Ancheon – Sleepy Paradise or Devil’s Heartland??

Ah, Ancheon my home ‘myeon’ (means something smaller than town, I assume village) is the strangest, most alien place I have ever set foot in for longer than a week… its all very well experiencing ‘the real this and that country’ for a few days, while you seem all ‘right on’ and explorer, but the reality of living in a place like this for a whole year is one that is very difficult to comprehend!! Ancheon was formed in the 1990s after the Korean Government kicked out people living in a town nearby in order to flood the area for a dam. Most people moved to the cities but a few stayed in the local area, attending my school and living in 5 tiny villages – Ancheon is the biggest of these villages – I have no idea how small the others must be! I am the first westerner to ever live in Ancheon, non of its 100 residents speak English and there is not a good meal or coffee shop or internet café to be seen – the nearest town is Jinan which is 24 km away and therefore it is a very lonely place to be… I make the most of it by incessantly watching soap operas downloaded online…I didn’t come to Korea to watch English tv, but at time the options are very limited, so its either do that or meditate – and I DON’T meditate!!!

  bus stop - about as exciting as it gets in these parts!!

Let me explain how my living here came about; when I applied for this post I was told I would be living in the small mountain town of Jinan, Jeollabuk-do… 40 minutes by bus from the Province capital, Jeonju with ‘excellent bus transport links’ according to Bonnie my evil recruiter – may she burn in hell! I checked it out on Wikipedia and was informed it had 30,000 residents ‘Wow, that’s small I thought, I’m pretty sure there were that many people living on my street in East London! Still, I thought it would be exciting to live a quiet, peaceful life in the country, going for walks and breathing fresh air and the like… but alas it was not to be and I was one of the many westerners to be screwed over by recruiters each year! I would kill to live in a town of 30,000 right now, people in the street, and shops and noise would be a glorious thing!

My bubble was burst on the first proper day in Korea, I was taken shopping by my co-teacher and informed ‘there is no store near your house, so we will need to buy provisions in Jeonju’. ‘Weird’ I thought, ‘How can a town of 30,000 have NO store’, as I was massively jetlagged I didn’t pay too much attention and assumed I must be living slightly outside Jinan in this ‘Ancheon’ place – maybe it was a suburb like Royton is to Oldham! The bubble was burst further still the following day when I was taken to my school and my new home – since labeled (lovingly of course) ‘The Shack’.. This place was LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere, I noticed there was one shop that sold bus tickets, a bank and randomly a post office – why there needs to be a bank and a post office in a village with no people in it is beyond me!!! I was taken to the school first – Ancheon Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle and High School. I had been told that I would be teaching in high school, so it was a shock to discover that I would be teaching all of the students in the whole school… I was later to discover that my school is usually one served by a circulating teacher and the only reason for my presence was the insistence of the new Principal who insisted the school have one teacher for itself – big thanks to that guy – not!! Still, that didn’t bother me too much, as I thought variation is the spice of life etc etc….

The biggest shock was to come when I was taken to my house (the Shack), which lies in the middle of Ancheon in the back garden of some old couple’s house. Obviously, there are no apartments in Ancheon. The first thing that caught my eye upon entering the house was the fact that a very noisy chicken coop was set up in the garden –ah how the chickens loved to keep me awake at night! My biggest victory to date in Korea is that I can now sleep through them, but the first few weeks were very tough with the 5am wakeup calls – not good for a girl who started work at 10am in London, and who is only used to the beautiful sounds of sirens in the night!!

Chickens - grrrr!!!

After seeing the wondrous exterior, I was then taken into my shack, where I was promptly told that I would basically be a prisoner in Ancheon in the evenings – there is not escape out of the village after 6.30pm (I finished work at 5.10pm), thus I promptly burst into tears, as the horror of what I had done hit me full speed!

The Shack in all it's glory

                                                                

I understand that this argument is completely veering towards the argument of ‘Ancheon is the Devil’s heartland’, so I must explain there are some benefits to living here, especially now I am more settled… Ancheon is set in some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, the mountains of Jeollabuk-do and surrounded by a beautiful lake – I feel it is a good place to reflect on my life and hopefully once I am more settled here, positive decisions will be inspired by it!! It’s also very quiet and peaceful and actually gives time to think without noise and rush everywhere! I’m also something of a local celebrity – something I could never say in London, and everyone rushes to greet me when they see me and give me random bits of fruit – the old couple whose house I live next to are also very kind (the Koreans are the kindest people on earth and will go massively out of their way for you at every turn), and I now have a constant stream of eggs – thanks chickens!! 

Beautiful Ancheon

Although no one here speaks English and I don’t speak Korean, I think we have a mutual friendship and interest in each other. As my school is so small and my pupils mostly live in my village, I have got to know them all quite well and they all enthusiastically shout after me when I am walking down the street – it’s nice to feel wanted!! I have also managed to get out of here sometimes – meeting Greg in Jeonju on a Tuesday night and getting a taxi back to Ancheon from Jinan – luckily the taxis here aren’t as expensive as in the UK!! I am also out of here every weekend, experiencing all Korea has to offer, so its nice actually to get back to the peace of my room after a busy weekend being cultured and Love Motelling…

So, Ancheon; sleepy paradise or devil’s heartland?? YOU DECIDE!!!

I'm finally getting the blog going!! 7 weeks in..... (by Katherine)

Well, it's been 7 weeks since we arrived dishevelled in South Korea, and I can honestly say I have never experienced such a contrast of emotions!! Its quite unnerving really!! This is just going to be a basic summary of the first 7 weeks here for 2 reasons 1. We are never going to write anything if time keeps going and then I won't be able to remember anything of this year when I'm old and grey!! 2. My feelings so far have been a little 'negative' over the past weeks and I don't want this blog to reflect that!


Week 1 was the worst of all - horrible flight x 2, horrible Dubai and then the horrible realisation that I was going to be living and teaching in South Korea for a whole year - I think this was the first time I'd actually faced up to that and was not the best time do so!! When we arrived at Jeonju (my home city for the year), I was meant by my co-teacher and dragged all around the city in a state of deadness having various tests and filling in various forms (apparently I have an enlarged kidney but they don't care as its not contagious!).. I was then to experience my first taste of Korean food, which I can honestly say is unlike anything I've ever tasted before - either super super bland or super super spicy - makes no sense!! This was the start of my new diet which involves not eating in the week and stuffing my face with western food (burgers and chips) at the weekends - healthy!! I was also told that I wouldn't be going to my school - which at this point I believed was in the town of Jinan (pop 30,000) - until the next day and spent a nice but strange evening at my co-teachers apartment and buying about a million toilet rolls and water bottles at the Lottemart (local Korean supermarket/world takeoverer).. The next day I was taken to my school and my house - my school was in fact a tiny school in the village of Ancheon - as was my house - where the population was 100!! There are no proper shops and no bus to civilisation after 6.30pm. After hearing this I promptly burst into tears and spent the rest of the day and our first weekend in a hysterical state - it was not good!! I will explain Ancheon properly later, it is beautiful, quiet and had its good points but its the strangest, most alien place I have ever set foot in, and still can't imagine how I am going to stay here for 12 whole months!!

                                                                   sleepy Ancheon


Week 2 and 3 passed without incident - I did a lot more crying and feeling sorry for myself and plotted several elaborate escape plans, which involved high levels of daring and ingenuity and then realised (and was told) that this was daft, so resolved to stick it out for 'at least a month' big woop!! I also discovered my students during this time, and after several schedule changes I am now teaching every child in kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school (age 4 - 19), and they are my best thing about teaching here!! As the school is so small, my classes are all very small and I have got to know my kids really well - the older ones try really hard (mostly) and I can have conversations with them, and the younger ones are insanely cute and all go hysterical shrieking 'hi! hi' at every moment and coming for cuddles etc - I am besotted with them and definitely want to kidnap a Korean kid to take back with me!! We also visited Gwanju and the 'entertainment hub' that is Indoor/outdoor themepark Lotteworld in Seoul in week 3 (there are a LOT of Lottes in Korea), I will let Greg explain that one though as its his best place.... it was a fun weekend though and Lotte is basically a fab disney rip off, that even lightened my heavy heart!! The weekend did begin with trauma, as we arrived at Seoul at about midnight in the pouring rain, unable to get a cab or a subway for about2 hours, eventually tracking down a hotel around 3am! I had major trauma that night but managed to survive for all the fun of LotteWorld the next day!

                                                                   Magical Lotte World


In week 4 we stayed at home in Jeonju. and then the next week we had 4 glorious days off for Chuseok - Harvest Moon Festival/Korean thanksgiving!! Before we went away we stayed in 'the Beast' love motel - it was a neon paradise and the best name for a love motel ever!!

                                                                 the BEAST love motel!!


It was great to get away and we visited Busan and Daegu - Busan was the best and had a gorgeous beach and a gorgeous hotel. and the weather was really hot!! It also had an ace aquarium and cocktails! We also discovered our new favorite restaurant - Bennigans!! Which does  a killer club sandwich and cheese and bacon fries!! MMMM.... we did go to a crappy theme park called ME world., which is the WORST theme park ever!! Greg sat on a skanky fake dog and I almost vommed, not good!!

Hammer Shark - Busan Aquarium!

We then went to Daegu and stayed in the WORST Love Motel ever!! I've realised I've not mentioned them in detail yet, and Love Motels are one of the best things about Korea - I will do a separate post as i LOVE them so much!! I say love, the one in Daegu I hated beyond all reason!! It was massively cheap (its only pro) and cost about 12 quid a night for the room, but was small and skanky and attached to a karaoke bar which kept me awake all night!! We also visited ANOTHER theme park called Woobang Towerland, which I didn't really enjoy as I was soooo tired, and had a disappointing cocktail tower which did not live up to my high expectations!! Good things about the weekend were - we had mcdonalds breakfast and Bennigans, PLUS I bought an ace bag in the shape of a cat, that says 'don't worry, be happy' surely my motto for South Korea!! Not!!


Ah, week 5 brought a weekend spent in Jeonju, and so came our finest hour - we discovered the Jeonju branch of Mcdonalds!! Hallelujah!! After a fruitless hour long trek on the Friday evening, we finally discovered it on Saturday lunch - it had been under our noses the whole time!! I can honestly say there was a mixture of jubilation and regret (that's sarcasm btw, I don't even eat much maccy ds at home, but in Korea it all means so much!!) We also went to see Jeonju's finest tourist attraction with my co-teacher Mrs Kim, the Hanok Village, which i loved  but I think the paper museum was too much for Greg!! We stayed in the XO Love Motel in Jeonju, which was not as good as the Beast, but was almost!! Plus compared to Daegu it was a palace!!


Week 6 brought a romantic trip to Namwon, a visit to the beautiful 'City of Love;, where Korea's version of Romeo and Juliet is set - what a lovely place!! We visited another theme park, but also beautiful Gwanghulla garden, the setting of romance, and met an old man who told us about the Korean War and being a Jehovah s witness! It was a lovely peaceful weekend, and I do feel despite the problems I am starting to settle down here - roll on week 7 and beyond and hopefully more detailed blog entries!!..............................