It's no secret, I'm a terrible planner! It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't ever really feel like it. It was Sunday evening, and I was staying at Karina's (the Couchsurfing friend that took pity on me) apartment trying to decide where to visit. I had her Lonely Planet, my Moon Guide, and random suggestions people had given me since my arrival. Because I really had no preference, I decided I would go to Andong to try the famous (though it shouldn't be) Andong Soju. I did have the foresight to make a couple Couchsurfing (or CS) requests along my way, and would loosely base my itinerary on that.
I took the bus from Cheonan to Andong arriving two hours before my CS host could scoop me up from the bus stop. One of the many things I have to give Korea credit for is that they have tourist offices in almost every city with a population over 1000. They always speak English, offer plenty of free maps, and have free internet. I grabbed a few maps, checked my email, and was approached by an older Korean man that began talking my ear off. I think it was a mixture of him being excited to meet a foreigner and the chance to practice his English. Our conversation lasted almost two hours, and he wanted to buy me dinner as a Korean welcome. While it sounds a bit strange, it wasn't at all. I would have graciously accepted his offer, but it was right around the time I was to meet my CS host, Chris, at the bus stop. With neither of us having phones, I was nervous that if I missed him, I would be out of luck.
Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed. Was I getting CS stood up? Fortunately, he was just running behind. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of his favorite Korean BBQ joints. Chris and I got along real well from the start. Hailing from Manchester, UK and teaching English here, he was impressive and inspiring with his language ability. He already reads, writes, and speaks Korean very well and was in the process of teaching himself Mandarin. It ended up being a pretty quiet night, and I met another English teacher, Nate, who had just arrived from Taiwan. The floor was calling my name, and we hit the hay.
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