This past weekend some of my friends and I decided to go on a picnic in Suwon since they were predicting beautiful fall weather. So Saturday we all put on our sweaters and scarves and headed to e-mart to get our supplies. After spending way too much time wandering around e-mart we finally headed out to Suwon to the park. It turns out that there is a really beautiful park there with a little lake and we had a great day. The boys played some made up golf/mini soccer ball game and us girls had a great time eating bread and cheese and drinking wine. It was pretty much the perfect fall afternoon.
I kind of can't believe that fall is here already. In about a week and a half I will have been here for six months. When I was first deciding to come here committing to a year seemed like an eternity but now the time is flying by way too quickly and I'm already thinking about how soon it will be the end of my contract.
Oh, speaking of plans for the future - my Christmas plans are all made. I'm going to Bali! Originally the plan was to go to New Zealand with Patrick and another couple from my school (Katie and John) but by the time we got our act together the flights were all sold out. And they were kind of stupidly expensive anyways. So finally Patrick and I decided to go to Bali. Everything is all booked now an I'll be spending my first Christmas away from home on a beautiful beach. I think it should help ease the pain of missing Christmas at home. Gotta say though I was pretty sad this weekend knowing that it was turkey time at home and my thanksgiving dinner was galbi at the pig house. Oh well, c'est la vie.
So on that note. Happy thanksigiving!!! Hope you all had a great long weekend.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Where in the world is Dongtan, South Korea? (Sung to the tune of Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?)
So, here is Dongtan on a map in Google Earth. The photo was taken in December before it was built. Notice that I live in a hole according to this picture. Also, I work in a hole.
This is Dongtan with Seoul, so you can get an idea of where I am, relative to the big city.
And finally me in Korea as a whole.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Chuseok and the Second Fracture in a Year
Last night as I was walking home I fell off a curb I tried to laugh it off but my foot was pretty swollen and blue. This morning Patrick convinced me to go get my foot checked out and I was so glad I did because it turns out that I fractured my foot. Of course not the foot that I fractured in December, no this time it's the right one. Which is just awesome.
But the reason I'm writing about this is to say just how much I love going to the doctor here in Korea. The experience today was the polar opposite of the whole thing in December. I got to the doctors office, waited 20 minutes because he was on lunch. THen at 2 o'clock on the nose I was brought into his office. He took one look at my foot and sent me to have it x-rayed, 10 minutes later he had the results and sent me down the hall where I had some sort of electric paddle therapy thing (but not before he gave me an injection of pain killers). Then after a half hour i was brought back to his office where they fitted me for a walking cast. And gave me my prescription for a whole pile of mystery drugs. I LOVE the efficiency here. Oh, and the whole thing cost me $25 including the cast and the drugs. Awesome!
This past weekend was Chuseok, which is like Korean thanksgiving. Originally I wanted to go away somewhere but in the end Patrick and I decided to play tourist in Seoul and do all of the good stuff there that neither of us had gotten around to doing yet. And to make it even better I went and bought a nice new camera (mine got broken a couple of weeks ago) so I took like 300 photos. We stayed in Hongdae which is a cool university area, and we visited Gyeongbok palace on sunday and Changdeok palace on Monday. The palaces were both really cool, Changdeok was particularly cool because it has this huge secret garden and you also have to visit with a group tour. At first I was kind of annoyed by the group thing because I'd rather walk around alone but it ended up being good because it meant that there was only a limited number of people in there so you could actually get pictures without anyone in them. We also went up Namsan, a mountain in Seoul that has a big tower on top. It was the first time I got a good view of just how big Seoul is. It was a really great weekend. I'm going to link my photos when I get home. I'm at work right now and the picassa website is all in Korean, so I can't figure it out.
But the reason I'm writing about this is to say just how much I love going to the doctor here in Korea. The experience today was the polar opposite of the whole thing in December. I got to the doctors office, waited 20 minutes because he was on lunch. THen at 2 o'clock on the nose I was brought into his office. He took one look at my foot and sent me to have it x-rayed, 10 minutes later he had the results and sent me down the hall where I had some sort of electric paddle therapy thing (but not before he gave me an injection of pain killers). Then after a half hour i was brought back to his office where they fitted me for a walking cast. And gave me my prescription for a whole pile of mystery drugs. I LOVE the efficiency here. Oh, and the whole thing cost me $25 including the cast and the drugs. Awesome!
This past weekend was Chuseok, which is like Korean thanksgiving. Originally I wanted to go away somewhere but in the end Patrick and I decided to play tourist in Seoul and do all of the good stuff there that neither of us had gotten around to doing yet. And to make it even better I went and bought a nice new camera (mine got broken a couple of weeks ago) so I took like 300 photos. We stayed in Hongdae which is a cool university area, and we visited Gyeongbok palace on sunday and Changdeok palace on Monday. The palaces were both really cool, Changdeok was particularly cool because it has this huge secret garden and you also have to visit with a group tour. At first I was kind of annoyed by the group thing because I'd rather walk around alone but it ended up being good because it meant that there was only a limited number of people in there so you could actually get pictures without anyone in them. We also went up Namsan, a mountain in Seoul that has a big tower on top. It was the first time I got a good view of just how big Seoul is. It was a really great weekend. I'm going to link my photos when I get home. I'm at work right now and the picassa website is all in Korean, so I can't figure it out.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Perfect Korean Day
Yesterday was the perfect day in Korea. A bunch of us made plans to spend the day at the jim jil bang in Dongtan, so we all met up there around 1 or so and hung out until 7. First we spent about 2 hours in the baths, during which time us girls all also got the scrub. For the scrub basically this older Korean lady puts a brillo pad mitt on each hand and scrubs off the top layer of your skin. It takes about 20 minutes and is quite painful but the results are fantastic. I have never felt so soft or clean in my life. After we finished up in the baths we put on our funny little jim jil bang outfits and went upstairs into the coed section where we had lunch and then we all got massages for an hour or so. And then we hung out in the hot and cold rooms upstairs. The coolest part is that there's actually a little igloo up there. It's kind of great after spending so much time in hot saunas and baths. After dinner we went to the Pig House for galbi (Korean bbq) and soju of course and then we went out for some beer and eventually ended up at the norae bang. So all in all the day was pretty much the epitome of a great day in Korea.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Thailand
I just got back from my week in Thailand. It was a pretty great trip. It ended up being me and three other girls I've met since coming to Korea that went. We left early Saturday morning and flew to Bangkok, which is actually quite a bit further than I thought it was. If nothing else I'm learning some asian geography this year.
So anyways it was evening by the time we got into Bangkok. We went to our hotel which was pretty sweet considering we each paid about $20 a night for it. And then once Joanne and Troy got in we headed out for our one night in Bangkok. Unfortunately it was so late by the time that we ate and had a couple drinks that most things were closed. We did follow this one Thai guy all over the place because he promised us taht he could show us a good show, but eventually it was just getting too sketchy as he seemed to be leading us in circles so we all jumped into cabs and ran away.
The next morning we got up and headed back to the airport to go to Krabi. When we arrived in Krabi we went to this restaurant to wait for the ferry to Ko Phi Phi and while we were there we started talking to this really nice guy Sin who worked in the hotel.
Ko Phi Phi was gorgeous, we spent 4 days there. While we were there we took boat taxis to some different beaches. The blue lagoon was amazing. It was just this lagoon where you could stop the boat and go swimming, so we spent like an hour there swimming one afternoon. The other really cool place that we went was Monkey Bay. It was this beach that you had to take a boat to get to, and there were a whole bunch of monkeys just hanging out on the beach. We had been warned not to leave any of our stuff unattended cuz the monkeys would steal it and I totally believe they would because they weren't afraid of people at all. It was awesome. Although it did kind of remind me of that scene in Jurassic Park where the family is on the deserted beach and the little girl gets attacked by the dinosaurs ... but maybe that's just my imagination being a bit wild. Oh, and one night we saw a fire show, also kind of awesome.
After Phi Phi we headed back to Krabi for a day, where we once again lay on the beach. Then at night Sin and the other guys we had met the first night had a delicious bbq for us. There was a night market going on and a show put on by the local kids. So we just spent the night hanging out with locals.
The next day it was back to Bangkok. That night we went to this area in Bangkok called Nana, it was really cool, and I guess it was like the Muslim area of Bangkok. I had no idea there were so many Muslims in Thailand but apparently they make up like 30% of the population, so there's some more learning for me. :P As we were making our way back to the hotel we saw a baby elephant on the side of the road!! It was so adorable. Oh, we also rode in a tuk tuk, which is like a taxi on a scooter, kind of crazy and definitely kind of scary.
All in all it was a good trip, although it was kind of rushed, if I were to do it again I think I'd skip Bangkok and fly straight to somewhere close to the beach. It's just too much travelling for one week and also Bangkok just has this air of exploitation which kind of creeped me out. Oh, the final touch was that on the flight home Lydia and I got upgraded to first class. Woohoo!
So anyways it was evening by the time we got into Bangkok. We went to our hotel which was pretty sweet considering we each paid about $20 a night for it. And then once Joanne and Troy got in we headed out for our one night in Bangkok. Unfortunately it was so late by the time that we ate and had a couple drinks that most things were closed. We did follow this one Thai guy all over the place because he promised us taht he could show us a good show, but eventually it was just getting too sketchy as he seemed to be leading us in circles so we all jumped into cabs and ran away.
The next morning we got up and headed back to the airport to go to Krabi. When we arrived in Krabi we went to this restaurant to wait for the ferry to Ko Phi Phi and while we were there we started talking to this really nice guy Sin who worked in the hotel.
Ko Phi Phi was gorgeous, we spent 4 days there. While we were there we took boat taxis to some different beaches. The blue lagoon was amazing. It was just this lagoon where you could stop the boat and go swimming, so we spent like an hour there swimming one afternoon. The other really cool place that we went was Monkey Bay. It was this beach that you had to take a boat to get to, and there were a whole bunch of monkeys just hanging out on the beach. We had been warned not to leave any of our stuff unattended cuz the monkeys would steal it and I totally believe they would because they weren't afraid of people at all. It was awesome. Although it did kind of remind me of that scene in Jurassic Park where the family is on the deserted beach and the little girl gets attacked by the dinosaurs ... but maybe that's just my imagination being a bit wild. Oh, and one night we saw a fire show, also kind of awesome.
After Phi Phi we headed back to Krabi for a day, where we once again lay on the beach. Then at night Sin and the other guys we had met the first night had a delicious bbq for us. There was a night market going on and a show put on by the local kids. So we just spent the night hanging out with locals.
The next day it was back to Bangkok. That night we went to this area in Bangkok called Nana, it was really cool, and I guess it was like the Muslim area of Bangkok. I had no idea there were so many Muslims in Thailand but apparently they make up like 30% of the population, so there's some more learning for me. :P As we were making our way back to the hotel we saw a baby elephant on the side of the road!! It was so adorable. Oh, we also rode in a tuk tuk, which is like a taxi on a scooter, kind of crazy and definitely kind of scary.
All in all it was a good trip, although it was kind of rushed, if I were to do it again I think I'd skip Bangkok and fly straight to somewhere close to the beach. It's just too much travelling for one week and also Bangkok just has this air of exploitation which kind of creeped me out. Oh, the final touch was that on the flight home Lydia and I got upgraded to first class. Woohoo!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Mudfest
Ok, so this is a bit of a delayed post but last weekend I went to mudfest. We had a group of 29 Dongtan people and we all went up together on the train and got a bunch of hotel rooms. For those who don`t know mudfest is this big annual festival in Boryeong, on the west coast of Korea. It`s apparently the biggest festival in Korea and for some reason it has become the biggest foreigner party as well. It was strange being completely surrounded by foreigners for two days. It was so much fun though.
We spent two days just lying on the beach and getting muddy. The mud is supposed to be great for your skin too. We had great weather too, it only rained late on Saturday night, which was kind of unfortunate because it ruined my plan to crash on the beach but oh well. On Sunday afternoon a bunch of us went to the sauna too, which was just the perfect way to end off the weekend. The sauna is so relaxing, I think I may be getting a little addicted.
This weekend is my birthday so I'm having a little party and then next weekend I'm off to Thailand. I can't wait, an entire week of lying on the beach!!! We've decided to spend 2 days in Bangkok and the rest of the week on Ko Phi Phi, an island near Phuket. From the pictures I've seen it looks stunning,
We spent two days just lying on the beach and getting muddy. The mud is supposed to be great for your skin too. We had great weather too, it only rained late on Saturday night, which was kind of unfortunate because it ruined my plan to crash on the beach but oh well. On Sunday afternoon a bunch of us went to the sauna too, which was just the perfect way to end off the weekend. The sauna is so relaxing, I think I may be getting a little addicted.
This weekend is my birthday so I'm having a little party and then next weekend I'm off to Thailand. I can't wait, an entire week of lying on the beach!!! We've decided to spend 2 days in Bangkok and the rest of the week on Ko Phi Phi, an island near Phuket. From the pictures I've seen it looks stunning,
Saturday, June 28, 2008
My First Korean Spa
Time for a long overdue update. Today I went to a Korean spa for the first time. It was cool, this place was like a spa/waterpark. So, the only problem was that there were like a billion children. For some reason after teaching all week the last thing I want to do on the weekend is be surrounded by screaming children lol.
But I actually met this really cool little girl who had the most amazing English of anyone I've met since I've been here. She picked me out like the minute I arrived and then kind of followed me around until eventually she started talking to me, it's funny how kids do that here. You can totally sense it when a kid keeps looking at you and you know they're just working up the nerve to talk to you.
Back to the spa though, so after the water park part we went to the mixed jimjilbang (Korean spa) part, where everyone had to wear these funny brown shorts and t-shirt outfits. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Everyone walking around in the same nondescript outfits.
So the coolest/creepiest part of the jimjilbang was that the "Dr. Fish." The dr. fish are these weird fish that are all in a pool and you put your feet in and they eat all the dead skin off your feet. At first it felt really weird but then it was kind neat. And now my feet are way smoother.
Finally I went to the girls' part of the jimjilbang, which is the naked part. Which I really wasn't sure I wanted to do, but I figured when in Rome... So I went and it was great, there was one huge room that had all sorts of different baths and showers and stuff, and then there was this other outdoor section that was really relaxing and had all sorts of different stone baths. So yeah, I survived my first excursion to a jimjilbang, and I loved it. There's one right by my school but I think it might be kind of weird because what if I run into my students there? So we'll see, I might just stick to going to out of town jimjilbangs instead.
But I actually met this really cool little girl who had the most amazing English of anyone I've met since I've been here. She picked me out like the minute I arrived and then kind of followed me around until eventually she started talking to me, it's funny how kids do that here. You can totally sense it when a kid keeps looking at you and you know they're just working up the nerve to talk to you.
Back to the spa though, so after the water park part we went to the mixed jimjilbang (Korean spa) part, where everyone had to wear these funny brown shorts and t-shirt outfits. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Everyone walking around in the same nondescript outfits.
So the coolest/creepiest part of the jimjilbang was that the "Dr. Fish." The dr. fish are these weird fish that are all in a pool and you put your feet in and they eat all the dead skin off your feet. At first it felt really weird but then it was kind neat. And now my feet are way smoother.
Finally I went to the girls' part of the jimjilbang, which is the naked part. Which I really wasn't sure I wanted to do, but I figured when in Rome... So I went and it was great, there was one huge room that had all sorts of different baths and showers and stuff, and then there was this other outdoor section that was really relaxing and had all sorts of different stone baths. So yeah, I survived my first excursion to a jimjilbang, and I loved it. There's one right by my school but I think it might be kind of weird because what if I run into my students there? So we'll see, I might just stick to going to out of town jimjilbangs instead.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Foot Stones in the Park
I just discovered something very cool in the little park near my house. Ok, well maybe I didn't discover them, but I was just shown something very cool. There is this whole path of all different types of rocks and wood arranged in different patterns to massage your feet. It's awesome, my feet always hurt after teaching all day so I'll definitely be heading back there regularly. I took pictures of the rocks with my phone but then I realized that I have no way of getting the photos from my phone onto my computer so I'll have to go back with my camera.
Anyways, the rock foot massage totally made up for the fact that I got completely soaked walking home from emart today. I should have known that the second I took my umbrella out of my bag it would rain. I totally looked like the crazy foreign girl today just walking through a huge rainstorm with no coat or umbrella or anything. And then every time I kind of resigned myself to the fact that it was raining it would rain harder until at one point I actually laughed out loud at how soaked I was, which was the point when I realized that I looked like a crazy foreigner.
Anyways, the rock foot massage totally made up for the fact that I got completely soaked walking home from emart today. I should have known that the second I took my umbrella out of my bag it would rain. I totally looked like the crazy foreign girl today just walking through a huge rainstorm with no coat or umbrella or anything. And then every time I kind of resigned myself to the fact that it was raining it would rain harder until at one point I actually laughed out loud at how soaked I was, which was the point when I realized that I looked like a crazy foreigner.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Folk Village
Yesterday we had the day off work for memorial day, so a bunch of us went to the folk village in Yongin. It was pretty cool and a lot bigger than I expected. We walked around for several hours and I don't think we saw most of it. The best part was that they had these shows, there was a farmer's music and dance show, a see-saw show, a tight rope walker and a horse show. My favourite was of course the horse show. It was crazy, it was just one small ring and they'd have one or two horses in at a time, and the riders were basically acrobats, doing all sorts of tricks while they were riding. The tightrope walking was pretty cool too. One other interesting thing was that there were two women taking the silk off of silk worms, that was interesting. I knew they did it but I never really knew how.
This week I finally went to this cute little restaurant near my house called Il Blu. It's just this gorgeous little cafe that makes me really happy and it's like a minute away from my house. I just went there again this morning - they have french toast!!! I was so excited when I was french toast on the menu, I knew I had to go back this weekend. Finally a proper breakfast, now if only they had bacon.
This week I finally went to this cute little restaurant near my house called Il Blu. It's just this gorgeous little cafe that makes me really happy and it's like a minute away from my house. I just went there again this morning - they have french toast!!! I was so excited when I was french toast on the menu, I knew I had to go back this weekend. Finally a proper breakfast, now if only they had bacon.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Starting to feel like home
Yesterday I realized that Dongtan feels like home now. Which isn't bad considering I've actually only been here a month. I spent the weekend in Itaewon (the part of Seoul near the US base) and then came home Sunday afternoon and as the bus arrived here I finally had that I'm home feeling. I always find it interesting to see how long it takes after a move. Anyways, I decided this weekend that although Itaewon is a fun place to visit I definitely wouldn't want to live there. There's just too much going on and it really doesn't even feel like Korea at all.
This isn't related to Korea at all but I have a new favourite cd, which you should all rush out to get. It's the soundtrack to the movie Once, which I'm about to watch. And it it just amazing. It's the singer from The Frames, so it's no big surprise that I like it but still - it kills me. I've pretty much just been listening to it over and over on repeat.
I tried again this weekend to activate my cellphone since I finally got my ARC (alien registration card). Turns out my plan to buy a cheap used phone was not so great. The phone is apparently a stolen phone so no one will activate it. I'm going to try to bring it back this weekend, but I don't really see that working out since I have no receipt.
I don't really have anything else too exciting to say. I've been trying to focus more on school the last week or so. I'm really enjoying my class. And my middle school class is going much better now. They've started to talk more and occasionally even smile when I make a joke. Ahh, teenagers.
This isn't related to Korea at all but I have a new favourite cd, which you should all rush out to get. It's the soundtrack to the movie Once, which I'm about to watch. And it it just amazing. It's the singer from The Frames, so it's no big surprise that I like it but still - it kills me. I've pretty much just been listening to it over and over on repeat.
I tried again this weekend to activate my cellphone since I finally got my ARC (alien registration card). Turns out my plan to buy a cheap used phone was not so great. The phone is apparently a stolen phone so no one will activate it. I'm going to try to bring it back this weekend, but I don't really see that working out since I have no receipt.
I don't really have anything else too exciting to say. I've been trying to focus more on school the last week or so. I'm really enjoying my class. And my middle school class is going much better now. They've started to talk more and occasionally even smile when I make a joke. Ahh, teenagers.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Yellow Dust and Plastic Wrap
Before I came to Korea I read about this yellow dust, but I didn't really understand what it was or how much of it there is. Apparently it is really fine sand that comes over from the Gobi Desert in China. I don't really understand how it can travel all the way here but whatever it is there sure is a lot of it. Every morning I wake up coughing and congested, so today I was like well maybe I'm not sick, maybe my apartment is dusty so I set about dusting. Well it turns out absolutely everything in my apartment was coated in a thin (or in some areas thick) layer of this yellow dust. It's really strange. Also, one night last week we were going out to dinner and it was raining really hard and all of the puddles were full of the stuff. It looked like someone had spilled yellow paint all over the place.
The other thing that I've noticed this week is everywhere is plastic wrap. As I've said before Dongtan is a really new city, which is pretty cool but lately I've been noticing that there is plastic wrap everywhere and for some reason this little thing really bugs me. So I'm constantly going around pulling it off. You know when you buy a new appliance it has the plastic stuck to it. Well everything has that here. I see it everywhere, it was all over my apartment, I found some more this morning on one of my windows. It's even on elevator buttons and the hinges on bathroom stalls in restaurants and whatnot.
As for what I did this week, it was a pretty quiet week. I went back to Gangnam and Itaewon this weekend. Next weekend I'll find somewhere new to go. Oh, I had my medical test for my working visa, that was pretty crazy. We went to this hospital and they did every kind of test you can think of in about 45 minutes. They checked our eyes, ears, did blood tests, x-rays, drug tests, blood pressure - they even checked our teeth. I totally felt like a horse or something being checked out before purchase - Ok, now let's just take a look at it's teeth. Anyways, I passed so I should get my Alien Registration Card this week. Oh, I put new photos in my slideshow.
The other thing that I've noticed this week is everywhere is plastic wrap. As I've said before Dongtan is a really new city, which is pretty cool but lately I've been noticing that there is plastic wrap everywhere and for some reason this little thing really bugs me. So I'm constantly going around pulling it off. You know when you buy a new appliance it has the plastic stuck to it. Well everything has that here. I see it everywhere, it was all over my apartment, I found some more this morning on one of my windows. It's even on elevator buttons and the hinges on bathroom stalls in restaurants and whatnot.
As for what I did this week, it was a pretty quiet week. I went back to Gangnam and Itaewon this weekend. Next weekend I'll find somewhere new to go. Oh, I had my medical test for my working visa, that was pretty crazy. We went to this hospital and they did every kind of test you can think of in about 45 minutes. They checked our eyes, ears, did blood tests, x-rays, drug tests, blood pressure - they even checked our teeth. I totally felt like a horse or something being checked out before purchase - Ok, now let's just take a look at it's teeth. Anyways, I passed so I should get my Alien Registration Card this week. Oh, I put new photos in my slideshow.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Exploring Seoul
This weekend we had a long weekend. I didn't really need the break yet, but it was a good way to ease into working again. I originally considered going down to Busan in the south of Korea but in the end I decided to stay around here and explore Seoul a bit. So I went into different areas on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
On Saturday I went into Itaewon with some teachers from another school who I met at a party last weekend. Itaewon was interesting; it's the foreigner district in Seoul and it's near a big US military base. At first when we got off the subway I was like look other foreigners, but then I realized that there were foreigners all over the place. I didn't particularly like Itaewon, it was pretty dirty, but I can see that it would be a good place to go in a couple of months if I'm feeling like I need a bit of home. There are a fair number of Western restaurants there - and there's a starbucks, mmm. Plus there's this foreigners market where you can buy stuff from home. There were 2 cool things though. First was this bookstore called What the Book which had a good selection of used and new English books. The other thing was we went to this bar called Bungalow, which is like this tropical themed bar, and there are all these little rooms with sand for you to put your feet in. That was fun.
After Itaewon we went to Bundang, where some of the other teachers live. Bundang was pretty cool. It's similar to Dongtan in that it's all new but it''s a few years older, so it's a lot more lively.
Sunday I went to Yongsan, which is where the big electronic markets are. And up until a couple weeks ago it was apparently the place to get cheap dvds, but apparently recently they cracked down big time on that, so there really weren't that many. I did get a cheap cellphone though, yay! It's really a bit pathetic how lost I've been with no cellphone for a week and a half. Every time I leave the house I feel as though I'm forgetting something, especially since my house has a code lock so I don't have keys either.
Finally Monday I went to Gangnam to another great bookstore, this one is called Kyobo books and they have English and Korean books (and other languages too - I definitely saw French books). The good thing though about Kyobo is that they have all sorts of books for learning Korean. My co-worker recommended a book to me so I'm starting to learn Korean. It's just so incredibly frustrating to not be able to talk to anyone. After Gangnam we went to check out this canal which is near City Hall, but I can't remember the name of it. It was pretty cool because it was Children's Day they had all of these animals and whatnot in the water. You can see the pictures in my slideshow.
On Saturday I went into Itaewon with some teachers from another school who I met at a party last weekend. Itaewon was interesting; it's the foreigner district in Seoul and it's near a big US military base. At first when we got off the subway I was like look other foreigners, but then I realized that there were foreigners all over the place. I didn't particularly like Itaewon, it was pretty dirty, but I can see that it would be a good place to go in a couple of months if I'm feeling like I need a bit of home. There are a fair number of Western restaurants there - and there's a starbucks, mmm. Plus there's this foreigners market where you can buy stuff from home. There were 2 cool things though. First was this bookstore called What the Book which had a good selection of used and new English books. The other thing was we went to this bar called Bungalow, which is like this tropical themed bar, and there are all these little rooms with sand for you to put your feet in. That was fun.
After Itaewon we went to Bundang, where some of the other teachers live. Bundang was pretty cool. It's similar to Dongtan in that it's all new but it''s a few years older, so it's a lot more lively.
Sunday I went to Yongsan, which is where the big electronic markets are. And up until a couple weeks ago it was apparently the place to get cheap dvds, but apparently recently they cracked down big time on that, so there really weren't that many. I did get a cheap cellphone though, yay! It's really a bit pathetic how lost I've been with no cellphone for a week and a half. Every time I leave the house I feel as though I'm forgetting something, especially since my house has a code lock so I don't have keys either.
Finally Monday I went to Gangnam to another great bookstore, this one is called Kyobo books and they have English and Korean books (and other languages too - I definitely saw French books). The good thing though about Kyobo is that they have all sorts of books for learning Korean. My co-worker recommended a book to me so I'm starting to learn Korean. It's just so incredibly frustrating to not be able to talk to anyone. After Gangnam we went to check out this canal which is near City Hall, but I can't remember the name of it. It was pretty cool because it was Children's Day they had all of these animals and whatnot in the water. You can see the pictures in my slideshow.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
One Week In
This is my first post since arriving. I wrote a couple others but since I didn't have internet I didn't post them and now it seems kind of weird to do so. I've been here a week today. So far I love it! The school is great, my kids are all really sweet and my co-workers are super-friendly and helpful.
Dongtan, the city I'm in is really nice. It's all brand new and it's funny because when you look around you realize that about half the buildings are actually empty. It has kind of a funny feel to it, because it looks like a city, but there aren't actually that many people here yet. So there are big streets and whatnot, and hardly any cars on them. And there is constantly new stuff opening up, apparently next month they're opening up another big block of apartment buildings so there will be an influx of new people.
Right by my house is central park. it's this great park with trails for jogging, basketball and soccer fields, tennis, a climbing wall and all kinds of other things in it. I actually got up on Monday and went jogging at 6:30 in the morning! I didn't intentionally get up that early just with the jet lag my body is still having trouble figuring out when to sleep.
I've been trying as much Korean food as possible, drinking as much Korean beer as possible and on Saturday night we went out to Norae Bang, which for those of you who don't know is karaoke. It was so much fun! You get your own room here for it, with couches and whatnot so it's kind of just like dancing around singing in someone's apartment except with giant tv screens. I want to start learning Korean as soon as possible because it's really frustrating walking around not understanding anything at all. Fortunately a lot of the restaurants here have picture menus. And one time the other new teacher and I went to a place that didn't so we resorted to pointing at the poster of food on the wall. It worked out though cuz it was delicious!
Dongtan, the city I'm in is really nice. It's all brand new and it's funny because when you look around you realize that about half the buildings are actually empty. It has kind of a funny feel to it, because it looks like a city, but there aren't actually that many people here yet. So there are big streets and whatnot, and hardly any cars on them. And there is constantly new stuff opening up, apparently next month they're opening up another big block of apartment buildings so there will be an influx of new people.
Right by my house is central park. it's this great park with trails for jogging, basketball and soccer fields, tennis, a climbing wall and all kinds of other things in it. I actually got up on Monday and went jogging at 6:30 in the morning! I didn't intentionally get up that early just with the jet lag my body is still having trouble figuring out when to sleep.
I've been trying as much Korean food as possible, drinking as much Korean beer as possible and on Saturday night we went out to Norae Bang, which for those of you who don't know is karaoke. It was so much fun! You get your own room here for it, with couches and whatnot so it's kind of just like dancing around singing in someone's apartment except with giant tv screens. I want to start learning Korean as soon as possible because it's really frustrating walking around not understanding anything at all. Fortunately a lot of the restaurants here have picture menus. And one time the other new teacher and I went to a place that didn't so we resorted to pointing at the poster of food on the wall. It worked out though cuz it was delicious!
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