MERRY CHRISTMAS

from Guri-shi, Korea

"WHO WATCHES A MOVIE AND DRINKS SOJU? I MEAN FOR REAL?"

AAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. After two weeks I finally have internet back. I don't know why it took so long for people to fix it. All they had to do was bring a new little box thing, and WHAMO internet works. Besides the inability to communicate easily with people back home I really didn't miss it that much. I got a lot read in my book and worked on putting together a picture montage from all my study abroad pictures, almost three years late but o'well.

I guess I will just give a quick little rundown of what's been up since my last post. We celebrated Thanksgiving at a Korean friends apartment. I think there were about 50 foreigners there. It was a potluck, so needless to say we had plenty of food. I missed everyone back home, but it was a pretty great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. I made some decent green beans, and someone brought deviled eggs so I was pretty much in heaven. I actually got to enjoy a turkey this year too. Last year, while in Colorado, my roommates and I made beer brats. Amazing as they were, not quite the same as having a turkey.

Got my year membership to Cosco a couple weeks ago. I've been eating pickles, pepper-jack cheese, and turkey sandwiches like they're going out of style. That first sandwich I made was probably the best sandwich I've ever had. I couldn't find any ranch dressing, but I came upon some Pineapple-Mustard dressing that I'm throughly enjoying. I'm sure that's because its probably about 99% sugar. It sure tastes good with carrots though.

The first two things I've talked about is food....hhhmmmmmm.

School is going pretty well. I think I pretty much know what I'm doing now. I think it took me a solid two months to figure out timing and such. I played games every class for maybe the last ten minutes. Now, I seldom play games, and can pretty much fill the time up. I feel like I've got things pretty much under control, so of course we are changing classes around big time after Christmas break. Only two of my classes will be the same. I'm happy to get rid of some of my classes, that's for sure, but I'm also really sad that I won't have some of my kids anymore. Especially this one girl named Sally. She is probably my favorite girl ever. I think she's about 8 and so, so cute. She's always smiling, has no front teeth, and always pays attention. I LOVE her. I try not to show favorites, but I'm not sure I hide it very well. Somehow Sally always ends up with the most stickers at the end of class.

My kinde class doubled in size this month. It went from one to two. It was just Jamie and I for about a month I think. It got pretty old. Then about a week ago a new little boy joined us. I loved him right away. He had a plaid sweater on and checkered leggings. He didn't have an English name yet so for the first day we just called him by his family name which is Moon. The next day I was told to give him a name. I asked him if he like Sam and he said no. I said how about Oliver, and he liked that one. Then I came back the next day and somehow his name had gotten changed to Ray. He doesn't really look like a Ray, and I often call him Moon because that's what he looks like, but he is super cute. And he always laughs at me which is a plus.

We only have 6 more days of classes, and then 9 days off for Christmas break. We were trying to get together some kind of ski trip for Christmas weekend, but we didn't start early enough and lodging is all booked up. So I think we might just take a day trip. I don't know what else I'll do during break. Probably just do some more touristy stuff. New Year's should be cool. I'm sure we can find some big celebration in Seoul.

Other than that not much really. I've almost been here four months now. Things have gotten pretty routine. Some people might not like that, but it suits me pretty well. I wake up, go to school, work out, eat dinner, go to bed, wake up and do it again during the week. Then I spend too much money, drink too much crappy Korean beer, and stay up far too late into the morning on the weekends. Don't worry Dad I am able to save money too.

I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas. This will be the second Christmas in a row that I've been away from home. I thought this one would be easier, but as the day gets closer I'm thinking its gonna be just as hard. I really love you all so much, and hate being away from you. Holidays make it really hard. Some people might wonder why I like so much to travel and experience things so far from home, but I think the people who are so eager to see, and experience the world are the one's who know they always have a great place to return to. Iowa may not be the most fascinating place in the world, but its where my family and friends are, and it doesn't get much better than that.

If I don't get a chance to say it to you before...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!! My room is actually a bit festive. I have lights and a few other ornaments hanging on my wall. It's pretty cozy. Anyways, I hope everyone has a good one. Enjoy yourself and be safe.

"NOTHING IMPORTANT SHOULD BE DECIDED AT 12:30 AT NIGHT....WHEN YOU'RE SOBER"

It's been awhile since I've written on here. If anyone cares I'm sorry.

I've had a darn good last couple of weeks. My friend Emily from St. Thomas came to visit on the 13th. We spent that first weekend down south (south of Seoul at least) with Krista. We went to Suwon on that Saturday. Suwon is a city south of Seoul. It has a neat palace, as well as a wall that goes around the older part of the city. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Sight. All the buildings inside the wall are shorter old buildings, then outside the wall are all the high rises. You can walk all along the wall. It pretty cool, and gives you a neat view of the city.

On Sunday we took her into Seoul. We checked out the area called Hongdae. I'd only been there at night so it was neat to see during the day. It's right by a big university, and they just have a bunch of little shops and such. We then went to Myeongdong and walked around there. One of the things that is different about Seoul compared to European cities is that there really isn't a lot to "see". Others may disagree with me, but its not like Rome, or Prague where you have a list of all these things to see. There are a few such things in Seoul, but for the most part "seeing" Seoul mostly involves walking around the different districts that are mostly full of different shops and restaurants. I think Seoul is more about experiencing, rather than seeing. Anyways, located in Myeongdong is the big Catholic Cathedral. As it was Sunday, Emily wanted to go to mass there. As the good Catholic girls Krista and I are we felt enough guilt to oblige our guest, and agreed to attend the Sunday evening mass. It was pretty neat though. I hadn't been to church since I'd gotten here, and its always interesting going to mass in a different country. I can now say I've experienced a French, Polish, and Korean Catholic Mass. One thing that was pretty funny was when they took up the collection. Instead of just passing around a basket through the pews you went up the aisle like communion and put your money in the basket. That way no one could skip out without being noticed. Your made to feel like a real jerk if you don't give money to the church.

Emily then spent the rest of the week with Krista, and joined me in Guri on Thursday night. I made sure her expectations of my place were low, so she wasn't freaked out by what she had to live in for the rest of the weekend. She actually said my place was nicer than she expected. We spent a few lovely nights sleeping together in my slightly larger than twin bed;)(I'm joking if you didn't get that, about lovely nights sleeping together, not about the size of the bed). It was nice for her to be able to see Krista's area and mine. Krista's is a much quieter, family area, while mine is bright and flashy, and there is much more going on. On Saturday we checked out N Seoul Tower. As the name suggests, its a tower on a small mountain in Seoul. You get a pretty good view from the top, and they had some guys performing some martial arts with swords and the like. It was neat to see.

We made sure to show her a typical Korean weekend night, complete with a Noraebang (Korean type karaoke, rent the room with a group, I wrote about in a previous blog), and she was on her way back to the good 'ol USA on Monday, after hopefully an enjoyable 12 days in Korea. It was great to have someone from home here to share my experience with.

I celebrated my three month anniversary last week. And by celebrate I mean, took notice of. It really is hard to believe I've been here three months already. What's even harder to believe is that I just bought peanut butter here for the first time yesterday. I really have no idea why I hadn't bought it till then. I will tell you though, that peanut butter and banana I ate for dinner was the best thing I'd tasted in awhile.

I think that's about all I have for updates.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

"ALWAYS WANTED YOU TO BE THE WINNER"

I had to post this because I want to make sure I don't forget it:

Semi: Teacher, you are sky father.

(I knew she was trying to say something about how I am the smartest in the class and Ann is the second smartest)

Me: Sky father?

Henry: God

Semi: Yes teacher, you are God and she is your Jesus.

"YOUR COMMENTS AREN'T LONG ENOUGH. YOU NEED TO TELL THEM THEY ARE GREAT MORE."

Since I've never been good at coming up with titles (I'm almost positive every paper I wrote in college was entitled "The and then whatever the paper was about", i.e., "The Flat Tax", "The Book of Job", "The Electoral College") I've decided my blog titles will now be random quotes.  I may explain the quotes or I may just leave the what, where, when, why, and who up in the air.  You can come up with your own stories surrounding them if you want, or you can just ignore them, either one is fine.

Want to know the top five answers I received when I asked one of my middle school, female students to name some American singers and I would see if I had them on my IPod, and then play them during class?

1. Black Eyed Peas

2. Mariah Carey

3. Justin Timberlake

4. 3OH3

5. India.Arie

Lucky for her I did have 3 out of the 5.  If she had requested someone like Dean Martin, or Johnny Cash, or Sonny and Cher, instead of Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake, then we would have been in luck.  

Want to know the top three reasons why a couple girls in one of my classes didn't like the book we just finished about a girl named Yoon who moves from Korea to America?

1. Yoon is ugly.

2. Yoon's mother looks like a man.

3. The pictures are bad.

Want to know the top five things I repeat the most I'm pretty sure?

1. Andy don't touch my basket.

2. Andy get off the floor and sit in your chair.  

3. YOUR CHAIR, ANDY!

4. Andy stop punching me.

5. ANDY DON'T TOUCH ME, GET A TISSUE!

In a 40 minute class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I'm pretty sure I spend half the time yelling at Andy.

Want to know the top five things I've learned while being here?

1. I love Korean food, for the most part, but my bowels, unfortunately, do not.

2. Life would be a whole heck of a lot easier if I knew Korean.  Must try harder.

3. I'm decent at squatting.

4. Bob Seger is amazing, and I love him.

5. You live in a world of opposites when you work with kids.  Some days are awesome.  Some days are horrible.  Some times kids are cute, and sometimes they make you want to rip your hair out.  Some times kids will laugh at your antics, and some times they will just look at you blankly.  Some days you feel like you are really making progress, only to come back a day later and feel like you are trying to hammer a nail into a cement wall.  Some times kids are sweet, and some times they will give you brutal honesty.  The good part is that the positive outweighs the negative.  This job has its moments of total frustration, but every time I walk down the hallway and one of my kids comes running up to me smiling, wanting to tell me about their day and such, it makes it all worth it.  

"TEACHERS, BECAUSE OF FLU WE WILL NOW HAVE HALLOWEEN PARTY IN DECEMBER"

As I was falling asleep last night I was thinking about all these things I wanted to write on my blog.  I have since forgotten I think about all of them.  I think some of them might have been pretty insightful too.  Well maybe I will remember as I'm falling asleep tonight.  But then again I guess that won't help because I will just forget them all again tomorrow.  O'well.  Such is life.

• Our kinde classes were cancelled for the better part of last week because one of the kids got what they are calling the "new flu".  Still haven't quite figured out if this "new flu" is swine flu, or some other strain.  We now have to wear masks while we teach.  Yesturday our cute little supervisor JJ Teacher said, "Teachers, maybe you shouldn't plan Christmas vacation because we might not have it if the government decides to close schools."  Right...we only have two weeks of vacation a year and most of the people have already booked their flights.  I don't know how serious the government is about shutting schools down.  Koreans really freak out about this kind of stuff.  Parents are keeping their kids home.  The attendance in most of my classes is almost cut in half.  It's pretty nice.  Now instead of 8 screaming 9 years olds I only have 4 to deal with.

• One of the kids in my kinde class quit, and no one told me.  I had to find out by piecing together different conversations and making assumptions.  All I know is that it wasn't a bad breakup.  I think the kid just moved or something.  We had a pizza party in our class and then his dad bought pizza's for all the teachers a couple fridays ago so this is why I'm assuming he didn't quit because he didn't like the school so I guess that is good.  But now I only have 2 little kinde nuggets.  I'm going to miss Elvin and his beautiful perm.

• The other day I told one of the kids in a class of mine that I was going to punch him in the face if he didn't shut his mouth.  He deserved it trust me.  This is one of things I love about teaching in Korea.  You can say things like that, and not get fired.  You can give your kids hugs, and not get fired.  You can make a kid hold a chair above his head for ten minutes for misbehaving, and not get fired.  It's awesome.

• Sometimes my bathroom smells like some animal died, and is now decaying in the corner.  I don't know why.  This smell gets emitted from the bathroom area probably a few times a day.  Let me see if I can give you a mental picture of my bathroom...I have lived in some sort of gross places in my life.  Don't worry Mom, I'm not talking about our house.  I thought the place I lived in in Prague was pushing it, then I moved into employee housing for the Steamboat Springs Ski Resort.  I didn't think it would get worse than that.  Then I came here and took a look inside my bathroom.  Don't get me wrong.  I am pretty much perfectly happy in my apartment/room.  I have kind of become immune to living in not so clean of places.  The bathroom doesn't bother me that much...that is until that smell suddenly come creeping out, or I go to someone else's room and see how nice their bathroom is.  The foundation around my toilet is coming off so the toilet wobbles a little.  There are literally chunks of cement breaking off, and then like the remnants of glue and pieces of cement stuck to the floor around the toilet.  Also my knee touches the wall when I sit on the toilet, and I'm not tall by any means.  Just one knee touches though because the wall sorta juts in to go around a pipe or something.  Then when I was cleaning a couple weeks ago the seat part broke.  So now it is imperative to make sure the seat is straight on before you sit down.  There is no adjusting your sitting posture once you sit or else the seat will slide right off.  I tried to explain that to Emily before she used the toilet the other day.  Either she didn't understand, or she didn't pay attention.  She fell in.

• Celebrated Halloween on Saturday.  I went as grapes, so I pinned a bunch of purple balloons on myself.  We took the bus, and then subway into Seoul.  The Koreans got a pretty good kick out of us.  I think they knew what Halloween was, but they don't really celebrate it.  Some lady with no teeth started talking to Emily and I while we were on the subway.  I have no idea what she was saying.  I think she was probably making fun of us.

• Going hiking again this weekend!  I'm very excited.  Going to Seoraksan National Park.  It is supposed to be a pretty cool place.  We are going with a group called Adventure Korea.  They organize trips for foreigners.  I had to wire money from my bank account to theirs in order to pay for the trip.   You can just do this at ATM's.  So I thought I could maybe figure out how to do it myself.  Mind you it was all in Korean.  I thought I did pretty good until I got my receipt and realized I had transfered 990,000 won, roughly equal to $990, instead of 99,000 won.   It's ok though.  Crisis averted.  They are in the process of wiring the money back.

That's about all I have for now folks.  I hope you all are doing well.  Talk to ya later...

P.S. GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

FAVORITE CONVERSATION TO DATE

The following exchange took place in my class today.  We are learning about countries.  It is between me and one of my students whom I really like named Yumi.  She is probably around 10 years old.

Yumi: Teacher what country are you from?

Me: I am from the USA.

Yumi: Oh, not Canada.

Me: No, the USA.

Yumi: Oh, I thought Canada.

Me: Nope, USA.

Yumi: No, Canada.

Me: No, USA.  Not Canada.

Yumi: Oh, so you should diet.  You are fat.

Me (laughing): What?

Yumi: You are from America so you are fat so need diet.

Me: Is everyone from America fat?

Yumi: Yes, there is so much food so just eat, eat, eat.  So you are fat.

Me (still laughing): Is everyone from Canada fat.

Yumi: No, no, no teacher.  Canada very big, but just one person.

Me: Canada is a big country, but not very many people live there?

Yumi: Yes.

(a few minutes later after sort of changing the subject)

Yumi:  Teacher are you Ms or Mrs?

Me: Ms.

Yumi: So you don't have wife...I mean you don't have husband?

Me: No.

Yumi: Do you have boyfriend?

(it is actually the second time I have been asked by a student if I am married or not, or if I had a boyfriend...the first time the girl told me I could marry her dad.)

Me: No.

Yumi:  I think no one like you because you are fat.

Me (while laughing): Yumi, that really isn't a very nice thing to say.

I'm still trying to understand if it is a good thing that she first thought I was from Canada because apparently Canadians aren't fat...only Americans.  So maybe it is a good thing that she didn't call me fat until she found out I was from the USA?

AS IT STANDS

So this is gonna be a real quick post because I'm trying to reach my goal of getting into bed before the AM.  I would really like to change my routine of going to bed around 2am and sleeping till about 11 30am.  It feels much nicer to get a few things done before I go into work.  

Things continue to go really well.  I had an awesome school day today.  The kids were great and I had some good conversations with a few of them.  For example...Elvin my little kinde kid, who was recently given a perm and now looks 20 years older, told me about how him and his dad will go ski jumping once it snows.  He said he has been skiing since he was one.  I then asked him if he knew what snowboarding was, and I told him that I snowboarded.  He said that he also snowboards, and he loves the snow.  And this all happened in English.  I loved it.  It was amazing.

Then in one of my older classes, I would say the kids are probably around 11 and 12, I told this one cute, little chubby girl Cindy to stop speaking Korean(she was talking with the only boy in the class Philip).  She then said, "But wait Teacher, very important um my friend loves someone and I am helping her."  I asked if her friend loved Philip?  "No she loves boy um same as Philip.  I am asking about buying something." "I see so your friend wants to buy something for the boy she loves so you had to ask Philip about what to buy."   Cindy- "Yes Teacher, very important."

Here are a few pics of my kinde kids.  Dario is my favorite.  Everyday I come to school I am greeted with, "Hello Meredith Teacher, how are you today?"  Then he usually comes and climbs on me at my desk and messes with stuff, but I love him so much.  Elvin just makes me laugh, especially his perm.  And today he whipped out some chapstick and put it on like lip stick, blotted on a tissue and everything.  Then Jamie is just super smart.  The other day I had them coloring a worksheet and she corrected me about the appropriate colors we were to be using.  I didn't read the directions and just told them to color whatever they wanted.  "No Teacher, color the big W black, and the little w pink."  Nothing like being corrected by a 5 year old, and a 5 year old correcting you by reading and speaking in a foreign language that is your native tongue is even better.

Dario- I want to take him home

Elvin- PERM

Jamie with her cookie

JUST ANOTHER WHITE GIRL IN A SEA OF KOREANS

"Where am I?", and "What am I doing?"

These two questions seem to pop into my head a lot here.  I will be walking down the street, and those two questions will just come out of no where.  "Where am I?".  I know exactly where I am when I wonder where I am.  I'm in Korea.  I'm in Guri.  I'm in Topyeongdong.  And I know exactly what I'm doing when I wonder what I'm doing.  I'm teaching English to cute, little Korean kids.  I'm living my early twenties the way they should be lived (in my opinion at least).  I'm having a blast.  It isn't a bad thing that I wonder these things.  I think I'm still kind of in awe of where my life has taken me.  I don't think I really believe it's all real.  I can't actually get my whole self to understand that I am in Korea, teaching English to little kids.  I'm alright with that though.  I don't think I would mind if I lived most of my life not really believing that I'm actually doing what I'm doing.  Seems like an interesting way to live.  

Well let's see...what next.  I joined a boxing gym.  I've always kind of wanted to do boxing as a workout.  I've heard it's a great workout.  I don't think I want to actually box people.  I don't think I would like that very much.  I like to think I'm pretty tough, but I'm pretty sure one shot to the head would have me cowering in the corner.  Plus I think I would feel bad hitting someone else.  I am enjoying the workout.  And I feel kinda tough punching the bags.  

I've noticed that I mostly talk about the weekends in my blogs, but that is mostly because the best things happen on the weekends.  I pretty much live for the weekends (I know I'm not alone in that).  I haven't enjoyed Fridays this much since high school.  I love it.  

I am enjoying teaching, most of the time that is.  I only really hate one class.  And some of the classes I didn't like at first I now enjoy a lot.  I think every week gets a little easier, and I figure the kids out a little more.  For the most part the weeks are pretty much the same so I don't have tons to say about them.  Here are just a couple of teaching stories I can think of...

One of my little nugget kinde kids, Elvin, toots quite a bit.  Maybe several times a day.  Well last week as I was helping them clean up the toys they had thrown all over the room (they have play time everyday just before I teach them for 80 minutes, for some reason it seems like my class is the only one who have toys strewn all over the room), I was bent over picking up a toy and Elvin came and stuck his butt right in my face and farted.  As I am not necessarily the most mature person I know, I tried my best to sternly tell him not to do that while suppressing my laughter.  It ended up being something like, "Elvin don't do that, bahahahaaha."

I am continually amazed by how much English my little kinde kids pick up.  All of a sudden last week Dario just wanted to tell me stories the whole class.  Every two minutes I would hear, "Teacher, Teacher."  I would say, "What?", and then it takes him about five seconds to start because he is thinking so hard about what he wants to say.  Most of the story ends up being told using hand gestures and noises, but I love it.  Dario is definitely my favorite even though he never listens, is usually flopping around on the floor, and I have to wrestle with him to keep him from running out the door and visiting other classes.  

There is only one child that I pretty much detest.  I can't stand the kid.  He really is a nasty child.  I've heard a really good way to get bad kids to behave is to make fun of them, so I'm trying that out this week.  I will let you know how it goes.  And if you think that is mean then you have never had to teach, and discipline children who do not speak your language. Disciplining is especially hard when the kids don't know what you are saying.

Well that is about all I have I think.  I hope everyone is doing well.  I'm have a pretty awesome time here.  I do miss you all, and I love hearing from you.  Have fun, and be safe.

Na Zdravi

YOUR FATHER ASIAN?

Had an amazing three day weekend!  We didn't have school on Friday because Saturday was a holiday called Chuseok.  People kind of say its like Thanksgiving, but basically families get together, children bow to their elders, they eat food and play some games.  It is supposed to be about honoring ancestors and such, but like most holidays it is just mainly about getting together and eating.  We did get a great gift of Nivea lotion, and chapstick, and toothpaste from our directors.  And I received some towels from one of my students so that was fun.

The highlight of the weekend was definitely the hiking trip we took to Bukhansan on Saturday.  Bukhansan is a national park just north of Seoul.  It has three different peaks.  I've never really been hiking very much, and I had never before hiked up a mountain.  However, hiking is pretty popular here since the country is mostly covered with mountains, not huge ones but obviously much bigger than anything you find in Iowa.  Anyways...it was AWESOME!!!!!  The whole hike took us 7 hours.  I'll put some pictures at the end of this post, but the pics in no way do it justice.  I don't really know how to describe the hike but I guess I will do my best...

We started out at about 11am.  It was pretty easy to start out with.  We were following some stair paths, and kind of a road.  For about the first quarter of the way up there were a lot of little restaurants where people could stop and take a break.  They had tables and blankets set up all among the rocks.  It was really neat. 

 The second quarter of the way up was a little bit harder.  There were more rocks and it was a little steeper.  At one point we realized we were not going in the correct direction to get to the peak, but luckily this girl who could speak English saw us looking at the signs kind of confused and helped direct us the right way.  Probably about half-way up we stopped next to a wall built during the Joseon dynasty to eat lunch.  

After that the trail got a little harder and a little steeper.  We started going the wrong way again, but a nice Korean man told us to follow him.  We lost him in no time but managed to stay on the right trail.  I felt like it was the trail that never ended.  Finally we managed to get out of the trees and we were able to see the peak we were headed for.  Then the trail started to get a little hairy.  

At this point I was not really scared.  I didn't get nervous until the top.  Anyways, you basically had to pull yourself up, or climb down, some steep, slippery rocks using a cable that was staked into the rocks.  This whole trip made me very thankful for my hiking shoes I bought before I left.  Especially for the Gryptonite soles.  The trail was also pretty crowded, so you would often have to find some way move over for people or have people move over for you while trying to hold on to a cable for dear life.  

Then when we got nearer to the top we had to go up a bunch of stairs.  This was by far the worst part of the hike.  After hiking for about 4 hours trying to lift my legs up stairs was darn hard.  After the stairs came some more cables and steep, slippery rocks.  At this point I started to get a little nervous.  We were almost to the top so the place was pretty packed.  At times there were probably like 20 people all lined up pulling themselves up the rock and if one of them slipped you are all going down.  I started to have some irrational thoughts at this point, such as, what if we get to the top and this mountain decides it doesn't want to be a mountain anymore and just decides to start tumbling down.  That would really suck.  I managed to keep these thoughts to myself, as I knew it would do no good to mention them to my hiking mates, who I'm pretty sure were also a bit freaked out.  At one point Emily said she might start to hyperventilate so I knew I shouldn't tell her about my fear that the mountain was going to collapse, she was just trying to make it up without slipping to her death.  

But alas, we all made it to the top unscathed, and let me tell you it was quite a view.  To one side you can see the entire city of Seoul, it is amazing to see it like that.  Other than that you are basically looking down on a sea of green mountains.  It truly was pretty darn breathtaking.  We sat and rested at the top for awhile just taking it all in.  It was beautiful.  The way down wasn't too bad.  We took the shorter, more direct way down.  We didn't realize we had taken the long, meandering way up but I'm very happy for that.  If we had taken the hard way up I don't think I really would have enjoyed that.  I now know to take the easy, long way up and then the shorter way down.  We finally made it back down to the bottom and enjoyed a mug of the most refreshing beer I'd ever tasted.  As we finished our beer we got to see an almost full moon come up behind one of the peaks.  It was by far the coolest thing I've done since being here and I can't wait to go hiking again.  

Oh and I almost forgot...the reason this post is called Your Father Asian? is because I was asked that on the hike.  This nice Korean man started talking to us when we were stopped for a little break on the way down.  He asked where we were from, what we were doing here, and such.  Then he asked me if my father was Asian.  He said I kind of looked a little Asian with my dark hair and such.  Never gotten that one before, but Krista and Emily thought it was pretty funny.  It was just one of the many good quotes that came out in this adventure.  I will list some of them just so I can look back and remember them.  If you don't think they are funny that is fine.  I won't mention who said them just in case those individuals don't want to claim they said them.  By the way this hiking trip was made up of Krista, Emily, 3 of Krista's friends from her school, and me.  If you think you can pick out the culprits of these quotes feel free to guess.  Once again you may not care at all, but I want a record so this is mainly for my benefit.

"My shoes are too slippery for this SHIT...I'm done."- said when we were probably only halfway up

"If I die my parents will be really mad at you guys."

-in the middle of hoisting ourselves up a steep rock 

"Oh, bee, bee.  Don't freak out.  Don't freak out."

"I won't, but will you?"

"Your father Asian?"

"I thought I was going to die three times today."

And the mantra for the day...for a couple of us at least..."Hardcore Parkour!"

Here are some pics from the day...they do not do it justice at all.  Simply amazing.

The one on the right is the one we climbed to the top of

Seoul

Just hanging out at the top

Looking down on all the people who are still on their way up

B E A Utilful

GETTING COMFORTABLE

I finished up my first month of teaching last week.  I was a little stressed out not knowing really what to do for tests, but I think it all turned out fine.  I think my kids learned a bit from me so that's a relief.  I felt much more comfortable as this new month started so I'm pretty happy about that.  Still don't know if I'm doing everything the way I'm supposed to be doing everything, but I feel like I'm doing things right.  Let's hope so...

Had a pretty fun weekend.  Saw my first Korean sunrise, and I'm sure that won't be my last.  And no I did not wake early to see it so you do the math.  I continue to meet other foreign teachers in the area which is really fun.  I always find it interesting to look back at the beginnings of things and see how your friends change, and such, until you kind of figure out where you belong.  I'm in the midst of not knowing where I belong, but I don't mind being in limbo.  I'm just having fun meeting all kinds of different people.  And of course it helps having Emily here.  At least we can keep each other company.

Had my first noraebang experience on Saturday night/Sunday morning.  A noraebang is basically like karaoke, but you just rent a room for your group and pick the songs.  You know everyone one in the room with you so you don't have to be bashful.  I've had a sore throat for about the past week and the noraebang didn't help.  Too much rockin' out, so I could hardly talk on Sunday.  Well worth it though.  

I think I learn a couple more Korean words each week.  I want to try to take some classes sometime.  I've just picked up random words.  Such as the Korean words for...beer (that really isn't a random word, it's an essential word to know before traveling to any country), two, thank you, hello, good-bye (this one took me awhile because there are two versions, one if you are leaving and they are staying, and one if you are staying and they are leaving), chicken galbi, no, yes, really, fart, and that's about it.  

And now some observations...Korean people are very nice.  They (unlike a lot of Europeans) do not get frustrated at all when you don't speak the language.  They just smile and laugh.  If they do speak English they want to talk to you, and seldom do you take a walk when you don't pass someone who says "Hello", and then waves.  Koreans also seem to like to eat out a lot.  There are TONS of restaurants everywhere.  This is very different from Prague.  I think it is mostly because of the economy.  In Prague, people didn't have enough money to take their families out to eat.  But here people are eating out all the time.  That definitely does not bother me.  Oh and I almost forgot this little, lovely tidbit...Koreans are not afraid to insult you.  They are not really meaning to do it, they are just more open about things and don't really hold there tongue to save someone's feelings.  Basically you just have to have thick skin, and luckily mine is a bit thicker than thin.  Just a few examples: from my Korean co-teacher one day when I came in with just a t-shirt and jeans on- "You look like high school student...so young!", thanks?  From one of my students- "Teacher this looks like you...small head big body", hhmmm.  And then this one today after we talked about the seasons and I asked everyone about their favorite season and I said, "I like fall the best", "Oh why teacher...because you like to eat so you are fat?"   

Okay well I thought this was going to be a short blog, but I guess I had more to say than I thought.  I wish I could leave you with some wise words, but that's not really my style.  So I will just end with have fun, and be safe.

Talk to you next time...

LOVE BEING A TOURIST

Had quite the eventful weekend.  I was awake by 9am both Saturday and Sunday, which I am kind of sad to say is the earliest I've woken up since being here.  I'm not that sad to admit that though.  I've love sleeping.  

Anyways, Emily got here on Thursday so I went to see her after my school day.  It was so great to see her.  We went to dinner and I ordered for the fist time and was pretty proud of myself.  All I had to order was galbi and a beer, but still the first time ordering is sorta scary.  

On Friday we went out to eat with the director of our school and some of the Korean teachers.  We had galbi again which did not bother be in the least because I LOVE galbi.  I'm pretty sure I could eat it for dinner every day.  Its marinated pork that you cook right at your table, cut up in little pieces (they use scissors to cut things, I love it and hope to bring the trend back to the US), and then grab a lettuce leaf, some hot pepper bean paste, a piece of garlic, wrap it up and stuff it in your mouth.  DELICIOUS.  Later we met some other foreign teachers at a bar close my apartment.  There are quite a few foreign teachers teaching here in Guri at a bunch of different schools and I'm having a lot of fun meeting new people.  Everyone is super nice and laid back.

On Saturday morning Emily and I woke up and went into Seoul to visit one of the main palaces in Seoul: Gyeonbokgung.  

It was pretty neat to see.  Very different from anything I've ever seen on my other travels.  The palace was first built in the 1300's.  It was destroyed by the Japanese when they invaded in the 1500's, and wasn't rebuilt until the 1800's.  But then it was destroyed again in the early 1900's.  They have been constantly restoring it since about 1990.  It was a huge place with tons of different buildings.  We took a tour that showed us the main parts, it took about an hour.  This was the first really touristy thing I've done since being here and I loved it.  I don't mind being a tourist at all.

Today we got up early and went to Caribbean Bay with one of our co-workers and her boyfriend.  Caribbean Bay is this big water park south of Seoul.  It was so much fun.  Some of the slides were actually a bit scary.  The park has kind of a pirate them and was really neat.  One thing I noticed was that Koreans really love their life jackets.  Almost everyone was wearing a life jacket even though the water was about 3 feet deep at the most.  It was pretty funny.  We spent a lot of time in the wave pool which was awesome.  And the lazy river was the coolest I have every been on, granted I haven't been on many lazy rivers.  But there was one part that went inside and it supposed to be kind of like a cave and it was dark and stuff.  I loved it.  The weather was pretty nice, but the lines weren't too long since it is getting towards the end of the season.  I had tons of fun and will probably go back again next summer.  

It was a pretty great weekend.  I'm looking forward to getting a good nights sleep to start the week fresh.  Teaching continues to go pretty well.  Some classes are definitely more challenging than others, but I'm having a lot of fun with my kids.  

Hope things are well with you...

Laters

HELLO

I think I am feeling more comfortable with teaching.  I'm in the middle of week three and things are going pretty well as far as I know.  Tests are next week so I guess we will see if my kids have learned anything from me.  

I'm really enjoying my kinde kids.  Although they are now getting more comfortable with me and school so their true personalities are shining through.  Some that I thought were just so innocent and sweet no longer seem so innocent and sweet.  They are however, incredibly cute.  If they are ever acting up all I really have to do is start singing BINGO(you know There was a farmer had a dog) and then they get really into the song and start to behave.  Last week the mother of my one kids named Justin decided she didn't like the name Justin so he got a new name.  He is now Dario.  It took me a little getting used to.  Justin to Dario is a bit of a stretch, but I've got it down now.  Today Jamie, my one girl, showed her finger to me.  It had something on it.  I said, "What is that?"  She just shrugged so I looked closer, and what was it?  A bugger.  I think about 15 minutes of each class is devoted to telling kids to get their finger out of their nose and get a kleenex.  

I celebrated my birthday Korean style on Saturday.  That means we didn't go to the bar until about midnight and then didn't return until around 5am.  I had a lot of fun though, and luckily I could sleep in on Sunday morning.  I've had a lot of good birthdays in the past few years.  I started my first day of college on my 19th.  I ran my first triathlon on my 21st.  I found out I was going to spend the winter in Steamboat Springs, CO on my 23rd.  This one might top the list though.  I never thought I would spend my 24th birthday in Korea.  I'm so very glad I did though.  If you would have asked me 10 years ago what my life would be like at 24 this is not how I would have imagined it, and I couldn't be happier.

As far as big news goes...Emily gets here tomorrow!!!!! If you don't know Emily is one of my BEST friends from home.  After I signed up to come here she decided she maybe wanted to try it out too.  We ended up getting placed in the same school!  I am super, duper, very, really, very excited.  I thought I was an okay solo traveler but have since realized otherwise.  I just don't really like experiencing things by myself.  To me its a lot more meaningful when you have someone to share experiences with.  I already have our weekend planned out.  Can't wait!

I think that is all I have.  Oh, I joined the gym.  It feels good to work out again.  I still think I want to try and train for a running race.  Don't know if I want to do a full marathon but we will see.  I am encouraged by that fact that I didn't rule it out completely the first five minutes of stepping on a treadmill again.  We will see what happens...

I hope all is well with you.  Oh yeah, and I am so glad the Hawkeyes won.  I think being so far removed would have made me even more upset if they had lost to ISU.  It just made my bday weekend that much better knowing they had beat up on the Cyclones.

Na Zdravi.

Talk to you later...

RANDOM TIDBITS

As nothing of too great a consequence has happened in the last week since I've written I guess I will just write about some random little stuff that seems to happen all the time.

- Last Friday the nice lady at the convenience store laughed as I walked through the doors.  I'm not positive about what she was laughing at but I'm pretty sure she was laughing about the fact I had been there everyday after school to buy a water and an egg and ham sandwich.  It didn't discourage me one bit though...I've still been there everyday since.

- Tried bangers and mash for the first time.  No it isn't a Korean dish.  I went to an amazing Irish Pub with some fellow teachers.  I will definitely be eating there again.  FYI: bangers and mash= sausages on top of mashed potatoes with gravy dumped all over it, its even better than it sounds.

- It seems as though whenever I am living my most sedentary lifestyle is when I get these grand ideas about pushing my physical limits.  I haven't joined the gym here yet.  And its in the same building as my school.  I just haven't taken the time to ask a Korean teacher at my school to come with me and help me.  However, that did not stop me from deciding the other night that I wanted to run a marathon.  It probably has to do with the fact that I am far removed from my last run, and there is really no chance of going for a run tomorrow since I don't belong to the gym and there are no parks around so my mind just thinks, "Hells yeah I wanna train for a marathon." I actually started looking up training plans.  I still think I want to do this.  We will see what I think after I actually join the gym and start working out again.  I will keep you posted.

- Started teaching my kinde class this week.  I only have three kids.  Jamie- girl, about 5 years old, very smart, can read English, outside of the classroom acts all sweet and quiet, inside the classroom screams all the time and pushes the boys around.  Elvin- boy probably around age 4, very very cute, not quite as advanced as Jamie, doesn't like to repeat things even though I ask him to 10 times, really only likes to play duck, duck, goose.  Justin- boy, about 4 years old probably, also very very cute, joined the class yesterday, does not know English at all, does not really understand that I don't know Korean, but starting to kind of pick things up even after just two days.

- Got yelled at, well not yelled but I guess sternly talked to, by some Korean gentlemen as I was walking into my apartment.  I have no idea what he was trying to tell me.  I just kept walking and looking back and he said something twice and was kind of pointing towards my building.  I went into my room really fast and locked it and then stood there in the entryway, actually I don't have an entryway its just one room, anyways, I stood there for literally five minutes trying to understand what he saying to me.  Did I do something wrong?  Did I leave my hot water heater running and take all the hot water?  No.  Did I leave my gas stove on and burn the place down?  No.  Did I leave my air con on all day(like it would matter to him if I did)?  No.  Did I throw my trash in the wrong place this morning?  I don't think so, I put it by other people's trash on the side of the street.  Is he my neighbor and I'm playing my music too loud?  I don't think so.  Has he seen me open my door and seen that I have about 15 empty water bottles lined up because I don't know what they do for recycling and I keep forgetting to ask someone and this somehow offends him?  I really have no idea what he was saying to me, but I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything wrong.  Hopefully I don't see him again anytime soon.  Although for all I know he could have been offering me a free meal at the restaurant around the corner.  I don't think that was it, but you never know...

- Was watching a game show on TV the other day and I was like, "Man these questions are so easy, I could win this thing."  I then realized that all the questions were being asked to Koreans, in English, and they had to answer in English.  I proceeded to give them props.

- In my kinde class today we were playing memory.  So I had my little kiddos, all three of them, around me with the memory cards.  Then Elvin tooted.  And of course I laughed.  Toots are funny and they are especially funny when they come from 4 year olds.  Then everyone was laughing and I said, "Elvin was that you?"  What does he do?  He points to the classroom over and says, "No, them."  Kids learn fast.  He knew how do blame it on someone else even though he's only 4 and totally out of his element.  He could blame his toot on someone else, in a different language.  I was impressed.

- Learned to stay far away from the soju (as the guide book calls it, the local "firewater") after being here for less than a week and a half.  I will spare you the details, but let's just say it took me a day and a half to recover from that one.

- For as long as I can remember I've wanted a moped.  I now want one even more.  They are all over the place here.  I'm especially jealous when I'm walking and sweating my arse off and there they go with the wind in their hair, whizzing down the street, swerving in and out of cars.  UUGGH.  I want a moped.

- Couldn't understand why I was so much more interested in the story we were reading in one of my classes than any of my students.  Then I realized it was because the story was about aliens and space, and I just eat that stuff up.  Love it.  I guess they aren't as enthusiastic about it.  O'well.

Well I think those are all of the thoughts I can think of right now.  I will let you know how I'm feeling about the marathon thing when I actually start working out again.

I hope all is going well for you and yours.  

Talk to you again soon...  

...AND IT BEGINS...

So...I finally have internet.  YAY!  Sorry I haven't updated the blog or responded to emails and such, but I am very happy to report that I now have internet in my apartment.  I'm actually very, super happy.  I have no idea how we ever lived without it.  Now on to the important stuff...

I moved into my apartment last Friday night, after spending about a week and a half in a motel (its referred to as the Love Motel by all the foreign teachers here).  My apartment, my home for the next year, is nice.  And by nice I mean pretty cozy.  And by cozy I mean pretty small.  But I'm fine with that.  Less area to clean I guess.  I will try to post some pictures.  Basically my bed is to the right of my door, then I have a desk and a closet type thing.  Then there is the kitchen/washroom.  I have a little gas stove, a sink, some cupboards, and then the washing machine.  There's just enough room to stand and cook.  The bathroom is in the back corner.  I will try to explain how the bathroom works but a picture will probably explain it better.  What you have is a toilet, a sink, and a removable shower head on the wall.  So the whole bathroom is the shower.  Everything gets wet (learned that the hard way when I forgot to remove my toilet paper from the bathroom the first time I showered) and there is a drain on the floor.  It sounds a bit inconvenient but I get more and more comfortable with every shower.  All in all the apartment is pretty good.  I put pictures up, and of course the Iowa football poster from the fair, and it is feeling more like home all the time.  

As far as teaching goes...I had one week of observation which went pretty well.  I started to think, "Hey this isn't so bad and it looks pretty fun."  Then I sat down to write out lesson plans and I realized I really had no idea what I was doing.  Now, after almost a week of teaching, I think I kind of know what I'm going, but I have no idea if what I'm doing is what I'm supposed to be doing.  The lessons are pretty much laid out for you, but they don't want you to bring the teacher book with you to class so we have folders we write the lesson plans in and then take those to class.  The part that is confusing is the fact that there are like 5 different books for each class, and there are two teachers for each class and we each teach for 40 minutes so you have to figure out who is teaching what part and so on.  It's just a bit overwhelming when it's all thrown at you at once.  But as I said, I think I've somewhat figured out what I'm doing, I just don't know if it is what I'm supposed to be doing.  

I teach one kinde class for 80 minutes everyday.  Right now there are only two kids in the class.  They are both really cute, and they can speak a little English.  I don't know if I will get more kinde kids or if I will only have two.  I guess we'll see.  Anyways, after kinde I teach elementary kids.  On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I teach three classes of beginning elementary.  Each class is forty minutes long.  Then I teach one 40 minute class of more advanced elementary.  I really like that class because they are pretty good and you can actually have conversations with them.  Then I have a class of older elementary kids.  I'm not a huge fan of that class.  Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays after my kinde class I have an 80 minute class with 5 girls who are awesome.  I think they are all about 9 years old and they are amazing.  They seem almost fluent and they are just fun to talk with.  Then I have another older elementary class for 40 minutes, and I finish the day with an hour long class with 4 middle school girls.  I have to push them quite a bit to get them to talk but their English is pretty good.  For the most part teaching is going really well.  The kids are all pretty good and pretty fun to be around.  I'm enjoying it so far.  I just hope I can get everything figured out so I know for sure I'm doing all the lessons right and such.  

Other than that...I still love the food.  Especially galbi, which is the Korean BBQ.  Oh man it is so good.  I haven't been into Seoul again, but I'm sure I will this weekend.  I might go to an amusement park on Saturday.  That should be fun.  I'm looking forward to just relaxing a bit this weekend.  Teaching gets pretty tiring.  I tried learning some Korean from a book I found in my apartment.  I learned a few words but its pretty tough.  I may look into taking some Korean lessons soon.  There is definitely a lot less English around than I thought.  Not many people here speak it, or they are just too embarrassed to try.  The people are very nice though.  Very willing to help you whenever they can.  

I'm having a pretty good time so far.  All the teachers at my school are very nice and helpful.  I went to dinner with some people last night and they wouldn't let me pay for anything.  I had an awesome dinner and a few beers all for free.  They really want you to feel welcomed and comfortable so that's nice.

That is about all I have.  I will try to put some pictures up so you can see my apartment and such.

Oh I almost forgot...due to my unfortunate inability to come up with lies on the spot I have a nice young Korean Jehovah Witness man wanting to come to my apartment and talk about the bible with me.  He, and his mom who didn't speak English but just nodded and smiled, stopped me right outside my apartment a couple days ago so I couldn't lie to him about where I lived and for some reason couldn't even lie to him about when a good time to come and talk to me about the bible would be.  So he stopped over tonight, again with his mom, but I told him I was getting in the shower and meeting a friend (only a half lie because I really was about to get in the shower) and I'm sure he will just keep dropping by every night until we talk about the bible.  Any advice on how to get rid of him would be much appreciated.  It's not that I don't like talking about the bible, I just don't want this young Korean Jehovah's Witness man coming to my apartment everyday wanting to talk about the bible.  I'm just too honest for my own good.  I just felt bad lying to him because he was so nice and he was talking about God.  It's hard lying to someone pushing God.

Anyways...I will be updating much more often now that I have internet.  I love hearing from everyone back home too, so keep the comments and emails coming.

Laters...

SQUATERS!@*&#^

I was supposed to start orientation at my school today but they pushed it back another day. According to my director the government says people need to wait seven days after travelling to make sure they are not sick. Whatever...one more day to relax and watch movies in my motel room. I've already watched The Parent Trap, Titanic, The Nanny Diaries, Matilda, Hook, and Mission Impossible 1 and 3. I will say the Koreans have pretty good taste in American movies.

I went to the hospital today for the infamous urine, blood, and the like tests that all foreign teachers have to take. The hospital seemed pretty clean and organized and nice...and then they handed me the pee cup and pointed me to the bathroom. In my 23 years on this planet I am perfectly proud to say I have avoided squating...that was until today. As if peeing in a cup isn't akward enough, I open up the stall door and its a squater toilet. I don't know if there is proper name for it but its basically a porcelain hole in the ground you squat over. I've been confronted with this situation before, whether it was at the bar in Hungary or while drinking by the bonfire, however, I've always been able to hold it until I found a place more comfortable to releave myself. If you think I'm being ridiculous, and squating is the norm for you then I applaud you. For me, well I've just always felt more comfortable sitting and relaxing. I didn't have a choice today though. I sucked it up and squated. I guess I can check that one off my list now. It's under the category "Things I Haven't Done that I Don't Really Care that I Haven't Done But was Kinda Forced Into Doing Them So Now I Can Say I've Done Them But Don't Really Care If I Ever Do Them Again".

I've forgotten to mention one of the things I love about this place. THE MOUNTAINS. I knew that a lot of Korea was covered in mountains but they basically surround the city. You can see them in basically any direction you look (as long as there is a break in the high rises). They aren't huge mountains but awesome none the less. Koreans are really big into hiking and I can't wait to go. And I'm sure it will be beautiful(does anyone else always think of Bruce Almighty whenever they have to spell that word) in the fall when the leaves are changing.

My director told me I would be moving into my apartment on Friday!!!!! I really hope so. It will be nice to be able to unpack and start to get settled a bit more. And it will be nice to be able to use my computer instead of always having to go to the PC Bang. I feel like I've smoked a pack of cigarettes every time I leave this place. O'well, at least I have a place I can use the internet.

Hope things are going well for everyone:)

Laters.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT pun intended

What is it about food that just fills you up with a warm fuzzy feeling? I know there are those quintessential (i have no idea how to spell that and when I click spell check it just comes up in Korean so you will just have to go with it) comfort foods, ie. macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, honey nut cheerios, etc, etc, but it seems to me as though people automatically loosen up when food is involved. Just think about it...whenever you have guests over more often that not food is served, first dates often include going out to dinner, the best part about grocery shopping on a Sunday are the samples- unless you make the mistake of scarfing down a fish stick you thought was a mozzorella stick, not a fun suprise.

The most comfortable I have felt here has been when I have been enjoying a delicious meal. And believe me the meals here are DELICIOUS. Maybe its just me, and maybe that is why I never seem to be able to shed a few unwanted pounds, but it seems like the best way to become comfortable in an uncomfortable situation is to eat. Bon Apetite!

Anyways...I met up with Krista yesturday, which was great. She treated me to lunch and then took me into Seoul via the subway. She showed me where to buy a subway transit card thing that you just put money on and scan at the entrance instead of buying a ticket for each ride. So now I feel like somewhat of a legit foreigner instead of a helpless foreigner. I think I somewhat figured out how to use the subway, atleast enough to get myself back to my motel. We went to a part of Seoul called Insadong which has a bunch of little shops selling knick-knacks and such. I bought a scarf, my first Korean purchase, and then saw on the label that it was made in China. O'well. We had a few drinks and then ate dinner at Pizza Hut. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah criticize all you want but I was craving pizza and it hit the spot. It was great to be able to see Krista and actually have someone to talk to who understood what I was saying.

I start orientation at my school tomorrow. I'm very excited to meet the other teachers at my school, and I'm also very excited to have something to do to keep me busy. But I'm nervous about the whole teaching thing. I'm sure everything will go fine. Everyone says you just have to get through the first month and then things will be great. I look forward to that time, but right now I'm just a tad bit nervous.

Not much else to report here. The computers at the PC bang are no longer opening up my email so if you have sent an email in the last few days sorry. I haven't been ignoring you I promise. I will be moving into my apartment in about a week and will have internet there. Can't wait!

I hope things are going well for everyone back home.

Talk to ya later.

Day 2

I walked around a little bit yesturday. I didn't go too far from my motel for fear of getting lost, but I managed to see a little of the neighborhood. Probably the thing that sticks out the most about this place is the constant activity. There are lots of people, lots of activity, and lots of bright lights. The streets are just full of different little shops. I walked by a few places yesturday with tons of fish swimming around in tanks on the sidewalk. Not something you see everyday in good old A-Town. But that is the best part about travelling to new places...seeing things and experiencing things you never have before. There is something about putting yourself in difficult and awkward situations that I just love. I think I probably just love the story I have to tell later. I love telling stories I think are funny even if no one else finds them funny...

Anyways, my director Mr Nam took me to dinner last night. We had Korean BBQ. It was delicious. I was a little nervous for the dinner but I knew it was going to be great when the first thing Mr Nam did was buy me a beer and serve me a shot of soju, which is a very popular liquor here that is similar to vodka. We had pork which you cook up yourself at your table. You usually then take a piece of lettuce, put a piece of pork on it, then add some bean paste and garlic, wrap it up and eat it. So so so good! I also tried some kimchi and it was pretty good. Kimchi is a very popular dish in Korea. It's fermented cabage or other veggies with some chili type sauce on it. They eat it with about every meal. Not too bad. We also had some bean paste soup with rice. Mr Nam said if you like bean paste soup you will like most every food in Korea so I guess I'm in luck becuase the soup was pretty good. The pork was definitely my favorite part of the meal though. Can't wait to have it again. We polished off the meal by finishing up the beer and soju...they serve soju in about a 12oz bottle and it's 20% alcohol...because as Mr Nam said, "leaving alcohol on the table in Korea is a sin". He then hailed a cab to take me back to my motel and him back to his apartment because he didn't want to drive since he drank. He is a very nice man, and both of my directors are very apologetic about me having to stay in a motel and not being able meet anyone from the school to make sure I don't have "the flu". They feel very bad but it hasn't been too big of a deal.

My sleep is still a bit off. I woke up at 5am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I went to the convience store down the street for some breakfast and came back with Denish Pastries(I think they might have meant Danish) and some sour cream and onion Pringles. It's been raining most of the day so I haven't been able to explore much today. I am meeting up with my friend Krista, whose been here since December, on Saturday so hopefully she will be able to show me around a bit more.

So far things are going well. I start orientation at the school on Monday so I'm pretty excited/nervous for that. Hopefully things go well. I know I'll be overwhelmed at first, but I'm sure it will be quite the experience. I'm also looking forward to meeting the other teachers at my school! It kinda sucks being stuck in my motel by myself but only a few more days....

Laters

I MADE IT!!!

After about 24 hours of traveling I have made it to Korea! It really wasn't too bad. I actually slept off and on for the whole 14 hour flight from Chicago to Seoul so it went pretty fast. I sat next to a lady from the Philipines who was very nice. Within the first few questions she had asked me how old I was, and whether or not I was single...I guess they don't care about getting personal at all:)

I was picked up at the airport by a van driver who didn't speak English, which was fine, except to say "banana" and then point to the pocket on the back of the seat. So that was nice...I didn't expect to get a banana from the van driver. Anyways he drove me to my director place who then took me to the hotel I will be staying in until about August 30. The rooms are alot smaller than in the states but it has a TV with some English channels...I've already watched The Parent Trap and House...and it has an airconditioner so I'm set. Unfortunately it does not have internet so I am typing this at something called a PC bang which is a room full of computers you pay to use. So I'm surrounded by a bunch of guys smoking and playing video games...my first Korean adventure!

My director showed me around the neighborhood a bit and then said he would meet me later for dinner. I'm very glad my directors are so helpful. I've heard some bad stories about school directors but mine seem very nice so far. I'm a little nervous so go eat just because I'm not real good with chopsticks yet, and I have no idea what I'll be eating....but that is just part of the experience!

Well my time may be running out on the computer so I'll wrap it up. This place is very different from anywhere I've travelled. All the buildings are highrises. There is no such thing as a strip mall. Businesses are not side by side but rather stacked on top of eachother. The people have been very nice so far. I guess I've only really interacted with the two young girls working at this PC bang, but they were very nice. It is somewhat cloudy today but still prettty warm. I think it may be even more humid here than at home.

As far as this blog goes...I probably won't do much proofreading so sorry about the gramatical/spelling errors. I never proofread a paper in college and I probably won't proofread my blog posts either. Follow this blog closely if you want, read it occasionally if you want but don't forget I want to hear from all of you too...I know I will miss everyone but I also know this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Until next time...

P.S. If anyone goes to the fair please eat a pork burger from the pork tent for me. I didn't get to eat one before I left.