Climbing Mt. Apsan!

Alrighty….as promised, here is another post!

Wednesday’s are always fairly slow at work. I currently only teach 2 classes and the are not until 8:35 so I have like 5 hours of planning! I will be getting two more classes on Wednesday next week though. After work on Wednesday I grabbed a bite to eat with Brendan. They have these places here referred to as “toasty” places and it’s where you can go in and get a toasted sandwich with a variety of different toppings. Now, it’s not like a deli sandwich, it usually has egg on it and is nothing like sandwiches back home. It was pretty good but I was also starving at the time.

Thursday – I had to get up fairly early to do some shopping and cleaning because everyone was coming over to my house for TND or Thursday Night Dinner. Work was good, exhausting, I did a lot for my 80 minute class and they were a handful! I also had to punish 4 of my students in my last class because they didn’t do their homework so I had to raise their dictation test! After work I took the bus home and then shortly after I got home everyone arrived. It was a great success. I made spaghetti, Chanel made curry, Karissa did cheese and cracker appetizers, Palmer rolled gimbap, and Andrew and Brendan brought desserts. After we ate we watched funny videos on Youtube and just chilled. Everyone left around 4:30. ß--This is another reason that I love working in the evenings! I can stay up late! I accidentally ended up staying up until almost 8 o’clock in the morning too on the internet talking to people!

Friday – I was excited that the weekend was almost upon us. Work was surprisingly boring and I was tired from being up so late. I had a lot of questions this day from the Korean teachers. Like I said, the Korean teachers or our co-teachers teach the students reading and grammar while we teach them listening, speaking, and writing. So whenever the Korean teachers have a question about the grammar or something in their books that they aren’t quite sure about they will always ask me or one of the other English teachers. I love this! It’s pretty cool to be such an expert at something! haha When 10:30 rolled around I was pretty excited that it was the weekend. I headed home and relaxed for the most part. Some people went downtown but I am trying to save money so I passed up the invitation. Plus we had planned to go hiking the next morning so I didn’t want to be too tired.

Saturday – I had to get up around 10 to meet everyone. We met up at the subway and took the subway to the mountain! We climbed Mt. Apsan. It was I think 770 km? Anyways, long story short, I almost died!!! AH!! I haven’t had any serious physical exercise or movement since last august, I did some walking while I was home but I haven’t done any cardio or anything serious since august. Needless to say, I’m a little disappointed in myself because I used to be really healthy. Yesterday was a serious wake-up call for me and I’ve been wanting to join a gym or a yoga place here anyways so I’m just going to do it! I think that it’s worth it, I need some exercise and I need to get back into shape! It’s pathetic!

Back to the hike though, more like mountain climb – the ascent was difficult, it was very steep compared to other hiking that I have done but when we finally made it to the top you could see all of Daegu, it was a beautiful view. Daegu is a city of 2.5 million people and it’s surrounded on all sides by mountains so hiking and mountain climbing is very popular here because the Koreans are crazy about their fitness the way it is. I was told that the reason they hike so often is because they want to get out of the busy city and get some exercise while enjoying nature. This helps them to clear their heads so that they can focus on their studies and when they get to the top of the mountain they scream to let all of their frustrations out. Just a fun fact for you! I also had no idea how spread out the city was! I took lots of pictures on top of the mountain and I will post those sometime this week along with my other photos. The descent was pretty quick; it was so steep that we practically had to run down the mountain to avoid sliding on our butts! We also stopped at a Buddhist temple on the way down the mountain. We didn’t go inside but we took lots of pictures and walked around the grounds.

So after we got back to the city we were walking around trying to find the subway when all of sudden we walk past this restaurant and this guy comes out and starts talking to us asking us to come back. His English was very good and then he invited us in for a drink! We agreed and went inside. He was there with his friends, about 4 other older men, probably in their 40s and 50s and they were all shit faced at about 5 o’clock in the afternoon! I’m telling you…the Koreans could drink the Russian’s under the table. After seeing the way they drink here and knowing a couple of girls from Russia, I have no doubt in my mind the Koreans would take home the prize for this one! They drink all day every day here! So we go inside and they break out the Macali – rice wine. He said this was to celebrate us coming to Korea. He kept saying, “Welcome to Korea” even after everyone had told him that they had been here for 6 months! After the Macali they also brought out 3 40’s of beer and of course, no Korean meal would be complete without some Soju! So we had beer, liquor, and wine all within like an hour. They also brought out a few Korean snacks, all of which were fire spicy, I could only eat these kimchi pancakes, which were actually pretty tasty! It was quite the cultural experience. These guys were hammered so it was pretty funny at times. After all this excitement on my Saturday we headed home to shower and relax.

Sunday – Today, after realizing how poorly out of shape I am, I went for a run around my neighborhood. I’m trying to get to know the area a little better so I figured that a nice jog around town would help! It did! I also finally located a flower shop so I think I might check that out tomorrow. I got one plant for my house already but I’d like to get a few more. After my jog I had some lunch, showered and got ready to play ping-pong with everyone. We had a ping-pong tournament tonight Canada vs. USA. It ended up being an even tie. I had no idea how crazy there are about ping-pong over here though. It’s intense. I wish you could have seen the way these Koreans were playing! The ball was moving so fast that I couldn’t even see it and they have ping-pong places on every corner! It’s pretty cool. After that we had some Indian food, now I’ve never really experienced Indian food but I’d have to say that it’s not bad! I actually kind of enjoyed it even though it was a little too spicy for my taste buds. After that I had to run to catch the bus home.

This week we are doing level testing for 3 days at school so it should be a fairly relaxed week and then next week I will get more classes. I have also made it my goal to find a gym this week and a tailor so that I can get my pants hemmed!

Things I have realized this week…

• I might never learn as much Korean as I’d like. I have asked everyone, even my boss about taking some classes to learn Korean and no one seems to be able to tell me where to go to learn this crazy language…
• The Koreans have no sense of personal space whatsoever. I know some people think that this is an issue in Europe, I didn’t seem to notice it as much but people always tell me that I sometimes don’t keep a safe personal space “distance.” Well just a warning, they will literally stand on top of you, I mean shoulder to shoulder here when there is probably 4 feet of space on either side of you and they also don’t seem to think that it is weird to touch other people. (not in a bad way) They are a very touchy-feely culture I’ve noticed. It’s like they don’t mind other people getting in their way or running into them and none of this is because it’s crowded over here because it’s not!
• I also got my health insurance card this week. Everyone was telling me at dinner tonight that most of them got sick about their 3^rd week here and now I’m a little worried about getting sick, but hopefully I’ll be fine..
• Whatever is going on between the North and the South they need to work it out because I'm not ready to go back to the US just yet...

I’ll keep you posted….

My Students Are Trying To Bamboozle Me, Busan, and a Crazy Bus Adventure! What a week!

Finally a new post! Sorry it has taken so long, I have been so busy with moving and being a social butterfly this week!

Here are a few random things to get this post started, and yes it will take you a while to read this one but there is no rush! Just a warning though, another one will be out Sunday!

#1 -Everyone here is now calling me Annie Dukes – I’m not sure how I feel about this yet.

#2 – My snuggie is fabulous – thank you mom!

#3 – I’m slowly seeing the world one day at a time and I want to go to Seoul soon! Maybe in a couple weeks! I also want to do some hiking while I’m here in Daegu.

#4 – There are no street signs here in Korea, they identify everything by intersections in neighborhoods, not a good thing for lost foreigners!

#5 – I’m glad that English is my first language because it is one of the hardest languages to learn so be thankful that you already know it.

#6 – I want to join a yoga class after I get paid and I also want to learn Korea but haven’t quite figured out how to go about this yet. This is going to sound strange coming from me but I’m really considering joining a gym, it’s cheap and I hear they are fabulous, it’s just impossible to exercise indoors here, too small of an area.

#7 – South Korea needs to invest in some city planners to make this place smell better. The reason their air quality is terrible is because their sewer system needs some work! It smells like shit, literally shit, everywhere you go. These people are incredibly smart over here, you think they’d be able to figure this air pollution thing out! Sewer gas has to count for at least half of it!

We call it the Daegu “gu” and in Pusan or Busan this weekend we called it the Pusan “poo.” Next it will probably be the Seoul “shit.” I hear it smells about the same there.

Now on to the good stuff….

Last Friday – First day completely on my own! It was a pretty easy day. I had a few problems with having everything changed over in the computer system but it worked out and Justin came in to watch my classes over the camera system. Everything went well and Friday night after work we all went out for dinner. It was a traditional Korea dinner, we had to take off our shoes when we went inside and we had to sit on the floor at little tables on pillows. The majority of the food was pretty spicy but there were a few things that I could eat. I had this amazing egg soup? I’m not sure what it was called but it was so good! The main dish was tofu and beef in some spicy broth with cabbage and then they also brought out meat that was marinated and grilled in some spicy sauce. I tried everything even though it was spicy. There was plenty of Soju (rice liquor) flowing, it just kept coming and coming like water! I also tried macali? I’m not sure if this is how it’s spelled but it tastes like chalky wine, at first I didn’t like the flavor but by the end of the bowl that I was drinking out of, it started to taste pretty good! I also had to do a special drink with Justin since the party was for us! Lol We all know that I’m not a big fan of beer, I’ve tried tons of different beers but I just don’t like it. Well this drink was Korean beer mixed with soju, pretty much equal parts, and the goal is to chug it and whoever finishes first wins! Well, I couldn’t even finish half of it so Justin beat me and then finished mine too! It tasted so nasty. I got to see my Korean co-workers and my Boss annihilated so that was a fun experience also! After dinner everyone was a little drunk but we didn’t end up going to a noribong. Instead I just cabbed it home with everyone else and went to bed. We were all getting up early to go to Busan the next day so I don’t think anyone wanted to do anything too extreme.

Saturday (Busan) – I got up around 10, got ready and laid out everything that I needed to pack and then I headed out to find a backpack before Justin came to pick me up! I got the cutest pink backpack with gray accents with sparkly writing, it’s very girly but I love it! Justin came around 12 and we headed to the train station, we met up with everyone else here, there was about 10 of us altogether. We didn’t get seats on the train next to each other but it was only an hour on the train so it wasn’t a big deal. I was passed out while everyone else kept going around filling up each other’s beer cups.  They got a picture of me sleeping with my mouth wide open like Julie! I was a little embarrassed but it happens. I wonder how many people have pictures of me like this? I’m sure more than a few. We arrived in Busan at about 2 and took cabs to Haeundae beach, one of the 3 beaches in Busan. First, we had tacos and nachos for lunch at this western place. The tacos were alright but Patrick, he’s from a different school, brought his New Jersey white trash girlfriend with him and she was fucking CHAIN smoking at the table in this small enclosed restaurant. It was blowing directly in my face and 3 other peoples’ faces. I was so annoyed. I think she was also a little drunk and while we were all trying to eat she kept going on and on about how much she loves cigarettes, she was literally screaming it for everyone to hear, this only amused one other person and that was of course, her white trash boyfriend Patrick because he was also smoking. I really just wanted to let her know that smoking like that was in no way attractive and that it’s also not very funny to say that you love cigarettes like that, it’s really not funny in anyway shape or form, then I would have preferred to slap her like the New Jersey white trash that she is but I refrained for the sake of the group. I didn’t want things to get off to a rocky start so I decided to keep the peace. I’m sure everyone else probably would have appreciated it though. It could have been hands down one of the worst meals I’ve had just for the sole fact that I couldn’t breathe the entire time! After that fiasco, we headed out to find a cheap hotel for the night. I shared a room with Karissa and after we put all our stuff down we headed for the beach. We stayed out on the beach until after dark just drinking and having a good time. It was pretty cloudy and there wasn’t much sun so it was cold to say the least. A couple of us wanted to leave but when your with a big group it’s hard to please everyone, this is the only reason I don’t like traveling with other people, that and most of the time it doesn’t really get split evenly money wise. After the beach we headed back to the hotel, freshened up and then hit the casino! I played some slots but I lost more money than I won, only like 10 bucks though, it was fun. After the casino we tried to find something to eat and ended up at this Thai massage place instead? I’m not sure how this happened but I really wanted a massage and so did the guys, it was only 80 for 2 hours! That’s so cheap but instead we decided to eat and had burgers at some western place. They were really good even though I’m not a hamburger fan. After that we went to a bar and had a drink or two before calling it a night.

Sunday – Day 2 in Busan – Some people left early because there was a softball game going on in Daegu and some of the people played on the league and had to leave early, the rest of us headed out to the beach, I made a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way(which btw is so much better here than in America, more selection, and better donut flavors and awesome teas and drinks!) It was really nice out, 73 and sunny with a light breeze. Perfect beach weather. The guys played frisbee and us girls just soaked up the sun. After that we all went to the Aquarium which is supposed to be the best one in Korea, I haven’t seen any others yet but I would agree that it was a really nice aquarium, they had pretty much everything you could think of but the penguins were the cutest! They had some type of African theme going on that didn’t quite fit with anything and at the end of the aquarium they had 2 lions and then 2 tigers in these small cages the size of a bedroom in an American home. It was so random and so sad all at the same time. Come to find out – this is “very Korean.” Like I used to say…it was a very Spanish thing to do”…this was a very Korean thing to do..only in Korea would you see something like this (I’ve already experience many of these things)! Next we headed over to another beach that was nicer in my opinion. We got some drinks and walked around. They had a huge bridge there and I took lots of pictures for some reason. We headed back to the train station after that and headed home. I was actually awake on the way back so I got to see the surrounding area and it’s very obvious that farming is still a really big thing here. I knew this already but seeing all the fields helped put that into perspective for me. I also got to see the mountains! They are like WV mountains but a little bit bigger. After we got back to Daegu we headed downtown to grab a bite to eat. We at at this place called Italy Italy where you can create your own pasta or pizza for like 8 dollars. It was so amazing. We also had a bottle of red Spanish wine so it was perfect meal in my opinion! After dinner we walked around downtown and they showed me this place where you can get “bag drinks.” Basically this is a drink in an extra large Capri sun pouch and you can pick your liquor and your mixer. It only cost 5 dollars and after you buy 4 you get one free! Another thing about Korea, they are CRAZY about their membership and loyalty cards here, every place is like this, they give you a card, you get stamps, you get free stuff. You all know how this works but, here you get a card like this everywhere you go! It’s pretty cool! Anyways, the bag drink was delicious and by this time there were only 4 people left in our group so we sat in the park and enjoyed our drinks before heading home.

Monday – Back to work. Monday I worked at the Susung branch with Karissa, Jeremy, and Robin. It was my second day by myself and my first class tried to bamboozle me! It was terrible. They were like, “Teacha, teacha, game, game, Justin always lets us play games on Mondays!” Such liars! I made them do work but I was definitely too nice! I also received a gift from Hanvit for Teacher’s day! It was Saturday and I heard that usually when it falls during the week they take all the teachers out for lunch and the kids bring gifts to school. We all received these really nice tumblers, you know a stainless steal cup or whatever to keep your drinks hot or cold. I originally got a black one but I switched with Brendan for a baby pink one which is obviously my favorite color! It was a very nice gesture, they love to give gifts here in Korea.After work I packed things up because I was moving into Justin’s apartment the next morning, Tuesday.

Tuesday – I woke up early so that I could move all my stuff, which isn’t a lot but, it was pouring the rain outside! I moved once suitcase and decided that I wasn’t doing any more moving in the rain! Work was good, my classes were really quiet so it was hard to get much out of them but the day went by pretty quickly. After work I headed over to Manchon, where I was living and went to this wine bar for one of my co-worker’s birthdays. I told you how we all have birthday’s in may so it seems like every couple of days I’m going to someone’s birthday party! I had one glass of champagne and then I headed back to my place to finish my packing so that I could move. It was like 2 in the morning but it wasn’t raining and Brendan offered to help me because he lives in the same area that I was moving too. I finally got everything in the door and then I started to unpack. I only finished unpacking my clothes before I went to bed that night, I was exhausted.

Wednesday – I worked at Beommul branch. Wednesday’s are my favorite because I only have 3 classes and they are the two very last periods of the day so I have all day to plan. Also, these students are my favorite group of students. I only see them once a week but when I do see them I get to teach them listening and writing, which is my favorite to teach. I’m not sure why I like teaching writing so much but I really love it! These kids are really smart and this class is well balanced when it comes to having fun and learning. I really enjoy this group. After work I was supposed to meet up with Karissa, Joel, and Chris to play trivia downtown. I committed to this a week earlier BUT, I had a problem catching a bus downtown. This was an adventure. Here in Daegu, a city of 2.5 million people, no public transportation runs after 11pm. I can’t quite understand this because first of all, most students don’t get out of school until 10, and second because, again, this is a city of 2.5 million people and I think it’s safe to say that everyone stays up pretty late here in Korea, not as late as Spanish standards, but pretty late. So I go to catch a bus, I had to wait 15 minutes so it was already 10:45, the bus finally comes, I get on, pay for the ride with my transport card, I take my seat and start reading my map to figure out where I’m going. Well three stops later and who knows how many blocks I look up because someone is yelling in Korean and I seem to have been the only person on the bus! I thought that maybe this was the last stop and low and behold I guess I was right. However, I didn’t go down or get off without a fight. I went up to the front, the bus driver didn’t know any English, I’d be surprised if he knew what “Hello” meant. I tried my best with sign language to tell him where I needed to go and how to get there and that I was angry because I had paid for a ride! He was practically screaming at me after a few minutes and being extrememly rude, he wasn't even trying to understand me, he eventually pulled up to the next bus stop and a group of younger adults helped to translate. Long story short they said, I had to take a taxi which I was not about to do. So I was like whatever and got off the bus after arguing with this annoying little old guy for 15 minutes. So I proceed off the bus and then once I’m off, I realize that I don’t even know how to get home! I also didn’t know what to say to a cab in order to get home! I wasn’t paying any attention to where we were going because I was busy reading my map so I just headed in the direction that I thought I was supposed to go! I have noticed that anytime you are in doubt to stop and ask a younger child because they know better English than any adult! I walked about 8 blocks and had to ask 2 different teenagers how to get back to a main area. I also had no cell phone to notify my friends that I wasn’t coming anymore. So, after I had eventually made it back to the main intersection where I started I had to use a pay phone to call my friends… only problem was that the phone I was using only took 10, 50, and 100 coins BUT, it just so conveniently happens that it wasn’t taking 100 coins that night and that appeared to be all that I had aside from a couple of 10 cent coins which was barely enough to make a 30 second phone call! OH KOREA! My friends were bummed but happy to hear that I had made it back safely after my bus adventure. I had to cool off for an hour after I got home, I was pretty pissed. This stuff happens, I know this and I have experience this type of cultural interaction many different times in my travels but oh my, this was my first angry Korean experience and it would have at least helped if I knew some basic phrases to work with! What a night!

Thursday – I worked at Susung and after being bamboozled by my students on Monday I really had to lay down the law. I wasn’t too strict but they could definitely tell that I meant business and I had to slam my hand down on this one kid’s desk who never seems to pay attention, ugh, he really annoys me sometimes! After work we all attended a TND which stands for a Thursday Night Dinner. I guess it’s something that all the English teachers do every Thursday so that all the teachers from all the branches can get together. Usually one person does the cooking and the hosting and then it changes the next week but this week Chris hosted and called a “potluck” so everyone brought something. After work I went to the store with Karissa to pick out something to make, we settled on Mondu with vegetables. It ended up being delicious and there was a variety of other things there also. It was a great night and it was fun to hang out with everyone that I don’t get to see from the other branch.

Friday –Buddha’s Birthday! I got up fairly early and headed downtown to meet Chris because he was going to help me get a cell phone! We picked out a store went in and were there for more than an hour trying to fill out all this paperwork, I was surprised that these young adults working there couldn’t speak hardly any English. It was a bit of a fiasco and by the time we left I was exhausted. I also didn’t leave with a cell phone because it was Buddha’s birthday and no cash register transactions could be made because all of the banks were closed! Ugh, it was fustrating so after spending all that time there I didn’t even get my phone! I met up with Karissa who had just had her hair cut, it turned out pretty good and I think when I need to have mine trimmed I might go to the same place. We had lunch at this place called Gorilla Burger, I have heard a lot about it from everyone so she decided to take me there to show me what it was all about. I’ve heard that it is the best burger in Daegu but honestly I wasn’t really all that impressed, it was just a burger. After that it was off to work! Most hagwons are closed for Buddha’s big day but Hanvit stayed open. All of my students showed up and I’ve found out that most of them are Christian. A few students didn’t come to the academy because they were Buddhist but only 3 or 4 I think. Many celebrations were happening around the city in the temples and I asked my students if any of them had plans for the weekend but as usual, they just wanted to sleep! After school I just went home, I was too tired to do anything else.

Saturday – Karissa, Jeremy’s girlfriend (Chanel) and I had planned a girl’s day out downtown however the rain kind of hampered our plans! I slept in until 2 and it was awesome! Not that I can’t do that any other day but it was just nice waking up knowing that I didn’t have to get ready for work! Ah, I live such a hard life! Lol I finished moving into my apartment that morning just cleaning and organizing, pretty much what I do best! Around 6 I headed over to Karissa’s and we headed downtown on the subway. We tried to pick up my cell phone but as it turns out since I got my bank account with my passport instead of my ARC (Alien Registration Card) (which came Wednesday by the way – so I’m officially here legally!) I wasn’t able to get it until I gave my card to my bank! Ugh, again, I was frustrated and decided that if it didn’t work out Monday that I wasn’t even going to mess with it anymore. Next we did some shopping in the underground mall in the subway station. I didn’t buy anything because everything I tried on was too small for my boobs! Ugh, see people here in Korea are all very flat chested, I haven’t seen anyone bigger than a B cup and even that’s pushing it! If I wanted to buy a bra here I’d just be shit out of luck, so I guess I will have to spend the extra money to shop at the Gap and Zara because none of the dresses at the boutique shops are going to fit right. Kinda depressing because they have such cute things! After shopping we had dinner at this Italian restaurant, it was very good and the staff was very nice to us! We then headed over to met up with Joel and Chris who were at this western bar playing darts. We played a couple rounds, I did really good the first time but the second time I did terrible. It was happy hour so we had a drink or two and then headed home. It poured the rain all day and we just didn’t really want to be out in that weather anymore.

Sunday – It also rained all day. It was such a gloomy weekend, I’m not a huge fan of the rain and when Monsoon season gets here I might never leave my house if this is what it’s going to be like! I did leave once to go to the Dong-A which is this huge department store close to my house, it’s like 8 stories and 2 floors are strictly groceries, I wondered around in there for quite a while and bought some interesting items to try. I tried lots of samples again and ended up buying a few of the things that were on special!

Monday – Back to work! I had to go downtown early so I woke up at 8:30 probably the earliest that I have been up in months! I started with the bank, turns out I had to close my account and open a new one, the lady didn’t speak any English but we figured it out together! I’m telling you what, I’m pretty much an expert on communicating when you don’t speak the same language, you just have to think outside the box, speak slowly, and explain yourself in anyway possible! After getting things sorted out at the bank I went to catch the bus to go downtown. So the bus pulls up, the door opens, and low and behold it’s the same old, little, Korean man that I had the argument with the other night about making me get off the bus! Ugh, I couldn’t believe it. He said a few things to me like I could understand what he was saying and then a couple of times on the way there he was yelling stuff at me. I told this guy twice that I couldn’t understand him but he just kept talking like I was magically going to understand at any moment, I hate ignorant people like this and he was turning out to be one of them. As we were getting closer to the stop downtown he was yelling more stuff at me and looking at me to the point where everyone on the bus was staring at me as if they weren’t already amazed by me. I wanted to throw around swear words at this point but he probably wouldn’t have understood anyways so I just got off the bus and I think that I’ll just take a different bus to the subway and take the subway from now on. I really don’t like that guy. Once I got downtown I had to locate the cell phone store and as soon as I showed up they recognized me of course. I was finally able to get my phone and while I was waiting the cell phone guy tried to pick me up! He wanted to take me to lunch and kept asking me all these questions about if I had a boyfriend and what not, it was extremely pathetic, but I read an article on the way Korean’s date the other day and it’s very different from how we do things in the Western world. It was a little awkward because at this point the guy knows my phone number ya know but whatever. After getting my phone, which is also baby pink and super cute, I walked around downtown and went into some stores. I didn’t buy anything though and headed home. I stopped and bought 2 little rugs for my apartment and then went to work. Work was good for the most part, my classes were fairly well behaved and I made it through the day. I got reimbursed for my transportation and Min mi, a Korean lady I work with took the bus home with me to show me what numbers to take and everything. She’s so sweet! I downloaded and watched the Blind Side last night, really good movie, if you haven’t seen it you should rent it! The internet here in Korea is like high speed on crack compared to the internet back home. You can download an entire movie in 20 -30 minutes, a TV show in about 4-5, and one song, in less than 25 seconds. The download speed is great but the streaming quality is a little less notable. Either way, I love the Internet here, it’s great! It’s also only 20 dollars a month! Hahahaha Ahh, I might never come home! Also, cable is only 3 dollars too and it turns out I get like 8 English channels!

Tuesday – Today I slept in and when I woke up I did some cooking, I cooked three meals to take in my lunch this week and then headed to work. Work was good, we will be doing level testing for the first 3 days of next week and then I will be getting 3 of Brendan’s classes after testing so I will have a very busy week next week! After work I grabbed a quick bite to eat with Brendan. We ate at this toasty place where you can get a sandwich on toasted bread with a hamburger, a fried egg and cheese for 2 or 3 dollars! It was delicious and it’s cheap! They also have other combinations but I only get what I can see a picture of! Haha

Other Random things:

This week, Thursday night dinner will be at my place/house warming party. I need ideas for what to make! Suggestions please!

Also two of my fellow co-workers that are from Canada are in their late 20’s and have never owned a cell phone. I find this odd considering their demographics.

After teaching for a couple of weeks I’ve discovered how much I really like my job! Who would have thought that I would be a teacher? Not me! It’s also really cool to be on the other side of things in this world of education! It’s has it’s perks!

I’m slowly learning how this foreign community works, people are always coming and going, signing new contracts and finishing old ones. It’s always changing and everyone knows everyone. It’s also really cool how I already had like a set group of friends once I got here, I seem to get along with all these people really well and I’m so glad that it has worked out the way it has! If anyone is considering teaching in a foreign country, make sure they have other English teachers at your school and make sure the city has a good foreign community, I hear Korea’s is the best.

Again, sorry this post was so long, I definitely went too long between posts this time but these people here have been keeping me so busy! I promise a new one every Sunday at least!!

Annie

My First Week!

I have officially been here for a week as of Tuesday night around 10. This week has flown by and I have been so busy that it's hard to put into details everything that I have already seen and experienced. I'll start out with my flight here and my arrival to South Korea..

Arrival - My flight was scheduled to leave Pittsburgh early at 7:35 a.m. and arrive in San Francisco at 10:10 a.m. and then depart to Seoul at 11:02 a.m. to arrive at 3:20 p.m. Now 1 hour is not ideal for an international layover at all and the fact that it was a little less than an hour was not good however, I did not book the flight and I did not pay for it so beggars can't be choosers! The problem with this is that my flight from Pittsburgh was delayed almost an hour! There was some type of mechanical check that was going on and our flight was delayed by at least 40 minutes. I checked to see what other flights were going to Seoul that day and the next and only flight was through Narita in Japan and to Seoul at 1:00 arriving at 9:30 in Seoul. The flight to San Fran was a solid 5 1/2 hours, they said they would try to make up time in the air but I don't think that  happened. I was deplaning at 10:45-50 when we arrived in San Francisco. I was told that there would be someone out front at the gate to deal with rebooked flights and gate numbers for connecting flights however, the guy that was there was taking his time to talk to some couple and the line was long and I didn't have that kind of time to wait. I tried to find my flight on the monitor board but SURPRISE, it wasn't there! I panicked and tried to find a United crew member to help me but no one was in site. This pissed me off even more, I headed towards the international terminal, more like ran, finally found someone and she told me the gate and then told me to run, as I was running I saw the gate and some woman waving me down asking my name. She also told me to run that they were closing the doors. When I got down to the boarding area I asked about my bags and tried to explain to this woman that I didn't want to get on this flight if my bags weren't going to make it because I didn't know the address to send them to if I got there and they didn't! She could barely speak English which fustrated me even more, I just said whatever and got on the plane. I wanted to explore San Fran's airport, this is the second time this has happened to me at this airport, I'm sure it's nice but I've never been there long enough to find out! Then after I got on the plane I couldn't get my 60lb. carryon in the overhead bin because it was so tall that I could barely reach it! Some guy came up and wanted to know what I was doing, I explained myself and then he just looked at me and "Well, we don't offer baggage assistance." At this point, I could have knocked this guy out. FUCK united, these are my thoughts. I hate them, I flew with them once before and had a bad experience and decided that I would not fly with them again, I had kept my promise thus far but, I didn't get any choice in my airline carrier so I just had to deal with it. Then after getting settled into my seat while we were backing out of the gate I realized that they didn't have the TV screens in the seats in front of you! I almost died at this point, I was planning on that serving as my entertainment. I mean come on United, they need to get with the program DELTA has TV screens on 3-4 hour flights! Their business class is really nice but the difference between business and economy is too drastic. I was pissed. The food the served was ok, just airplane food and I tried to sleep most of the flight but the Korean woman that was sitting next to me decided that she wanted to get up every 15 minutes to do who knows what. Not ideal. Needless to say I was pretty excited to get off this plane. Incheon's airpot is really nice, very modern and high tech. I had to wait a looong time at passport control and then I went to get my bags. Luckily they made it! I was pretty surprised. I'm not sure how that happened! After getting my bags and going through customs, which was a piece of cake, they didn't check anything, I exchanged money and tried to work the payphone to call Justin to let him know that I had made it, I gave up eventually and went to the information desk to find out how to use the phone and the lady just asked for the number, dialed it up for me, and then I was talking to Justin! She was really nice and then she helped me find my bus. The bus ride to Daegu was long but it was probably one of the nicest buses that I have ever been on! It had huge seats that reclined and a big TV, it was perfect for sleeping, I was awake until we were out of Incheon and into the desolate countryside. I woke up just as we were getting to Daegu, the bus pulled up to this parking lot and just dropped me off! Justin was supposed to be there to meet me and after standing there for 20 minutes this taxi driver let me use his cell phone. He called justin for me, told him where I was and before I knew it there he was! I guess he was at the actual station but sometimes the bus drops people off in this parking lot nearby. So we caught a cab and he showed me the apartment where I am going to live for the next two weeks. It's small but it's nice, it has everything I need and it's pretty modern. Next we went to walk around the area and he showed me around and then I met some of my co-workers as they were getting out of work. Later I just went back and went to sleep because I was so tired and Justin said he would be by around 3 to pick me up to go to work the next day.

First day on the job, and my birthday - This was an eventful day, I had to ask my neighbor how to turn on the hot water, he is also another teacher that I work with. I got ready and Justin picked me up and showed me how to take the bus to work, once we got there I met everyone that I would be working with, we tried to get my bank account set up but the bank was closed because it was a holiday here in Korea, Children's Day. On holiday's that I have to work I get paid an extra 50,000 Won or 50 dollars, so it's pretty sweet that I'll get paid an extra 50 bucks to work on my birthday! The first day at work seemed to drag on endlessly, I haven't had a job for so long and I think I just need to get back into the swing of things. I watched a bunch of instructional videos and met my two classes that I will teach on Wednesday and learned about how the school is set up. After work I got to meet all the other English teachers that I will be working with and we went out for my birthday/welcome party. We had galbi or Korean BBQ, which was really good, and I learned how to use chopsticks! I also had my first experience with soju here, not very good, it tastes like watered down vodka. After getting pretty drunk we headed over to a "Nori Bong" which is a place where you can go to karaoke. You get your own little private room with your friends and you can sing your heart out while they bring you pitchers of beer and other drinks and it's pretty affordable! We didn't stay long because we all had to work the next day but, I had a great time and overall it was a fabulous birthday.

Thursday - I met justin a little early to get my bank account set up, I am now officially a member of KB Bank and no this doesn't stand for Korea Bank it stands for something else that I can't remember but, they are everywhere and my cash card is pretty cool and I also got a special book that I have to take in anytime I want to transfer money or anything. It's pretty easy so I've heard. After getting my account set up, the school went ahead and gave me 300,000 Won or 300 for my visa and relocation fees. 1 dollar is equal to about 1,150 Won, however this changes a little bit day to day. After the bank we stopped to pick up some food, today we had bonjuk, which is amazing, it's traditional Korean porridge and it's extremely healthy for you and after Wednesday night, it was just what I needed. It's a little pricey at 8,000 but it's enough for almost two meals! I have a feeling it will be my guilty pleasure since it's not spicy and I really like it! We worked at the other branch today, this one is located in Susung. It's on the 7th floor and it's much more modern and new compared to the other branch, it's also a little bigger with more students so it has more of a school atmosphere. Here there are also 3 other English teachers while at the other branch that I work at there is only 1. Again, I met all my classes that I will teach on Monday/Thursdays and watched Justin teach. After getting home from work I pretty much went to bed, I was exhausted.

Friday - Last day of the work week! We worked at the other branch and it is located in Beommul. This is the one I have to take a bus to because the subway doesn't go in that direction. I met all of my students for Tuesday/Friday classes and watched Justin teach again. Everyone wanted me to go out on friday night and two of the English teachers stopped at my apartment to try to convince me but, I declined, I was tired and just needed some alone time. I have pretty much been surrounded by everyone since I got here, they all want to help me do everything which is really nice but, at the same time I need to learn how to do things on my own because I'm going to have to soon! But, they really are great people. I like all of my co-workers.

Saturday - Free day! I made it my goal this day to go to the store. It's called E-Mart and it's a lot like a Walmart but much bigger and much nicer! I walked there because it's really not that far and decided that I would take a cab back. I probably spent 3 hours in there easy! I just wondered around looking at everything. On the grocery store level they have a sample stand at the end of every row and come to find out, it's not just on Saturday's it's everyday they have that! So, if I'm ever starving I can just go to Emart for a variety of bite sized snacks! I've learned not to eat anything that is red because that is the spicy stuff, anything without red is ok. lol I tried as many things as I could, all of the teas they had that day were awesome! After getting some basic nessacities like dish soap, laundry soap, some hand towels, groceries, and a mirror I ventured over to the hair dryers and straighteners and picked up a MATCHING Hello Kitty blow dryer and straightener! Ahh, they are soo cute! They are pearly pink with white trim and they really work well. I love them! Together they were about 40-50 dollars but it was well worth it because I can use them here for a year and I can also take them to Europe now when I go because they have the same outlets and voltage here so it was a wise investment plus, they are so freaking cute. I'm not a "to die for" hello kitty fan but I couldn't resist. Everything they have here in Korea is very "cute." I love it! My friend Stephanie would love it here too for this reason. After buying all this crap, the exact total ended up being the exact amount of cash I had on me so I gave them all my cash and when I got outside I realized that I didn't have any money for a taxi home!! I was so mad at myself, so I had to walk home carrying all this stuff. It took me probably 15 mins. to get there but probably an 1 hour to get back because I had to keep stopping and taking breaks because my arms were going to fall off! Later I found out that I can also use my debit card in taxi's and I can use my transport card in some taxi's! I learned my lesson. After I got home i put away all of my stuff and cleaned my apartment and finished posting pictures and blog posts from my trip in Europe so that i could get started on this new chapter. lol Please don't even ask why I am just getting some of that stuff up! Everyone wanted me to go out again but I just wasn't feeling it.

Sunday - Justin emailed me early and wanted to know if I wanted him to show me around downtown. I agreed and we took the subway downtown and explored all day. We met up with Karissa, another teacher, and had brunch at this western style restaurant. It was really good and then afterwards they showed me the bookstore that I can buy English books at and all the good places to shop. ATTENTION EVERYONE - they have a Gap here and a ZARA so I'm going to be okay! haha Downtown is great, they have so many different western restaurants and bars. I've been told that this is where everyone hangs out so I don't think I'll have trouble meeting people if I want too. Plus, it's only a 10 minute subway ride to the center from where I am located. The shopping is equally great and Karissa tells me that I will be able to find shoes my size because she wears 7-8's too. We also ventured over to the black market area which was interesting and after that we headed to the Novatel, a hotel, and had happy hour drinks on their 8th story patio, it was a nice day out and you could see almost all of Daegu from up there. It's very interesting because it's this big city with skyscrapers surrounded by HUGE mountains on every side. It's a beautiful view. We spent some time there and then I left with Karissa to go back home.

Monday - This was my first day of teaching! I taught one of Justin's classes and he taught the other two. I also got to watch the teaching styles of the other English teachers which was helpful. I was so nervous to teach my first class but it went really well and the students were great. It's hard to learn all of their names!! I taught a listening class because those are easiest, the computer does the majority of the work for you. We have a pretty good software system at our school however, I've been told that it gets updated often and can become a nuisance. Justin gave me some great feedback and work was pretty enjoyable. I had an omelette filled with rice and vegetables for lunch, it was ok. I also tried this pastry with what looked liked chocolate in the middle but turned out to be MUSHY bean paste or something, Ewwww! I don't like anything mushy so now I know, like Caroline said... stay away from anything mushy! lol It was actually pretty chilly when we came out of work on Monday night, the weather has been really nice, it the mid to upper 70's during the day but recently it has been getting gown into the mid to low 50's at night. I'm not a fan of that because when I leave for work at 3:00 I don't think to take a jacket but, when i get out at 10:30 it's cold!

Tuesday - I met up with Justin at his apartment on Tuesday so that he could show me his place and so that he could show me around the neighborhood. The difference between the two areas is that the place where Justin lives feels more like a neighborhood with more living areas and high rise apartment buildings then where I currently live, right now I'm surrounded by more businesses. It's more of a community feel where Justin lives. We ate at this great little Italian place. I'm not gonna lie, it's a little weird to see Korean people cooking your Italian food in an Italian theme restaurant but, it was great! I had some pasta with a cream sauce and shrimp and it only cost 5,000! After that we headed to work, I taught one of Justin's classes and observed some other ones. It was a pretty so-so day.

Wednesday - Yesterday I met Justin at the hospital to get the results of my medical check, after that we headed to immigration to get my Alien Registration Card. Supposedly it will come in the mail in a week or two, then I can get a cell phone. At school, I taught a full day of classes! I was all on my own. It went great though. The students that I teach on Wednesday are higher level and it was a fun class. I discovered that I really love teaching writing! I had my first rewarding experience yesterday while teaching them how to write a conclusion. It was a good day and after work I went out with everyone for Karissa's birthday. We ate at the same place that we ate at the other day downtown, it's called Helvetica and it's western style food. It was really good and afterwards we went to a popular bar and I had one drink. I met some other foreign people that are here teaching and then I left with two of the other girls that live next to me.

Today - I will be teaching all of the classes by myself again, today is also Justin's last official day so I will be completely on my own on Friday! Ahh, I'm so nervous but at the same time, I'm kind of excited!
Friday - Will be a party for Justin's going away and for my welcoming and then Saturday the majority of us are going down to Busan for the day/night/Sunday morning because almost all of the English teachers here have a birthday in May, how weird is that!? Mine was the 5th, another on the 12th, one on the 14th, and 3 more towards the end of the month, so we are just going to go hang out on the beach this weekend to celebrate everyone's bday! It should be fun and plus I'm excited to already be traveling somewhere! AH!! I love it!

Below is an outline of how my school works or what my schedule is like and all the great benefits to this job! I'll keep you updated!



 It's sorta confusing but I will teach the same classes on Monday and Thursday and then I will teach another set of students on both Tuesday and Friday and then the kids that I teach on Wednesday only come to the academy once a week. I teach mainly middle school students and most of them are very smart. I have some classes that are lower level and then others that are higher level. I work with a Korean co-teacher who teaches them Grammar and Reading and then I teach them listening skills, speaking skills, and sometimes writing. Our main goal at this academy is to prepare them for the TOEFL entrance exam which any student that is not from a country that speaks English must take in order to attend an International University. Since education is the highest priority here, getting into University is a big deal and they spend pretty much all their time preparing for it so, this test is really important. All of the books are provided for me with the lessons and I am also allowed to put my own spin on things as long as I am improving their English skills.  I also get my own classroom, computer, and work area in the staff room which is pretty cool. This job comes with many benefits, free housing, free airfare, and a reasonable salary at 2.1 million Won a month which is equivalent to about 2000  a month U.S. Dollars. I do have to pay for things like water, electric, gas, internet, and cell phone but after talking to my coworkers these are pretty reasonable and will vary from season to season for example, my gas bill will be more in the winter and my electric will be more in the summer because of air conditioning. The nice thing about all these bills is that, when they come in my mail all I have to do is just take them into work and drop them off at the front desk! I don't have to worry about paying them myself, they pay them for me and then deduct what I owe out of my paycheck! Also, when I'm at work and get hungry I can just ask the front desk to order me food, I tell them what I want and then 20 minutes later it's delivered, I also don't have to pay for it right then, they keep a running tally of what I owe and after we get paid, we have 3 days to pay our bill. So, if I'm really broke at the end of the month and have no food, I can just eat at work and then pay them after I get paid! I really like this set up. I also get health insurance through my job they pay 50% and I pay 50% which is about 50 dollars a month. However, one of my coworkers went to the dermatologist the other day for a bug bite and she forgot to bring her health card and the whole visit only cost 33 dollars and her prescription cost 2 dollars! The other day I had to have a physical when I got here and it only cost 50 dollars without health insurance and I will get reimbursed from my school. So, the health care here is pretty cheap even if you forget your health card. Korea is a big country for medical tourism, all of their facilities here are just amazing, full of high tech machines and very friendly staff, going to the doctor really isn't all that bad, much nicer than in America. Many people also come here for plastic surgery, it's cheaper and some say it's better! Aside from all these benefits I also get a pension, something like a 401K, they take a certain amount out of my paycheck every month and they then match what the take out. For example, if I pay in 90 Won a month they also pay 90 Won a month and then at the end of my contract I get all of that money along with an additional month's pay. It's a pretty sweet deal. According to all my coworkers, and from what I have experienced so far, the cost of living here is considerably cheaper than America, even in a big city like daegu. You can live a very comfortable life while still being able to afford to pay all those student loans back home. There aren't many negative factors that come with this job, I only have to work 7 hours a day and I'm not really doing anything physically exhausting, just mentally, and during those 7 hours I get the first hour for planning and another 40 minute break for lunch. So typically I can have up to 7 classes a day I currently only have about 2-3 each day at each school and I still get paid the same! Pretty soon once I get in the swing of things though I will have more classes each day but still, I will only really be working about 5 1/2 hours everyday! In case you haven't caught on yet, this is a pretty sweet deal!
Two other things about my job, they send us gift baskets twice a year with all the hygiene products you could ever need, tons of toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc. and also anytime teacher comes or goes from our branch the whole branch goes out to a dinner. For example, this friday they are having a dinner for Justin and I. So the whole company is going to go out to dinner and get really drunk and then go sing karaoke. I am pretty much taking over Justin's life, I'm taking his job and I'm moving into his current apartment when he moves out this coming Tuesday.

South Korea - My next adventure!

I've been here for almost a week so I will post about that tomorrow however, here is a quick intro to exactly how I ended up here! 

So after being home and looking for work for about 2 1/2 months with no luck, that got old really fast and one day while job searching on the Johnson & Wales website I came across this company's ad for teaching English in South Korea. I applied, they called me within the next 2 weeks, and 2 months later, I'm living in South Korea!

Now, while I was abroad this last time, I ran into many people teaching english and I thought, hmm, that would be cool. The idea had crossed my mind a time or two and I thought, ''Add that to the list of things I want to do before I'm 30 or settle down." The economy is in a shit-hole right now, it's hard to find a job, and especially in my industry(the one I don't want to be in anymore!), the pay is just terrible for the amount of work you do either way you look at it when it comes to customer service/hospitality (at least starting out) so, i decided what the hell? I'll do it, and here I am! I would definitely put this up there with one of the craziest things that I have ever done but the more that I look at it, it's really not that crazy for someone like me! I mean, don't get me wrong, I was enjoying my 4 month sabbatical at my mom's tucked in the hills of west virginia. It was practically a vacation from my recent vacation! I read books, I slept in till 1 sometimes 2 o'clock everyday, I ate good, it was practically heaven. It gave me ample time to reflect on what my next move should be because I could do just about anything right now! I have no commitments, except for a car payment (which hopefully I won't have much longer!), and no serious real life responsibilities YET! However, the clock is ticking and my student loan payments are right around the corner PLUS, I haven't had a job since last August, TRUE STORY, and it's been great don't get me wrong but, I hate waking up everyday and thinking about the vast amount of debt that I owe to the government and Sallie Fucking Mae (I really hate them.) Wells Fargo and Chase are still cool with me but like Bank of America, I'm sure they'll screw that up soon enough. 

So anyways, one thing lead to another, one interview, then two, then lots of paperwork, I got a job offer, turned that one down, got another job offer, took that one, made a trip to DC to get my visa (where I got to see one of my good friends Mike Luu!), they booked me a flight, I packed my bags, said my goodbyes, and jumped on a plane to South Korea! Now, I've received a lot of skepticism and negative remarks from many different people that I thought really supported me. I've done my research and South Korea is actually a pretty good place to be. I will be teaching at a school called Hanvit Language Academy here in Daegu, South Korea. Daegu has about 2.5 million people (about the size of Barcelona) and the climate here is similar to that of West Virginia except that it has very hot, humid summers and less snowfall in the winter. It sits in a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides yet, it's about 1 hour on the train to the beach near Pusan or Busan!

So, this will be my adventure for the next year, I hope to travel to some other places in Asia and South Korea however, my first priority is to pay down the majority of my student loan debt. That is the goal! Therefore, I would like to invite everyone to read my blog while I am away. I started this almost 2 years ago while in Greece and I've found that it's a great way to keep in touch with me and read all about my daily life, as we all know, it can be pretty exciting at times! haha Feel free to send the link to anyone you may know who might be interested in a good laugh every once in a while! I love getting comments from my readers so please leave me as many as you would like, they can be pretty encouraging on days when I'm having "writer's block." 

Here is a copy of the link in case you would like to send it to anyone else.....honestly, send it to anyone!

http://www.anniesworldtravels.blogspot.com/

Thanks everyone, Happy Reading, and I look forward to your comments!! 

Annie

Leaving Barcelona and returning home...

Last 6 hours in Barcelona! - I caught the bus back I think and when I got home all my roomies were there and they were already pretty much packed up. Everyone was putting the last minute touches on everything. I told Alex when I got back that I wasn’t planning on going to sleep even though I was really tired, I told her that it would probably take me the next 4 hours to pack. She told me I was crazy but stayed up with me anyways! I was about right and by the time that I finished packing I hopped in the shower and when I got out I had 15 minutes until we had to leave to catch the bus! I didn’t even have time to blow dry my hair! I hurried, got ready and then we headed out the door. I don’t even feel like I really had time to say bye to our place! Alex and I took the bus and Sam and Steph took a cab, they probably left an hour after us but when we finally arrived at the terminal, they were just getting dropped off too! Our bus ride took probably an hour and was very crowded, our luggage together took up like 3 seats! It was terrible trying to control all of our bags, especially since we were so tired and Alex was practically falling asleep every chance she got, we decided that next time, we’ll just take a cab! After arriving at the airport and meeting up again we said our last goodbyes to each other, see ya on the other side, (of the pond that is!) Hopefully! It was sad and bittersweet but I had to hurry through security after that because I was cutting it close once again! I made my flight just fine and before I knew it I was back in Amsterdamn. I had a 1 or 2 hour layover so I did some last minute airport souvenir shopping and headed to my terminal, I got asked a bunch of questions and then had to go through security AGAIN! Ugh, I had a glass jar of tomaca in my suitcase that I had completely forgotten about and I couldn’t even believe that they found that! They were going to make me throw it away but I got pissed off so they just checked that bag for me too which was nice because I already had so much crap so it was really a relief! Boarded the plane and I actually got some sleep on my flight back, I was just so exhausted that flying at that point didn’t even bother me anymore! Before I knew it, I was back in Detroit and then I started getting anxious to get back to Pittsburgh, first thing I did was grab a sweet tea at Mickey D’s! MMMM, I had no American money so I had to use my credit card for a dollar! Haha. An hour later I was in Pittsburgh and I was excited to see that my family was there to pick me up, Chelsea even made me a sign! It was very loving! I was sad that I wasn’t in Europe anymore but I was also excited to be home for the holidays!!

Overall the four months that I spent in Europe were crazy, expensive, an everyday adventure, fun, hectic, all worthwhile and I wouldn’t change them for anything. Yes it had it’s up’s and down’s, but who’s life doesn’t? Barcelona will always have a special place in my heart because I lived there for four months, I learned so many new things about myself, my surroundings, and other people there, I grew. Even though I’ll be paying back this debt for sometime, it was worth it and each time I mail a payment to Wells Fargo, I’m going to reflect about how precious each minute I spent there was. I can’t wait to go back!

Home will always be home no matter where I am and there’s nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

Lisbon, Portugal - One of my last stops in Europe, and probably one of the best!

Lisbon

1^st Day – (3 cities in less than 12 hours) The next morning, I woke up fairly early to catch my flight, I took a shower and headed for the airport yet again. I had to make a quick stop at the ATM and I decided to take the aerobus because I was running just a few minutes late and I didn’t want to take any chances on missing my train because then I would miss my flight! I got there with plenty of time to spare. I made it through security just fine and was soon on my plane. This was the first time that I had flew with Vueling, a very popular budget airline in Europe based in Spain. It was probably one of the best “flights” I’ve had turbulence wise. It was very smooth and I had the entire row to myself so I stretched out and took a nap because it was a good 2 hour flight. I can’t usually sleep on planes but at this point, I was so exhausted that I probably just passed out. I like to fly early in the morning because that’s when I’m most calm and when I’m calm I don’t have such a hard time with it. I woke up during the descent into Lisbon and Goncalo was right, it was an amazing view, it was unlike any city I’ve ever seen before. It was something similar to San Francisco because they have a bridge that is almost identical! It was beautiful though. After we landed I couldn’t wait to get to my hostel and start my exploration. I easily caught a bus to downtown and got off at the right stop. Now, Goncalo had warned me about the winding streets but I assumed that it would be like the other European cities that I had been too and I have managed up to this point, to find my way around and I haven’t really had much trouble locating any of my hostels. However, this one was different. I had picked up 3 different maps at the airport and I had the address of the hostel but I didn’t have any Internet access between my trips to look up the exact directions from the website but I assumed it was easy locatable because it was marked on a page from my hostel book also. Well 3 maps and 1 book later I was completely and utterly lost. Lisbon is a city full of steep hills and even steeper, what seem like, drop offs. It goes up and down, up and down and the sidewalks are unlike any in Europe, yes they are the cobblestone but, much more dangerous and uneven, it’s really crazy. I know this is caused by the earthquakes and such because Lisbon suffered a serious one at the end of the 18^th century and they still get them periodically, in fact there was a small one when I was there however, I didn’t feel a thing. Anyways I was totally lost and was in the right neighborhood but I couldn’t find the right street. I had walked up and down this one hill twice which was enough for me considering it was practically the equivalent of a black diamond ski slope. Well, with my luck an obvious American tourist walks by and I glance over at him, he can completely tell that I am lost and then proceeds to ask me if I need help. I said yes, oh yes, I’m so lost and then he proceed to pull out 2 maps. I asked if he lived there and he said no but that it was his fourth trip to the city and he always carries 2 maps with him because even though he knows his way around, he still gets lost sometimes and the maps are never accurately mapped so he uses 2 to get around! This made me feel a little better because I was using 3 from the airport and then one that I had brought out of my book! Haha he helped me find the place, it took a good 15 mins. but after walking around lost for over an hour, it seemed like nothing! I was so thankful, he made sure I got safely inside and everything, it was almost like he wanted to say something else but I shut out the opportunity just wanting to get settled in and wished him well on his way. After I got inside I was a little frantic after being so lost and the lady could tell. It was definitely different than the hostel I stayed at in Granada and it was the same brand. She checked me in and then she proceeded to show me around the entire place, which I thought was different. It wasn’t that big and wasn’t as I had pictured it at all. It was still nice though and I only had 3 other beds in my room, which was nice. I got settled in and she even introduced me to my roommates and then allowed me to grab breakfast, I did because I was starving and then I was ready to head out on my adventure for the day. I felt like there was a lot to see in Lisbon so I was kind of in a hurry. I was tired so I could feel that I was getting easily agitated and angry. I proceed to get onto the trolley that was going to take me all the way to St. Jorge’s Castle. I boarded the trolley, very old fashioned, paid my fare and took my seat. I sat down and the trolley probably went 500 feet and then stopped. I couldn’t really figure out what was going on but then all of a sudden the driver stood up and said something and then everyone proceeded to get off the trolley!! I just kinda stood there hoping that this guy spoke English and I said, I’m trying to get to the castle, what do I do now? And then, like a miracle, he gave me perfect directions in English like it was his first language! Lol I was impressed but then again, I remembered what Goncalo had told me about Portugal, everyone speaks good English here! I was thankful, I followed his directions and before I knew it, I had made it to the other trolley car, explained what had happened and he let me on and took me to the castle. Once I got there I had to walk up another black diamond slope but I eventually got to the castle. Now, the castle itself wasn’t much to see, it was just the stone walls ya know and the one exhibit that I wanted to see was closed for some reason, however,the real treasure here was the view. It was beautiful, It felt like I could see the whole city from up there! I got some great pictures and then went to see the next thing. Like Rome, Lisbon is a city built on 7 hills, I tried to make it to each of them to see the views, my hostel was on one of them, the castle on another, and then I went to another one above the castle that was equally impressive. After that hill I went to the Mosteiro De Sao Vicente de fora which was pretty cool. There was water in the bottom of it and for some reason I thought this was just the coolest thing ever! This place was huge and I sorta hurried through it but I think I saw the good points and after that as I was strolling to the next site I ran into some type of HUGE flea market, there was so much stuff and it just went on for blocks and blocks! After the flea market I went into some building that I think honors the more famous dead people of Portugal. I’m not sure what exactly it was supposed to be but this is the drift that I caught! Next was the Museo de Fado, the Museum of Fado, a Fado is a popular type of song from Portugal, it’s really pretty and it’s usually about love or hardships, the museum was ok but I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures so I was bummed, I loved the music though. After hitting all of these sites I realized that it was only like 2 in the afternoon and I couldn’t believe that I had hit most of the major attractions in Lisbon on my list for that day! After realizing this I took a more relaxing pace toward the rest of my day, next I visited the Cathedral and it just so happened that when I went inside the choir was there having a Christmas concert and it was amazing! I probably sat there for a good hour just listening to them. Next I was feeling pretty hungry so I tried to locate some food, by this time I had walked all the way back to the center city and I stopped inside this little café and the guy working just looked at me and I said, “I’m starving! What do you have?” He said that he had some duck left over from lunch and he could get that ready for me if I wanted, I agreed and it was delicious! I ate every last bite and he said, “I guess you were hungry!” He was really nice and after that I walked down as close to the ocean as I could get and then did a little shopping there in the city, as I was walking around shopping there were quite a few entertainers out and about because it was the holiday season and I saw this group of young men, probably my age singing and dancing to some song and they were all gorgeous! I don’t know what it is but the men in Portugal are just to die for! They are all good looking and charming. They were all just so cute singing this song, I’m not sure what exactly was going on and I couldn’t understand anything they were doing or saying but the crowd around me seemed to love it, so I guess it was a good thing! After walking around the main city area and snapping some pictures at night I headed back to my hostel and called it a night, I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to get some sleep but, when I got back the girls that were staying in my room were there getting ready for bed and we stayed up for the next 2-3 hours talking about traveling Europe, they were from Turkey and were headed to Barcelona next and because I had been living there, they wanted to know everything and of course I wanted to tell them all the great things to see so I made them a list and we ended up talking forever! I always meet the best people in hostels! I love it! I probably didn’t get to bed until 1 or 2 in the morning, normal time I guess!

2^nd Day - I decided to sleep in as long as I could because I was exhausted! After I had showered and eaten I head downstairs to ask for directions on where I was planning on going for the day. I head for the trolley once more and traveled to Belem, a little bit outside Lisbon, in relation to the US I would say it was like maybe living in a suburb outside of a bigger city, much cheaper! There was a lot to see in Belem, I toured one of the most beautiful monasteries in Europe, (my opinion.) It was just to die for! After that I visited both of the bigger monuments there, one of the statues that honors the explorers of Portugal’s history and the other was an old military tower called the “Tower of Belem.” Both were equally impressive and were right on the ocean. I got some great photos here. The lady at the hostel told me that I had to try this particular pastry here so I found the bakery and the line was all the way out in the street! It was so busy but it was well worth the wait. This pastry was probably the best pastry that I have ever eaten, hands down! It was like sex in my mouth! UN-freaking- believable! Next I went to this outdoor market that they were having there and I found some really pretty earrings and some other unique stuff. After I had seen everything in Belem I headed back to the center city and decided to head over to the other side of Lisbon to see some sport/park area but it was pouring rain when I got there and then all of a sudden, it appeared out of no where, this huge shopping mall called the Vasco de Gama shopping center! It was huge and ended up being a great place to kill time while I waited for the rain to stop. The rain didn’t really stop though, after I finished shopping I took the metro back to the center and ended up having to walk back to my hostel in the rain, I was glad that I had my broken umbrella with me, even though it was broken, it did suffice. After I had finally made it back I was soaked so I changed into some different clothes and then had dinner there at the hostel. It was really good too! I was pretty tired so I decided just to hang around there for the rest of the night, pretty soon, Goncalo had called the hostel and said that he was on his way, someone came and gave me the message and then about an hour later he showed up to see how my trip was going to so far. He had been in Prague with his family for his mother’s birthday and was just returning to Lisbon. I had told him all about my adventures and then we picked a time to meet tomorrow so that he could show me around. All of the people who were staying in my room the previous night had already left and I was the only one in there, needless to say, it was very quiet!

3^rd Day – I recall waking up pretty excited about the day for my own reasons. Goncalo picked me up at a main square around noon. He had his sister with him so I got to met her, she’s is absolutely gorgeous, and we headed to a kennel to pick up their dog and then went back to his house where I met his mother, she was very nice. I got to see their house which was really nice, they had an amazing kitchen! After meeting his family, his dad was at work, we headed out for the day and our first stop was Cascais, which is where the beach is, we parked the car and went down to walk along the shore, the waves were huge!! This could have been because there was a storm but Goncalo tells me that there is great surfing where he lives and that the waves are always big, I also got to see his surfboard which was pretty neat since I’ve never seen a real one up close. After walking around for a while we got back into the car and headed down the coast toward Lisbon, we made another stop to check out the beach and spent some time there before heading to Belem, Goncalo didn’t know that I had been there the day before but, he soon discovered! We went to the place where I got the amazing pastries the day before and got lots of them along with some other pastries and sorts. When I say these pastries are to die for, I’m serious. They are so good, so we woofed those down and just walked around, he showed me this cultural center where he used to work and we also sat by the fountain for a while, after that we headed down into the center of Lisbon, on the way we stopped to buy a bottle of Port wine that I could take back with me, after that he took me to eat at a traditional Portuguese restaurant. We had wine and he helped me order. The meal started with breads and some unique dips, all of which were good, my main course was bacalla, basically cod fish, it was amazing though! For dessert I had some moscatel and a cooked apple that was probably the best thing I have ever had next to the pastries in Belem! Haha I was definitely a little tipsy afterwards! After dinner we walked around a bit and tried some more desserts at a bakery and just relaxed. I got back to my hostel pretty late and saying goodbye to Goncalo was bittersweet. He wasn’t going to be able to see me the next day so we had to say our goodbye that night. It was a great day though, having someone that knows the language and the hot spots in the city is definitely a plus! It’s so nice to have someone take you around and show you all the great things about their city! I would love to go back to Lisbon and also see more of Portugal. It’s a great city that has a very unique character.

Day 4 – T-minus 24 hours until departure time from Europe – I slept in. I didn’t have any plans for the day because I thought I would be hanging out with Goncalo but since he couldn’t hang out I decide to venture to Sintra to check out the castle that I have heard about. I took a train there, buying my ticket was a challenge but I managed. I didn’t have much money left at this point so I stopped and bought some snacks. When I finally arrived I learned that there was more than one castle on the mountain, I think there were maybe 3 or 4 different one’s but I went to the one that I had heard so much about, It was very colorful, the inside wasn’t nearly as impressive as the outside and I got in trouble for taking pictures. It was also pretty rainy this day so I was lethargic. The views were great though, I felt like I could see all of Portugal. It was also very foggy because we were so high up that we were in the clouds! It was interesting to see and I’m glad that I checked it out, there was also a small town a little ways down the mountain and I walked to that, checked it out, and then caught the bus back down to the train station and headed back to Lisbon. After I got back I went back to my hostel to get my stuff and then I checked my reservations online and then headed to the airport. I made it there fine and I can’t exactly remember much of my flight back to Barca, I know that it was long because there was a time change but when I touched down at the airport I was sad because all I could think about was running home and then turning around and coming straight back to this place! I know Barca’s airport like the back of my hand at this point and I feel like I’ve spent the majority of my trip there somedays!