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!