Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Seen it all...

So, I've been all over the Jeolla Province. I've been to Gwang-ju (North), Mokpo (S. West), Yoesu (S. East-ish), Wando (South) and of course Naju (Central) and other cities in between. All in all, it's very pretty-- lots of rice fields and mountains.

Went to Mokpo for the weekend to visit Alex and Kristen (and many other various Mokpoers). Taking the bus was interesting to say the least. When I eventually found the Naju bus station (with some help from people walking by) I bought my ticket by saying "Mokpo" about five times and pointing to my wrist and making a writing motion to get the ticket lady to tell me what time the bus was leaving. After being really annoying for a while, I eventually had about five guys working there on my team: the "Cathy needs to get on the bus to Mokpo team". So when my bus finally came, I was told to get on. Alex's house is really nice; it's big (four bedrooms!), lots of space, but he lives on school grounds. Right off his doorstep is a mountain that has a beautiful view of the entire city and nearby islands, the ocean etc. On Saturday night we went out for dinner and met this random British dude who was travelling around Korea gathering information for a travel guide that he's writing. Very interesting! So we all went to a cafe and talked for a while, exchanging Korea stories. After that Kristen, Alex and myself did a "apartment crawl" with all the nearby Mokpoers. By that time I was feeling kind of sick with my first Korean cold, so I kind of just sat around and listened to a lot of people talk, which I didn't mind. The western-style alcoholic drinks were flowing, but I was feeling like death, so I did not partake (sadly). Meeting all the other teachers made me realize that there are a lot of interesting places to go! One girl was talking about travelling in Cambodia, another Belize; it all made me feel like a small-town redneck!

We finally made it back to Alex's, and I took the bus home the next morning. It was a lot easier on the way back, and I met a couple of Americans who also happen to live in Naju! They're with a company named "Fullbright", and tyey're company is very similar to Canadian Connection, except that they have to live with their Korean co-teachers family. That would suck! I really like having my own space to come to after work!

Hmmm.. not much more to report. I ate silkworm larvae for the first time. Interesting....

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