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