apartment tour and crunky bars.

i had to buy one. they had these little "crunky" bites too. and some that were just the crunchy part without the chocolate called "nude". i didn't get those. yet.




video of my apartment.

pictures. pictures. pictures.

not sure if you can or can't be pregos and still get this hair straightener.



a very green drink called june bug. it tasted like summer... pineapple, coconut, etc.


the view from my roof.


the view from my roof. the city is surrounded by mountains. it's really pretty. i'll get some daytime photos to show a better view.


the view from my roof.


this is a flea market of sorts in downtown Anyang.


shoes anyone?


a view of the flea market


lemonade soju- lemonade with korea's version of vodka. delicious.


pork cutlet dinner.


Koreans on the crowded subway


Myeong-dong shopping district. where the disappointing Forever 21 lies. it has lots of department stores, but the streets are lined with vendors selling anything you could possibly want. i bought cute clothes from one such vendor, but don't even think about trying things on, no dressing rooms. luckily, the three things i bought all fit.


a pretty sweet jumpsuit. it was around 300 bucks, so i didn't get it, but i was definitely tempted.


fish in a bundle.


no caption needed....... i love krispy kreme.


so many small dog outfits.


my visit to forever 21 found this. as it turns out, the store is three times the price as it is back home, so i bought nothing. it saddened me, but i have seen so many cute things at the street vendors for so cheap.


ATLANTA beer bar!! and.... they serve popcorn when you buy something!! amazing.


atlanta beer bar


fried chicken smothered in some delicious sauce. the white squares are some sort of radish. they are pretty good and i think they are to help soothe the spiceyness of the food.


giant pitcher of beer.


about to indulge in our first korean bbq experience. it proved to be amazing and delicious.


all of the delicious food. they put your marinated meet on the grill and cook it for you. it comes with out 13 different sides and you can get those refilled as much as you want. i hear i live by a korean bbq that is all you can eat for 7000 won, which is about 6 bucks. and you cook it yourself at the one by me... i will be going there soon for sure.


my korean cell phone. it's tiny.


greenery for tracy. i have not actually seen a full out garden, but there are lots of trees here.

First day on the job

So I have made it through the first half of my first day. I just observed today, but ovbserve I mean that I was more of a human jungle gym. The kids basically were petting me for four hours. They were so fascinated by my hair and couldn't stop touching it, so I guess they like me.

My morning class has fourteen kids. 5 boys, 9 girls, I think. One boy is a puker. I found this out today. He lived in the U.S. until 6 months ago and is adjusting to the food, so he can puke at any time to avoid eating it. (and trust me, I understand just how he feels) He is moving back to the states at the end of August though, so I won't be teaching him. The kids bring their own cups and utensils for lunch and even have the most adorable training chop sticks. It's pretty funny.

Ok, I have to go learn about my ESL class and then go in for afternoon kindergarten class. Pictures of the little ones are coming soon.

Things I have learned so far....

dinner last night. beef in a broth with some noodles. it came with rice too. best meal i have eaten so far.

sides that came with dinner last night. two kinds of kimchi, peppers and cucumbers to dip in that red pepper paste.

the buttons on my washer. do you know how to work it?

Delivery anyone??


mom was right, eating breakfast keeps your health.


street near my school


looking confused in my school.


more shops near my school.

*Buses rule the road. They run red lights and weave in and out of traffic enough to make you feel sick to your stomach. I’m surprised I haven’t seen any wrecks here yet.

* A lot of women either carry an umbrella (when there is no rain) or wear visors that cover their face completely. This dates back to the old days when the lower class worked in the fields and thus had darker skin. They want to shield the sun to prevent getting a tan. It’s a status thing. I am told sometimes women wear really light colored makeup on their arms and faces to make their skin look lighter. Dang, I worked on my tan all summer and now I need it fade quickly!

* Women should not wear low cut tops. You can wear as short of shorts as you can fit in (and I have seen many girls that made me think, how on earth on wearing those!?!?), but do not show the first sign of having cleavage or you will be looked at as though you are a hooker. I am told that I especially shouldn’t because, as a foreigner with blonde hair, they will think I’m looking for extra work. My Maple Bear contract says no work on the side, so I guess that is out!

* The bus is so cheap to ride. If you buy the bus card, it cost 900 Won, which is about 70 cents. If you pay by cash it is 1000 Won, which is still only about 79 cents.

* You can have anything delivered! Pizza, McDonald’s, you can even order your groceries online at Costco and have them delivered. Now remember, there is no minimum wage in Korea, so they probably are being overworked and underpaid. And tipping is not practiced in Korea. They probably won’t turn the extra money away, but it can be considered insulting.

*The average work week is about 60 hours here, and many work 72 hours.

*I am told many very young students stay up until very late at night waiting on daddy to return from work to eat dinner.

* Korea is very competitive. Students must be child geniuses and are therefore put into private schools, have private tutors, take violin, piano, play sports, anything you can imagine. They may work more hours at their extra curricular activities than I work at my job.

*Rock, paper, scissors will solve any dispute, and the loser takes it graciously.

*Any convenience store sells beer and Soju (a Korean drink that is equivalent to vodka but comes in bottles like beer), and most have tabled out front for you to sit and enjoy your drink.

* Koreans don’t flush toilet paper in most places. I have to throw it away instead.

*Korea takes trash and recycling very seriously. Any food scraps are separated and kept to ship to feed the pigs. Anything that can be recycled is separated into the many recycling categories. And then anything that is absolutely waste, such as toilet paper, is separated. Each of these things needs to be in a color-coded bag on trash day. You can be fined for throwing something away that was recyclable.

* GSU would be very proud of Maple Bear. At orientation today, I had my 4 years of school crammed into 6 hours. Everything from Vygotsky to Bloom’s taxonomy to child-centered learning to teaching phonics and on and on.

*There are more smells in Korea than I have ever experienced before. Every turn is a new smell. Some good, some bad, some sweet, some like horse manure, it’s interesting.

Things are still going well. I found out today that I was given a new class to teach.

I have a morning KG5 (kindergarten 5 year olds, but they are really 4 year olds), which is M-F for 4 hours. I also have afternoon KG5 for 3 hours two days a week. Now, I have been given ESL 4 (English as a second language, level 4, which is 10 and 11 year olds, but since it’s Korean age, they are actually 9 and 10 I guess…..)two days a week for two hours. Now that’s complicated!!

Starting Thursday, I will be teaching three different groups of kids, which are either 5 (but really 4) or 10 and 11 (which is really 9 or 10)

The food is difficult. Meals are usually rice, kimchi, and some kind of meat with some kind of sauce. Sometimes it is served with noodles. Tonight, a group of us went out to a soup sort of place. My meal was a big bowl with a piece of beef still attached to bone in a broth. It had clear noodles in it and came with rice. Sounds odd, but so far this is the best thing I have had. The kimchi really is served with every meal, including breakfast.

The humidity here is not a joke. I have never felt humidity like this before. It’s hot and sticky. After walking around for the day, I feel like I am actually peeling my clothes off at night. Also, you are supposed to turn everything off when you leave the apt, including the A/C, so it’s nice and warm in my house when I get home…..

I’ll try to get a video to show my apt instead of the pictures. The pictures don’t do it justice. It’s bigger in person I think, not by much, but still.

Departure and arrival, among other things

DAY ONE

ahhhh ..... I'm here. And what an adventure it has been. After 16 hours on a plane (should have been 15, but we had to detour around a storm) in business class (gotta love standby), I arrived in South Korea. I somehow managed my way through the airport, had my temperature checked twice before getting to customs, and received several handouts about the risk of swine flu.They take it very seriously here. When I finally managed to get to baggage claim, I received one of my 50 lb bags and waited and waited for the next one. When the carousel had been cleared of luggage I realized my bag wasn't there. I panicked, then went to the lost and found desk. The very nice lady had my name on a list because apparently they already knew my bag wasn't there. It got left in Atlanta and was arriving later that night and would be delivered to the school the next day. I somehow knew this would happen. I worked my way towards the exit, with all my luggage, by following the crowd and that's where I found a nice man named Kang (pronounced like kong), who I have come to love, holding a sign with my name on it. We met one other teacher, Rodney, and then headed to Maple Bear school to meet the owner and director. The drive from the airport was just over an hour because we were in rush hour. Rush hour here is a little later than back home. It gets heaviest around 7, I think this is because most Koreans work way more hours than we are used to and get off work later than us.

When we finally arrived at Maple Bear, it was so late and the owner and director had left for the day, so Kang took Rodney to a hotel where most of the new teachers would be staying, but I went to my apartment. It was ready for me! I was dropped off my apartment and felt completely overwhelmed. Kang showed me how to work the A / C and then left. I was alone in a foreign place with no phone or internet or anyway to contact anyone. My apartment is small, but it's nice. I'll post pictures instead of trying to describe it.

I set my luggage down and I passed out on my bed. About an hour later I hear a pounding on my door and it was Mike, one of my fellow teachers who lives in the building across the street. He took me to dinner with he and his girlfriend and even took me to the grocery store to get few basics. When I got back home, I went to sleep because I had to be at school the next morning.

DAY TWO

I met Mike in the morning because he was going to show me how to use the bus to get to school. wow! what a bus system. You need to be standing on the curb when the bus gets close or they won't stop. Also, when you signal for the bus to stop, you better be standing at the door ready to get off or the driver will close the door and keep going! I got to school, met lots of teachers and was told we were all going the hospital and bank. Yikes, I knew nothing about going to a hospital. Let me tell you also, that walking around town in a group of foreigners will elicit many looks. Some good, some bad, and even some children yelling "hello".

Four other new teachers and myself are taken to the hospital with Kang and are subject to a series of tests. They measure our height, give an eye test, take our blood pressure, give a hearing test, take a chest x-ray, take blood, and even make us pee in a cup. Afterwards, we go to the bank and get our checking account set up. Too bad there won't be a deposit until the end of September!

Sooo, back to the school where they ordered pizza for us for lunch. YUM! Then we were set free to explore. We basically just walked around and explored the area. I can't remember exactly at this point. For dinner, we found a small restaurant and I ordered ramen soup. I don't think I have eaten anything so spicy in my life. My lips and entire mouth were on fire. I had to take the bus home by myself for the first time that night and it was scary. I stood at the bus stop for about 20 minutes wondering why none of the ones I needed were stopping, mind you, my bus comes about every 3 minutes, sometimes less than that. I was on the curb and everything, I even stood in the street thinking they didn't see me. They have TV screens at every stop to show when the buses are coming. My bus was on the screen, but apparently that doesn't really mean it is going to stop. I finally pointed to my bus number and a nice lady pointed down the street. I walked a block down to the next stop and saw my bus on the screen and sure enough, the next one stopped. I felt stupid, but that feeling happens a lot right now. When I signaled the bus to stop, I wasn't waiting by the door. So when he stopped the bus, I stood up, but that was too late. He stopped for a half a second, slammed the door shut and peeled out towards the next stop. I got off at the next stop instead and walked the extra distance.

DAY THREE

Back to school for a meeting with the director. She gave us lots of reading to do to get familiar with Maple Bear. Then, we were treated to lunch at Sizzler. I have never been to one in the US, but the Korean version was pretty good. We did the buffet and it definitely had lots of Korean food, but i had some spaghetti and salad and my stomach was soo happy. They also had bread, peanut butter, and jelly (although I didn't eat that)!! It costs about $ 25 to eat there, so I guess I won't be going very often on my own. The new teachers then walked to another park and walked around for a bit. Dinner was interesting as usually. The menu is in Korean and most people do not speak English. One of the new teachers has taught in Korea before, so he could help us pick out a few words. But in the end, we basically just ordered five things randomly on the menu and crossed our fingers. After that, it was back to the apartment for me. There was a party hosted by one of the teachers, but I was so exhausted, I couldn't do it. I fell asleep by 9pm Friday night.

DAY FOUR

I had to be to school early today to observe a Saturday class. We aren't actually supposed to be in the classrooms yet because of the threat of swine flu. We need to wait a few days to make sure we aren't going to get sick. But the Saturday program is much smaller, so they figured less parents to make complaints! The children I observed are called 5 year olds, but we know them as four year olds. Koreans count the time in the womb, so you are born as 1 year old. But I think the new year has something to do with it too because someone told me one of them was actually only 3, but still called 5 years old. It's a bit confusing and when I get it figured out, I'll explain it better. But the kids are soooo stinking cute, and amazingly smart. For being 5, or 4, or even really 3, they can do so much. The kids were writing the month and days already with perfect letter formation. Remember, it is a completely different letter system too. Few 4 year olds that I have seen in the U.S. can do that. They could say so much in English and are still learning their native language. I'll get video and pictures as soon as I can.

So, basically everything is crazy right now. I don't have a phone or internet at my apartment right now. Until I get my alien registration card I can't sign up for internet. And when the teacher I'm replacing leaves, I take his cell phone. So for now, I am relying on the internet at my school and finding random wifi spots on my ipod. The people are nice, although they stare at us, and don't try to hide it. It's very difficult to communicate because I don't know Korean and most people don't speak English. I went to the store to buy a hairdryer and the cashier was saying something to me, probably the price, but I just looked at the screen with the total and gave her my money. I have no idea what she said, and there is no point in asking her to repeat it. The food is proving to be the hardest thing to get used to, but I'm trying my best. It's very spicy and lots of fish. I am now wishing I had brought more food with me. There is Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds, etc here, but I have not eaten at them yet. I observe the class I am taking over this next week and then I get to do it myself on the Aug. 30, I think. Oh, and did I mention that I wear slippers at work?! Korean do not wear shoes inside. So slippers all day long. It's nice.

I think this is enough reading for now, I will post more next time I can get on the internet. I miss home already, but I'm having fun.

thank you ladies for taking me to the airport.

I am Korea bound.
My dinner on the plane. Soup, salad, bread, and a crab meat salad. One meal of many I was served.

a view of the shops near my school.

stone path through some water. all the cool kids give a peace sign in pictures.

Recycling in the park. Korea is serious about recycling. I can be fined for throwing something in my trash if it is compostable.

MY APARTMENT:



That's my front door. Just inside is a pantry, my mini fridge (although they told me today they could get me a full size fridge!!!! I am sooo happy about that), my sink. That's my washing machine just next to the sink. There is no dryer. Just across from the sink is my bathroom.

This is my bathroom. Please note the shower head above the sink. I have to sort of lean over the sink to take a shower. I am going to try to get a hook and hang it on the adjacent wall. The entire bathroom gets soaked. There is a cover for the toilet paper, but i have to take my towel out when I shower and set it next to the door. No hope for a bathroom rug in there.

Sorry for the mess, I haven't unpacked yet. This view is from the far wall of my apartment, facing the front door still. Those tall white doors are closets. You can barely see a staircase on the right. That goes up to a loft. The ceiling up there is only about 4 feet tall, so I am going to move my bed up there to open up my living area.


I am standing near my washer, facing the far wall. My window looks out to a beautiful cement wall of the next building, but it opens, so I can let some air in anyway. I also have a table and two chairs there to eat or work at. My bed is double size, but my fitted sheet is about 5 inches too short to cover the mattress, so I think their sizes are different.



That is my dresser. Once I move my bed, I will move this to another wall and put some different kind of storage here I think.

I am still getting used to Blogspot, so please excuse me. Also, I will post more pictures on facebook, and I think in the future that's where most pictures will be becasue it is easier.

ENJOY!!

down to the final hours

T minus 10 hours until departure. hopefully. I am hoping (keep your fingers crossed) to fly stand by to South Korea tomorrow morning. It was cheaper than a regular ticket, so I figured I would help the school out since I get that perk.
I will admit that I am completely panicked and have been in a state of nausea for the past 2 days. The nausea has has killed my appetite which means today, the day before I leave, I have eaten 2- count em- one, two- chicken nuggets, half of a single serve yogurt, a handful of chips and salsa, and one half of a fish taco. That's it for the entire day, which isn't a lot considering eating is one of my favorite things.
I have finished packing and each check bagged weighs in at 49.4 lbs with the maximum being 50 lbs. I am cutting it dangerously close. If the airport scales are any different than mine, then I am completely prepared to open my bags and put on my winter coat and a few extra sweaters if I have to. I will do what it takes. I already feel like I am bringing the bare minimum, which seems odd because 50 lbs sounds like a lot. It is very hard to pack for a year. I have no idea what I want to wear tomorrow, how can I possibly predict what I will want to wear 3, or 6, or 10 months from now??? The majority of that weight is actually taken up by toiletries. I needed to bring toothpaste, vitamins, advil, deodorant, pepto bismol, and cold medicine. I also brought some body wash and shampoo so I would have some of my own bath products. There is also a supply of a few of m favorites, including mac and cheese, cheez its, and cheese crackers that take up a lot of space and weight. In the end, I feel good about what I am bringing and I know that I can get anything I need in Seoul.

While I am pretty sure I am just going to lay here staring at the ceiling, I guess I should try and get some sleep. I have to wake up in 5 hours to get ready to go to the airport.

here goes nothing....