The Kimchi Journals: Daegu Adventures

A quick update of my first week teaching in Gumi!! Pretty intense trying to remember all the students names, everything that needs to be done, timing of all, oh and trying to communicate with kids who have very basic English and me with my, uh, no Korean (yet). But overall, the kids are really sweet (most of the time). And, my co-workers are all amazing, all happy to help me find my feet! My one co-teacher even brought be lunch from Paris Baguette (amazingness)!!

After an intense, but ultimately enjoyable, first week, I decided to meet up with Krissi (my one training roommate) in Daegu- only half an hour from Gumi by train, for some exploring. So, getting to the train station first thing this morning was super easy (catch a cab, say gumiyok [yok sounding like afrikaans "jok"]). Getting a ticket was slightly trickier as the machine refused to be in English. Luckily, I have been learning to read Korean, and knew what time my train was meant to be leaving (and Daegu is REALLY easy to write in Korean) so managed to get my ticket sorted...ok, a Korean girl also helped a little bit. Then came the interesting mission of guessing which station to get off at. I was told it should be Dongdaegu, or Daegu station, but wasn't too sure about how many stops. Oh, and still pretty much phoneless unless I get wifi access, so that's always interesting... Eventually I decided to judge stops according to arrival time which worked fairly well.

Eventually got to Daegu station and met up with Krissi and the exploration began. First we went to the Daegu fish market, where you can find pretty much any type of seafood (even turtles...sad face), fresh fruit and veggies for a fairly decent price... fairly being under R100. This market was amazing! Did have a slightly weird experience where an old lady stroked my leg and said something to me in Korean. But, she said it with a smile, so assuming it was a compliment...?

We then wondered around the area stopping in at random shops. Found an amazing glitterama multicolored couch which was AMAZING!! But, most importantly... I FOUND A DECENT FRENCH PRESS!!! And, some Tesco's coffee for not too bad a price! :D So, here's hoping Tesco's makes decent coffee!! Did manage to find some amazing imported coffee...at an imported price. May need to splurge every now and then around pay day. We even found some South African wine!! A couple of brands like Goats do Roam and Barrister's (the coffee infused Pinotage that Em and I regularly purchase). Well, Barrister's in South Africa is around R40 or R50 a bottle. Here, it is about R500 a bottle...sigh.

After wondering around the station shopping area, Krissi and I walked to downtown Daegu where we found more awesome shops, a cinema and some food. The food stop also to attempt to read the map and try find our way to another market in Daegu. We decided the market wasn't too far to walk to (both of us eager to get some exercise in)... well, we got so eager we walked waaaaay passed the market turnoff and ended up in HomePlus (always a fun excursion). We then headed back to Krissi's apartment (she was also lucky like me to get a nice sized place) and then headed back into town to meet up with some Gumi peeps.... well, we tried to. Epic fail on our part, we got lost, took a cab to the OTHER side of Daegu, got to where I think everyone was meeting...too late probably because the place was empty. Tried to walk back to the station out of anger towards cab drivers that we felt were taking us the long way. Got more lost. Gave up and took a cab to the station. Ate ice-cream for dinner and then hopped on the train back to Gumi.

So, pretty much a day full of adventure. Excited for many more like this!!
Oh, side note, the weather jumped from about 4 to 23 overnight... going to have to get some summer clothes fast!!