First days in Busan

My first morning in Busan arrived early. I first woke up around 5 but forced myself back to sleep until 7. At which point I woke up, showered, attempted to make scrambled eggs but couldn’t figure out my stove top so made toast instead, and began some unpacking. I had to be on the corner by a Paris Baguette by 9:00 to meet Lauren, Ann, and Maureen to walk to school! I did my hair cute, wore a skirt and tank top, and headed out around 8:30 to attempt to get tea at the Paris Baguette before our first adventure. Unfortunately they did not have hot tea but they did have the most amazing peach iced tea! I met up with Ann, another teacher from Kansas, before meeting Lauren and Maureen. We walked the two blocks to school with Lauren pointing out spots of interest as we went. We were all relatively still jetlagged but seemed to be understanding well enough. As we approached the final crosswalk before school Sarah appeared! I had met Sarah at the fair where I was hired for this position and was so happy to see her again! Sarah is decidedly a kindred spirit. She had been in Busan for about 5 days already and she and her family had had all sorts of adventures.

Upon arriving at school we got our reimbursements and a tour of the building itself. The original building is about 20 years old with the new addition being only 2–3 years old. It’s relatively small with about 6 classrooms per floor and 4 floors. On the main floor is the offices, early childhood, and conference room. On the second floor is middle school. The third floor is high school (my floor!!!). The fourth floor is science labs and a rooftop garden access. The basement houses the specialists (art, music, maker’s space, Korean language) and math. It also has the auditorium. I can’t remember what level the gym and library are on but we have those too :P

After our tour of the school and connecting to the wifi to let our families know we’re alive, we headed out into Busan!!! We first went to the coffee shop down the street where I’m pretty sure I will be spending a lot of time due to it’s free wifi and cheap tea. We all got caffeine and the headache I had been sporting for 2 days magically went away! (I hate how addicted I am…it’s honestly a problem). While there Sarah chatted with us about what she knew and what she and her family had done so far. She left to go with them to a Buddhist temple that is up the mountain right behind our apartments. Ann, Maureen, and I decided to attempt to find Haeundae beach which is the largest beach in South Korea. We walked down a large hill by our house, turned left, walked through some side streets, asked for directions twice, and finally made it to the beach! By this point we were soaked through from the heat and the humidity. It is around 88 with 88% humidity here every day which is honestly killing me a bit. Once we arrived at the beach the first thing we saw was Sealife! (*this is funny because one of my best friends works at Sealife in the states). We wandered down the sand/beach to put our toes in the water. Normally I hate the ocean. Blasphemous I know but normally oceans smell of seaweed and fish and I can’t stand it. For whatever reason this beach had no seaweed and smelled wonderful! We walked along the sand and observed people. Most Korean people seem to swim with their clothes on or at least a shirt. They rent inner tubs to float on as they play in the water. By this point it was nearing 12:30 and I was hungry. We found a CU (convenience store like a 7/11) to buy water before going in search of food. We first walked up a street and found an outdoor market. Deciding that we should go through the market we ventured it. Mostly it was similar to other outdoor food markets I’ve been to including the fish. They also had a bunch of seafood however. Now if you know me at all you know I don’t eat fish, seafood, or any variant thereof. The reason will become clear in a moment. As we walked through the market I got a slight smell of fish and began uncontrollably coughing. I literally had to nearly hold my breath to make it through the rest of the market. At which point I began to fear I would starve here in Korea as they eat a lot of fish/seafood. And for good reason, they are on the ocean after all. We walked farther up the street and found a cute little restaurant that had pictures and food that I could probably eat. We walked inside, found air conditioning and very nice people. Ann and I ordered kimchi fried rice with egg and Maureen had the kimchi soup. All of our dishes came with extra sides that were equally good. I managed to eat most of my meal plus some of the plain white rice of Maureen’s. We hung out there for a while talking and enjoying the air conditioning. Finally we headed back into the heat to find the subway. We ventured onto the subway for the first time and made it seamlessly. Ya’ll I love subway systems. Like they are literally my favorite thing in the world. After exiting the subway we ventured into eMart a huge department/grocery store. We all bought a few things we needed and began the trek back up the hill during the hottest part of the day to our apartments. We took about 2 hours to just love the air and unpack further in our apartments. I discovered Korean TV and watched an international archery competition which was honestly amazing.

Then Maureen, Ann, and I met back up for some more exploring. It was a little bit cooler now as the sun had started to set. We went to the left of our apartments this time instead of right to explore this cool like greenway thing between the apartments. We found a river and I like lost my mind. I learned a little while ago that if I live to far from water I go crazy. This will be the perfect place to come and hang out in future days. We continued on the path before coming to a street at which point we turned up to continue to explore. We found another coffee shop and got some more amazing peach iced tea. We were waited on in the most spectacular fashion by a wonderful woman. She brought us water and made sure we were comfortable even though we barely speak any Korean. We talked tv, movies, and politics because obviously. It was an interesting conversation and helped me to know I would have an easier time here.

Then we headed out to check out everyone’s apartments. Turns out I have one of the nice apartments as it has recently been updated and that couch tho. We finally realized that we were hungry and stopped at a Korean fast food place with burgers before heading home for the night. I was still feeling deeply mixed emotions about being here. I have never lived truly on my own before. I have always had a roommate and have always wanted a roommate. I’m still deciding how I’m going to like having the whole apartment to myself. Additionally I just didn’t feel like I had for sure found my people. I really like both Maureen and Ann and think they will be wonderful coworkers but we have very different life experiences. I kept wondering if I had made the right choice to come here. It was a difficult feeling as I had been so sure I would love it here. I fell asleep around 9 that night after writing what we had done that day.