Stupid ulcers

I haven’t mentioned it before because I don’t want you to feel sorry for me but the whole time I have been here I have been in constant pain. The moment I stepped into Korea my mouth erupted into ulcers. Ulcers on my tongue, under my tongue, on the side of my tongue, on every space of gum available. I have literally been biting my tongue so to speak, grinning and bearing it, but tonight I am suffering. My mouth is stinging constantly and the only respite I get is when I suck on a piece of ice or the few seconds after swishing very salty water around my mouth. I can only compare it to having bee stings in your mouth. It especially hurts when I talk and smile ( which of course I do all day at work). The last two days panadol was dulling it but today it is having little effect. I actually can not sleep because the pain is so intense. Tomorrow I am going to the dentist to get my stitches removed ( I had a wisdom tooth out 7 days ago) and hopefully he has enough English that I can ask him for a solution. I am putting all my positive energy into hoping he has a magic cream.  Signing off Sam in pain ;(

Day Two

Survived day two!. I was brave and ventured out for the first time today by myself. I decided to go and see what I could buy for breakfast that was cheap and close. The first shop that I came across that sold coffee was called Paris Baguette. I walked inside and it was so cute, it was decked out to look like a bakery in Paris and the staff were wearing berets. I looked around and all the food was laid out on tables, it was all uncovered and I wondered whether I just picked up what I wanted or asked for it. Luckily someone else walked in, he picked up a tray and tongs and then helped himself. I did the same, luckily everything was labelled in Korean and English. I choose 1 bacon and egg roll and a jam pastry and took it to the counter. I also ordered a coffee and 2 bottles of water. In total it came to under $7! The coffee which was large was only $1.50!!!!!!I said hello, thank you and goodbye in Korean but they replied in English. Go figure.

Back at my apartment I sat down and sampled my food. The egg roll was delicious; too delicious I think I will get the same tomorrow. The pastry was so sweet that after one bite I put it in my bag and decided to take it to school. The coffee was pretty damn good, just as good as New Zealand.

I went down stairs at 9.30 today and was picked up by the van again. I was admiring the town when we stopped at an intersection and I saw my first foreigner I smiled to myself it was such a simple thing but it lifted my spirits, not that they are high enough already. I laughed though because she had short brown hair with a thick fringe and was tiny so she could have easily been overlooked as a Korean.

The girls from work took me out to lunch again today. We went to the same restaurant and I ordered the spicy pork and calamari dish. It got served cold and we cooked it on the table. Today we sat at a traditional Korean table which was low to the floor and we sat on mats. The floor was heated but I am not yet used to sitting on the floor for so long and I grew quite uncomfortable. The service is amazingly fast and if you want a waitress you just yell out. It is great and so much faster. Lisa warned me that the dish was very spicy so I approached it with care. I actually found it bearable and was able to eat it with only the slightest discomfort. I really enjoyed the flavours and ate it with the side dishes of rice, sweet potato noodles and bean sprout soup. I really am enjoying the Korean food and my work mates are impressed that I enjoy it and don’t complain.

I made my first mistake today but it wasn't too bad. So yesterday Jessica paid for the whole tables meal so when she again tried to today I got up and tried to pay instead, they all laughed at me and explained we don't pay, the school does!!!! Nice. At lunch Lisa told me she was going to a wedding on sat and invited me to join. I gratefully accepted and look forward to seeing a traditional wedding and meeting her family.

After work Lisa walked me to the bus stop and on the way she showed me around some clothes shops. We went into one which was so overcrowded that you simply could not see any bear walls and it was a tight squeeze walking around. It was here that I was asked if I could teach the shop owners children English. In Korea the English language is seen as an asset as it is the language of business, parents do the most they can to insure their children learn it. Which means they pay through the roof for  English speakers to tutor their children. If I was to pick up this type of work it would he called privates and I could earn upwards of $70 American an hour per child. This is definitely something I will look for in the future but right now working 7 hours a day is quite enough. The area that I am in is very wealthy it has been described as the Remuera of Auckland, in fact it is one of the most affluent areas in Seoul. This means the parents have a lot of money and are prepared to spend it. That’s awesome news for me. Finally I can pay mum back what I owe her!!!! Hehe love you mum.

The second store we went into was a designer clothes store this was remarkably different, I could compare it to a boutique on Ponsonby Road, very clean with a petite selection. I noticed that nothing has prices on, this is so they can rip foreigners off! I am aware of this and need to practice my bargaining skills

Lisa caught the bus with me to my apartment, it is aprox a 5 mins drive, I could walk it in 20 minutes and I plan to do so when it gets warmer. The temperature today was 7 it was cold, but bearable it is definitely not as cold as I was expecting. On the bus home Lisa invited me to dinner tomo, she wants to show me somewhere around my apartment.

Day 1

Wake up to my alarm at 9 ( it works perfectly) temperature is perfect (keep at 40), take a shower, get ready and at 10 my phone rings I look into the display and see a lady downstairs she says her name is Lisa and asks me to come down. Hang up the phone, put on coat, scarf, gloves and grab my bag and open the doo..... Crap quickly backtrack and grab the codes to get back in. Shut the door which automatically locks. I head on down stairs. Lisa a Korean lady in her 30s greets me and explains she is a teacher at the school and the only one that can speak English. She leads me into a mini van and we ride to School. This is my first view of the city in day light and I am gobsmacked! It’s huge, its busy it’s fast.

We are at the school in 5 minutes and we run inside to avoid the cold.

Due to privacy I will not be discussing my workplace in detail on this blog. I will say though that I teach 3-5 year olds (2-4 in English years, Koreans are born at the age of 1) and have 2-5 child

ren in each class. I teach across the curriculum emphasising on speaking, reading and listening. The school is fantastically resourced, anything and everything is available to me. The staff are amazing and seem to like me ( comments like u are beautiful, so sexy, lovely almond eyes, nice size face, beautiful, are your eye lashes fake? What mascara do u use? I love your clothes etc. I’ll try not to blow my own trumpet! Classrooms are amazing and the kids are so cute. Most children have never seen a Westerner and when introduced to me some stare, some look like they have seen a ghost, some cry, scream, screw up their face, some touch. It’s a surreal experience. I have a good feeling about the job and am looking forward to get stuck in.

At 12 I am told to put my coat on and come out for lunch. There are four of us, Lisa, myself and two other teachers Rachel and Betty. We go to a Korean Restaurant the girls are all really nice and tell me what the menu says we order and the food and it is brought to the table within minutes so fast. It was absolutely delicious.

The large dish in the middle is Kimchi Soup which had an assortment of vegetables, pork and squid. The smaller dish to the right is a beef dish, which was delicious and very mild compared to the Kimchi soup. I tried all of the side dishes and I liked the seafood pancake the best.

This is the name of the restaurant.

After school Lisa and the School Manager take me to Daiso which is like a $2 shop to get essentials, and buy a travel card. They insist on carrying my purchases I do try to carry them but am secretly relieved as I’m in a heavy coat and all the get up as its freezing but we are walking so fast that I have built up a sweat and am exhausted from lack of sleep.

The travel card I buy is called a T card and it is used for the bus, subway, train and taxi. I am shown how to load credit onto it in a machine down by the subway. I load 10 000W and I guess I’ll see how long it lasts

I am shown where the bus stop is and which bus to take and as I stand on the side of the road I feel like a celebrity or maybe an alien? Everyone who walks past me (and that’s a lot of people) stare at me, they seem very curious and apparently they don’t see many foreigners especially not blonde blue ones. One girl around my age pushes her nose flat and laughs with her friend, I know that they are mocking me but I actually don’t feel self conscious at all and I always smile when they look at me. The majority smile back but look very curiously up and down at me. I can just imagine what they will tell their families when they get home (u will never guess what I saw today! A white person! She was...... Haha) right now it doesn't bother me in the slightest, I wonder how long this will last.

.
Walking down the street I notice it is completely mono culture only Korean people. I have not seen anyone under the age of say 16 and have not seen any disabled or homeless. It’s just so different to anywhere I have ever been. I am led to my apartment and am happy to be home and out of the cold. I put my essentials where they should be. Toilet paper, washing powder, water, coffee, chocolate etc.
I put a load of washing on and guess which buttons to push because of course it is not in English! Early night tonight I am soooo tired but not before I check facebook!

Arriving in Seoul

19:35 NZ time, we are about an hour away from landing, I have just completed stage one of the arduous task of transforming Sammi from complete slouch to perfect employee. So makeup done, then I’ll do my hair and lastly put on my new blouse and skirt freshly ironed by Mum thanks! I want to be ready before we get off the plane because my contact is meeting me at the arrivals and I don’t want to keep him waiting. The other kiwi’s will be meeting him too and then I’ll say good bye as they catch a bus to the suburbs. I’ve practiced my greetings over and over so hopefully I don’t screw it up when I get there!

I have absolutely no idea what to expect and I am starting to get my freak on.

Plane has landed and I go into panic mode. I walk off the plane with my excess hand luggage (almost 15 kg, no idea how I managed to get through with it) and can hardly breathe. My saving grace is having the couple with me as I don’t have to have the initial meeting by myself. We follow the signs and find ourselves about to board a subway. Was definitely not expecting that. Everyone is running so we follow and squeeze into the train seconds before the doors close. The kiwi guy asks “are we going the right way?”, we just shrug and hope for the best. After a very quick ride we jump off and find ourselves at immigration. We wait a good 10 minutes before we scan our finger prints and have a photo taken and are granted entry in Korea. We are officially here!

Picking up our bags is hassle free and within minutes we are through arrivals and meeting our contact. No customs! Our contact is lovely and we chat for half an hour before the kiwis are off on their bus. Now it is just me and my contact. He takes me to a bus where we board and travel the hour from Incheon Airport to Seoul.

Looking out the bus window I am overwhelmed at the sheer hugeness of the city, it just spreads for miles, my contact tells me that if you drove from one end of the city to the other with no traffic (impossible) it would take 2 hours and when I say city I mean like the cbd from Quay Street up to the top of Nelson, which would take what? 5-10 minutes if that.

As I stare out the window the movie Burlesque comes to mind. There is a scene as Christina’s character takes in her surroundings of LA City with those big blue eyes she soaks up everything that is so new and exciting and different from her small country town. This is how I feel (do you like how I just claimed to be Christina Aguilera haha I only wish that I looked like her)

Reality is sinking in that I am in a big place.

My First view of the city from the bus.

We arrive in Gangnam-gu where we are greeted by my Principal and School manager. It is freezing. Even with a coat, scarf and gloves I am chilled to the bone. I’m not sure of the temperature but it’s about 7pm so it’s dark and cold. We walk to the School and I am shown around. First impression = I am in heaven. It is a clean, colourful, a beautiful and creative space and it is pretty. It is how I would have decorated a classroom. I am happy and my boss's are nice and tell me I am much prettier than my picture!

After a quick tour we take a taxi to my apartment. About a 5 minute drive and its costs $2! My apartment is down a drive way off the main road first impression of outside = hmm ok, kinda scary. I am shown how to open the front door which consists of entering a code into the electronic key pad. I quickly find a pen and write down the combination. Inside a sensor light turns on and it is much nicer than I was expecting. Up one flight of stairs and the second door on the right is me. Again I am given a code to punch into the electronic lock. My door swings open and I see my new house. It is small! There is a small lip inside the door were it is custom to remove your shoes so we do so and file inside. There are 6 of us inside and it is cramped. I am shown how to work the under floor heating, shower, microwave etc, told to be ready at 10 tomo and then left to my own devices. The door shuts. I flop onto the bed and assess the situation. First I feel. It is freezing! The apartment has been vacant for some time so it has not been heated; the temperature quickly rises as the water beneath my floor heats up. Second I hear. It is noisy I can hear the traffic outside and the occasional shout from across the road, the walls them self seem soundproof and I can only hear when there are people on the landing. Then I feel. The bed is hard, I stretch out and decide I like it, it’s slightly bigger than a single and the pillow and blanket are good. There is nothing to smell, the room has been cleaned and is quite new it seems. Finally I see. First up at the lights I have two small triangular blue lights which look space age, two huge square florescent lights and two unidentified objects which I am hoping are water sprinklers and not cameras. The room is approx 4m by 5?? I will measure one day. It consists of a bed, a wardrobe, a book shelf, a desk, a chair a fridge, a microwave, a pantry (1 m by 20cm), one cooking element, a sink, a TV, a washing machine and of course a rice maker. Part of this space is sectioned off into a bathroom (1 by 1) pretty standard toilet and sink, with tile flooring and a drain on the floor, hang on where’s the shower? I look up and there is a shower head sprouting out of the wall in between the toilet and the sink. Hmmm ok this will be interesting. Crash back onto the bed and formulate plan. Toilet 1. Shower 2. Make bed then assess tiredness before adding more bullet points.

Toilet = very normal. I was told I might have one that sings to me? Hmm no toilet paper first problem. Lucky I packed a towel because there is not one of them either. Shower: perfect. Easy to get to the right temp and awesome pressure. Close my eyes and relax. It’s when I open them that I start to laugh at the situation. The whole space is getting saturated with water, guess I’ll have to get used to having a wet toilet seat! The room is now at a good temperature I look at the display and it says that the water under my floor is currently 50 degrees. Hmm I have no idea if that is too hot, guess I’ll find out if I wake up tomo completely melted. Put my jammys on, make me bed (I bought over a sheet, duvet cover and pillow case). Munch on the dinner that my boss bought for me. Start putting clothes away and am overcome with tiredness, slide in under the covers, close my eyes and BANG my mind is reeling with questions? Will there be any English on the TV, do I have internet access? Am I going to overheat/freeze in my sleep. All of a sudden I am wide awake. On goes the TV I start flicking through channels, 10, 20, 50 and it keeps going. Can u guess how many channels I have? Correct guess gets the first post card! And how many out of these are in English? Comment bellow!

Satisfied with the TV I check my Ipod for wireless access. No deal. I notice a jack in the wall with a wire attached I plug it into the laptop and fire it up. Yus it works, It’s slow, but it works, hello facebook! Hello skype! Satisfied with the internet I set my alarm and crash out. I wake up two hours later and start sorting out my stuff, soon grow tired again and lay in bed with a million questions going around my mind. The most important are whether I have set the floors at the right temperature, whether my alarm will work and where I am going to get coffee in the morning. I read my book to silence my thoughts.

Singapore

Have just boarded the plane in Singapore, this is the final leg of my journey and in 5 hours I will set foot on Korean ground and it is here I will start my new life.

Just spent a good couple of hours looking around Singapore Airport and was so grateful that I was able to buy lip balm and panadol (the two things that I forgot and the two things that I needed most on the plane).

The highlight of the stopover was definitely the butterfly garden. It was great to enjoy a moment of peace and tranquility among nature in the middle of the madness.

I had the pleasure of the other kiwis company who are on the same journey as me, they are an awesome couple and I hope I see more of them while in Korea.

Was able to check into face book, thank you all for the well wishes. Going to rest now and enjoy the in flight entertainment

안녕하세요 Miss Clinch's Class

Hello ( 안녕하세요 ) to Royal Road School, Auckland New Zealand.

Your teacher Miss Clinch has told me that you are reading my blog. I really hope that you enjoy it and that it inspires you to travel the world when you are older. Some of you will remember me from last year when I helped with the gardening and came on the trip to the library. I miss you all!!!!!!!!

I have a task for you.

I have left some spelling mistakes and some really bad grammar. I would like you to find these and show Miss Clinch, if you find them all you might just receive something special in the mail :)

Look forward to hearing from you.

Miss Walker

Feb 21

Wow! So I was nervous about flying and it seems I had good reason. About 10 minutes after take off we hit turbulence, at first I freaked out but turned my ipod up loud and tried to loose myself in the music. This worked well until we hit an air pocket and I lost my stomach it felt like the plane dropped a 100 meters and everyone let out a scream. I was so frightened that I grabbed the ladies hand next to me and said some un savoury words. From that moment on I was constantly fearful that it would happen again, but so far, so good.

The inflight entertainment is incredible, music, movies, tv series, games, language courses, e books and more. I settled for something that reminded me of home and started to watch "Jumanji". This movie transported me back to my childhood. I absolutely love Robin Williams and I laughed so hard that I finally started to relax. I was so relaxed in fact that I decided one drink wouldn't harm anyone so i ordered a Singapore Sling.

I just love this photo. The caption should read. For your safety do not feed Samantha a cocktail while flying.

Dinner was yum!

It's 4.41pm NZ time and Mum will just be getting home from work. I can't help but feel a pang of guilt when I think about her arriving home to an empty house. For the last couple of months I have always been there and we have chatted about our day. Gonna miss that! Bet Mum will too but at least we will have skype, can't wait until we both get web cams.

Had a read through the in flight magazine and the feature article was written about dogs. Well I couldn't handle that could I, I feel sick everytime I think about my dog Louie, oh how I miss that little sucker. Time for some tv episodes to keep my mind from what I have left behind.

Rest of the flight was good and calm, watched the pilot episodes of Revenge and Once upon a time. Loved them both so much, will have to download them soon. Managed to get a couple of hours sleep and arrived safely in Singapore at 6.30am local time.

Feb 21

On the plane! Scored an isle seat and the seat next to me is vacant, awsome! Got a pillow and a nice warm blanky so I am feeling rather comfortable, am slightly nervous as I don't like flying and this is the first time I have done it by myself!

Just met a couple in the departure lounge that are flying to Korea with me. They did the same course and are teaching about 2 hours out of Seoul. It was very reassuring to talk to someone who had also just said goodbye to their family and friends.

I've done a quick check of the seating arrangement and there are no screaming kids to be seen! Awsome, so I'm just gonna sit back now and relax! Phh what am I saying I feel like I've consumed a litre of red bull. Excitement? Nerves? I dunno. Oh what's this coming down the isle. A hot towel, hmm what do I do with this? Wipe my face like the others? Ok why not. Cabin door is closing, oh crap, no going back now.

20th Feb 2012

Post written in the departure lounge Auckland Airport. 1am

Hands are shaking, heart is beating fast, my eyes are searching for anything familiar but I currently see only things that freak me out! As like magic my Ipod feels my fear and switches to "Shapeshifter" breathe Sam. I listen to the lyrics "I must be strong to carry on, now I will make it on my own" And yes I will make it on my own. It is my time! I've just said goodbye to the most important people in my life and although my body is in shock, not a tear has left my eyes. Leaving home though was a different story, waving that last goodbye to my Louie dog just made me loose control and the whole drive to the airport tears were streaming down my face.

Ok its 1.01am the flight crew and pilot have just walked past.

They look calm and collected. Well thats a good sign and Florence and her machines has just sung the lyrics "we are too young to die". so thats that then, this flight will be sweet! The departure lounge is slowly filling up and at last I spot another blonde guess I need to get used to being the different one!

21.46 19 february 2012

Right its hit me now and I'm starting to get my freak on. The fact that this is my last night in my bed is just plain crazy. I'm so tired but my head is reeling , the doubts are reeling in. What if I don't like the job? What do I do when I get lonely? How do I cope with out my Louie dog and mummy. Oh god I guess ill just have to wait and see. I havn't shed a tear yet but I can feel them coming. Right so I'm gonna drink a cup of concrete now and harden up because I know I can do this!

Night night New Zealand was nice knowing you.

19 February 2012

One more sleeps in my own bed. I wonder if I actually will get any sleep tonight? Surprisingly today I am rather calm, my mind is collected and I feel rather good. Tomorrow I know is going to be another story altogether, that mad rush to make sure I have everything, the knots in my stomach, the goodbyes, the tears, the hugs. OMG I'm actually making the biggest move in my life tomorrow and it still hasn't really sunk in.

Ok, so I know a lot of you are wondering why it has taken so long for me to leave, in a good way I hope! To cut an extremely long story short The Korean Immigration couldn't understand that I was a permanent resident in NZ from 1990 till 2007 when I got my citizenship. As far as they could see I was living illegally in NZ for that amount of time so I had to prove that I wasn't an illegal alien. What a drama that was! But finally all was sorted after a lot of angry phone calls to and from Korea.

So now that I have been granted my e2 visa I will arrive in Seoul South Korea at 4.55pm tuesday there time where I will meet someone who will show me where my school and apartment are. Pretty straight forward really except I look like I've been punched in the face and can't open my mouth wider then the width of a straw. I swear I am the only person in the world that would undergo a 3 hour surgical dental procedure only days before I'm due to fly out. But hay that's what I did and I'll deal with it.

I just want to say a huge huge thank you to my friends and family that have been so supportive and made this last month so amazing. Its been a great start to 2012 and I and know this is only the beginning.

Just wrapped up my presents for my boss and the guy that got me a job.

Just some of the resources that I have made for my class. Name cards for the first day with a picture of NZ on.

See you when I'm on the other side of the world!!!

xxxxx