First Day

At the Guesthouse

In the morning, I woke up around 8 and then started playing with the very colourful Korean cash. I separated it into piles of 100,000 KRW (which were mostly in bills of either 5,000 or 10,000, although there were a few 1,000’s) and then stowed it away on my person. At quarter to eleven, I went down to the lobby to meet Mr. Kim. Although he wasn’t there yet, there was an older Caucasian male and a Korean student. I then chatted with the somewhat elderly professor, who initially thought that I was a teacher (this happens quite often, actually…). He asked where I was from, said he knew Montreal well, found out that he was British... all in all, we had a very pleasant conversation.

Anyway, the professor left the building and Agata, the Swedish exchange student, came down with her baggage. Upon hearing our introductions, the Korean student, Hui, presented himself as one of the buddy students. After some chatting, Mr. Kim drove up to the guesthouse and introduced himself. He then suggested that we go to the real estate office to secure our apartments, but since his car wasn’t enormous, we had to leave most of the baggage of the guesthouse. So we put my red bag and backpack in the trunk, got in his car and off we went!

The Apartment

Before going to the real estate office, we went to the Hana bank on the campus to get additional funds, as Agata had no Korean cash. I already had just over a million KRW, but I (wisely) decided to get 400,000 more (I needed it very soon thereafter, so congrats to me!). So, after the visit to the ATM (which had a handy English button), we left the back gates of the University and went a very short ways to the real estate agency. We were very graciously welcomed (in Korean), sat down, and talked to (all in Korean, which Mr. Kim thankfully translated for us). However, the topic of bed sizes did come up, so we had to go to the apartment to make sure that I actually *fit* in the bad. Makes sense, no?Anyway, minutes (if not seconds) after getting into the car, we were at the apartment (which makes me wonder why we took the car at all, but whatever). So, we first went to the fourth floor (room 406 – my room) and tested the bed. Wonderful! An inch or 2 to spare too! However, we were informed that the chairs would only be in a little while later, so no big deal. We also found that I had no toilet… Yea… But that was resolved as well, a little later on. So, with that business concluded, we inspected Agata ’s room to find all in order. Great!

We then headed back to the real estate agency, signed the papers, paid the men (lent Agata 100,000 KRW, since we hadn’t thought of paying the $ for rent right away) and then left. Good thing I had that extra 400,000!!! So, apartments had been acquired!

We returned to the apartments, brought my baggage to my apartment and I then conversed with Agata and Hui while Mr. Kim ferried our luggage from the guesthouse to the apartment (we suggested to help him, but he said that he needed all the space in the car, which is really obvious in retrospect). Once that was done, Mr. Kim suggested we do some shopping to get things for the apartment. Makes the good sense!

HomEver (Walmart *cough* *cough*)

So, as Mr. Kim had previous engagements, he let Agata, Hui and I off at Homever. I must say that Homever is the largest store single store that I have been to since coming to Korea. The first floor is dedicated to clothing (all in somewhat smaller sizes than what you would find at home). A lot of vintage/fifties stuff too... very strange! Anyway, the stuff of interest is all in the basement, so down we went!

First of all, to get downstairs, you have to take this kind of escalator-ramp thing to which the wheels of the shopping carts stick to magnetically. Very cool. Anyway, upon entering the grocery section, a greeter greets us both vocally and by bending herself in half by bowing. On the left we have pretty much everything and on the right we have a grocery section like you would find anywhere else, save for the people. And no, I do not mean that it is crowded. It's the employees that struck me as out of place! in each subsection is some guy or gal trying to get you to buy their product, except that they only speak Korean, obviously. They were all really into it, but some guys went above and beyond the rather energetic standard and were petitioning passerbys in a near yell. Looked tiring, but they all had taste-tests, so I'm not complaining!

Anyway, looked around, bought some stuff, noticed that vegetable are more expensive than back home. Ah well... Eventually we moved through the fruits and veggies to the meat place, then the bakery and then to the dairy section. After that, it was the rest of the store (very much like Walmart, except that there was an ample amount of staff to cover the store - and push products in Korean). Below is a picture of my (overstuffed) cart!

Actually, since we had some much stuff, we had to take two taxis back to the apartment... And it only cost 2,400 KRW! Not bad at all!!!

Dinner

After dropping our stuff at the apartment, Hui suggested dinner, which was really a great idea! So, he took us for a short walk to "where to go?" intersection, and then picked a direction and restaurant (will include picture... eventually). So, we entered a resto, sat down and the waitress/cook set the middle of the table on fire (well, it's a gas-fire-thing, but you get the gist!). Anyway, she then came with this large metal pan full of chicken, veggies, rice roll-thingies and a red sauce and started stirring. Talk about fresh! The Korean staples (Kimchi, white radish stuff, yellow radish stuff, and a few other things, such as a cold soup and a type of noodle salad) soon followed. So, while we waited for the main dish to cook, we had appetizers! Super! Hui then decided that we should taste Soju, so he ordered a bottle the size of a beer-bottle with some shot glasses. After teaching us the proper way to accept drinks (which is different whether you're dealing with an older or younger person), we tried it. Basically, it tastes like decent vodka, except with a less pronounced taste, since it only has about 25% alcohol. Needless to say, I liked it but Agata... didn't.

Anyway, the main dish was ready before long, and it was truly excellent. Everything in there was really good. Here are pictures!

After dinner, which Hui insisted on paying for since he invited us (I later discovered that Koreans DO NOT split the tab... ever... It's a cultural thing!), we went back to the apartment. There we said goodnight to Hui and promised to take him out or at least have him over for dinner at one point, and he said that he would gladly accept. He also gave us his contact info in case we needed anything, which was really nice of him! Following that, we just unpacked and went to bed.

End of first (full) day in Korea!