For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been taking things slow and settling into work and my flat without really meeting many people or going out much. I imagine I’ll probably end up settling into a routine of not going out all that much anyway – partly because I will be working evenings (just as soon as the summer break is over) and partly because I’m a little older and a little less enamoured with partying than some others. But it’s always good to try something new and spend the occasional evening out. So on Friday night I went out with a group of other foreign English teachers. I was invited by one of the teachers at another branch of our company but the people in the group teach at a variety of schools.

Because most of them have evening classes, the night started quite late. The teacher I was joining gave me directions and I headed off to find her. This involved taking a bus (a different bus to the one I normally take!) and getting off as soon as I saw a building called ‘Park the Star’ (yes, I have that right – a gallery, maybe?). The thing about taking buses in a place where the bus system is described as ‘likely to bewilder foreigners’ in the guide book, and were nothing is in English, is that it can be a little tricky figuring out where to get off the first time you go to a new place. We work by landmarks to try and figure out when to ‘ding the bell’ on the bus so that the driver will let you off (at the next stop, in case you were thinking that buses here might be like taxis in SA that just stop anywhere). After a bit of miscommunication and getting slightly lost once off the bus, we managed to meet up and headed for a place where these foreigners apparently gather. This place is near to the branch of the school where she works, so at least some of the group I was with spend quite a lot of time at this place. I have no idea what it’s called in Korean but they call it ‘the hut’. It has something of a rustic theme with lots of wood and grass mats (on the walls and dividing up the booths). Apparently it used to be something between a brothel and a restaurant specifically designed for men to take their mistresses. Very odd. These days, it’s just a bar – albeit one with a fascinating design and no windows. I didn’t have my camera but I will definitely go back and take pics sometime soon. It’s also a fairly wealthy area, with a variety of hotels catering to Koreans and foreigners. I am told the German hotel and micro-brewery is great. Will have to check it out.

Friday night, however, we stayed at ‘The Hut’. So this is where I tasted, for the first time since getting here, some traditionally Korean drinks. The first of these is dongdongju (I think) – a kind of rice wine. It’s actually lovely. Refreshing and a little sweet-sour. The taste is not similar except for sweet-sourness but it reminds me a bit of the taste of sherbet. It’s milky white (although it isn’t made with milk) and is served in a large wooden bowl, with ice floating in it, and with a wooden ladle. The person pouring (typically the youngest woman at the table I’m told) then ladles the drink into a smaller, drinking bowl for each person, using both her hands to do so. Touching your right arm with your left hand while you take or give something seems to be quite common here – something like the Xhosa polite handshake – so that makes sense. Everyone then sips the wine from his/her own little bowl. And goes back for more. I’m not normally that much of a fan of rice, but I think I’ve found a form of rice I like. The alcohol content of this is apparently similar to ordinary (grape) wine, although this is hearsay as there were obviously no bottle labels to check.

The other local alcohol of the evening was Soju. Several people were a little shocked to learn that after 3 weeks in the country I still hadn’t tasted Soju – as if arrival in Korea should somehow translate immediately into walking into a bar and demanding Soju, which is a bit odd, but who am I to judge. This alcohol is a little different. It is apparently made of mostly rice (with echoes of the ‘mostly apples’ from Pratchett’s – Nanny Ogg’s – Scumble). It’s a little like vodka but with less of a burn as it goes down your throat. Apparently it’s very good when mixed with Fanta, a mixture I’m sure I’ll end up trying at some point but we were drinking it as shots on Friday (although not many for me because I was teaching the next day).

While here (apart from Friday) I have also come across some foreign (non-Korean) wine and a wide variety of (somewhat bizarre) beers. So far I’ve tried two wines – one Australian (Colombard/Chenin/Verdan) that was lovely and a Chilean Chardonnay that is fine but a bit fruitier and sweeter than I’m used to and rather strongly wooded. I haven’t seen any South African wines, not even at the Wine Bar that says it has South African wines on the sign outside. That said, I haven’t been there with anyone who actually speaks Korean and “I’m looking for a nice South African Pinotage” is rather complicated in sign language.

Most of the time, I end up drinking coffee. Or good old Coke – which thankfully tastes the same here as at home. The coffee comes in cans or paper cups with foil and plastic lids, and straws, and is bought cold from the local store or supermarket. It really is everywhere. It also beats, hands down, the instant coffee I have managed to find so far. A few years back one of the coffee manufacturers in SA started marketing a pre-mix of coffee and cremora. I never liked it, but at least that had coffee which tasted a little of coffee. Unlike this stuff, which seems rather insipid and is probably composed largely of chicory plus a cremora-type creamer. Given that I don’t have a kettle anyway, it’s not too much of a hardship to stick to store-bought coffee-in-a-can. Of course, I’d recently started drinking my coffee black before I left. I’m over that now – it’s almost impossible to figure out whether the coffee you’re buying has milk or not (Espresso? With milk. Latte? Oh, no milk…). I’ve tried a variety of these and have now found one I really like – a lovely, medium-strength mocha-java with milk. Unfortunately – perhaps inevitably – it’s the one kind that isn’t available everywhere. So the search for an easily available coffee to drink every morning continues. Who knew that the trip to Asia would involve a daily search for good coffee? Perhaps a regular hazelnut latte will have to fill the gap. There are also many coffee shops but they have the dual problem of time-constraints and lack of English-language menus.

On my more adventurous – or simply thirsty – days, I’ve also tried a few slightly more unusual things. Like the bean tea that was handed to me, on my third or fourth day here, when I was working at an intensive-English camp. These camps – ironically – are staffed by people who don’t really speak English, so conversation was minimal, I was thirsty and I was a little nervous of appearing rude to the people who were paying me a fair amount of money to teach for 3 (which ended up being 5) hours. So, when the woman in charge (a flittery little woman in frilly dress, high heels and lots of make-up) handed me a ‘Black Bean Thera-Tea’, I held my tongue and drank it. I’m not a tea fan, so I wasn’t thrilled anyway and, honestly, it doesn’t taste particularly good. It tastes like beans, unsurprisingly I suppose, and has the most amazing ability to completely dry out your mouth while you’re drinking it. Eventually, I slipped the second one into my handbag and hoped no-one would notice.

I’ve also tried Cherry Coke (aargh!), organic grape juice (which was worryingly sludgy) and chocolate milk in a mini-milk-carton. At work I drink lots of water – from the water fountain in the reception area. The tap water here is apparently not good to drink, although I’ve had no problems with using it for cooking and washing fruit, but I’m not feeling up to stomach problems, so for the moment I’ll stick to bottled. In the evenings I occasionally pick up a beer (which seems to be for sale everywhere and everywhen). The beer has produced some of the more fascinating translated-label amusement. The one I’ve settled on as my favourite (read least chemical and insipid), is Hite Beer, which claims to be ‘Clean, Crisp and Fresh’ with ‘FTK system – Fresh Taste Keeping system’. Cass Lemon’s slogan is ‘Sound of Vitality’ (yes, lemon beer. No, I don’t know why – either the lemon or the slogan). The most fascinating so far, however, has to be the Stylish Beer (yes, seriously). This is ‘premium beer with fibre’ and is ‘smooth and light premium beer exclusively designed for well-being of young generation’.

Hard to believe it’s four weeks tomorrow. For now, I’m sipping a glass of chilled, Chilean Chardonnay to celebrate the fact, and considering when the next fascinating, strange experience of life in Korea will magically appear.