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
Wow, super descriptions of the sights you are seeing and the fun you are having! I'm starting to get the urge to travel after reading what you've written! I haven't traveled internationally for years (although just getting out of Alaska requires travel through or over other countries :-)) I was lucky to get to do lots of international travel in my 20s and early 30s. Looks like I'll be 60 before I get to do more international travel (as I have almost made it to 60 - amazing, as I don't think of myself as being that old!). Age is all in how you look at it, I guess. Great to hear (and see) that you are having such a great time as a tourist, and teaching. Keep the accounts and the pictures coming!
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