Kiwi in Korea 7 - should I stay or should I go

Went to Busan again on Friday.  Kahurangi had an appointment with an orthodontist who speaks fluent English (I advertised on pusanweb (expat classifieds) and was recommened him).   It was great he went to High School in Christchurch NZ (Christ College for those Kiwi's on here) and could understand my accent, in fact he has NZ citizenship.    He was very kind and even feed us (kimbab) coz he knew we had travelled for a couple of hours to get to his clinic.  If you ever need a dentist in Busan, I recommend Dr Kwon.

Kahurangi is still very homesick and quite frankly, so am I.  I try and put a brave face on it and some days are good but mostly I am counting down the time to go home.  I actually don't want to spend a year like that.  It isn't that everything here is terrible, I like Korean food and the people are pretty much like the people in Nelson - friendly for the most part.   I just miss home, I miss food that I am used to (olives, olive oil, butter, good whole grain bread, herbs like thyme, cheese, natural unsweetened yoghurt, chickpeas, pesto, hummus, pork sausages, lean cuts of chicken, salmon, peanut butter, vegemite, freshly squeezed juice (that doesn't have a ton of sugar added), organic food...).  I miss talking at a normal pace (talking slowly all the time is actually quite exhausting).   I miss living by the ocean and swimming in it when I get hot. 

The teaching is another thing, I like teaching and working with people of all ages but I can't say I'm passionate about English and I feel like a fraud most of the time.   If I was just teaching at the High School I would probably cope a bit better but I find the Middle School quite stressful.  The classes are larger and the age group is tougher (13-15) (this is true anywhere not just Korea) but also the teachers, although very kind are a bit odd.  My co-teacher counts up and points out exactly how many students have not understood me which makes me feel inept and the vice principal when we went out to lunch corrects my faux pas loudly and by exaggerating my behaviour as to make it look oafish even by Western standards and I certainly don't behave like that.  This embarrassed me and pissed me off.  K and I are tired of being the local zoo exhibit.   I don't know how long I will be here but don't be surprised if I go sooner rather than later.

Okay whinge over, here are some photos of the trip:

 on the bus, the old and the new

  on the bus- I love the pastel colours of the apartments to the right.

 first time I have been in a backpackers that was an apartment in a highrise.  The guy on the laptop has been travelling for 7 years while working on his computer. He is going to buy an apartment in Rio de Janero.  I want his job.

 Seomyeon Subway Station - always be prepared.

 Someone catches 40 winks on multi-coloured chairs at the Sasang Bus Terminal. 

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