Today is going to be the "numbered blog."

I don't feel like writing in a coherent paragraph form today.  Therefore I am going to list what I want to write about.

1. I went to "What the book" yesterday and bought two books.  I am excited for the new reading material and appalled at how expensive even used books are in this country.  Shipping ruins everything.  I have heard of a few "book exchange" groups which I plan on using once I get a few titles here.

2. Yesterday, I tried using my card to pay for my dinner.  It was rejected.  A very nice man translated for me that I needed to call my bank.  I don't know why my card was rejected as there is money on it.  He was also nice and bought my dinner.  I <3 the kindness of strangers.

3.  Yesterday, on the subway a group of four loud and very drunk americans got on.  I looked around and it was apparent that all of the Koreans were 1-looking at me to see my reaction, and 2-extremely annoyed.  I wanted to apologize for the loud group.  They were extremely annoying.

4.  I am starting to get more adventurous in what I eat as half the time I have no idea what it is anyway.  On Friday, however, there was a dead animal floating in my soup bowl for the school lunch.  I just couldn't bring myself to eat that.  It was also one of the first moments since being here that it really hit me that I am in a foreign country.

I believe that is all for now.

Sweet Landlord

I have the sweetest landlord.  He just brought over a 30 pack of TP and two really nice towels to replace the ones that were ruined in the flood.  Yay.  Now I have WAY too much TP as I went out and bought some as well...

Today was also good because I received a letter from Cass, the packers won, and I didn't have to teach.  :) 

Winter Holiday

I have far too much to write about with far little motivation to write.  Unfortunately I woke up this morning with quite the cold going on which has sucked any and all energy from me.  Since it's the last day of holiday I thought I would update in here as I am sure I won't have as much time to do it once classes start back up.

So on Wednesday I met Corrie in Seoul!  We decided to take the 63 building by storm.  After figuring out where we wanted to go we actually made it there without mishap.  Walking in the building we were stopped by a man asking us what we were doing there.  We were both confused as we thought that this was a touristy type building and didn't expect our presence to be questioned.  Eventually we decided that the building was so large that the man was just trying to be helpful with directing us but because of the language barrier it sounded more as though we didn't belong.

After eating a quick lunch we decided to see what the place had to offer.

So, we found an English speaking guide near the ticket counter and started talking to him about what we wanted to see.  We decided to get the 3 events for 30000 won ticket.  Then, we would get a 10% off discount since we are foreigners.  So we went to buy tickets to Sea World, an IMAX movie on dinosaurs, and the Observatory/Picasso exhibit.  Instead of paying the 30000 won each, it totaled 30,000!  The English guide was talking with the person at the register for quite some time and then she gave us a 50% discount!  Seriously awesome.  Corrie and I believe it's because we really complimented him on his English skills.  ;-)

So the building was fun.  The IMAX was hilarious as they took a movie in English, dubbed it over in Korean, and then gave us headphones to listen to the English version with a 5 second delay in both speech and music.  SeaWorld boasted the fact that they had over 20,000 creatures.  Corrie and I believe one of the creatures died in its cage as it wasn't breathing or moving and was laying at an awkward angle.  Poor thing.  I hope it was just sleeping.  The observatory was pretty cool.  There were many great views.  It was also good to see the Picasso exhibit as I meant to do that while in Philly and it never happened.

After that Corrie and I eventually headed over to Itewon and joined up with some people.  One of the people, hilariously enough, was also from EMU like Corrie and I.  So we were able to talk about Ypsi things for a bit.  A good way to end a fun day.

The next day, Thursday, we were headed to Everland to meet up with some of Corrie's friends from her section of the country.  It took us about 6 hours to get there as we kept getting lost!  Both of us are directionally challenged in the first place...but I think it's worse when you put us together!  We eventually made it to Everland at 4ish so we still had 4 hours there which was more than enough to see a lot.  Everland is basically an amusement park.  Our first ride was a roller coaster.  What's more terrifying than a normal roller coaster?  One that you're not quite certain will make it to the top of the hill...

But yes, that was fun.  I barely made the last subway ride home but it was totally worth the long trip.  The night before wasn't able to sleep at all so I was super tired all day on Thursday.  I figured I would sleep well but I believe the over-stimilation (and a lot of caffeine...^_^) kept me awake until after 4am!

The next morning, Friday, I headed over to meet up with some people in Moran which is about as far away from here as possible.  The trip didn't take as long as I was thinking, however, so it wasn't bad.  Only about 2 hours by subway.  We went to a market there and I saw many things.  It was really cool because it's more how I would imagine Asia being.  My town is so modernized it's not always interesting.  After leaving the market we decided to hike up a mountain.  That was fun as well as I got to talk to and get to know another English teacher that lived in that area for a little over a year.  It was a really fun day/night hanging out and getting to know some really cool people.

Saturday was interesting as we headed over to a long name that I won't even try spelling to see some Palaces.  It was interesting to read the history and see the spirit chambers.  It would be really cool to see it in May when they do their ceremonies as they are one of the last places in the world to still do it.  I love going to places like this and experiencing some of the culture.  Plus, it's so cheap!  Only 4000 won total for two different places!  My list of places I want to visit while here is steadily growing...

I called it an early night last night as I wasn't feeling well.  Today I took it easy as well and literally either slept or read for the entire day.  I am hoping to get rid of this cold before having to go back to teach tomorrow but I have a feeling I haven't even started getting sick yet as every hour I feel progressively worse.

Oh well.  A cold is well worth the lack of sleep and fun sites/interesting people I have met this week!  

Seodaemun Prison History Hall

Today was a relaxing day spent at home reading and writing.  The only thing missing was coffee from the ugly mug! ^_^  It was nice to not do much as this past weekend was a lot of fun.

Yesterday, I met Alex in Dongnimmun, a small city about an hour and a half away from here.  The day before, as I was writing down directions to the city (on my hand, at that) I misspelled Dongnimmun and so I missed my stop on the subway when I attempted to go there.  Thankfully Alex called about two or three stops past so I was able to quickly fix that mistake.  Anyway, I eventually made it there and so our adventure of the day started.

We decided to eat first and so a cute little "diner" was chosen.  The food was absolutely amazing.  I need to start eating more Korean food!  Also, I tried this side dish which were these little tiny fish-things that were salted.  It was pretty good, despite being fish.  

After lunch we headed over to the Seodaemun Prison History Hall.  An except from the brochure reads that "The Museum preserves and displays Seodaemun Prison signifying the suffering and pain of Koreans during the modern period.  Here, independence activists and pro-democracy activities were jailed and martyred."

Inside the museum it was completely fascinating and depressing at the same time.  I don't know much about Korean history and so it was interesting to learn more about the Japanese occupancy and their control over the country.  Inside the Underground Torture Chamber it was particularly disturbing just to read about the different methods of torture they would use.  Just like at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly, I tried to imagine what it would be like to be imprisoned in such a place with such conditions and I couldn't even begin to fathom what it would be like.  A lot of different things I have encountered since entering this country now makes a lot more sense to me that I know a little bit more of the history.  I am hoping to make it to a few more museums this week since I have it off.

Here is a picture of the Central Prison building.

The Central prison building and original prison building

After the tour of the prison, we decided to hop on the metro to a random city and get coffee.  Apparently our city choice wasn't the greatest, despite having "university" in its name, as we couldn't find a coffee shop anywhere!  We finally stumbled upon this Italian restaurant that claimed to have coffee so we went in there to get out of the bitter cold.  

The Italian restaurant was very cute but of course it was also very expensive.  My Americano was 5000 won and my chocolate mousse was 7000 won!  So for the two my bill came up to be around $12 usd.  It was definitely worth getting out of the cold for a little bit though--and the chocolate mousse was amazing.

On the way back to the metro, Alex spotted this gem of a place.  The "exciting beer" restaurant.  A little bit further it boasted at being a "happy place."  Love it. 

The only downside to yesterday occurred when I received a text from my co-teacher telling me not to use my sink or washing machine for two days.  Um...ok.  So I have a pile of dirty dishes and some articles of clothing I would like to wash so it will be dry by Wednesday...but I can't use the water?  Annoying.  But whatever.  I suppose it gives me an excuse to be lazy and not do the dishes/laundry.

Later this week (Wednesday, specifically) I get to see Corrie!  We are meeting in Seoul.  For those of you who don't know Corrie, she is a friend from my Uni.  The last time we saw each other was at a dollar theater movie (we believe it was Star Trek) so it's been a while!  I am excited to see her again!  Who knew then that we would be meeting up in Seoul.  I love life.  :) 

Basketball

This past Sunday I attended a Korean basketball game.  While the actual skill of the players still had much to be desired, the entertainment of everything else more than made up for it.  It was such a surreal experience watching people dressed up as advertisements dance on the court as the cheerleaders danced and cheered and a man (presumably) read off advertisements in Korean.  Just the sole fact that I didn't know any Korean made the experience 10x's more entertaining.

I am quite excited to attend a baseball game this spring--although I am hoping they can actually play.

The rest of Sunday was quite lovely as well.  I had great conversation with great people.  I also semi-learned how to use the subway here--we'll see how much I actually retained when I attempt to use it on my own for the first time!

Right now I am on a two week vacation which has been absolutely relaxing and fabulous.  I have been slowly learning my way around the grocery store here, so yesterday I was able to purchase enough to make the chicken and veggie soup that I love.  Tonight, I was able to make an amazing toasted chicken sandwich.  I found some delicious seasoning yesterday and took a gamble as I couldn't tell what kind it was.  It tastes great on food though, so a win.

The one downside to the food, I am quickly learning, is how hard it is to find reasonably priced chocolate!  Perhaps I am just incredibly spoiled, but the thought of spending $5 for a hershey's candy bar makes me cringe.  This is why the Koreans stay so skinny.  ;-)  I did manage to find an off-brand that was only 1000 won (so a little under $1) for two candy bars.  Not the best quality but it was still decent.  It reminded me of cheap tasting Easter chocolate.  I have yet to see dark chocolate although I have heard of its existence.  I am keeping my eyes open for it.  I have also decided that since I don't have an oven (which is terribly tragic in its own right) I am going to make no bake cookies at first chance.  I have also found a few Korean "sweets" recipes I would like to try out, although they sound more healthy than actually good.  Yes, I am terribly addicted to sugar.  I will admit it readily.

Anyway. There really isn't anything terribly exciting to write about, so I will post some pictures from the game instead.  (Also, I keep getting requests to post pics of my apartment.  I promise I will get around to it.  Soon.)

Another week

It's hard to believe that I have only been here for two weeks.  I feel as though it has been much longer...but in a good way, I think.

The most eventful news of the week was also, unfortunately, the biggest pain.  It was brought to my attention during dinner that I had missed 5 calls from my co-teacher.  Finally answering her call (as I had my phone on vibrate and therefore didn't realize it was ringing.  I mean, who's going to call me, anyway?  ;-) she was frantic on the other end, and I could make out something about my apartment being flooded, the land lord being there, and that I needed to hurry home.

One of the perks for being unattainable is that by the time I actually made it home, the majority of the water was cleaned up and K had the owners whipped into shape and cleaning up the mess. (Originally, they called her and told her that SHE had to clean up the mess--but she told them what was what.)  So thankfully I didn't have to deal with the actual cold water clean up.

You wouldn't even believe the mess, however, that the water caused.  It leaked out the door and all the way out the front of the building.  Everything inside was covered with 3 inches of water.  Thankfully, all of my electronics were on the table and therefore safe from the water!  There doesn't appear to be much damage (I have only thrown a few things away so far) but there is a damp feel/smell in the air that hasn't gone away yet.  Who knew a broken pipe could cause so much mess!

So the rest of last night and tonight was spent trying to clean.  It's not quite done yet but I think I need to get some cleaning supplies from the store to do the rest of it.  It definitely could have been much worse so I am thankful that it was only what it was!  (I am also thankful that I wasn't the one to have discovered it...)  On the plus side, I was able to leave school at 1:40 instead of 4:30 to go home and "clean" (yes, I definitely took a nap instead!) on the last day before my two week vacation! :)

There's not much else note-worthy other than to say that tomorrow I get internet!  That'll be nice, although not having reliable internet has forced me to be semi-productive.  Or maybe it has just forced me to watch far too many episodes of "24" on DVD.  That's being productive, right?

Oh, and another plus to the flood--I now know how to turn on hot water!  Glorious hot water.  Mmm.  So really this has all been a blessing in disguise.  ;-) 

Yum, food

I don't have much to write about but I wanted to share my strange but good day today.

It began as normal.  I have 5th years from 9-12.  We studied the seasons today and it went well enough.  During their break they have taken up to playing dodgeball in the class.  I keep waiting for something to break (either on a child or off a desk) but so far everything has been fine.  I quite enjoy that class.

Something strange happened with the kindergarten and after-school classes.  They actually listened to me today!  And participated.  And behaved.  It was all rather strange although I am not complaining about it one bit.  In fact, the kindergarten class was so well behaved today that I actually ran out of material.  It normally takes twice as long to get through everything with them.

Now on to the best of part of the day week.  After school I consumed my first hamburger and fries in Korea--AND my first hamburger and fries of the year.  Oh my, how I have missed the amazing taste of hamburger.  It was absolutely perfect, too.  Then, to make perfect even more amazing, I had a coke with the dinner.  That's right, my first coke since coming here as well!  I didn't even realize that I wanted something like this until it was mentioned.  Now I am quite happy.  Although I have been eating extremely healthy since moving here, I'm still me...and nothing can replace a hamburger and fries.  Nothing.

Now my stomach is full and content.  I can now say that I have eaten a hamburger and fries while in Korea.  (And don't tell anyone, but it was so much better than anything I have ever ordered in the US--minus the cheeseburgers from Resurrection Alehouse in Philly.  I believe those are the best in the world.)