Day in Gwangju

Today was my health check up at the hospital. The head of the English teachers at my school told me that it would take 50 minutes to get there from my house, or so that's what I thought she said. She also told me to leave at 12:30 to get there by 1:30. That makes sense, right? Give yourself an hour to get there when it really only takes 50? Seems sensible to me. So I left a little earlier just in case! I left my place at around 12:20 to hail a taxi. I got one and got into the Hyundai. After some crazy driving, not following the lanes, barely missing other cars, I arrived at the hospital within 15 minutes! Whenever Koreans say 15, I think they're saying 50. I had a lot of time to kill, so I decided to walk around the block and into the shops. I bought some stickers for the students and that's about it. I had no where else to go so I decided to head back to the hospital. I didn't know what time it was because I don't have a watch or a cell phone, but I thought it was almost time so I was walking back. Mind you, I've been keeping an eye out for foreigners so I could speak to them in English and have a normal conversation. So, as I was walking back, I spotted a light skinned person in a coffee shop using a computer. My heart stopped and I was SO excited! As I got closer, I realized I knew this white person!!! I walked up to the window with a shocked face. I got his attention and he looked at me with a shocked face! We were both SHOCKED and VERY HAPPY!! I went inside and we hugged in joy and familiarity. Then we started rambling off in English and baristas and customers looked at us with curious eyes. I didn't care though; I found someone I could communicate with effectively in a language we both are fluent in. It turns out, he had to get his check up at the same time at the same place. We talked for 15-20 minutes before we went to the hospital and when we arrived, there were MORE foreigners. I was also not given a form to fill out because the guy thought I was Korean and just accompanying the foreigners. I was like, "What about me??" After a few chuckles, I got the form and we headed upstairs for the tests and that is when I laid my eyes on a room full of foreigners. I was happy to see some people I had met during orientation too. Caught up with them and asked them about their apartments and such. I got my blood drawn and a urine sample. They put their urine in cups WITHOUT lids. Smelly and not a very good method to keep samples that you're going to test. After that, a few of us Gwangjuites decided to hang out for the day because if we didn't, we'd just be roaming around aimlessly not knowing where to go and we'd be all alone. A group of us went to eat lunch and then a smaller group of us went to a PCbang to get connected with the rest of the world and then an even smaller group went to a fellow teacher's apartment to have dinner. I had to go home first because the gas man was coming to turn my gas on. My friends and I decided to meet up at the elementary school near one of their apartments. You have no idea how reliant you on a cell phone until you don't have one anymore. I got there and I didn't see either of them. I walked around the ENTIRE school calling out their names. I didn't see them. I felt like I was gonna have to catch another taxi ride back home. What a waste of money that would be. As I circled around the school again, I saw two white people crossing the street. I screamed their names and ran with my umbrella, but they didn't hear me. Thank goodness they didn't know where they were going because they walked back towards the corner where I was headed. "I MADE IT!" Then we had a group hug for the success! We headed to the apartment and the host was the chef for the night and made an AMAZING vegetarian spaghetti dish. We're newly moved into our apartments, so we don't have a lot of eating equipment. I ended up using the chopsticks and the other two got to use their easy-to-maneuver forks and we ate the spaghetti out of the skillet-all three of us, heads together. It was the most ridiculous dinner I've ever had and I couldn't have asked for a better first real meal with friends in Gwangju. Tomorrow, I start class!!! Not teaching, but I have to introduce myself for the whole class. So basically, a presentation about ME! but I’m also planning an activity. Hopefully it goes smoothly!