Saturday 25th - Sunday 26th

Now that I've settled down a bit, I can be brutally honest about my feelings when I just arrived here...

On Saturday, after dinner with Angelina (my co-teacher), Mr Kim (school officer) and his wife, we went to a store to buy things like cleaning agents, bins, iron, ironing board etc...and there was someone from the store who helped us back to my apartment with all our things (basically a few metres down from where I live.

Then we went to a "PC bang" - "bang" means "room"...so, PC ROOM (aka Internet cafe). Angelina had to go home, and I assured her I'll be ok to get home by myself.

Entrance to PC BANG

Remember, I was jetlagged...I had only arrived a few hours earlier, so my body hadn't yet adjusted to the time difference. At 00:00 I was wide awake and asked the man who worked at the PC bang where I could get a call card. He looked at me blankly and said something in Korean. Then I mimed to him... I said SOUTH AFRICA.... and pointed to the phone.

A girl was watching me, and I tried asking her... she told me to follow her. I followed her to a cafe where there was a man, woman and a baby. I said SOUTH AFRICA...PHONE. The man said to me, "SAUDI ARABIA?" Thank heavens he had a chart in his store, so I point to the SA flag, and he sold me a call card.... and he let me use his phone...

..I called home, and spoke to my brother. My folks weren't home. Then I called my mother on her cell... and while talking to her, I thought - OH CRAP I don't know where I am and how am I going to get home? It was 00:30 now.

Still talking to my mum, I saw 2 Indian guys pass the store and I waved frantically at them. They were from Bangladesh and their English was none the better. SUN JIN APARTMENT, I repeatedly said. NO ONE as in NO ONE understood what the hell I was saying.

I mentally prepared myself to be raped or mugged... I mean, what the hell was I doing walking around the streets of Sinchen-dong on the night that I arrived? I was close to tears. I had no idea where I was.

Then....the guy who took my parcels to my apartment earlier saw me, and noticed I was lost and he walked me home. I was shaking. I was tired... hungry...and needed a shower.

....so around 01:00 I had a shower. I was so upset about getting lost that I didn't care that I couldn't find my shower gel. I used shampoo. (Manuka shampoo from the Body Shop to be precise)

My apartment was bare and eerily silent. I went upstairs, sat on my bed and thought - OH MY GOD....what have I done coming here? How will I ever get the hang of things?

I fell asleep for an hour, and woke up @ 3am. It felt like I slept for 6 hours. I was frustrated and the silence was deafening. I went back to the PC bang, and made sure I knew where the hell it was. Well, it's really just straight down the road from where I live.

I needed to get onto MSN / GOOGLE TALK. The man had no idea what I was saying when I said GOOGLE TALK? I burst into tears in his face... and he gave me a cup of coffee from the coffee machine. My friend, Jayme was online and I asked her to call my brother to get him online.

He logged on and I said - WHAT HAVE I DONE COMING HERE? Then I asked him to call Cliff & YunOck, who spoke to me..and YunOck spoke to the guy working there in Korean. For the next 4 hours, I sat at the PC bang (5am....6am...) I couldn't bare going to my apartment.

It's now Sunday... at 7am, I went home... fell asleep at 8am and woke up at 3pm. Within 10 minutes of waking up, I went back to the PC bang and sat there till midnight. I downloaded Skype, and spoke to friends. I even managed to upload pics on a PC that was 100% in Korean.

When I got home, I only got to bed around 2am... woke up @ 3am... and again at 5am....and then at 7am... I thought the jet lag would never wear off. I was so upset.... and so lonely....

...but things slowly picked up (as you will see read in my next post).

...bare with me from now on

I am quite chuffed with myself...

I connected my camera to the PC and uploaded pics without knowing what the hell was on the screen...I guess I've been blogging for quite some time now that I kind of know which buttons to press - even though they're not in English.

I had more pics that I uploaded, but lost them cause my PC shut down as I ran out of money.

Pics...

At airport with my mum ...before the tears

Airport in Singapore

Mr Jo, who picked us up

Incheon, Korea



Arriving in Siheung

My new school...Sinchen Elementary School

My apartment

View from sleeping area

My first Korean meal

....FROM KOREA

...picking up from my last post, Viola and I ended up checking in and not going to a coffee shop. We were just way too tired to even think straight. The flight was from 8am to 3:30pm. We were blotchy faced and irratable that we couldn't fall asleep.

When we arrived, we could just feel the humidity as we stepped off the plane. After immigration / customs, we picked up our luggage, freshened up and proceeded to arrivals where a Mr Jo was waiting for us with a nice big sign: VIOLA & SHEETAL...WELCOME TO KOREA!

The drive from Incheon Intl Airport to Siheung was about 1.5 hours and after random bantering with my Mr Jo, Viola and I passed out in the backseat. I was dropped off first. We went to my school - Sinchen Elementary School where my co-teacher, Angelina and the school officer, Mr Kim met me.

Initially my apartment wasn't ready and I was going to be put up in a hotel, but plans changed and I am in my new aparment. I was ordered a brand new bed which was assembled right before me... and afterwards, went to get a bite to eat with Angelina and Mr Kim. Mr Kim's wife and 2 kids soon joined us and we went shopping for other little items that I needed - sponge, dishwashing liquid, toaster etc etc etc...

Would you believe that my neighbour has already expressed her hospitality towards me and gave me a bunch of grapes and a bottle of juice :)

Mr Kim's son seems very intrigued by me and keeps talking to me in Korean. Then when I don't answer, he asks his father things about me - where am I from.... etc etc.. but it's ok cause I've been warned that kids tend to stare at foreigners... they just look different! I have seen the most beautiful Korean children since arriving, and their parents had no qualms when I asked if I could take photo's of them!

Anyways, my apartment building is called Sun Jin and is on a corner. It's very modern and when you enter, you don't need a key or card.... just a pin number! When you enter on the right is a bathroom - not quite what us SA's are used to... then I have a kitchenette, a living room area and a few stairs leading to the sleeping area. My closet, desk, chair etc will arrive soon I am told.

I won't lie - I am missing home, especially for the menial things. Language is a definite barrier, and one has to constantly break down simple sentences for mutual understanding.

I'm @ an internet cafe right now which is a few metres from my apartment. After I send a few mails off, I'll head on home, take a shower and get to bed.

Pics to follow shortly.
Love to one and all in South Africa. xxx

...in Singapore

Viola and I have arrived in Singapore and will be boarding for Korea with 45mins. Apart from being so tired, we are trying to soak up the experience as best we can.

As I write this, I'm @ a free internet terminal @ Changi aiport in Singapore. It's just past 06:30..our flight was good (all 11 hours of it) but we were kept entertained with the 100 channels of movies. I watched 2 Bollywood movies (Namaste London & Dhoom 2), a Korean film and Shrek 2. And how lucky was I to catch my current fave song playing (Timbaland's 'the way i r').

Food on the flight was good... we were served lunch...or was that dinner? and a nice breakfast. Since Viola and I were confused out of our minds where we were and what time it was where ever we were flying over, we decided to enjoy our flight according to South African time.

So...we had wine with lunch (which I gulped down during some turbulence) and then had Bailey's just before breakfast. Hmmmm....!! but hey...it was about 11pm SA time, so it's fine, isn't it?!

I had my fair share of drama in Cape Town @ the airport. At the risk of being teased at...let me just say I was overweight in excess baggage (over 10kg)....I had to go and buy another bag to unpack some things in ... but was still over. The lady told me I had to pay over R5 000!!! HELL NO...so I sent some things home with my mum.

Anyways my time is up and Viola and I are going to a coffee shop..

xxx Thanks for all the messages...

Farewells...

In just a few hours, I'll be getting ready to leave for Cape Town. My adventure to Korea has begun, and I am a bunch of emotions all rolled into one.

I had the most amazing week-end... Friday night, I had a farewell party @ home with my entire family & a few of my close friends. Saturday night, I had my second farewell party with friends @ the Keg & Beacon and @ Numbers (nightclub). I had such a blast, and know that my friends enjoyed it just as much...

The past few days have been all about phonecalls and visits...not to mention nostalgia of note! Packing up my room has been quite an experience, and I've given a LOT of things away...from clothing to items I've collected over the years.

....so Thursday I fly to Cape Town with my mum and Friday morning, we (Viola & I) depart for Singapore.

To those I've not had a chance to say goodbye to, I apologise.... promise to keep in touch via e-mail / texts.

I can't believe this is my last night in my own bed... but, no time for glum faces. I'm so confident that exciting adventures await me on the other side of the world. I can't wait to meet my class of cute little kids :)

Chatterbox August'07

Facebook - The new cyber drug

These days when I want to swap contact details with someone, I just take it for granted that they have a cellphone number and/or e-mail address. If they don’t, I’m gobsmacked! With the amount of Internet Cafés around the country, almost no one has an excuse for not keeping in touch with family and friends.

My family got the Internet at home about 11 years ago when not many people even knew what it was. The more addicted I became to the Internet, the higher our phone bill was for the month! And yes, I am ashamed to say that I became slightly addicted to chat rooms. Much to my school friends’ envy, I was meeting people from all over the world and started making e-pals (the online version of pen pals).

I met my first e-pal in a chat room. He was 16, lived in Canada and was a DJ. I 'met' 2 of his other friends, and believe it or not – ten years later, we are all still in contact!

Networking sites have been around for a while, and after getting e-invites from friends, I usually give in and register. I have done it all – hi5, myspace, Orkut and the rest. But the most addictive and time-consuming site of late is Facebook. Through Facebook, I have been reunited with nearly half my matric class. People who I thought I’d never see again and who I have been trying to track down are all of a sudden being added to my growing list of friends.

I have even joked with some of my friends that I need to go on a Facebook fast! It has really become the new cyber drug of internet users all over the world. What starts out as just logging in to check messages turns into a whole hour of random bantering with long lost friends, seeing who’s added new photo’s to their profile and who has left a message on my wall. Many companies have even started blocking the site, which does not allow employees to log on.

But what’s the addiction? How is Facebook different to other sites like myspace and hi5?

One of the main features of the site is that you can set your privacy settings so that only people you accept into your friend network will be able to view your profile. Once you’re on your friend’s profile, you can leave a message on their ‘wall’, send them a private message, maybe send them a virtual hug, look at their latest photos and generally see what they’re up to or what mood they’re in by checking out their status. With the increasing features appearing on the site, it’s no surprise that an hour can fly by once you’ve logged onto facebook.com.

And for friends who don’t want to be entwined into the addictive world of Facebooking, I have another means of keeping in touch with them – via my blog (www.sheetalmakhan.blogspot.com) Without the hassle of sending dozens of individual e-mails and photographs, I simply update my blog. Anyone can log on, see what I’ve been up to and leave comments on various posts for me. This will be especially useful when I embark on my travels within the next few weeks and I will be able to keep a travel journal of some sorts.

The world is shrinking and it’s no longer surprising to bump into a long lost acquaintance in a foreign country. Thankfully, my family and I are not technophobic and I am a self-confessed techno-addict.

I check my e-mail throughout the day and now and again sneak in a quick chat with a friend who’s online. Blogging has become a part of my routine, while Facebooking has become a habit I am seriously trying to ween myself off from!