hadn't slept much in a couple of days, everything had a sort of surreal haze to it.
So I get my ticket and go to wait for the flight to Vancouver. I was starting to wonder why there was nobody at the gate booth when I saw the flight number change. My flight had been canceled. No notice, nobody at the gate to say anything, I don't even recall an announcement.
Off to the service desk in Toronto. The clerks there were really nice and there were a tonne of angry people, but most of them got some sort of arrangements. The lady looking at my stuff saw all the changes I had had and started looking for alternate arrangements. When I told her I had been in the airport for about 12 hours, she looked like she was going to cry. She fixed up my schedule and got me a flight to Vancouver, put me in a hotel with meal vouchers and booked me first class from Vancouver to Seoul. Not just first class, she put me in seat 1A!
The funny thing is that the only thing that bothered me about the delays and changes was the lack of sleep. I actually enjoyed the difficulty of getting it all sorted out. I didn't freak out and yell or cry, I found that a smile and some politeness actually got me a far better deal.
I now have a stapled pile of itinerary change forms, etc. that's starting to look like a book. Hilarious! I'm disappointed by Air Canada's dropping the ball three times in two days, but I got something valuable out of it. It made me happy.
I'm off to Incheon Airport, Seoul, tomorrow at lunchtime and then on to Busan.
I had a big meal of fish and chips and shrimp chowder just now and I'm off to have a shower and sleep in a bed for the first time in almost three days.
monk
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