Bath houses, shopping, and everything in between

Another great weekend in wonderful Korea :) No joke, I wake up every morning thinking to myself "I am in Korea." If you asked me last year if I EVER thought I would be here, I would have called you crazy. I never would have thought I'd be here and never thought I would enjoy it as much as I do... I am gradually falling for it :) All I need is to become attached to ANOTHER country... I will never be rich... I keep spending my money traveling back to the places I once called home.
Well this weekend started on Saturday morning when I took the 45 minuteish journey bus and then subway to Seomyeon to visit my friend Tina. I accompanied her and some of her co-workers to the bathhouse (called jim-jil-bang). I was originally going to stay home and rest and then had been invited to my directors house for dinner with his family, however, I did not want to get them sick and everyone at school that going to the baths were a great way to get better. So I did, and happily so :) I was so excited however I had no idea what was in store. There were 3 of us girls and 2 guys. We went to the 2nd biggest bath house in Asia (the biggest, also in Busan is beautiful however not as many baths). It was called Hurshimchung Brau (bottom blue area in the picture says Hot Spring Park). I have been told by several people to prepare to be naked, as a lot of Westerners are not comfortable this way. But I say, women are all the same so I have to try it at least once. The initial fee to just go in and do the basic baths is 7,500 Won (AKA $7.50). We are given a bracelet to wear and whenever you want a service that costs extra or food, you just charge it to your bracelet(so smart!). We sepereated men/women, were assigned a shoes locker and then clothes locker. I think all 3 of us girls were a bit nervous about being nervous at first but u just start seeing 100's of young girls, mid-aged women, and then VERY old women walking around buck naked. No one cares, no one stares (or if they do, it's actually on at your face cause again... I'm a foreigner). If you actually walked around WITH clothes, you'd be alittle bit MORE uncomfortable I think. After, we walked into the main bath area. I wish so much that I could've taken pictures. There is no way to describe this place. 2 Floors... first floor was the main bath area. In the middle with statues and everything with rock ledges was the main bath... 3 sections, warm regular bath tempature water, a little hotter water, and a little cooler (also referred to as the Longevity bath). Amanda, Tina's friend who was a pro, filled us in on everything. The water that runs through each bath is natural spring water which has many minerals, etc very good for your skin. If you walk outdoors, there was a REALLY REALLY hot pool with a REALLY REALLY cold pool (think pool with millions of ice cubes) next to it (there is a theory about the high sensation you get from switching from one to the other being good for your blood circulation)... and yes we tried it :) Let me tell u, I did NOT enjoy that cold pool. If the high they feel is numbness then I got it. We spent the next couple hour bath hopping from salt baths to high pressure baths (with high pressure water fall like things coming down... AMAZING on my back... like a massage), Chinese herb baths (good for sickness and joint pain), saunas, steam rooms, a mud sauna (for a price... which i will partake in on another trip), washing baths (yes people bring their own soap, etc), exfoliating baths, just EVERYTHING. After 1 1/2 hours we took a break to check on the boys. We were given 'sexy' (aka look like a hospital nurse) uniforms to go into the next room. We met in the 'rest room' aka nap room. There were family, individuals, couples, everyone just in the middle of this room laying on tile (that was warmed from underneath) taking a nap. BEST IDEA EVER!! There was also a Crystal room, infra-red room, and an oxygen room (all heated at different tempatures that are supposed to aim at certain things, like anti-aging, joint/muscle pain, weight loss, blood circulation, etc). While Amanda enjoyed a chair massage for $1, Tina and I went into the Oxygen room, grabbed a wooden moon shaped brick and joined the other 15 people in there in taking a mini rest So quiet, and tranquil. So great. About 20 minutes later we all took a journey to the pedicure area... Dr. Fish, they call it. You stick ur feet into a tub with fish... the kind of fish that eat the dead skin off. Ewwww lol. But everyone said it is fine and their feet felt good after. I want to take pictures when I do it so I passed this time around. Then we seperated again boys/girls and got our exfoliation scrub. You lie on a table, while a woman rubs you down head to toe with an exfoliation sponge (very rough... kinda hurts a little) and when I mean head to toe, I mean EVERYTHING lol. Again, kinda wierd.. but no one else cares but me so whatever. They also put a cucumber mask on you ... and I mean like real cucumber (not slices but shredded like) then they wash your hair and give u mini massage. I was not complaining one bit. However it was kinda gross to see all the dead skin that came off me. My skin felt sooooooo soft after :) We did more steam room, etc and finally headed out around 6 (we arrived around 1:30 so it was quite a long day!!). We were all STARVING after. We attempted to look for a specific indian restaurant but were so hungry we just settled for the closest thing... Papa Johns Pizza lol. Yea something new and different right. But it definitely hit the spot. I took a picture of the milk... just in case u didn't know where it came from lol Thought it was funny.
That night I met up wtih my friends Taylor and Kaley briefly at Metal City. Coincidently there was another girl there, Becca, whom was the organizer of the Meetup website that I am apart of. We've been emailing for awhile so it was great to meet her finally. I left around noon. The combo of the bath house and my eye (I have learned that i am allergic to the Busan subway in my right eye only lol. Everytime i get on, it gets really irritated) I was ready to sleep. I was very proud to have found Tina's house on my own lol. So I spent the night with her and the next day... SHOPPING.
We took the subway to Nampo-dong. The city most famous for the cheap market where you can bargain, etc. We spent ALL day there. We found a great place to eat, buffet style. They had pasta, steak, sushi, salads, appetizers, Everything! It was sooooo good!! Tina and I definitely stuffed our tummies... but still had room for coffee and dessert :) The dessert table was amazing!! We didn't know what to do! We limited ourselves to one plate so we would have to split everything lol. We tried a few new things, things that looked familiar and just whatever looked good! We decided the strawberry mousse was the best (the blob of strawberry... kinda looks like ice cream scoop a little). It made my tummy VERY VERY happy! Soooo good. I could probably live on that forever! The green tea cake was good, of course :), and then there was like a lime merenige type cake which was great too. Some was so-so. But the strawberry mousse YES!!! And it went perfect with coffee too. We spent our day looking for bags, shoes, house supplies, and knick knacks. We pretty much found just about everything we wanted then some extra things in between. I found these amazing boots that i fell for. I'd seen of the teachers at my school wearing them and I really liked them. I got the seller down to 15,000 won ($15) which i thought was GREAT! They were so comfy but a tad too big. Every place I asked if they had a smaller size, they didnt'!!! One Korean woman even told me that I had 'baby feet.' :( And here I thought I was gonna be normal. I was pretty disappointed :( When we finally left around sunset, we took the subway back towards Tinas (well she would get off there and I"d take it a bit further). There is a small section on the sunway reserved only for the elderly, disabled, or pregnant women. I"ve sat there before when it was empty and just got up if there was an elderly who needed to sit and no one got mad at me but I have heard stories about people getting yelled at. The older Korean women "hagimas" have quite a rep of being aggressive and expressing their emotion. Amanda, one of the girls whom I went to the bath house with told us a story about how a hagima, literally lifted her skirt on the subway and spanked her upper thigh... apparently talking about her skirt being too short. Hagimas will elbow their way through a crowd, push you out of line for everything (this has definitely happened a time or two) . However, during this subway trip back, one of the Hagimas sitting in the old people section, motioned for us to sit. She and this other older man then were sooooo very nice and talked to us about if we were students (no we are english teachers). They were very excited for us, asked us where we were from, and talked about how we can make lots of money (lol duh!) and they were just curious about us. I thought they were VERY VERY nice :) When a homeless guy came by selling gum (p.s. barely ANY homeless people in Busan. I have seen 2 on the subway, that's it), Tina was going to give him money (she has a bit to learn about the big city) and the older woman waved her down, 'no no. no good.' lol. Later another homeless guy came around begging for money but he was like squirming on the floor like a snake all throughout each subway car. Wierd... hmmm. Just wonder what kind of approach he was attempting to take on. After my successful day shopping, I got home and rested soundly :) Now it's Monday and time to start school :)

I caught the travel bug... literally

I just finished my first full week at ELC. It's been a busy week as far as work goes, visa stuff, and just learning things. First, it turns out that next month my school is changing it's name. Instead of ELC, it will change to Toplus... which is hilarious hearing the Koreans say it cause it sounds just like Topless lol. Our sister school in Ulsan is changing too and we're getting new/better (or so I've heard) books. Should be interesting.
On a FUN and EXCITING note... We're getting a new foreign teacher next month!! YAY!! I'm very excited. She's 25 and from South Africa (Which is just so much cooler than another American... another place to visit and learn about:) )!! Yea, who knew they'd teach english lol. AND she is going to live right next door to me. I'll have a friend!... well hopefully... provided we get along ok, etc... which, lets face it, I get along with everyone. It'll just be nice to have someone to ride the bus home with and maybe grab a beer or something after work. I want to eventually venture Ulsan (the other big city about 30 minutes north of me... popular university area with more foreign bars) so it'll be nice to have her to explore with also. I had the option of moving into the room next door that she will be taking. Just for safetys sake, I tested the door handle to see if it was open... it was... wierd that it is unlocked in the middle of the night?? It's pretty much the same as my apt. but completely empty. At this point, I at least have tv, dresser, chair, washing machine, bed, etc so I think I"ll just stay here. I'm growing quite attached to my little room :) My director has invited me over to his house for dinner with his family this weekend (though i think we cancelled... due to my bug) and was like "i'll pick you up at 5:30 and you can spend the night." I love my director and all, he's awesome. However, I'm not quite sure why I would spend the night. Assuming he just doesn't want to drive the 30 minutes to take me home, but if anyone knows me, I get pretty attached to my bed. I like sleeping in my own bed as much as I can. But I don't know if it's rude or not to turn that down. When we go out to lunch, he always pays. I read in my tourist book today that the boss's almost always pay and it is considered rude to fight for the bill too much. Hmmmm what else is considered rude that I don't know of. Learning these things as I go...
He made me get up early today (ok so 8am isn't THAT early) so we could drive into the city. My test results from my hospital health check came in and we had to drive to the immigration office to apply for my Identification card. I pretty much need this card to do anything here... open a bank account, visit the hospital, get a cell (technically... though i got one thru my director so I am lucky). If anything, I'm really excited just to have an awesome souvenir!
This week at school actually flew by!! It went by so quickly!! If it continues, this will be one quick year. Because the classes come and go so quickly, each day goes by fast as well. I've attempted to learn more of the kids names but the common ones are still hard to get... they just all blend in together, all the Toms, Tims, Sallys, and Jessicas. Thank God for names like Obama, Alien, Seven, and Tarquin that at least make 1/3 of the kids names easier to remember. I've started to become a little bit more familiar with my routine, the books, the tests, homework, games, etc. I've been given a deadline to finish each book. Most of them I have to have finished by the end of February (should be pretty easy) it's just up to me however I want to do it. So the flexibility is nice. I've started getting creative with some of the games. The whiteboards have horizontal and vertical lines on it so for some of the older, more advanced classes, I've introduced Connect Four (yes i just drew the table) and the teams are divided up (usually boys vs. girls... yes, they're at THAT age). I ask a question in english and whoever answers first with the correct grammer gets to put a circle in their spot. They like this because it gets them thinking strategy as well and it lasts all class long. Some of the younger kids have to write english journals. Many of them wrote about how they were sad that their last english teacher Tom left and they were very curious about the new english teacher (which would explain all the blatant stares I got for the first week). However one girl wrote "Today we have new teacher. She is Daniele. I like new teacher. I hope she like me. I like her looks" Just warmed my heart. :) Then there was the 7 year old who in the middle of class just mentions "teacher, big titi!" as she holds her hands over her boobs. What do u say to that?!?! You don't, you just turn back to the board and go SO.... lol.
Though this has been a great week, I finally managed to get sick. All the foreigners I've met here so far or anyone whose been here before always say they got sick in the beginning. I'd survived a week and hadn't gotten sick so I thought i was in the clear... well apparently not. I started feeling it coming on Monday and by Tuesday it was full blown... the COLD... aka Travel bug. As much as I wanna say "where did this come from," i guess I don't blame my immune system from weaking a bit on me. After all, I did box up my entire life, move out of my apt, store boxes, moved to Korea, and worked for 4 days super jet lagged... I guess I can see why I got sick. Though, my dad says it was because I stayed out till 3am last Saturday... maybe that too. However, I think I deserved 1 night out out of my 10 nights in so far lol.
On a future note, I found out that we have two 3 days weekends coming up!! 1 is Chinese (or Lunar) New Year, February 13-15 and the other is Solar New Year on March 1. So I'm trying to plan a weekend trip somewhere. I was originally thinking Seoul but thinking I"ll save that till at least March or so... maybe it will warm up a big. Thinking the city of Geongju right now. About 1 hour away, very historic. You can rent a bike and ride around the city checking out temples, hiking, parks, etc. Could be fun :) I'll keep you posted on that.
So at this point, I don't have many new pictures to put up. I mostly just worked this weekend so nothing new to show. Most of what i learned this weekend was more about the culture. I ask a lot of questions, "What is the theory behind Kimchi? Koreans love it," (it is good for your body) "What are the marriage, dating norms here,"...arranged marriages aren't practiced much but parents often set up their kids with people their prefer... but it's optional if they like that person or not. Having kids out of wedlock is very frowned upon... it means you can not make your marriage work. Divorce is starting to take a rise. They're at about 19% divorce rate... he was SHOCKED at our divorce rate. Being gay pretty much does not exist. Because they're a very Confusious practicing culture, being gay kinda throws off the balance of 'senior and junior.' It is a mental disorder that foreigners enforce lol. They're very much about someone always being in charge... hence the the theory of bowing to the elders. Someone is always in charge, husband over wife, elders over the young, brothers over sisters, stuff like that. Being gay also throws off this balance. I've learned a lot about the culture. It actually seems like there is theory behind everything that doesn't make sense to us. I asked my director (as he stopped at a red light and then went thru it and then another car did the same thing and we almost collided... but no big deal) "why is it so crazy on the road? There are lines and lights but no one pays attention to them very much." He says "awhile ago, Korea was a very poor country. People lived on 4 hours of sleep and the more they got done in 1 day, the better so they could feed their family. People were going going going to get things done. The country has gotten much better since, but that mentality of going going going all the time has stayed. You must get done as much as you can in one day. But be respectful of other people along the way" ... ok! So hence the theory behind your typical bad Asian driver. lol
So as I wrap this up, I'm getting ready to head to my first bathhouse experience. This should be an experience in it's own (bathhouse=naked Sauna.. i've heard 2 sides... gender seperate and gender mixed... I the one i'm going to is gender seperate... i hope! Also the water you soak in can be different kinds of water, mineral water with ginseng, certain mud, even pine needs, all supposed to be good for your body/skin). I'll take pics of the place, but no way am I taking pictures of inside lol. From what I've been told, this should be really good in trying to kick the cold I have. Wish me luck!

Weekend of Exploration in Busan

I had a great first weekend here in Korea. Where to start... Saturday, I woke up with ambition to explore my small city of Seochang. It was VERY cold that day (low 40's). So after wrapping up in my scarf, gloves, beanie, and big winter coat, I was ready to go! First step, figure out where I live. Joan, one of the other teachers gave me a ride home from school the night before. I thought I knew where I lived but I got completely lost, go figure. Took a few pictures in case i got lost, i could attempt to ask someone. Here's what I got about where I live :) This first picture on the right is along the main street (Seochang-ho ro). This is the landmark I use to turn the corner onto my street. Hard to miss right? lol. Once I go up a little hill, I look for a church and the high school (in picture on the left). I live to the left of this picture.
Then once I pass that, there is a small street to the left and I live right there in this builiding :) No idea what it says inKorean but there is an A and B building so I can read that lol. And yes, my building is the B lol. Then my address... Yea i don't know how to say it right. But i can find my way there so that is the important thing. lol.
So..... on my day of exploration, after taking a walk trying to figure out where I live (yes i literally walked the streets to make sure i knew how to get home, etc) I took a walk into the city. I plan on walking as much as I possibly can. Lord knows I need the exercise lol. Plus the tempature was in the low 40's maybe high 30's so it was a bit chilly. I needed to warm up. The streets were pretty busy on a Saturday. I found the Lottemart (Lotte pretty much owns the city. Lotte department store, lotte mart (korean walmart), lotteria...aka korean mcdonalds), found more little markets, cell phone store (since i got a new one :)), clothing stores :), etc. So after I located everything, I took a walk the opposite direction of the main road from my apt. I found a little park area (and yes that is workout equipment in the back YES!!) and sports area. There is also a lot of hiking around there. I'm very curious to check it out. I think that could be a lot of fun!! And yes there is me being the perfect tourist lol. I am hoping when it warms up al ittle bit to get the energy to run up to the park in the mornings... by morning, I mean like 10 or 11 am lol since I don't work till 2.
After the park, i decided I needed to attempt to take the bus by myself to school. I was very nervous about this. Not only does no one speak english but all the buildings look the same. I could use cash or get a bus card. I decided on the card. Getting it was an interesting experience also. Trying to convince the young girl at the convenience store that I wanted the card and also to charge it (no english). Good thing I used to be an actress. Charades is coming in very handy lol. So I bought a MYbi card... good for the outer and inner city buses and subway in the city. I was originally told that I could take any 'green' bus. They all stop at the school. Well 25 minutes later, the bus stops at an apartment building. We did not pass my school. So I walked to the other side of the street, hopped on the bus going opposite direction. 3 stops later, on the way back, I found my school... lol. ELC... English Language School. 4th floor of this building. I was pretty proud of myself. I rewarded myself by stopping at the bakery across the street. I deserved something to eat. Of course, i couldn't figure out what was what. So I settled on this... actually not bad. Fresh bread with the middle carved out and filled with veggies and little pieces of ham... cheese on top. I learned today to ask for it tattatan (prounounced this way)... warm. This bakery, Paris Baguette, is actually a popular chain in Korea. There are also good sandwiches and chocolate milk, coffee/tea, etc. I like it :) So after I ate, i stopped back at the convenience store for something else to drink. I decided to be adventurous. I 'inny minny moed' the bottled section and landed on a white tea with a pretty bottle lol. I"m such a girl. Usually like I white tea, but I was NOT a fan of this. Note to self: pretty bottle... yuck! But at least I know now and moving on. Took the bus home, found my land mark and everything was good :) Just some extra photos of the city of Seochang.It's definitely not a big city but still a good city. I like it :) It's home now. Basic bar... a place I"d like to check out when i meet friends some day lol Hof (beer), Soju (still have yet to try), and tea. Just my style. Then there's the fish truck. Something just going down the street like nothing. ha ha. just not something i'm used to seeing everyday. So when I got home, i started playing with my new cell phone that my director gave to me. It is in english but sometimes not quite accurate english. I wound up pressing buttons, etc and all of a sudden the screen went blank and was asking for me to type in my PUK code 10 times. WHAT?!?! I freaked out!! I was supposed to meet my friend in the city later. I had no idea what a PUK code was and was afraid to ask for help that they wouldn't know what it was or read english, etc. After completely venting to 2 of the only 5 people I knew in Korea and asking in panic what I should do, I finally just settled on going to the store. The girls in the store were young and didn't know much english. Some how I managed to get my point across. Technically they are not allowed to do anything to the phones without my ID card (which i will get in 2 weeks or so) but since it was under a Korean name, they wound up fixing it for me...either that or they were tired of dealing with me lol. Ultimately, Disaster averted. I could relax. Note to self, don't explore the phone too much.
So after my explorations, I wound up hitching a ride into the city with my nice co-worker Esther. We drove with her 2 kids. I don't know if it's a Korean thing or a careless thing. For several blocks one of the kids, 4 y.o. standing up in the backseat, no big deal. Neither had their seatbelts on the entire time, no big deal. It is not my place to judge or say anything but I was definitely a bit shocked. She dropped me off at the Haeundae Beach (very popular beach) subway stop where I was to meet my friend Taylor. Taylor and I had been emailing for months. She was a friend of a friend who has already been living in Korea for a year...aka my contact for everything! We ran around a bit and then had dinner for my first Korean BBQ dinner. How the Koreans don't get fat with all this food, I have no idea. Especially since traditionally, they drink beer with dinner. I like this tradition lol. It's actually not a lot. 1 big bottle to split. Taylor was a pro. Cutting the meat with scissors (yes they use scissors... no knives here), when the bottom bbq rack gets black how to change it out (if ur meat burns, you will die... or so they say here). After going back to her place, changing, etc we went to a bar in the area of Seomyeon to visit her friend Jenny who just got a job as a bartender (illegally of course but she worked out a great pay deal!). We met one guy who was soooo drunk he was hilarious... apparently used to be part of the Korean mafia, etc. Quite a character. After a few drinks there (yes normal drinks like vodka tonic... tho their tonic is a bit sweet... different), we went to the PNU area (Pusan National University... known for the foreigner bars... yes i am a foreigner aka english bars). We explored a few until we stayed at one. Lots of Canadians. The wanna be DJ for the night, Michael, was all over me... kinda weird. "i love you. You are so beautiful. I just want to kiss you" and he would keep hugging me and kissing my forehead and cheeks, etc. Kinda weird right? Pretty sure he was like almost 40, yuck! Granted the guy was hammered! But it was still funny and a nice welcome to Korea... yea this guy is from Seattle lol. Nothing new there. Then I met Yoon. Korean girl who had lived in Japan and Canada... great English. She was constantly telling me all night how 'huggable' I was. Is that a 'short' reference? I don't mind being huggable but I thought i was supposed to fit in with everyone here height wise lol. Who knows. We returned home at 3. It was a fun night. A good start to Busan.
The next morning I got up with Taylor and her friend/neighbor Jenny. We were supposed to meet up with my other friend Tina (another friend of a friend. However I realized I was low on money and hit the ATM... 2. No luck. Something about these Korean banks and ATMs. Apparently they rarely rarely work with American cards (hence why we get our own bank accounts). So weird. I was freaking out though. I had no money!! Again, Korean culture... just plain nice people!! Jenny loaned me money... granted she's not Korean, but still, just so nice and trusting. I really respect that. Jenny and I went to meet Tina at Lotte department store (and hit up Coffee bean on the way... yes there is one. I am pretty sure when she took me there she thought it was korean chain. I think I may have let her down when I said they were ALL over California lol. I still enjoyed my tropical passion tea latte though!). We then had lunch... food court type thing. We all got a mix of different salad type stuff. It was good but too much money for what it was worth... again, lesson learned :) I like learning these little things along the way. Jenny bailed and Tina and I decided to hit up Haeundae Beach for our first day of exploration. Haeundae is the most popular beach in Busan. We took the subway (i had pretty learned most of it already. Only 3 lines... just very long lines but easy to read). When I say popular, i mean you can't barely walk in the summer. Even for the winter time it was PACKED! But it was beautiful. We walked around there and it was really great. Lots to do. Lots of bars (and yes foreigner bars and korean bars), food, shopping, etc. Also known as a pricy area. The one thing I liked (and this will sound silly but actually a big deal), there was a tourist information area. They had subway maps, they had city maps, they had brochures on temple stays (yes I want to do a Buddhist temple weekend retreat), cruise information (i am thinking of cruising to Osaka, Japan), everything. Maps especially are very hard to come by here. Very few subway maps around. So this was a huge deal. I was so excited!
After exploring Haeundae, we headed back to Tinas in Seomyon. We ventured around looking for places to eat (trying to decide if we wanted street food or restaurant. The street food actually looks very good)and randomly chose a sit down chicken place. Yes, more cutting chicken with scissors lol. It was very good. They do a lot of the lettuce wrap type stuff (though their lettuce is very different). But it was good. Claim to fame for the weekend. Asking for a large beer to share. The waitress showed me the size sheet... i don't know their measurements.. seriously? I asked for the second smallest (assuming the smallest would be for 1 person. 2nd largest would be big enough to share)... OOPS... nope...she brings out a pitcher lol. Good times! Tell me where you can find a pitcher of beer in US for $7 HA! Still amazing :) She made a point to say "save room for dessert" what? I hadn't had any kind of dessert yet. She took me to a street vendor and she got this sweet bread type stuff (think funnel cake. tasted very similar), the middle mushed down, tin layer of chocolate spread on top and then sunflower seeds. It does not sounds like much, but it was HEAVENLY! Amazing! Loved it :) One of those things I probably would've never tried unless someone told me to. So glad I did :) More to come lol. Then was the mission of taking a bus back home. Once i took the subway to Nopo-dong, it took me awhile to figure out which bus I get one. I found out later that I took the more expensive bus (I love that $1.80 is considered expensive for public transportation). I will look for the cheaper one, but still not complaining about the expensive bus lol. It definitely got me home. And I was very excited to know that I could walk home and not get lost :)

1st week DONE!

Whew I survived my first week of school. A bit overwhelming but by the end of today, I definitely feel like I have something down. It's all a work in progress. Work is very busy. Between keeping up with my 8 classes and remembering all the kids names (they all make up their own english names like Cindy, Tim, Sally, and Bart... yes like simpson. Someone even named himself Obama), and trying to figure out where I am and how to get where i am going has been a challenge in itself. Lets see...
School has been pretty routine. I wake up in the morning, do some cleaning/organizing around my apartment, chat/skype/facebook friends (when i wake up it is usually like 3pm california time), shower, get ready for school and then school from 2-9. Starting this week I am vowing to work out before school. I have no excuses. I was really hoping to get a bicycle. However, turns out that it's not very safe to ride along the main road to the school. Not any sidewalk or even lanes big enough to fit a bike on the side. So looks like I will be walking as much as possible.
Today I got picked up earlier by Ho, my school director, and he took me to the Ulsan hospital. As an international teacher, you are required to get a health check before you can obtain and ID card (need ID card to open bank account, get a cell, etc). Let me start by saying that the decorator at our hospitals needs some serious lessons. These are the waiting rooms at the hospital. Let me just say that 1st... their waiting rooms have COUCHES!! leather and suede!! The main waiting room also has a huge fish tank to the right (not visible in his photo), people are walking by in the back but in back of them is a piano... yes a piano is played in the waiting room of the HOSPITAL! Then there is a 7-11 and a coffee stand there...you can pay 500 Won (50 cents) and have a chair massage. We are getting ripped off in so many ways!!! Back to my check up... i probably went between the 3rd and 1st floor 4 times. Paper work on 1st floor, urine test and blood test on 3rd floor, sight and hearing on 1st, then x ray on 3rd, etc etc. After the hospital, Ho and I went to the civil service officIerica the parents do it anyway but it was a big thing here. very odd. After was lunch... where to go. "what do you want to eat? Do you want korean food, hamburger, or TGI Fridays?" HA HA!! So random. While I have the urge I decided to go for Korean food. We went into a store that reminded me of target and on the side was a food court type thing. He took me there because I could see in the window what kind of food they had.
Hmmmm after looking at all this, how was I supposed to choose? lol. I couldn't tell what some was. At one point I pointed to a plate (on the left) and was like 'sushi!' Ho said no they don't have sushi here. hmmm. We ordered 2 dishes and decided to share (i read that it is very traditional for the Koreans to share their meals with strangers. It is almost an insult if you do not). He got Kimchee stew (which was surprisingly better than I anticipated) and a rice dish. They give you a cup of rice and a large bowl of veggies and sauce. You pour your rice in and mix it all up. Very tasty. I tried to remember the name of it in Korean... but i forgot lol. I wound up getting seafood Udon soup. Comes with a small cabbage salad (yummy!) chicken cutlet, kimchee (of course), and yes sushi lol... it was definitely our kind of sushi... i guess they do not consider that sushi though. This is the normal size of a korean lunch. As big as it is, I was not heavily full after. My question is, if they eat this much food at one meal on a daily basis for every meal (check out how much food comes on some of the other plates) how do they not get fat? Where us Americans tend to watch what we eat and still blow up like a balloon. Makes no sense to me lol. Overall it was a great meal. I enjoyed it. Afterwards, I hopped on the bus for the first time and rode 25 minutes back to school from Ulsan. One of the teachers was very nervous about me riding for the first time so she met me at the bus stop. Very sweet. Then back to school (this is the teachers area at my school. My desk is covered by the plant).
I have come to the conclusion that the Koreans are just very very nice people. Everyone has done so much volunteerily to help me. Ho was so nice and friendly. He's picked me up at home everyday and took me to school, taking me to the hospital, helped me exchange money at the bank (i needed my ID card... which i didn't have), gave me his own families personal cell phone and has invitied me over to have dinner with his family. His mother is a chef so he offered her services to give me korean cooking lessons! They loaned me money to shop with before I had exchanged mine. They didn't even know me and gave me money. The girls I work with have all offered to give me a ride home everyday. They have all gone above and beyond. I am so greatful for them. It is almost like I don't know how to respond to their generosity and kindness. Just not common in the US.
So with that said... I am going to head to bed. I am hoping to take my Saturday to walk around the city of Seochang. I've been in contact with some friends in the city and am hoping to make a trip on my own by bus into Busan. Bus to Nopo-dong and then subway to either Hwamyeog or Seomyeong... and yes i am starting to learn the city names lol. So weird. And hopefully explore Busan in it's entirety on Sunday :) I found out that I have February 15th off work so I am hoping to plan a trip to maybe Seoul??
OH and for those asking my new address is: Pyungsan-dong 20B 1N Yangsansi Kyungnam Republic of Korea :)

MY FIRST DAY IN KOREA AND AS AN ESL TEACHER in SEOCHANG

I made it through my first day!  And I think I managed pretty well.  I've learned so much already!

I found out that I live in a little suburb of Yangsan called Seochang which is about 20 minutes away by bus (or so they tell me) from the big city of Busan.
     When I was doing my research on which city I wanted to live in, Busan sounded right up my alley.  It is the 2nd largest city in South Korea (after Seoul of course) and is on the southern most time making it a very popular beach town.  

My studio apartment. Looking at the bathroom and kitchen

Here are a few photos of my new apartment!  

The entrance way _ Closet _ Bedroom

As you can see, it isn't anything luxurious but definitely enough to get me by.  I have hardwood floor living room, a tv on the left. Thru the sliding glass door is my little kitchen and the door on the left is the bathroom. Then you can see a little sneak peek into my little kitchen area.

The bathroom _ and sink shower

I have a full sized bed in this little space. The wall in the middle is my closet. The side towards the bed opens on the top (for clothes) and the side by the front door opens on the bottom (for shoes, etc). As you can see, I'm still unpacking, etc. So there is a little of everything around. To the left is my little kitchen. i got the basics, stove, microwave, big fridge (no oven), and then in the nook on the right there is a washing machine. The photo to the right is the view from my kitchen window. I know it doesn't look like much but it actually looks better in person (trust me, i don't live in the ghetto or slums lol). The person next door is growing a lot of crops. Next door is also a high school. See if I can get pictures of that for later. The next picture below the kitchen is my bathroom. Tiny but it works. The one thing I am not used to is not having a seperate shower.

The Kitchen

unpacking, etc. So there is a little of everything around. To the left is my little kitchen. i got the basics, stove, microwave, big fridge (no oven), and then in the nook on the right there is a washing machine. The photo to the right is the view from my kitchen window. I know it doesn't look like much but it actually looks better in person (trust me, i don't live in the ghetto or slums lol). The person next door is growing a lot of crops. Next door is also a high school. See if I can get pictures of that for later. The next picture below the kitchen is my bathroom. Tiny but it works. The one thing I am not used to is not having a seperate shower. The shower head is attached to the sink for water. It can be held right above the sink but it's easier to just take it off and wash yourself. There is a drain in the middle of the floor. Still very weird but not as bad as I thought. I just have to make sure not to get my towel wet which is right across from it. From what i have heard, this is pretty common in a lot of the Korean homes. So hopefully you just got a little bit of an idea of what I come home to everyday. Again, nothing huge but perfect for little old me :)
So at 1pm, Ho, the director of my school, picked me up and took me to the school. On the way, he described the bus system (i live off a main road so I will be taking the bus 10 minutes to school). I am a little disappointed because I was hoping to get a bike and ride around but he said that certain parts of the main road do not have a bike lane or sidewalk area to ride bikes so it is not very safe. I can walk along some parts where there are lots of shops but again, a certain area doesn't have a sidewalk. Looks like I'll be doing many trips to Busan and get my walk/workout on. Because of the rain, I have yet to explore outside my apartment. But I look forward to doing more of that when it clears up.
Ok, school. I arrived at school. Everyone asked if I was hungry and immediately ordered me udon soup (which i was familiar with). A delivery service brings it in a very nice dishes (no paper or plastic here) and when you're finished, you leave it in a basket by the door for them to pick up Pretty cool! The soup was very good! Esther went through some of the basic procedures with me and I shadowed Christine for most of the day. It looks pretty easy. Some of the classes had 3 kids in them, others had 16. Between 2:20-8:20 there are 9, 35 minute classes with a 5 minute break inbetween. Depending on the day (there are 2 different schedules), i have 2 or 3 35 minute breaks. OH this is a pic of my school :) at least the inside. It is on the 4th floor of a large building. And yes it's hard to figure out which building is which. They all have korean characters that all look the same lol. I really need to learn the alphabet. So yes because of all the crazy classes, it gets very busy. The books are very self explanatory. Lots of reading outloud, fill in the blanks, games, etc. The english teacher here before me wrote me out an entire 'how to' list explaining everything about getting around the city and how the school works, etc. It can get very confusing and overwhelming the first few days. I was asking so many questions. I think its one of those things that you'll just learn with routine. So it is a work in progress. As soon as the kids heard there was a new teacher, they searched far and wide for me. Not like I don't stand out or anything (yes all the other teachers are Korean). When they found me, whether i be in the teachers lounge, the classroom, walking around, etc, I just got stared at. It was kinda cute actually. They'd look at me stare, smile, wave and say hello. All very curious about the new english teacher. In every class I went into, I got asked 'where are you from,' 'how old are u,' 'when did you arrive in Korea,' 'do you speak korean,' 'what are your hobbies?' They were so cute. when they'd play games in class (one person had to guess a word and the rest of the class had to describe it), say the word was 'ink' they would say 'a pens friend' or if the word was moon 'the suns friend.' So cute. There are lots of kids and all very different. Some have ADD pretty bad (i wonder if they do the whole ADD thing here in Korea). I really think this could be good for me. I can learn so much.
After class, one of the other Korean teachers offered to take me to Lotte mart, their version of Walmart (apparently Walmart came here and failed... hilarious). I was so overwhelmed in Lottemart. 1st u have to pay like 800 won (80 cents) to get a cart (stupid), then she helped me go throughout the store to get everything i needed. Toilet paper, dish soap, food, hair straightener, notebook for school, mat for outside the bathroom, etc. Some of the food they had was pretty normal. I think I'm going to go aisle by aisle and just see what's what. I bought a korean tomato sauce and for spaghetti so we'll see how good it is. So it was probably mydownfall having her there cause like home, I went for 10 things and came back wtih this (below). Go figure lol. All necessities though

So that was my day #1 in a nutshell :) More to come...

p.s. one thing I didn't really think of... silverwear. I can usually find spoons (but different spoons) at Lotte mart but I haven't found forks or knives yet. lol. I'm sure they're around. I just have to find them... chopsticks it is!

MY ARRIVAL INTO BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA AND THE STORY THAT BROUGHT ME HERE

Here I am. My first blog post. I wanted to let you know a little bit of the premise as to the reason why I decided to move to South Korea and become an English teacher.

     This past summer (August of 2009 to be exact), I went on a family vacation to Europe.  My family and myself had been to Europe several times before.  We went to Switzerland and Austria together and then I ventured off to meet some friends in Italy for awhile. I had previously studied abroad in Italy and also visited 3 other times.  As this was my 5th time in Italy, specially Florence, I didn't prepare a lot besides making sure I was able to stay with some friends there.  The evening before I arrived in Florence, I was told that my friend went out of town last minute. When I contacted another friend, she also decided to leave town on vacation with her boyfriend.
     I arrived into Pisa at 11pm with nowhere to stay. By the time I got into Florence, it was nearly 1am and pouring rain. I was prepared to sleep on the streets of a piazza.  Part of me was terrified and the other part was thrilled. As luck would have it, I managed to find a hostel and not sleep on the streets.  As I had lived in Florence previously and been there many times, I didn't know what to do while I was there. The friends I came to visit were gone and I had done a lot of the touristy stuff.  It was raining heavily and I was bored out of my mind for almost 4 days.  I managed to make some friends, have a picnic at the Piazza Michelangelo and turn rotten grapes into wine.  However, it was mentally noted that it was quite possibly the WORST vacation I had ever had...and yet it was the HAPPIEST I had felt in years.  I knew I wanted to move to Italy and create a life there.  I knew it was going to be hard but I planned to do whatever it took to make that happen.
     Ironically, during that Europe vacation, it was suggested to me by multiple people that I should become and English teacher overseas and they specifically mentioned South Korea. On impulse, my first response was "if I was going to go or live anywhere in Asia, it would definitely be Japan," and I didn't think anything more about it...until I decided to move to Italy.  I didn't know anything about South Korea and the country seemed beyond foreign to me.  However, the more I mentioned it to people, the more people told me they knew someone else who had gone and some who were still there and I heard nothing but positive feedback. I was sold.  It was August of 2009, in the middle of the worst economic recession in U.S. history. I needed $20,000 to create a life in Italy and there was no way that I was going to do that living in Los Angeles, California.  The only way I could save the money I wanted and move to Italy was to teach English in South Korea....


After months of paper work, preparation, and packing up my entire life, I waved goodbye to my dad at the Los Angeles International Airport and I entered the land of the unknown, BUSAN, South Korea on January 19, 2010. It was a very long flight. I tried to sleep on the plane but let's be honest, it was extremely uncomfortable. Upon my arrival in Busan, I had no idea who would be picking me up at the airport. I was just told someone would meet me. I was also told my a friend (who was currently living in Korea) that a stranger will probably have a photo of you and tell you to go with them...and that was almost exactly what happened.  I was approached by a man asking with a thick accent "Daniel?" I nodded wearily. He motioned for me to follow him outside.  I followed him to the car where he loaded my bags.  He told me in very broken English that he was taking me to the school where I would be teaching.  Despite his broken English, we still managed to have a good conversation and laugh a little bit. It was about a 45 minute drive to the school which I found out was just outside the city of Busan in Gyeongsangnam-do Province in the city of Yangsan.  We pulled up to a restaurant where the director of my school and two Korean teachers were having a chicken dinner. They welcomed me with food and beer.  It was definitely off to a good start. Then my director, Ho, took me to my new apartment.

So here I am.  I live in a small-ish studio apartment but honestly, it's just me, I really don't need much. It has very nice, clean wood floors, a tv, small kitchen and the bathroom (the shower head is above the sink!  There isn't a separate shower area). I'm so excited to have a full sized bed! I honestly didn't think I would. The kitchen has basic cooking utensils and a washing machine inside. So I'm set. The apartment is right around the corner from a main road so this week as I explore I will be buying things like more hangers, a Korean flat iron (I desperately need one!), and another trash can (there is only 1 and it's TINY!). Otherwise I"m pretty much set. It is almost 9am right now.  I'll  start my first/only day of training today at 1pm. My work hours at 2-9pm but I go in early today. I will post more and some pictures soon :) I"ll keep u posted. Until then, time to start unpacking. However, I wanted to get set and share a little about what is going to be an experience of a lifetime.