Harsh Winter

Record low temperatures have resulted in an abnormal amount of ice being sent into the Yellow Sea. The Han River sent vast amounts of ice into the sea which caused the ferry from Oepori to Seokpori to stop from crossing.
In turn it resulted in me not having to go to school for three days. No complaints as I had three borings days spent on Ganghwa Island – sleeping late, going to gym and spending time in front of my laptop.

Everything’s back to normal for now, but I wouldn’t mind if it had to happen again. Commuting all the way out to Seokmodo, freezing my balls off and slipping on the ice as I navigate my way past shrimp barrels aren’t all that great when there’s only two students to teach at school of which one doesn’t even know the basic rules of Jenga.

We are currently halfway through winter and it’s not as bad as I expected. Today saw a big snow storm and I am hoping the route to school will be snowed over by tomorrow. If I make it to school I’ll skip on the Jenga, not even mentioning Dominoes and stick to the old faithful wordsearch and colouring in pages.

In a week from now I’ll be in China. Still freezing my balls off, but it will be a change of scenery and something exciting to look forward to. 

The Commute - Continued

My teacher asked me last week to write a small article for the local Ganghwa Herald Newspaper about my experience in Korea. "Just write something, Alber-Te" she said. This was what I wrote:

Commuting to the Outskirts

I never thought I’d find myself to be an English teacher somewhere on an island in the Yellow Sea, let alone so near unpredictable North Korea who decided to shell Yeonpyeong island last week. At first I thought I’d be in some city with tall buildings and coffee shops. Then I received a phone call one early morning back in South Africa where they wanted to know if I could fill an English position on an island, ASAP. I took the post without hesitation and landed 2 weeks later in a dull late winter South Korea.

It’s certainly not your average English teachers experience when you tell them that you commute to school with a ferry everyday where you teach English to only a handful of students - a school the size of some of the classes in the city.

What adds to this authentic experience of working in rural Korea at a small school is surely the commute there and back.

Mornings I wake up after snoozing my alarm for about twenty minutes. Time is limited and I rush to catch the 07:20 bus – miss this bus and you need to take an expensive cab ride. I therefore, to the dislike of most Koreans, j-walk almost every morning to catch the bus in time. I jump on the bus as we take the bumpy road to Oepori where we skip all the red lights on the way (similar to my j-walk skills). The completion of the new road to Oepori is taking forever and might only be completed by the time they build a bridge to Seokmodo Island

Oepori is the port where I board the short 15 minute ferry for Seokpori. On the ferry it’s a nod of the head to all the familiar faces as I take my seat and prepare my breakfast. Every morning the same: yogurt and muesli.

On Seokpori’s side I wait for one of the teachers to pick me up. Half the cars all look the same, so I’ve started to memorize the cars registration numbers. A squeezed ride and I make it to school as I drop my hat in my bag, take off my shoes and prepare for another day on the outskirts.

The two schools I work at (Samsan and Heumyeong Elementary) are both extremely small with bright enthusiastic students. I have the opportunity to know and interact with each student as I teach them the English language. It’s truly an authentic experience to be based in a rural part of Korea and yet you’re so close to the city.

Getting home in the afternoon is a different ball game. Most days it’s easy, but there are those days when there is no lift and others where I have to run for the ferry. When I say run, I really mean run. It’s happened that the ferry has stopped for me before, but I don’t want to miss this ferry as it will result in me missing the bus and arriving home real late. Other days I go stand next to the road and throw my thumb out. It’s a small island with only one road that goes around and I have to rely on my hitch-hiking skills for strangers to take me to Seokpori.

At Seokpori I first have to buy my ticket from the grumpy bouncer-like lady who never smiles. My Korean vocabulary is very limited, nonexistent at times, but I try my best to put a smile on this ladies face by saying Anyeong hasaeyo and kamsahamnida in many different ways, smiles and tones.

Then it’s back on the ferry and on the bus. The bus leaves at 17:00 sharp (my watch is set on the bus time) and the ferry docks around 16:55, which results in yet another sprint and side stepping shrimp barrels to make it in time. On the bus I try to take the back window seat as this is the least likely seat to handover to and elder.

Since my time working on Seokmodo Island I’ve been held up at Oepori due to a typhoon or because of thick fog. I’ve missed the ferry several times by only a few seconds and I’ve also made it with seconds to spare. I’ve ran my heart out for the ferry and busses. I’ve made meaningless conversations in imaginary Korean as a hitch-hiker in a foreign country and I’ve still not been able to put a smile on the ticket-lady’s face.

In the city and elsewhere people sit in traffic for hours. My commute takes me an hour each way daily, though I would never want to trade it for sitting in the traffic. It’s an awkward, thrilling commute that adds to my experience on the island. Waking up late is not ideal, but there’s a part of me that loves the rush. The winter is now approaching and the commute will now become a different experience.      

  

The commute

Mornings I wake up around 07:10, wash my face, down a yogurt and go stand next to the road at 07:30 looking like “boy” on the street corner. I dress neat wearing a shirt and a beanie to keep my wild-morning-hair down, which I drop in my back pocket as I enter school.

Everyday I have a different teacher that picks me up outside my apartment. Charles (who also works on Seokmodo Island at a middle school) and I share the ride to the ferry. Monday mornings used to be the worse. Charles’s co-teacher would pick us up in his small automatic car and chase it to Oepori (the ferry port). The conversation would consist of the church, blind dates and that it’s time to settle down with a girl, the English language and stressing about whether we would make it in time to catch the ferry or not (we usually make it with a few seconds to spare).
He has since bought a new car which makes me feel a little bit safer and we now get there on time.

One thing that all foreigners and even Koreans agree on is that Koreans can’t drive for shit. Always in a rush, lacking confidence and skill or sometimes over confident is the cause for numerous accidents. A red light acts as a yield sign and gets ignored most of the time. Their hand will be put on the hooter before deciding how to take control of the situation. Impatient and always on the hooter, but never a: “Hey fuck you (middle finger), look where you’re driving!” The first few weeks were scary, especially on Mondays, but I have become used to it now. If I do die in Korea then it will be in a car crash.

At Oepori I board a 15min Ferry ride across to Seokpori. My mornings start off with the beautiful soundtrack of the ferry engines and the nod of the head to all the familiar faces on the ferry. Charles and I go stand on the deck where he smokes 2 cigarettes and we absorb the morning view. On the other side I get a lift to school with whoever stops first to pick me up.

At the end of the school day I must always ask around to find out who will be going to the ferry port. I just say the ferry port name: Seokpori. There have been days that no one can take me to the ferry and you don’t want to miss the ferry, because then you wait another 30 minutes for it to return, resulting in missing the bus too. So on these days I decide to hitchhike and I get picked up real quick as this is an island with only one road that goes around. I’ve become good at it and some of the teachers without a car follow me to catch a lift. A South African showing the Koreans how to wing it! At school rumors are going around that I am a professional hitchhiker and they laugh at me, but when they too want to go home they follow me and take the back seat.

Seokmodo is an island visited by old people and tourists with kitted color matching hikers’ gear who come here to climb Haemyung Mountain. You’ll also find tourists flocking here to see Bomunsa Temple (the main tourist attraction) and then leaving as soon as possible to not be stuck on Seokmodo. All these tourists have one activity in common, which is to feed chips to the seagulls hovering around the ferry looking for a free meal. It’s an exciting event that I also often participate in. It’s a great opportunity to take photos and for Korean’s to show off their latest SLR Cameras.

Back at Oepori I walk in the road hoping that someone feels sorry for me and picks me up so that I don’t have to wait for the bus. It’s happened several times that someone has picked me up, but I often end up taking the bus back. I wait 15 minutes for the bus to arrive and with my Ipod blasting I take the back seat (the seat with the least chance of having to stand up for an old person) and I fall asleep till I arrive back in Ganghwa 20 minutes later.

A total commute of just under an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. I could compare it to sitting in Cape Town rush hour traffic – just with a little bit more excitement.