When a friend wants to chat over beers one goes.

Trip Start Aug 07, 2007
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Korea Rep.  ,
Monday, December 17, 2007

Had a few drinks with Megan tonight and our conversation included how in her year and my three months here we have never really ran into annoyance, anger and even deeper, hate for being foreigners and not able to speak the language. The people here are so accommodating and supportive. The Terrace, where the small group of foreigners from work sneak away for drinks and food, has even, with our help, made an English menu to assist us in our order. I hope that anyone that has ever been annoyed or even resentful with others from the rest of the planet coming to make their home where you might live consider that, for the most part, people in this country are eager to help and make your life as pleasant as possible when you are not a native and struggle to get around. I will never get frustrated with someone not being able to speak my native tongue. After being here for three months I have come to realize how difficult it can be when you are new to a country in which you don't know the language or customs. Things as simple as finding butter in the grocery store can prove to be a difficult task requiring some hard searching and luck. Megan shared a story tonight about when she was trying to find a hotel in Seoul and a guy, after not understanding her, called his brother in China to translate for her. I'll quote her "He's good people".
 
I had my first Korean movie night at the theatre last night with some Yanks, a South African and myself. The six of us headed to the theatre which is on the 14th floor of a high rise. We missed the first show of our choice and opted to catch the late show. To start you take a ticket from a machine and wait for your number to come up. The crowd lounges on comfortable chairs waiting for their number to come up and then proceed to the ticket window. They give assigned seats and after we shelled out the 7,000 WON each for a seat we headed to the arcade to pass the two hours before the flick, with a side step for a few beers at the Seven Eleven, all on the 14th floor. The seats were very comfy and the even reclined. We were in the fifth row which was not that bad as there was enough space between the first row and the screen to make any seat a good one. The movie was I Am Legend and after the Korean movie previews we buckled in. The show was fantastic and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Abbey who sat beside me jumped out of his seat on a few occasions.
 
On Friday Steve teacher and I will be playing Santa Claus for the school; our task is to deliver gifts to each class. I have done this in the past at Wilhaven (a former work place) and look forward to this day not only because of the smiles from the children but because I will also be packed and ready to jump on a plane with Jamie for Taiwan at 10:30am the next day. I have been hearing and seeing pictures of all the snow that has dropped in Ottawa. I hope everyone is safe and if you like hitting the slopes, manage to enjoy it. I won't be seeing snow here, at least not anything that sticks.
Thanks for reading.
 
 
 
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