Friday came. The day that I had been dreading. I had hoped that it would somehow be skipped in the calendar - that I would wake up and it would be Saturday and we would all be completely confused and baffled, but we would shrug and laugh and continue living our lives. And he would be here. But no. Friday came.

So, I was looking back at all my blog posts and realised that I hardly ever talk about the city that I live in. Then I started thinking about why that is and realised it's because I hardly ever get out in the city that I live in. But despite a lack of knowledge about the city and things to do, I love it anyway, so I thought that I would make a blog to talk about why.

Let me start off by answering the most obvious question; the question that I get asked over and over again by the people who don't live in the city. Where is Cheongju? Well, it is in Chungcheongbuk-do, the most central province in Korea and the only land-locked one. It is in west of the province, a 45 minute busride from Daejeon and an hour and a half from Seoul.

When I heard that I would be living in Cheongju, the first thing that I did was to delve into my trusty Rough Guide to Korea. What I found was not particularly heartening: "Cheongju is best reserved as a convenient base for visiting th surrounding area, or to take in the urban pleasures of shopping and drinking." While I was rather interested in shopping and drinking, it did not seem like the ideal place to be based. But after a couple of months here, I have decided that I rather like it. Here is why:

Westerners: There seem to be an abundance of us here! And not just any Westerners either. I have bumped into rather a lot of South Africans randomly in bars, and I thoroughly enjoy the brief conversations and reminiscing of home that I share with them before we both head off in whichever direction.

The Koreans: I have had a number of different experiences with Koreans in different places. I have been stared at by ajumas on the subway in both Seoul and Busan; I have been worked over by salesmen in Yongsan; and I have been shouted at by a number of Koreans all over the place. But I rather like the Koreans in my area. Sure, I get stared at every now and then - it is bound to happen when you are the only white face in a crowd of Koreans - but it is not the glaring, insulting, "what the hell are you" kind of stares, but the fascinated, curious, "what is your story" kind. I have come to know some of the Koreans in my area well, and am greeted with a wide smile from the lady behind the counter whenever I walk into my favourite Mini Stop or have a quick conversation with the tall gangly man at the supermarket as he practices his English on me. I am always made to feel welcome rather than outcast or used, and I think that comes from the city being one of the smaller ones.

It's small, but not too small: One of the things that I hate about going to Seoul is the number of people who surround you all the time. In Cheongju, there are areas that are crowded and busy and you can get your dose of shopping in and have a choose between more than three movies at the CGV, but there are also areas where you can get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and just relax. Yongam-dong, which is my particular area is one of those. And while it has it's disadvantages of being ages away from anything fun and exciting in the city (far from Shinae, far from Chungdae, far from the bus terminal) it also means that I am not being shoved around 24/7, and I can take a nice stroll down the street without having to worry about bumping into too many people.


These are just a couple of the reasons why I like Cheongju. But I also like it because, despite what the book told me, there are some things to do here that are slightly more interesting than the Early Press Museum and the flagpole in the centre of Shinae. What are some of these things you may ask?

Shinae. While the book talks about the flagpole located in the centre of the shopping zone, it mentions nothing about the shopping zone itself. The first time I went to Shinae, and I have been there a number of times by now, it wasn't the shops that I was entranced by. It was the atmosphere. It was two weeks after I arrived in Korea, and I was walking down the street with Phillipa, Rowena, Georgina and Meghan and it suddenly struck me - I was in Korea. It happened as we were walking under strings of bubled lights that had just come to life between carts selling all numbers of food and cellphone accessories. It is something that I have never quite forgotten, and though the feeling has never struck me quite as hard while walking Shinae's street since then, I think that it is a must for newcomers to the city, even if you aren't a fan of shopping. I would recommend going in the evening when the lights will be lit because the atmosphere is just not the same without them.

Chungdae Jungmun. While I know that I talk about this all the time, and it seems like just a place where I go to drink, it's more than just that. A lot more, in fact, since I am not a big drinker at all. Once again, it is more about the atmosphere of the place than the bars themselves. After a week spent using broken English almost 90% of the time, it is good to walk into a bar, even if you do not know anyone there, and be surrounded by people speaking the language that you are used to. After a couple of minutes, the stress from the week that you didn't even realise had built up is gone as you start talking to people and the language flows as freely as the Western alcohol that you cannot find at other bars in the city, Southern Comfort being my relaxant of choice. Of course, it isn't just the bars that attract people in the area. Great restaurants also sprinkle the streets if you care to look hard enough - an Indian restaurant called Hungry Eyes hides on the second floor of a building near the entrance, a building that you would never go into unless you knew the wonders that awaited within; Pearl Jam's burritoes have no competition and an awesome kalmegi place is hidden down some back streets. Walk down the street laden with cards advertising restaurants and between carts selling even more jewellery, accessories and food and you may stumble across some other gems like the batting cages that I saw once, but have never found again.

Sandangsamsong. Though I have yet to venture on the hike that the fortress awards, this spot is beautiful and good for a picnic even if you aren't in the mood for a long walk. I am sure that one day I will get up the energy to adorn my walking shoes and take a hike along the fortress that is supposed to yield incredible views of the city, but until then I am happy to just go there in my shorts and sandals and relax on the lawn, watching the children playing and occasionally taking part in a game of frisbee or soccer or the blowing of bubbles.

Swan lake. I have heard about a lake in Yongam-dong where you can rent a paddle boat for half an hour at a time and take a romantic boat ride on the small lake. I have yet to try this, but it is definitely on my list of things to do in the city.

I am sure that other people have other things that they love about Cheongju and that they love to do in the city, and I encourage you to share them with me, because while I love the city that I live in, there is still much exploring that needs to be done!

Looking at other people's blogs, I get the feeling that I really don't post enough! So here I am, trying to post more about my everyday life in what is now sunny, sticky, steamy Korea.

This week marked my fourth month in Korea. It doesn't feel like four months have passed, and I am going to take that as a good thing. Last month, it seemed like the three months that I had been here had taken forever, and yet here I am, one month later, feeling like I really haven't been here all that long. I think that means that things are starting to get better again. Last month I looked around my apartment and had a minor panic attack thinking that there was no way in hell that I could stay here for nine more months. Today I walked to school and there was a feeling of contentment that surrounded me. Just looking around me at the kids walking to school and the people cycling to work, I had a feeling that everything was really going to be okay. I didn't mind so much that the people around me were speaking a language that I couldn't understand, though last month that was one of the main reasons I was considering leaving (though, to be fair, it was more that no one could understand what I was saying rather than not being able to understand what they were saying). Everything just had a very familiar air about it. I was walking down a street that I had come to recognise, I automatically looked left then right when trying to cross the road. I just didn't feel quite as out of place as I have been feeling recently.

This week was also the first time in three months when I didn't have tutorials to worry about. I took advantage of that on Tuesday night by going out to dinner with my friend, Amy, and though the dinner was not the greatest, the company was good and I had a nice time in general, which always tends to happen when I hang out with Amy. Thursday night I took advantage of the extra time off in a different way - by just staying home and relaxing. It was a nice change from the hurried preparations that would happen after school and the precious ten minute naps that I would enjoy before rushing out the door to my tutlings.

The upcoming weekend is likely to be another of quiet contemplation, series and a sprinkle of partying spread in between. Tonight, there is Indian food and norebang with Shai, Jen and Dawn (a girls night out, which I feel should become a regular occurence, since my girls nights out have been sorely missed since my university days, and were rare even then). Tomorrow is movie night with Patrick and possibly his co-teacher, Ashley, followed by food and soccer. And Sunday night is quiz nite, as always, and hopefully this week I will stand a chance at winning! We shall see.

In the meantime, I am going to return to my day at work, which is looking rather empty and boring. But hey, I'm not complaining - it's better than being busy and overworked!

Having realised that I was supposed to be cooking for my two co-teachers on Thursday night, since they were coming to give me a Korean lesson, I made the mission to GSmart on Wednesday evening to go and buy ingredients (I still haven't found anything closer.) With my trusty camera in hand, I documented my journey through the city.

This is GSmart - the mega, super department store where you can buy absolutely anything that you can think of. When I say anything, I mean from cameras and electronics, to groceries and household items, to clothes and accessories, to hedgehogs and baby turtles (live ones, to be kept as pets.) The shop has about 5 levels, and takes up a whole block.

This is a typical Korean building. You see all those signs? Those are telling you what is in the building. Some of them will be for companies, some for restaurants and some for internet cafe's. The internet cafe's are the easiest to spot because they all say "PC" in big letters. The restaurants and other things, not so much. I went to an amazing restaurant in one of these kinds of buildings with Kim, but I don't think that I will ever find it again.

This pet store nearly broke my heart. The puppies were so cute and were vying for my attention as soon as they saw me. The maltese poodle started rolling around as soon as it saw me and the poodle jumped up with its paws over the side of the box and stared at me with its puppydog eyes. It took all my strength not to buy one of them, and I think that I am going to have to chain my wallet to the bottom of my bag for the next time that I walk past. This isn't in GSmart, interestingly enough, but just another shop on the way there.

This is a typical apartment building in Korea. These are the kinds of buildings that most english teachers are given. Apparently EPIK owns a couple of these buildings in the big cities and will place all english teachers together in one building. That wasn't the case with me, but I find the buildings so interesting. I'm rather glad that I don't stay in one though, because the only distinguishing features on these buildings are the sign and the number, so I feel I would end up getting horribly lost and confused.

This is the street at night with all the neon signs lit. It really is quite pretty to walk through at night. I still remember Jodie's desciption of walking through the more populated areas as being "like walking through Las Vegas".


That night it actually snowed in Cheongju. By the time I woke up, the world was covered in white once more. So I took my camera with me to school, snapping a couple of shots on the way, intending to take more when school finished in the afternoon. But, when Ginny (one of my co-teachers) saw the camera, she insisted on taking photos then and there, saying that the snow would have melted by the afternoon (she was right.) So Ginny, Cindy and I all headed to the park across from the school and had a mini-photo shoot instead of going to class (which thankfully I wasn't teaching anyway, though it was the only class yesterday that I didn't have.) Here is the evidence.

This was taken on the way to school and this is the park that we had the photoshoot in.

This is the playground of the school. I won't lie and say that I took it to show you more of the school. I just couldn't resist taking a photo of the beautiful tree. But you CAN also see the basketball hoop in the background.

The entrance to the school, this time covered in snow. You tell me which you think is prettier. I know that my mind has been made up.

Ginny and I at the start of the photoshoot, just outside the entrance to the school.

Cindy and I with the park in the background, about to start our winter wonderland adventure.

All of us being the photographers that we were meant to be. This was not the only time that we were all taking photos of the beautiful scenery.

An example of the beautiful scenery.

Some handcrafted benches that Ginny and Cindy walked past. They must have been so used to them by now, but I thought they were hilarious and, having never been into the park before, they were entirely new to me.

Some normal benches covered in snow. Scenery.

Me holding my first snowball, which I never got to throw at anyone. Apparently some of my friends at other schools had their lessons cancelled so that the kids could have a snowfight. I was incredibly jealous!
Cindy capturing some more of the scenery, and me capturing Cindy

After two days of lectures and eating and a very small bit of partying, orientation ended yesterday. After a farewell dinner on Thursday night (involving food and traditional entertainment of dance performances and music by High School students) and a closing ceremony on Friday morning (where we were presented with certificates saying that we had completed the orientation even when some people, like me, hadn't) we were split into groups and packed into busses heading in every direction, with the organisers of the orientation waving so long, and probably muttering "and good riddance" under their breath.

After yet more travelling (an hour and a half bus trip), we arrived in Cheonju, the capital of Chungcheongbuk. Here we were told to line up outside and wait for the signal to walk into the hall full of teachers and principals and be introduced to everyone. We waited for about half an hour in the cold wind, most of us (including me) without jackets, as we had been told to leave all of our stuff on the side. After the half-hour wait, we were finally told that we could enter the heated room. Here, we continued to wait in line as each person was introduced to everyone and then fetched by their waiting co-teacher. Thankfully, I was fairly close to the front of the line (only number 14 out of the 70 or so nervous people making up the queue.) As it came to my turn, I nervously waved to the crowd of staring faces and tried to find my co-teacher. It didn't take long to spot her - she came running down the side-steps to greet me, a wide smile on her face. She took my hand, introducing herself as Kim (or a Korean name that began with Kim, the rest of which I cannot remember for the moment) and led me to a seat in the second row. As the rest of the new teachers were being introduced, we chatted a bit about ourselves, South Africa, South Korea, the school and the students. There were occasionally awkward silences where talk died down and neither of us really knew what to say, but the introduction ceremony soon ended and I was trundled into a tiny car along with my giant 30kg suitcase, Kim and another teacher from the school taking the front and passenger seat and relegating me to the back with the bag. From the introduction ceremony venue, Kim drove the ten minutes to the school that I would be teaching at, and showed me around there. I was shown where my desk in the staffroom was, where my classes would be taught (far fancier and hi-tech than any of the classrooms I was taught in), was introduced to some of the other English teachers and to the principal (who couldn't speak a word of English). Then, realising that I was quite tired from the journey, Kim decided that it was time to show me my apartment.

Down a main street whose name I don't know, right onto a side street, left down another side street and around a corner, we came to a smallish building that was covered with tiles. We walked in and were confronted with a narrow staircase, up which I had to carry the suitcase that was mentioned earlier. Thankfully, I wasn't alone. Kim helped me carry it up and once on the second floor we came to my apartment. I walked in, and was immediately reminded by Kim that I should take off my shoes and put them in the cupboard directly to my left (in Korea, wearing shoes indoors is frowned upon, even in one's own house.) Once this was done, I looked around. In front of me was a narrow kitchen adorned with a sink, gas stove-top and a number of cupboards filled with pots, pans, crockery and a couple of utensils (two pairs of chopsticks and two spoons). Beyond this short and narrow kitchen was the door to the bathroom. This was entirely tiled and extremely simple, with nothing more than a toilet, sink, showerhead and a pair of plastic sandals (with holes in them so that the water from the shower can fall through). Just to the right of the entrance (which is tiled, while the rest of the house has laminated wooden floors) is the bedroom. This is fairly large with a 3/4 bed adorned with beautiful brand new bedding (the price tag was still on, so I sneaked a peek at the price, which wasn't particularly cheap), a TV and cabinet, a wooden closet with a couple of drawers attached, a table, two chairs and, since they couldn't fit into the narrow kitchen, a fridge and microwave. There is also a heater against the wall, which I haven't made use of quite yet, although last night was fairly cool. One of the bedroom walls is made up of a glass sliding door which leads through to the laundry room, the only room with windows, though unfortunately the view is of the apartment block next door. In here there is a brand new washing machine (still covered in plastic), a frame that hangs from the roof from which I can hang my wet clothes and another closet. In all, I quite like the apartment, simple bathroom and all.

After showing me around, Kim had left, promising to be back at 6pm to take me out to dinner. The next hour was spent unpacking my bags and by the time Kim arrived to pick me up, the apartment was feeling like my own - the closets filled with my clothes, the fridge filled with the single 500ml bottle of water that I had bought, the bathroom filled with my make-up and toiletries and the bed covered in my books for lack of anywhere else to put them. Kim arrived with her 5 year old daughter, who hid behind her mothers legs and just stares at me as though I was both fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Again, I was relegated to the backseat, but I soon realised why as Kim's daughter started reaching across from the passenger seat to poke her mother's cheek, play with her lips and generally bounce about unperturbed by the fact that the car was moving. We went for dinner at a restaurant about ten minutes from my apartment, which I would never be able to find again, but which served anything you can think of, from traditional Korean food to pizza, to sushi and Chinese (which I was quite surprised about). I stuck to the Korean food, and even had some of the seafood soup which was cooked on a stove-top on our table and which consisted of seashells, octopus, some form of vegetarian dimsum (Chinese dumplings) and sprouts. After dinner, Kim dropped me at my apartment, promising to pick me up at 11:30 this morning to take me to the hospital for my medical exam, which needs to be done before I can get my alien resident card, which I need in order to get a cellphone and internet. And so, I was left to myself in my apartment.

After a fairly uneventful night (the most exciting thing to happen was the superintendant coming to my room to turn the underfloor heating up, or at least I assume that's what he was doing since he couldn't speak any english and he gestured to the floor before fiddling with the heating system on the wall) I woke up this morning just in time to get changed and ready to go with Kim to the hospital. She turned up just on time, bearing coffee and a fork to add to my collection of utensils as well as a teddy-bear wearing a traditional Korean dress which has become my keyring, only to inform me that the hospital would be closed. Instead, she told me, we were going shopping for supplies that I might need. This is how I came to be introduced to GSmart, which sells everything you can imagine under one roof. Here I bought the necessecities like cereal, milk, sugar and shampoo before being dropped back home. For awhile I puttered around my apartment wondering what on earth to do with myself, and then I realised that I was in a city, and I was going to have to get to know it eventually. And so, once more, I walked out of my apartment and went exploring on my own - I feel like I could get used to doing this! And so I came across a internet cafe and decided to tell my adventures to those who would care to hear about them.

However, my hour of internet is running out and I must shortly return to my adventure of exploring Cheongju and finding all the other wonders that it might offer. Hopefully I will remember how to get back to my apartment.

Until the next time that I stumble across an internet cafe (as I assume this will be sooner than I will be getting internet of my own)!