(Written last night in the airport)
Right now its 7/28 and around 4:15 pm. Once again I find myself sitting in Kala Lampur’s International flight terminal trying to maneuver my way around their fake free internet access.
I arrived here about an hour ago after a long and tedious trip from Ulsan to Seoul to Malaysia. My final destination is Phuket, Thailand.
I’ve been so busy tying up loose ends at school and with trip planning that I don’t believe I posted not one entry last week. This is shameful. I never want to be one of those bloggers that fall off the face of the earth for weeks on end. Especially, since I do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read the random blabbers from my travels. So let me do an update on my life since the last post.
This month is my last full month in Korea. My contract ends on the 25th of August. So I am taking every opportunity to do some sightseeing on my free weekends. Not that I haven’t been doing so all along 😉
I have posted videos on my YouTube channel from those trips. You can also click on the videos on the right J
On July 20thit was the last day of regular classes with my middle school students. I was super elated to be done ha ha. My teenagers are draining. They completely wear your bones out. I have a new found respect for all my middle school and high school teachers from the past.
On July 23rdwas the start of summer camp. My camp was 1 week long and only the students that were interested in your class topic enrolled. I had a total of 37, I think, first grade and second grade students.
My schedule was pretty light in comparison to the winter camp schedule I did with the elementary students. I only had 4 classes a day whereas winter camp I had 8 classes a day for three weeks.
My topic was Conversations on Culture using the Olympics as the theme. I think the students enjoyed the classes. And they were able to collect medals for each activity they did each day. The team with the most gold medals won a special prize. I must admit when the first graders were leaving Friday morning after their last class I did feel overcome with a bit of sadness. They were really fun to work with. The second graders on the other hand…not so much. They were so CRaZY!
After class on Friday, I went home to finish packing and tidy my apartment.
I am headed to Phuket Thailand to do a certificate course and for some R&R.
I caught the 12am bus from Ulsan to Dong Seoul. The bus driver was tearing up the roads man! The 5 hour drive only amounted to 4 hours. I woke up in disbelief and a little annoyed because now I would have to spend an extra hour waiting for the airport bus which came at 6:20am. Initially I was going to take the subway to the airport, but my co-teacher told me about the airport but from Dong-Seoul to Incheon. When I was standing in line for the ticket something in my gut told me to take the subway since I am more familiar with that route. But I didn’t listen which is ALWAYS a BIG NO no! Listen to your gut or that inner voice when it talks to you. It’s always right. I mean unless it’s on some Summer of Sam type mess, then don’t listen ha ha. ( Google that movie if you don’t know what I am talking about).
Anyway I bought the ticket and waited for the airport bus. I was able to catch some of the London opening ceremonies. It was disappointing. I had no idea what was going on and don’t even know why I thought it would top the Chinese. They were just on another level. Beijing Olympic opening and closing ceremonies will probably go down in history as the best.
The airport bus finally came and there were about 6 of us on the bus. I thought it was weird that no one had any bags but figured I missed them loading underneath the bus. An hour and 20 minutes later we arrived at some place called Incheon Transportation Complex. The driver parked and everyone rushed off the bus. I looked at my Ipod and it was 7:35am. My flight was leaving at 9:30 am. In a bit of a panic I rushed inside the bus station. There was no one at the tourist counter and all the booking clerks had extremely long lines so I decided to take a taxi because clearly I am not at the airport.
I got a taxi driver that ended up ripping me off once we got to the airport.
He charged me 40,000 won for a >15 minute ride. I looked down and noticed his meter was off and told him to turn it on and give me a receipt. He was being a douche bag and saying stuff in Korean. I looked out the window to see if I could see any police and I didn’t. Then I looked at the time and it was not 8:00am. I decided that I wasn’t going to argue with him. The universe and God with take care of his foolishness. I had a plane to catch. I ran to the check in counter and they were closing. I quickly checked in and rushed to security. To my surprised and the first time in my travel history, the line wasn’t long and it was moving quickly.
Checked my watch again and it was 8:25 am and I could breathe. I walked to the gate and boarded the plane on time. As it turned out they were delayed 15 minutes. And now I am safely in Phuket, Thailand.