Arriving in Uijongbu

We arrived in Uijongbu on the 15th February, 2006 at about 4am. It was freezing dark and we were really glad on insisting for a driver to deliver us from Incheon airport to Uijongbu. It all felt very foreign. We almost got run over by a bus doing 70km past the entrance of the airport as we lugged our cumbersome suitcases to the taxi.

The drive to Uijongbu was really misty- we weren't sure if it was morning fog or pollution (in hindsight it was probably dust). Our driver weaved his way across motorway lanes in low visibility at sometimes terrifying speed. He didn't speak much English, although he did ask "You from Canada?" which we now know is standard taxi driver conversation.

We soon realised that the way the taxi driver was driving was not unique. Everyone in Korea does it. Especially buses! Little or no indicating and even going through red lights. Although, there is some kind of rule because people stop sometimes. You would have to be brave to try and drive in this country.

Clare and I were pretty tired from flying when we arrived in Uijongbu. We were glad to be met by English speaking Vince - the Foreign Teacher Manager. He was up at 6am to show us the apartment.

Boy the apartment was a surprise! We carried our overweight suitcases up to the second floor and were shown into a little room. It was bare except for a closet and the kitchenette.

We rolled our suitcases into it - they seemed to take up a lot of the space and all I could say was "Wow!?" Clare and I shot each other a look and I know she and I were thinking - "What have we got into?"

I saw a door on the right side of the room and thought - "Oh, this must be where my room is." Opened the door and there instead was the bathroom.

Vince then explained that Clare and I would be sharing this space for a few weeks before another teacher left. I'm sure he could tell that we were a bit surprised about this and were also a little distressed at the lack of furnishings. So he quickly made arrangements with the school for a bed to be delivered that day and he even raided his own kitchen for supplies including a kettle and toaster so that we could have something to eat for breakfast. We were so glad to have toast and coffee. I made a bed up on the floor out of the bedding they had supplied and relaxed for a little while.


The photo here is was taken about a week after we arrived. Clare is sitting on her bed. The TV is on the floor because we didn't get a table until about 3 weeks after we arrived. My bedding is in the huge plastic bag - thank goodness for Rachel lending me a mattress though otherwise I would have been sleeping on the floor!

The door on the right is the toilet shower - not bath shower - toilet shower! You have to put the seat down when you shower or someone will have a wet bum.

Out the right door is a storage area/washing machine area. I am taking this photo standing at the far wall of the apartment next to the door.

My suitcase was my dresser up until last week. I had never been so glad to unpack my things!

Things are much better now. More civilised as mum would say. We have an apartment each. Clare's is now the living area and mine is the sleeping/dressing area. A teacher who left gave us a whole lot of furniture and a few decorative items. So now we have mood lighting in the living area - put up a string of lights around the edge of the ceiling so that we can relax and watch movies or whatever.

Just need a few more things to put on the walls to make it perfect! The walls in everyone's apartment are pretty gross because dust sticks to them.

So that's how we got into our new living areas in Uijongbu.