Aimee’s World Tour

MUST BE FINISHED… PLEASE COME BACK! 

What’s the DMZ?  C’mon now people.  The Demilitarized Zone.   The area that divides North and South Korea.  THE BORDER. 

To be fair I didn’t even know WHERE Korea was when I applied to work out here.  I’d memorized it ALL for history class in 7th grade so I don’t see how any of it could have escaped me.  😉

We went to the DMZ back in November but a lot of the “blog details” are lost since it’s, uh, February.  Luckily I have pictures…

In this instance WE constitues most of the foreign staff at my school: Justine, Laura, Ana, Diane, Heidi, Hayley and moi.  Yup – all girls. 

From what I can remember we got up early and took cabs to the USO office somewhere in Seoul.  I jumped in with Justine and Laura.   

The ride was a bit tense.   We had to arrive by a certain hour and our taxi driver seemed to be taking his d*mn time with the meter running.  The words “Bally joo-say-yo” were at the tip of my tongue for more than half of the trip!  (Hurry please!) I let Justine and Laura speak since I had no clue where we were trying to go.  I’m useless like that. 

Upon exiting the cab, frustrated Laura kicked (a tree?).  It’s kind of humerous looking back.  Hehe – we reenacted it several times that day.  🙂

As we walked into the USO building there was an overload of foreigners standing in line.  Obviously we weren’t late.  Diane had organized the trip and her cab actually got there even later than ours did.

Once we’d shown our passports we were directed to the tour bus outside waiting for us.  I sat next to  Justine for the _?__ hour long trip up to the border.  We had a delightful little Korean man as a tour guide.  He knew his facts only I couldn’t understand the half of his English.  Still he was certainly amusing.  At one point I felt compelled to take some footage.

My mind is chock full of ideas and overflowing with ways to make them happen.  The hardest part of it is that most of the details have no guarantees, waving freely around in the winds of uncertaintly.  That’s life for you.

One of the biggest hurdles I face is obtaining my ticket home.  As part of my contract and the school’s legal obligation I am to receive a paid flight home.

While I know the school will provide me with my ticket, I am hesitant to accept the amount in cash as I know they will find a way to widdle down the cost until I am left with footing the bill for travel agent fees, taxes and that sort of fluff.  That and they’d probably garner me an amount that would leave me with ridiculous layovers.  I know I’m thinking the worst but with the direction our school is headed it is something to seriously consider.

Aside from my time in Tibet, my travel dates are not set in stone and thus my need for the cash.  Justine will eventually be flying back to South Africa and was offered 700,000 Won for her trip which is a joke.  Looking up the ticket online I found the cheapest at over $1000 ONE WAY which is at least 1.2 million Won.

I received a quote for a flight home from a travel agent here in Korea for 1.2 million Won.  I also checked online and again the cheapest flight was over $1000.  I am going to talk to Mr. Kim (our director if you dare to call him that) this week about my flight.  I’ve asked Miss Justine to go with me since we’re in the same boat… er plane.    😉  Talking to Mr. Kim about reasonable things is not one of my strong points.   After all you can’t reason with an idiot or you’re the idiot.

What’s that?  I got a flight home for 900,000 -something Won round-trip for Christmas?  Yes, yes I did.  And it was not something I’d ever want to do again.  Thirty hours each way for a total of 60 hours round trip is, to say the least, absolutely brutal!  Plus I flew into JFK which is just a no-no with my family.

The school had originally flown me out from the Scottsdale airport in AZ via Singapore Airlines.  I had but one stopover in San Fran (where I randomly met Barry Bonds on a bench) that lasted only a few hours.  I expect the same for my return flight only it will be to Newark, NJ (and no Mr. Bonds).  We are able to choose our final destination.  Oh that does sound ominous doesn’t it movie buffs? *Mom and Dad – there’s a movie called Final Destination that involves a plane crash.*

My travel plans continue to grow and while there are many things to consider –  keeping costs to a minimum and plotting routes and dates – I will rest easy once I have my ticket money in hand.

********************************************************************************************************************************

Feb. 8, 2010

UPDATE.

Spoke to Mr. Kim today.  He found a cheap flight… FIFTEEN HOUR LAYOVER.  It’s like you really don’t give a sh*t about the teachers do you?

********************************************************************

Feb. 12, 2010

Two days ago I tired to speak to Mr. Kim about my flight since John had come over the day before and helped me find a discounted flight for 1.0 million Won including taxes.  Mr. Kim completely refused to speak to me on the matter and said I had to talk to Ellie.  Well that wasn’t going to get me anywhere.  I need some respect as a teacher.  So… I pulled out the big guns and talked to Mr. Lee, the owner of the school.  I even found the nerve to interupt a meeting he was having with one of the Korean teachers and so she helped translate for me.

Today I went out of my way to track down Mr. Kim who always seems to be hiding.  I found out that Mr. Lee had agreed to my request of 1 million Won though I have to take a 3% cut of the total sum for some kind of tax.  Not sure if that’s legit or not but it’s 37,000 Won and I really don’t care enough to investigate.  Finally things are coming together.  ASSSSAAAH!!

March is generally  MOST DEPRESSING. 

In order to endure the never-ending cold, the long winter days, people dig deep.   As avid fans of St. Patty’s, a lot of us aren’t even Irish! Sure people like green beer but let’s face it… it’s something in the midst of nothing.  Well, unless spring training gets you in a tizzy. And so I embrace the holiday as any true Irish lass even though I’ve not a drop of the green in me.   

This time round, March is going to be different.  This St. Patty’s is to be clover-free.  I’m aiming to have reached Xi’an, China, the site of the Terrocata Warriors discovered in 1974.  Ah but i’m getting ahead of myself. 

www.willgoto.com

Let’s do this step by step.

My contract, expiring on Feb. 28th, isn’t actually my last day of work.  “Graduation” is on Thursday the 25th, followed by an-inservice day on the 26th to prep for the following school year.  School years in Asia start in March and end in Feb.  Since I’m not needed to prep I’ll simply be going in to collect me monies!  The 27th will be a triple good-bye bash for the ladies actually LEAVING both the school AND Korea – Justine, Laura and myself.  You are all invited though I’m sure traffic will prevent you from attending… We understand.  😉

I’m out of my apt. on the 28th – my lovely, studio-loft apt. for which I only pay maintenance/utilities.  Almost makes me want to stay put. 

I’ll be leaving early around 9 am in order to catch a flight to Beijing along with Justine Teacher.  Well by then we’ll just be Aimee and Justine.  With one night and most of the following day in Beijing we won’t get to see much.  Frankly we’ll probably just be scoping out the silk market for BARGAIN WARM GEAR!!  Our train To Tibet leaves that night. 

Approximately two days on the tracks, we will have aclimatized quite a bit from Beijing to Lhasa.  Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet and the site where we will meet up with our small Tibeten tour group of 8 for an 8-day adventure! 

We will return to Lhasa on the 10th of March and take a train back to Beijing.  Yes. a little backtracking but there are some MUST-SEES like The Great Wall, Tiennaman Square, The Forbidden City… I’ve been fiddling around with dates and destinations.

www.funfacts.com

From Beijing we plan to work our way south to Xi’an where we’ll probaby stay a day or two. 

Then we’ll head to Chendgu/Sichuan to explore Mt. Emei. There are several monasteries where you are welcome to spend the night.  And apparently some little monkeys.

After Emei I believe we’ll have to bus it to Yangshuo to explore some amazing rock formations and the like. 

Justine will continue further south to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Singapore.

I will board a plane in Hong Kong and fly back to Incheon, Korea.

Once back I hope to spend a week soaking up the sights I’ve managed to ignore for the past year.

At least these are our current aspirations.  Only our Tibet tour dates are set in stone, Everest base camp on March 7th!!!!!!

Then at long last I will obtain my paid ticket back to Newark, NJ, where the real adventure awaits.   

~Aimee

Today I will learn the ins and outs of making (and consuming) two of Koreas signature beverages: soju and makalee.

I’m going on a tour that was created by my friend and fellow teacher Sue and her husband Justin.  Sue and Justin run a helpful and insightful everything foreigners need to know about Korea website called theyeogiyo.com.  I highly recommend you try it out!! 

Now I’ve had soju before which tastes like …anitceptic?  Basically it’s Korean vodka.  Then there’s makalee which is a milky alcohol and this will be my first time. 

The place is a hefty 3 hours away but I’ll be in the entertaining company of most of my foreign co-workers. 

I’m proud of myself for making the journey because I’ve seen next to nothing of Korea!!  When I get back from my China/Everest adventure I plan on doing a mini roadtrip of the whole place.  Maybe a week. 

But of course travel fever is setting in and well I could just continue south after Bejing to see the Terricota Warriors in Xian (yeah I don’t know the spellings) and eventually head out from the Hong Kong airport…

I digress.  Back to soju and makalee.  This blog will be edited for important information.  😉

Cheers! or Gambaay!

~Aims

…And so I’ve neglected to write on many an occasion of many a thing.

The kids and the stories they leave me with everyday are hilarious.

Korean business is well getting much shadier at our school but that’s not my focus.

I like my job… it’s been a great run and it will soon be coming to an end.  Just 27 sleeps until Graduation and 28 days till my last day.

The times I’ve wandered outside of concrete Bun Dang, I’ve really enjoyed the scenery and plan on doing a mini-road trip some time in March on my visitor’s visa.  Those seeking adventure may join me.

 Speaking of adventures, I have a couple amazing tricks up my sleeve.  What say you to The Great Wall and Mt. Everest?!  BAM!!!

And now I leave you with promises of detailed accounts of the last weeks and the Asian journeys that follow.

A lot of you will be making your picks this March for the maddness.  I will as well but of a different sort. More of a “Where to now?”

New York is my number one. Then NJ, CA, AZ, Colorado, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland. In that order.

Doesn’t matter so much where as long as I’m making money and going to school. Plan is to be the Nanny named Fran.

 A friend of mine recently told me via facebook chat that I didn’t belong in school.  Rather I should be out in the world doing crazy adventures. Trust me – if I could be paid to do this I would.  

Sure some of my blogs are a little rough, but there are a few that I’ve actually really “worked on” that may show a smidgen of potential.  Or perhaps I’m dreaming.

Off to eat the deliciousness that is Korean BBQ – galbi!!!  The sides are endless!  Did I ever even write about the sides??  No. Shame on me.  Pfffft. 

~Anyang.

I taught my kids about Mr. Turkey and how he doesn’t like Thanksgiving. 

 We learned to say “I am thankful for” and Daniel said “apples” while Irene said “princess movies”.  Now it’s my turn. 

I am thankful for Korea of all things because I’ve paid off bills, created a savings, been to 5 Asian countries (6 if you count N. Korean DMZ), met some wonderful people from around the world, as well as a few awful ones who make me appreciate the way I was raised and the amazing people in my life back home.  (Screw you Korean business!!) 

I’ve also fallen in love with 3 and 4 year olds which is crazy considering I hate kids. 

 So Korea, I thank you for what you’ve done for me. HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Oh yeah…  I too am thankful for princess movies.  AND apples.

well it’s almost 3 pm and i’m sitting in my airconditioned apartment listening to music and laying on my couch with my running sneakers nearby. So far I’ve only managed to take them for a walk to the trash. My apt. is clean and I’m enjoying the first moments of my period on this one year anniversary in Korea. But you know… it could be a nice day to have to myself…

A couple weeks ago I was very worried about being able to come home in October as there would most likely not be a swine flu vaccine available.  Then last week that all changed.  Ellie (vice director) agreed with the dates of a flight I had found and said to go ahead with it.  I had asked her about the swine flu and she said that wasn’t a big deal.   So naturally I email family and friends of the good news that FOR REAL I am coming home in October.  Sophia teacher (Korean) helps me find this super cheap ticket with decent traveling hours. 

Today Sophia needed to change the name she had for me to match my passport (Aimee Z Fisher).  When I went in the office to ask Ellie for a copy of my passport she asked me why I was getting a ticket… what about the swine flu she asked.  Oh no she didn’t!  So there I stood with Eunice Teacher sitting at her desk lisetning to the whole thing. 

When I reminded Ellie of our conversation and she accused me of talking to her when she was busy and then said I was changing the facts!! I know this is the strategy of their business culture but DO NOT speak to me like that.   I pointed out to her that we had had a second conversation where we sat down with a calendar and at the end of the converstaion I had hugged her because I was so happy I could go home.  This woman is unfrickinbelievable!!  You seriously need to taperecord the things she says bc she lies like a cheap hooker. 

Arrrggg… I pointed out to her that our quarantine was BS.  During our quarantine week we saw kids from a distance and were in the same hallways that they used.  They even had one kid hanging out in the teacher’s room.  I’m like  – are you retarded??!!  What idiot brings a child to sit in there??!!!   Quite honestly if any of us had swine flu we’d all have been infected with the damn thing. 

Then I did something I cannot believe I had the guts to do.  I pointed at Eunice Teacher and said, “And she went to Bali and STILL came to school.”  Eunice had only been quarantined for 4 days.  What BS. I guess it was OK since she’s Korean and probably kept her trip on the DL.

Anyhoo here I am not knowing what to do.  I might have to take an extra week unpaid after I return which makes it two weeks unpaid plus my damn ticket.  The money is really really adding up now.  It’s just so hard because I had already talked about coming home with my parents.   October is just about my favorite month and I haven’t been in NJ for fall since 2005. 

 Apparently over the weekend 2 people in Korea died of swine flu.  I was told that they contracted it from the airplane but it turns out that one of them never even left the country.  All the cases I’ve been hearing about are IN Korea.  Maybe if I’m NOT hear I’ll stand a better chance. haha.  Arrggg… I have to be careful not to believe everything they tell me. 

Well then Mr. Kim (pretty much our new principal) calls me up to talk to him.  Mind you it’s almost the end of the day.  He starts the same old speal and I look at him and explain that Ellie did in fact tell me to go ahead and book my ticket.  They are so good… they really  make you doubt yourself.  He talks to me about quarantining and how there should be a vaccine but that’s all a load of crap.  No one in the world has one or knows when it’s coming and I’ve read old news articles from May saying oh well next month it will be here.   I then suggested that he should contact the Korean Center for Disease Control to find out the real story. I told him I wouldn’t rely on the news for anything. 

Mr. Kim is used to my smiling and energetic face.  Suddenly he looks at me and asks what’s wrong with my face. I decide this might be the time to work the tears and I started tearing… I was tearing anyways.  I looked at him with my sad eyes and said I JUST WANT TO GO HOME FOR A WEEK.  THAT WAS THE DEAL.  THen I point out to him that the Korean Thanksgiving is the week before so people will be leaving the country for that.  (And, though I did not mention this, one of my friend’s parents are coming from Canada so she’ll be exposed to them. And another girl’s boyfriend was just here from Japan.)  Mr. Kim looked surprised because apparently he hadn’t thought out that situation.  When he asked me which teachers I didn’t give him any names. 

Suddenly the bell rang and I stood up, told him that I’d have to talk with my parents and that I was sorry but I had to go to return the books to the children before their buses left. 

Before I spoke to Mr. Kim one of the teachers suggested I could talk to him the next day because I looked upset.  But going in there with emotion was perfect.  I  usually end up feeling bad when I go in there all calm and collected and end up not getting anywhere.  This time I spoke firmly and wasn’t ready to take any crap. 

Sophia and I spoke later when I got home.  She was still at the school and had spoken with Mr. Kim.  With the ticket non-refundable I had only  a matter of hours to cancel it.  So there went my super cheap ride home.  POOF.  It’s gone.  Sophia asked me if I had decided to take 2 unpaid weeks or if I was going to do it as Christmas.  I explained to her that we had not been able to finish our discussion. 

This whole thing breaks my heart because I really was coming home.  At long last.  People say… ah well CHristmas is coming.  Oh really?  Maybe I should just wait till frickin St. Patrick’s Day cuz that’s coming too.  The point is that when I get home I don’t get to see half the people I intend to see.  I miss many holidays and seasons.  I miss a lot.  And here I know that unless my parents condone it, I’m not coming home for another 4 months.  Plus at Christmas my mom is always so busy and the family doesn’t want a million strangers running around and I always feel guilty since it’s my mom’s only week off from school.  But really – Do you know how long 4 months IS out here???????????  Like frickin ETERNITY!!!!!!!!  October was making it all possible… arrrgggg.  I’m sick of the lying and the wishy washy trash.  I am sticking this out thorugh Feb. – taking my money and getting the HELL out of here.

The thing that bugs me most is that I know I can hold out till December and will probably opt to do that for money’s sake. But the thing is… while I’m focused on my savings,  this visit meant the world to me. I could practically feel my mom’s hug, hear my friends’ laughs and taste the birthday cakes. 

ButI tell myself Aimee, that’s life.  Your ipod will break. You’ll leave your camera in a cab, and people will give you crap.  But Aimee, there are much worse things that can happen.  Many people have lost loved ones this year… and I can’t even begin to put myself in their shoes.

Anyhoo…life in other terms is ok. Same old same old Korea though every day the kids make me laugh bc they are too frickin cute.   Keep wishing I could transport them to a kindergarden in the States.

I hope you can understand my disappointment and disgust.

Thanks for reading.

Aims

Yes folks, I am a potential carrier of swine flu having left the country for a wonderful week in Bali, Indonesia.  Now people in Bali aren’t even sure what swine flu is but still… we must be cautious.  Apparently it takes seven days to show symptoms. 

Thanks to swine flu I’m only working from 4 – 7:30 pm this week.  Sweet!!  To appease the parents, we are calling the kids for ten minutes a day to practice English though I was told that 5 minutes with my little ones will suffice.  If I actually make it 5 minutes I’m very impressed. 

“May I speak to Aaron?  Hello?  He—?” CLICK “Hi, this is Aimee Teacher.  I want to speak to Aaron please. Hello??”  CLICK.

“What day is it today?  Yes, it is sunny but what day is it today?”

“What color is the banana?…. Is it blue?  Do you like plums or strawberries?” 

“Did you sit nicely today?  Did Elliott sit nicely today?” 

“How many stickers did you get? A heart sticker?  What color is the heart?” 

The best time filler… “I love you.  I miss you.  Do you want to see Aimee Teacher?  Just 5 sleeps until Aimee Teacher time.” 

Quarantined away from the kids… yes we are.  However if we were actually serious about the quarantine we would not be making calls from the teachers’ room at school, using the same phones as the Korean teachers use, walking in the hallway that the kids take to get to ballet and music.  But here in Korean private school we just have to make it LOOK like we’re doing things… it’s all about appearance I suppose. 

If one of us really did have swine flu, it’d definitely be spread among the rest of the staff to the students.  I was very worried that the parents would be outraged as some of them cancelled their vacations just so that their child didn’t have to be quarantined.  Little Sally missed out on Bali.  Other kids can’t come to school for a week because they did go on vacation. 

And here we are at school… germs and all.  I highly doubt any of us has swine flu but you know what I’m getting at.  So far only one teacher’s parents were complaining that if she was in school she should be teaching.  Luckily my parents haven’t become typical Bun Dang nightmare moms just yet.

Korea is a community of sharing.  Whenever we eat, we all stick our chop sticks in the same dish.  We kind of treat everything as an appetizer.  I know this would disgust some people back home but I’m ok with communal habits.   Well, until it comes to things like preventing illness. 

We have to take our temperature every morning before school as a swine flu precaution. It kills me that they try to stick the same thermometer into everyone.  The first day I refused to use it until I found some wet wipes.  Deep down I know the wet wipes aren’t really doing anything…

The helper teachers come into class around snack time every day and take all the kids’ temperatures.  The thermometer goes uncleaned from one kid to the next until the whole class has been surveyed.  I suppose if one kid’s has got the SI then all of them might as well get it.  😉

Yup, eleven months ago on September 5, 2008, I landed in good old South Korea. 

It’s been quite the experience but I think I’ll save a major reflection for my one year. 

It will, however, be interesting to see if my current plans actually pan out.

Here is the schedule of my upcoming world tour:

August 16th:  Visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone aka border between North and South Korea) and obtain the most controversial stamp in my passport yet!

October 8th-ish through October 18th-ish :  NEW JERSEY for mine and the parents’ birthdays… unless I get travel fever and end up in Austrailia or South Africa…

Christmas Eve through January 3rd-ish:  NEW JERSEY for the holidays – can I swing in a visit to AZ?

March 2010: I finish my 6 month extended contract in South Korea and will have put away some decent savings…

                        What happens at this point is still a mystery though I have several options brewing…

Summer 2010: go visit the family in Europe with a base in Poland OR work in Europe at a summer camp, preferably France

Fall 2010: East coast, west coast, Europe, Austrailia – who knows!  If I could stomach it, I’d love to give NJ a try again because I have been sacrificing my personal relationships for too long and missing out on some wonderful people.  I am Auntie Aimee these days.  It’s time I was introduced.

By this coming winter I hope to have taken my ACE certification for personal training so I can get into the field and work as I go back to school.   It’s hard to buckle down so far from home. 

I’d better come up with something so I won’t feel compelled to do another round of the ROK (Republic of Korea).  Nah… there’s no frickin way. Plus my mommy doesn’t want me to.  😉