Penultimate week in South Korea

I'm finding myself incredibly busy, anxious and excited as I prepare to leave Korea next week. 

As I noted in my last blog, I needed to return to school on Monday and Tuesday of this week for my last days of work. Those days were preparation for the new school year, so the faculty were cleaning out their desks and moving their things to their new spots in the office. Several of the new Korean teachers had arrived and were getting to know the school and their new co-workers. I, on the other hand, was simply a hold-over from the last school year with nothing in particular to do for the new school year. 

I cleaned out my desk, removing several years of junk left by previous native teachers. I photocopied documents and made a pretty long list of things I needed to do before I left Korea, and another list of all of the documents I still needed from my school. I removed the small Canadian flag I had at my desk for two years. The next native teacher is an American.

If I could describe the school administration of the past two years, I would stay it was haphazard. I never knew when things would be completed or communicated to me, save for the fact that I knew it undoubtedly be last-minute. However, when it comes to my access to the school system, I was unceremoniously removed. My digital person at the school was deleted from existence. I discovered this when I tried to log on. "What was the problem?" I asked my Korean co-worker. No problem on her computer. She would investigate. Shortly, she returned and said, "You were removed from the system to get ready for the next school year. Don't be embarrassed."

At that point, I decided it was time for me to start looking forward as well. I spent the remainder of my two days working on my job applications and preparing for an online interview I would have later in the week. I ignored the hustle and bustle of the faculty room, except for the nice lunch, and said my goodbyes to the vice-principal and English teachers and walked out the door for the last time.

I learned the name of my replacement and tracked him down online. I introduced myself as his predecessor in Busan and offered some information about his new placement. We had a video call and I gave further details and reassured him that his new home and job were quite good. I had a good experience over two years and I'm sure he would as well. He has some previous teaching experience but he noted that this was the first time he would leave his country. Pass the torch so another can have the adventure and our students can get exposed to another native teacher.

I'm spending much of my time cleaning the apartment and clearing out some of the junk and old clothes that I won't be taking with me back to Canada. I regret not doing this sooner so I could take more time to enjoy my last week rather than spend it cleaning. But I hope to be done with these onerous tasks soon; my apartment is a single room after all. I still haven't figured out if my stuff is going to fit into my suitcases. Somehow, I doubt it. 

I've been gradually saying my goodbyes to friends over the past few days. For the select few, I'm giving the quintessential Canadian gift of maple syrup sent to Korea via sea mail direct from my parents back home. My friends are very excited to receive the gift, save for my older teacher friend who asked, "Is this alcohol?" He kindly gave me some fridge magnets and a traditional drum replica to "help me remember Korea." There have been too many kind and friendly people that I've met over these two years that I feel a little guilty that I can't fully express my appreciation to them all.

One of the many administrative tasks I need to do is visit the National Pension Office. Canada, and a few other countries, has an agreement with Korea that allows those working in Korea to cash out and refund their pension when leaving the country. I collected all of the required documents, as well as my Canadian banking information and travelled 30 minutes to the office with my Korean co-teacher. She would act as interpreter with the pension official. 

When we arrived, we entered some information into the automatic ticketing system and received a numbered ticket that simply read "foreigner". Before long, we were called to the desk and started the tedious process of form-filling, signing, waiting, checking, and waiting some more. They were very strict on knowing the exact date of my departure. If I were to change that date, I would need to return to the office and repeat the process of applying for my pension refund. Assuming it works as it should, I will receive two-years' worth of Korean pension about 30 days after I arrive in Canada.

Complicating all of the running around I need to do before leaving is the severe COVID-19 outbreak in Korea. Just last week the cases per day were around 50,000. Now, that number has doubled to 100,000. The omicron variant is running rampant in Korea, and I pray that I can escape without getting infected lest I'm prevented from flying out on the 26th. 

Hopefully, this time next week, after two years, I'll be in Canada.

Final classes

After a nice and long winter vacation, classes resumed in February for about a week before the official end of term and graduation. I was required to be in school from Thursday until the next Wednesday, and my task was to teach students who had just returned from a month-long break, and who were just hoping to kill a few days before spring break began. All final grades were announced several weeks ago, and the grade 3 students already knew which high schools they were bound for. In other words, I was dealing with a big bunch of unmotivated students.

COVID-19 cases have really spiked recently, were at almost 50,000 cases per day. As a precaution, half of my classes were online. At my main school, I made a video-recorded lesson for my 3rd-grade students. I was disappointed because I had taught these students for two years and I was hoping to see them once more before they graduated, but unfortunately, I had to say my goodbyes on a recording.

My lessons were quite basic this week. I did a short presentation on my life in Korea, including the interesting places that I had visited and what I had experienced in Korea. I told my students that I appreciated their country and it was a great time in my life, living in Korea. I asked them to keep studying English, do their best, and invited them to visit Canada one day.

After that, I did a short lesson on fishing. I spent some time talking about and showing pictures of ice fishing in Canada because I thought it would be interesting for them. Then I concluded the class with a game of bingo using the new 'fishing' vocabulary that I had taught them. I gave students chocolates and Canada pencils as a parting gift. Several students came up to talk to me after the lesson, and I felt their appreciation for being their teacher. It was a nice moment.

At the boys' school, my Korean teacher took me to see the principal and vice-principal for my official goodbye. I barely had any interactions with the principal for the whole year, but he was kind at my departing. The vice-principal was a very friendly man and was sure to say 'hello' to me every morning. Through our interpreter, he wished me luck and thanked me for teaching at the school. 

The teachers in the staff room were also nice when we explained that this was my last day. The English teachers thanked me for the work I had done. One teacher said I was "the best native English teacher they had worked with." I'm sure she was just being kind, but it was very touching since I had hardly received any feedback on my teaching in two years.

My co-teacher, who I had sat beside and taught with for one year, walked me out of the school. She explained that it was "Korean style" to do that. So I packed up and walked with her to the door. At that point, she teared up and started crying. She waved me off and quickly slipped back into the school. It was a sad walk to the subway station for me.

I repeated this the next day at my main school. At public schools, teachers usually are rotated out every four years. So, all of the departing teachers, myself included, lined up in the staff office. The vice-principal said some nice parting words in Korean that I didn't understand. Each teacher then took the microphone and gave a short speech about their time at the school and thanked their colleagues.

I wish I was able to give my speech in Korean, but unfortunately, that was not the case. I simply spoke in slow English saying that "I had come to Korea two years ago. Thank you for two years. I love this middle school and I love Korea. I'm going back to Canada. Goodbye everyone!"  A teacher gave me a thumbs up, so I assume everyone understood what I meant to say.

I leave the school with some very sweet notes from the students. These reminders of my time teaching and talking with them are my best souvenirs from Korea. 

Very anticlimactically, after all of these emotional goodbye speeches, well-wishes, and parting gifts, I still need to return to the school for two days of work. By work, I mean sitting at my desk and doing nothing work-related. The other teachers will be preparing for the next semester. I suppose I'll use the time to look for a new job. After those two lame duck days next week, I'll be on vacation until I fly away from Korea.

Seoul Holiday

For one last hurrah before I leave Korea, I travelled cross country to Seoul for a few days of food, drink, and sightseeing. The lunar new year is celebrated in Korea as the Seollal holidays, and most of the country has vacation at this time. I braved the crowds and the most recent COVID-19 spike to see the capital city one last time as a resident of South Korea.

Normally train travel in Korea is quite easy and as a single rider, I can usually walk up to the ticket booth and purchase a seat on the next train without trouble. However, during the holiday season when many Koreans visit their hometowns throughout the country, getting a ticket is more difficult. I arrived at Busan station and had to wait over an hour for an available train into Seoul.

There are two main high-speed trains that connect the Seoul and Busan, the KTX which goes into central Seoul and the SRT which stops at the southern edge of Seoul. I was going to the Gangnam section of Seoul, so I took the SRT for the first time. Sitting in economy, I had a Korean lad next to me for the duration of the trip but he slept for most of the 2.5-hour journey. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the scenic views of the Korean countryside, mountains and fields.

I then took the bus from the station into Gangnam, an upscale and trendy section of Seoul famous for its shopping, wealth, and nightlife. I proceeded to get lost trying to find my hotel. The stated 3-minute walk ended up being 15 minutes.

My hotel was next to the COEX Mall, famous for being the largest underground shopping mall in Asia. I wandered about, looking at the various shops, and enjoying the large library in the centre of the mall. The mall has plenty of restaurants, high end stores, popular brands, and uniquely Korean shops. There is an aquarium as well, and in the attached hotels, there is a casino. I bought a few little gifts, and got a chocolate smoothie for lunch.

Then, I found myself in a packed subway car for the first time since I left Toronto, on my way to see my friend, who I first met in Toronto, for a meal of Korean barbecue pork. It was a cool little restaurant with a grill in the table and a suction fan/hose thing above the table pulling the smoke away. Big hunks of raw meat were put on the grill and we used the scissors to cut them into small pieces. Ingeniously, this restaurant provided a large plastic bag at the start of the meal for our coats so they wouldn't end up smelling like grease and smoke. 

We drank beer and soju, a clear Korean alcohol made from rice. When beer and soju are mixed together, it's call Somaek. There is a specific etiquette for pouring and drinking in Korea, and the rules are pretty strict for business outings with your superiors. The rules relax when with friends. I was gently corrected that I was being too formal when pouring and receiving with my friend, using two hands and turning my face away to drink from my glass. After a few drinks, I got the hang of the more casual drinking format, and we took turns pouring for each other until several empty bottles lined the table.

The next day my friend rented a car and we drove out of Seoul into the suburbs of Gyeonggi-do for an afternoon meal at a traditional Korean restaurant. We were stuck in traffic for a while. Even on a holiday, the roads and highways of Seoul are crowded. The restaurant, in true Korean style, served a series of side-dishes as the meal. Each plate had different vegetables, fish, meats, tofu, kimchi, and sauces to try. We loaded large lettuce leaves with various foods and sauce, and rolled it into a wrap and ate it.

Later in the day, we returned to Seoul for a stroll around the botanical gardens. Again, traffic held us up, but we managed to arrive mere minutes before the last entry time. Inside the dome, it was hot and humid, simulating a tropical rainforest. Outside, it was cold and chilly, but the garden was peaceful and well-maintained.

For dinner we entered a neighbourhood on a steep hill and drove up the narrow, winding roads looking for a suitable restaurant. My friend called ahead to a chicken soup restaurant to ensure they were open, and that we could sit on chairs rather than the floor (by my request), and then we walked downhill to the restaurant. We ate samgye-tang, a delicious soup with a full, boiled chicken stuffed with rice and other vegetables. I had the traditional soup with basic ginseng flavouring and my friend had her's with sesame sauce.

After dinner we walked back up the steep hill for more coffee at a quiet cafe and then wandered along a brick-built wall overlooking the city. With most restaurants and shops closing at 9pm, the wall and lookout were popular with locals at night. The wall was originally part of a defensive structure of Seoul, but I didn't look much into its story. I was tired from a full day and a full stomach.

The next morning I woke up early, checked out of the hotel, and took the subway to Suseo station in Gangnam to buy my KTX ticket to Busan. At 9am, I asked for a ticket on the next available train to Busan. The ticket agent said they were sold out until 9:30pm. Shocked and embarrassed that I hadn't planned ahead for the holiday travel rush, I asked if he could recommend another way to Busan. After punching some keys on his keyboard, he was able to book me on a train to a small city 40 minutes outside of Seoul. I would then wait there for one hour, and transfer to another train that would take me to my destination in Busan. It took longer to get home than I expected, but was glad I wasn't stranded in Seoul.

Seoul is a fun city and really the place to be in Korea. It's the cultural centre of the country, and having a Korean friend ensured that I saw some cool local spots that I wouldn't have been able to see on my own.