New Beginnings

‘Anneyeonghaseyo’ the first Korean word I hear. For some reason I thought of South Korea as an isolated country but it couldn’t have been quite the opposite. People everywhere hurrying around like scattered ants. I see someone holding my name on a piece of laminated paper as I entered through the airport doors, ‘Anneyeonghaseyo’ he says, I reply back with a 90 degrees bow, he smiles and with his broken English tells me to come with him as he’ll take me to my accommodation.

Seoul actually reminds me of New York, the busy nightlife, some people dressed up for parties and others on their way home from school and work. That’s going to be I say to myself as we drive past this busy atmosphere. I’m so used to starting at 8am and finishing at 5:00pm I don’t know if I’ll be able to adjust to an 8am start and 11pm finish, what have I gotten myself into?! This is going to be so hell!

After what feels like hours of driving the car finally comes to a stop and my driver opens the door, he tells me this is the place I’ll be staying at and that it’s a 45 minute walk from the school I will be attending, he doesn’t forget to add that school will immense for me in 4 weeks time.
‘4 weeks?’ I shout. He looks startled and replies ‘this lenient, in Korea education important but you from another country they let you have 4 weeks to settle down and to learn language’ as the driver carries on talking with his broken English I look around and see lots of stairs leading up to an empty house which seems to be in the middle of nowhere.

‘Here’ my driver says handing over a CD and a set of keys ‘this CD on Korean language ehh the school’ he says while scratching his head ‘sent this to help you learn and these your keys to house ehh where you sleep’ he then pointed to the house and started to walk back towards the car.

‘Wait’ I shout ‘is…is that the house I’ll be staying at? Alone? In the middle of nowhere?’ I can’t help but show how nervous I am, he seems really shocked and annoyed but quickly hides his expression.

‘Yeah big house you stay, good good ehhh go upstairs you see lot of houses okay?’ I jump up and down trying to have look still not wanting the driver to go. ‘This my number’ he says handling over a business card ‘save it in phone and call if problems, araso?’ I see his eagerness to go home and feel guilty, I nod and wave goodbye walking up the stairs, it comforted me knowing he didn’t drive off until I entered the house and like he said, now that I reached my front door I can see a lot more houses.

I put the key through the keyhole and embraced myself for whatever lied ahead. To my surprise it was very different to my usual home but I felt at ease. The door I opened actually led to something like a big concrete porch that had flowerpots all around it and a lovely big tree just a few inches away from a dining table towards the front wall overlooking the city. This was indeed a beautiful site, I could imagine myself sitting out here after a long day of school. I slowly turned around and saw a low platform beyond the flowerpots as well as a couple of steps leading up to the actual house. There are several doors, the first door lead to a very big storage room that had lots of cleaning products, utilities that I may need throughout the house and garden tools. The second door led to a big room that had a kitchen-dinar. There was a big TV hung on the wall and small sofa opposite it just beneath a window displaying the porch. To the right side was the kitchen, which was small but big enough for me. I put my bags down and headed further down the corridor where there was another door to my left and another to the right. The left door led to a small room, which had a simple bed, a lamp, a wardrobe and a tiny drawer beside the bed. The right door led to a bigger room that of course will be my room. It had a lovely double bed with an antique drawer to its left and a study desk to its right. Opposite the bed was a very big wardrobe and another desk that had a mirror above it, this desk I would use for my beauty products. I looked into the mirror and saw my long brown curly hair, which now looked like a bird’s nest, my light brown eyes looked really tired and my clothes were now badly creased. I slowly made my way back to the front room and began to unpack. I put away my clothes, make up, kitchen belongings and brightened up my living room by adding a rug (which I found under my bed) and brought in a small table (that I found in the storage room). I also brought in a mini flowerpot, which I saw on the outside windowsill and placed it onto the table. I turned the TV on and nothing but Korean channels; so I turned it back off and headed towards the 3rd door outside which I hoped was a bathroom. As I walked in it was really dark so I felt the wall to my right for a light switch ‘got yah’ I said pressing the button. The bathroom was nice and spacious as well as clean but the shower had no glass boundary apart from a drain on the floor and a mop on the side so I guess after every shower I have to mop up afterwards ‘aghhhh’ I said to myself in frustration and headed back inside. I searched the kitchen entirely grateful for the food already there and ate away while trying to connect to the Internet.

After hours of fiddling about trying to work the Internet I finally managed to successfully connect. I put my outside slippers on and headed towards the table. I really need to buy a chair I thought to myself as I rung my parents on Skype. I’m an only child and know that my parents must be going through as much of a hard time as I am.

‘Hello darling how are you? Have you eaten? Is everything ok? Are you enjoying yourself? What time is it there?’ Wow my mum has never asked me so many questions within 10 second like she had just done, I feel like I’ve been gone for months.

‘Well give her a chance to reply then you crazy women’ my dad shouted ‘your mum has been doing my head in, is there any room for me there? Please I need to escape!’ For the first time in what seemed like ages I laughed out loud, I can always relay on my dad to brighten up my day.
‘Yes dad there’s plenty of room for you, come quick and hide mums passport so she doesn’t give us a nasty surprise by coming too’ I say with a big grin.

‘Haha good idea I’ll do it now’ my dad frantically replied.

'You guys are too mean’ says my mum trying to sound upset but she knows it’s a joke so isn’t offended. Hours pass by and I finally let my parents go, I headed back inside and washed the dishes. I then got ready for bed and saw the CD the driver gave to me as well as his card. I placed his number onto my phone and the CD onto my study table next to my laptop. After such a busy day I’m ready for some rest, I off the lamp and sink into my bed. Before I know it I’m fast asleep dreaming about the streets of London.

Notes