Taiwan

Taiwan, Taiwan, where to begin! An amazing trip to say the least! This vacation came at a much needed time, right in the middle of my summer intensive courses. This was my first trip out of Korea since arriving and I was excited to get the hell outta here for a few days! Karissa and I wanted to go somewhere for vacation and we both agreed that we wanted to be on a beach somewhere with a drink in our hands....and that is how our trip to Taiwan was born. The theme of this vacation you ask?...well that's easy.. Bikini's and Booze! A girls getaway!

Day 1 - Karissa and I caught the 5:00 am bus out of Daegu for Incheon, aka Seoul's main airport. We arrived ahead of schedule so we went up to the ticket counter to get our boarding passes and the nice lady working the ticket counter upgraded us to first class!! AHH!! We were soo excited! I've always wanted to fly in first class and I've always dreamed about the day that I would get an upgrade! Needless to say, this vacation was already off to an amazing start! We stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some anti-anxiety something or another for my fear of flying. They gave me some oriental medicine or something that is supposed to help you relax! We made our way to the gate and before we knew it, it was time to get onto the plane! Now, this medicine came in two parts, one part was this little round container full of a bunch of brown balls that looked like BB gun pellets or something - probably like 10 or 12 and then it came with a bottle of liquid that you are supposed to chug after you take the little balls! When it came time to actually take it,  I started to feel a little nervous because who really knows what it was! I took all the little balls down in one gulp and then proceeded to chase it with the liquid stuff but it was the nastiest taste that I have ever had in my mouth! UGH! I could barely finish it! It was potent! We got to board the plane first because we were first class and just stepping into the first class cabin was like walking into luxury! We flew with Asian Airlines which is a nice airline and the plane we were on looked pretty new. We took our seats, and the flight attendants began waiting on us hand and foot! It was amazing! We got english newspapers, so many magazines to choose from, fresh squeezed orange juice, slippers...and that was only the beginning! As soon as we got in the air, Karissa and I decided that we were going to drink free booze until we couldn't drink anymore! They came around the cabin with the first round of drinks and we of course ordered champagne! After that they came around with the menu for the flight.. We had scallops and a salad for an appetizer, filet mignon for the main course, and tiramasu for dessert! Then they came around with a white linen service and actual silverware, it was great! The whole flight was just amazing, after lunch(breakfast for us), we continued with the drinking, we probably each had a bottle of white wine, then some baileys and coffee and some other special teas and such. It was only a 2 1/2 hour flight and we were sad to see it end but, I will say this, there was no fear on my part during the flight! Either the oriental drugs or the booze did the trick, or maybe it was a combination of both!!! After we got through immigration and such we caught a bus into Taipei and began to locate our hostel. It was in a great location, right in the middle of everything. After we dropped our stuff off, we were still on a luxury/booze high, we began to explore the city.

First things first...we visited this lovely peace park and then from there we saw the most amazing temples and gardens! Taiwan is so drastically different from Korea in such a good way. The temples and the details put into the gardens were just phenomenal! Each time we went from one site to the next, we were even more amazed at the beauty this city had to offer. This was also my first time actually visiting a temple. I've seen one here in Korea but couldn't go inside at the time so this was my first up close and personal Buddhist experience. We walked soooo much that day and it was unbearably hot outside! We were so sweaty! After visiting many temples and experiencing some Taiwan culture we decided to hit up the night markets - what Taiwan is really known for! Night markets are a huge part of their culture. It's basically like a night festival or fair with tons of food vendors, people selling junk, with a few other crazy things in the mix. We had scoped out this one night market where we heard you could drink snake blood and eat snake! We decided to check it out and the rumors were true! We didn't eat or drink snake anything but, I took some pictures and it was an unbelievable site to see! We saw some real freakshows that night. Here in Korea they don't really have freak-shows or crazy people, they keep them locked up and on the down-low, so it's rare that you'll have an encounter with a crazy. We also tried all sorts of excellent food. There was so much to choose from and we didn't really know what everything was but we just kept trying stuff until we were so full we thought we were going to burst! We also got bubble tea drinks because that's another thing Taiwan is known for and they were delicious! We kept seeing these massage places everywhere and this one guy named David, that was wearing this gaudy USA shiny shirt, drew us into his establishment where we had the best leg/foot massages ever! Considering the fact that we were already really tired and our feet were killing us, it was like heaven on earth! This lady beat the crap out of my legs, feet, shoulders, and neck! The entire 45 min massage only set me back $9 USD! CRAZY! After that we set about to find this drink called Whisby that we had read about in our lonely planet. We went into this one liquor store assuming it would be there and this nice guy that didn't speak much english took us out of his shop and all around the night market to help us find it! He went out of his way to make sure that we found what we were looking for! Taiwanese people are so hospitable! I had heard they were some of the nicest people but I wasn't really sure what to believe but, on more than one occasion on this trip people just wanted to help us and make sure we were having a good time! Something like that would NEVER happen in Korea! So anyways, we find the whisby at a pharmacy, purchase it, and being to indulge. It's a strange drink, like an energy drink packed with some vitamins and with a little extra boost of some liquor! It tasted almost like bubble gum and we thoroughly enjoyed it! After the whisby we tried some other liquor that was supposed to be Taiwan's main liquor - it was like drinking gasoline! We had maybe 2 sips each before we decided we couldn't drink it because it was THAT strong! I mean literally - like gasoline! Probably just as deadly too! We were a little buzzed throughout the whole day so the walk back to the hostel was an interesting one, at one point we had to stop and pee in a desolate parking lot...haha...Karissa had to stop midstream because someone was coming! Hilarious times! When we made it back to the hostel we were beyond exhausted!! We crashed and slept for a good 9 hours!

Day 2 -We got off to an early start around 9. The first thing on our list to see was Taipei 101. It was officially ranked as the tallest building in the world since 2004, BUT since the Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened last year, it can no longer claim that glory to fame. It's the tallest building I've ever been in so that has to count for something! When we first arrived we checked out the amazing food court that we had heard about in the basement level. It was literally one of the best food court's I've been in. They had everything to choose from and Karissa and I had the hardest time trying to decide what to eat! We finally settled on sushi and mandu. After that we bought our tickets and rode the fastest elevator in the world to the top of the building! It was pretty cool if I do say so myself! Once atop, we took pictures, looked out all the windows, and browsed around the gift shop where I bought my first pencil since being in Asia! :) What an accomplishment, right!? We then took the elevator back down and walked around the huge mall that comprises the first 5 stories of the building. It was similar to walking around  Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, designer stores everywhere filled with nothing that I could afford. Fun to window shop nonetheless. After Taipei 101 we headed over to the Jade and flower markets! Two semi-indoor markets one filled with tons of Jade, (some real, some fake I'm sure) and then the Flower market which was just lovely and colorful! We spent a good amount of time here and then proceeded to do some shopping. We were pretty unsuccessful because we kept getting lost and eventually we gave up and headed back to the hostel for showers before hitting up another night market!
After regrouping, we decided to go to Taiwan's most famous night market, Shilin Night Market. We spent the evening here stuffing our faces with the most amazing food I've ever tasted! We had beef noodle soup, tons of delicious fresh fruit, dumplings, shrimp, so many different kinds of meat on a stick, stinky tofu, and so much more! The food was by far the best at this night market! We also did a little bit of shopping. This market was more of a free for all whereas the other one had some structure to how it was set up, including actual buildings and a designated area. We also enjoyed the younger crowd at this market as compared to the night before. It wasn't long until we were exhausted and took the subway back to the hostel and passed out.

Day 3 - Beach and Spa day! We really wanted to have a day at the beach so we picked one of the many beaches out of our book and got on a bus! A bus to Jinshan to be exact. When we arrived in the town, we had to ask for directions at a  7/11 and this nice guy told us how to get there, so we started walking and then next thing we know, he is picking us up in his elementary school bus van! He drove us down to the beach and after we realized what a trek it could have been we were relieved! Such a nice guy! Like I said, the people in Taiwan were all so nice like this! So helpful! So anyways, we get to the beach and there is literally not a soul in sight! It was kinda nice! We assumed that most kids were in school because it was a Monday but still, we were the only ones there! The beach was ok, not exactly what we were expecting, but nonetheless it was still nice to be relaxing on the sand staring out at the ocean.. After the beach we changed and decided to find the hot springs that were supposed to be nearby. We wanted to visit this resort that we had read about in our book so we went to the main tourist building and they called us a cab and he took us to this GORGEOUS 5 start resort in the mountains! It was unbelievable! We paid maybe $20 USD to use the facilities all afternoon and evening! It was basically a hot spring resort and they had at least 20-30 different hot spring pools for us to relax in. They came in all flavors and temperatures - hot, scalding hot, cold, coffee flavored, lavender, green tea, you name it they had it! They also had an infinity pool looking out over the mountains with water massage chairs which were fabulous! It was such a relaxing day and by far one of the best spa experiences I've had! We were sad to leave. After lounging around all afternoon though we were starving and sat down for what turned into a 10 course meal at the resort! 10 courses and all you could drink draft beer for like $15 USD! Amazing! The food was great and shortly after that we had this sexy guy working the hotel front desk call us a cab so we could get back to the bus station! The bus ride back was an adventure in itself. SCARY! We were going really fast around these hairpin turns, it seemed very dangerous. We crashed pretty early after talking to a girl at our hostel about what we should do the next day...

Day 4 - We decided to go to the very end of the subway line towards the north to a town called Danshui? Something like that maybe. We really weren't that impressed because nothing was open! We contributed this to the fact that it was too early.. around 10 - not early by western standards but in Asia - this is early. All we wanted was some breakfast for once! We walked around forever and it was already so hot! We finally found this little cafe with actual american style breakfast food, we had never been so thankful! We stuffed our faces and got back on the train to see this temple. The temple was quite a sight to see, very lavishly decorated and we saw so many different buddhist statues at this place of all these different gods. There were just hallways packed with them! They looked pretty cool though so I snapped some photos! hehe After the temple we attempted to find the Beitou hot springs. We took the train to the stop, walked all around the area, finally found them and then they were closed for the next 45 mins! UGH! We were so mad and hot and thirsty that we just gave up and headed back to the hostel because it was almost time to leave! I think we were overheated and just wanted cold showers honestly. We got just that and then caught the bus back to the airport. We didn't get to fly first class on the way back, but we still got to booze it up in economy for free! We threw back some wine with our in-flight meal, which was actually good and in combination with my other dose of oriental medicine, it was a smooth ride. We made it back to Daegu around 2 in the morning because the first bus from Incheon was booked so we had to wait another hour.

A few things to note about Taiwan: I really enjoyed this country, the people are very hospitable, always willing to lend a helping hand and we really appreciated that! What a great country for tourism! Also, I noticed almost everyone spoke some amount of English and most people, spoke it very well. Their subway or metro system called the MRT, is very cheap and efficient and they even had these special waiting areas for females after dark with cameras and help buttons. Seriously, what a great idea! They also have these lines on the floor for people who are going to enter the subway to line up on, then when the train comes, people exit in one direction and you board almost single file onto the train in the other direction! So efficient! All metros need this system. Even though Taipei is a huge city the air quality there, compared to the air quality here in Daegu, was drastically different, much cleaner and it actually felt like a city as composed to a large suburb full of apartment buildings. We also noticed that we didn't get as many stares as we do here on a daily basis! Not very many people stared at us at all actually, it was quite nice not being noticed for a change! One thing that we loved about Taiwan was the amount of mopeds or scooters! They are everywhere and there are so many! We decided to call them scooter gangs! Overall it was a great trip and I would love to go back to Taiwan for the food, the people, and the beautiful scenery (handsome men included!).



On a side note - Karissa and I discussed the weight limit issue for airlines and how they make fat people buy two seats now and blah blah blah....we came to the decision that for every one person you should be allowed 250 lbs. of weight. Including yourself! This means that if you weigh 200 lbs. than you are only allowed 50 lbs. of luggage. Therefore, if you weight 150 lbs. you are allowed 100 lbs. of luggage. Etc. This is such a grand idea! It might also help American's think about the next big mac they are about to shove down their throat's....do you wanna take those jeans on vacay next week or do you wanna eat this sandwich bitch!? hahahahaha Brilliant - a new way to a skinny America! :D


Up next... the Philippines! Stay tuned!

Summer's Brutality

It's been a while to say the least...almost 2 1/2 months to be exact. I had an excuse there for a while but recently I've just been boycotting this blog. I'm not exactly sure why that is, I seem to just keep putting everything off until another day...this is a terrible attitude to have about things...so I'm no longer going to procrastinate because like they say, there's no time like the present! Here it goes...brace yourself..

• The highlight of July was Mudfest - this huge festival that I went to in Boryeong, South Korea. None of my co-workers seemed interested in going so I decided to join this tour group thing on facebook and I ended up meeting lots of foreigners living here in Daegu on the journey. Basically it was like spending a weekend in a frat house! We left really early on Saturday morning on 2 buses for the 4 hour drive up the eastern coast of Korea. Boryeong is known for it's mud and it's mud is known for it's healing properties! It's supposed to be amazing for your skin, and the city just happens to be on the beach, which was a definite plus! So on the bus ride, people are already drinking heavily at 9 in the morning. The bus ride was quite an adventure, it involved me having to pop a squat, in the pouring rain, along side the road at one point. Lesson learned here - never drink on a bus again! Our bus also happened to be a norebong bus! So we sang karaoke the whole way there! It was crazy! We arrived around noon to this huge party house with lots of rooms and floor mats to sleep on, very common in Korea. From there, the heavier drinking began along with playing in the mud! It was amazing! The best way to describe this experience would be - a HUGE mud party! They had everything, you could get painted in different color mud, mud massages, mud facials, mud baths, mud everything. They also had tons of the big blow up things that you see at fairs and such with the slides and instead of water, they were pumping out mud down these things! Mud was flowing a bounty! After you got muddy enough then you ran and jumped in the ocean to rinse off before going back at it again! It was a very unique experience and definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done! I posted pictures on facebook if you want to have a peek... After an exhausting day of drinking and playing in the mud everyone showered and got ready for the huge house party that our group threw! I did my first ever keg stand that night even though I hate beer and I met a lot of cool people.  It was like being at a frat house...the party went on into the wee hours of the night and then the next day I woke up, hung out at the beach a little bit, and then we headed home on the bus. This 4 hour ride was sooo peaceful and quiet! No drinking, no norebong..just silence because everyone was drained and hungover!
• Another highlight from July, we added two new teachers to the Hanvit family, Hayley from the US and Elspeth from Canada. Both arrived within one week of each other so we got to throw 2 welcome dinner parties at our favorite Galbi restaurant in Manchon! They teach at the Beomeo branch so I don't see them on a daily basis but we all hang out together after work, on the weekends, and such. 
• I finally moved in July also and what an interesting experience that was! My apartment finally sold so I only had to commute to work for 1 week luckily. The movers arrived at my house at 8:00 in the morning and although I had packed up most of my things, they came in with boxes and packed up everything else. It was chaos, they arrived and within 1 hour they had completely gutted my apartment. In Korea, they take EVERYTHING, the washer, the stove top, the refrigerator, and they even ripped the air conditioner off the wall! I'm surprised they didn't bring the toilet! Gina, the lady that handles all of our company's finances and living arrangements, arrived around 9 to pick me up and take me to my new place. When we arrived, I was surprised by how big and nice it was! We hung out for a while waiting for the movers. 20 mins. passed, then 45 mins. passed, then 1 hour 30 mins. passed before we both started to wonder where the movers were? It was also a little awkward sitting there with someone who doesn't really speak that much English. I was getting desperate. Gina called them and you're not going to believe this one...they STOPPED for BREAKFAST in the middle of my move! Holy shit! ONLY in Korea would something like this happen! WTF, who stops in the middle of a job? Not only that, but everything from my fridge was on the back of these two pick up trucks spoiling! I was livid! They eventually made it and when they found out that I was on the top floor they weren't so happy anymore...2 men carried everything up these stairs! It was quite the site to see! They put everything where I wanted it and before I knew it, I was all settled in to my new place. It was an interesting culture experience but moving sucks nonetheless, it's never a fun task. I do however enjoy my new neighborhood much more! I'm located close to the subway now, and I'm only two stops from downtown! It's very nice! The only thing my new apartment is missing is a bathtub! I've been missing my bathtub at my other apartment! 
• Also a highlight in July - more like lowlight - I taught summer intensive courses. It was brutal. They last for almost a month while the students were having their summer vacation. It consisted of me going to work at 10:30 every morning and working until 10:30 at night. 5 extra hours of work everyday! UGH, I was sooooo exhausted. I was relieved when it ended. I got paid extra for the work but when my paycheck finally came this month, it really didn't seem all that worthwhile. :-/ They last from like July 20th - August 18th. I did get a 4 day vacation during this time frame but I would blame the summer intensive courses for my lack of blogging. 
• The summer here was almost unbearable. I honestly don't know how these people can stand it. I've walked into so many shops without A/C and I just want to shake these people and be like "what the hell is wrong with you?" Thank goodness for air conditioning at my school. Being at work for 12 hours out of my day definitely kept me out of the brutal humidity of Daegu, which in the end, I'm thankful for. I'm so glad that fall has finally arrived. About 1 week ago it just cooled down over night and has finally leveled out to a normal temperature. Low 80's and sunny during the day with  cooler nights around 68. :) Heaven!
• We also had a summer vacation break when the students did, right in the middle of summer intensives. I went to Taiwan with Karissa! It was absolutely fabulous and I will have to write another blog post dedicated solely to that. 
• On the weekends we attempted to do stuff as a group, we tried to go zip- lining once but couldn't find the right bus. It was a failed day. We also tried to go to Busan to the beach one sunday but it started pouring the rain as soon as we got there and continued to rain the whole damn day! It was awful. We don't seem to be having much luck recently with day activities. 
• I joined a new gym in my neighborhood, it's alright. It's not as nice as my other gym but it's cheaper at only 50,000 won a month and it has everything that I need!
• My sister Chelsea left for Africa sometime recently...I wonder what how she's holding up?
• The guy scene here needs some serious work....it's pathetic...
• Also, did you know, that Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world!? If I can remember correctly, they are #2, Japan is #1. I can definitely see why though. The asian societies put too much pressure on themselves. Especially when it comes to personal image. The only thing my students ever worry about is "losing face" - aka being embarrassed or a disappointment. This cultural aspect definitely shows in the way my students behave on a daily basis. It's so interesting to see how culture shapes a person and how they view the world. 
• Karissa's parents visited recently. They came to Korea for a little over a week. We all had dinner together one night last week. We, of course, ate gabli, traditional Korea BBQ. It was really nice to have some new people around and especially two adult figures. 
• There is going to be a huge concert in Seoul Oct. 9th, called Global Gathering. I really want to go but I'm not sure if i'll be able to afford it. One of my favorite DJ's - Armin Van Buuren is going to be there along with Justice, Fat Boy Slim, and some other DJ's I've never heard of. It's going to be a like a big dance party! Eeck! I hope I have enough money at the end of the month to go! I would kill to see him play! 
• There has been 2 typhoons this summer. Pretty interesting.
• Also, there are many atheists here in South Korea, I've met so many people that don't believe in anything! It's kind of shocking actually...
• I took a bad fall about 2 weeks ago on the sidewalk. It was around 12 o'clock in the afternoon and sadly I hadn't been drinking when it happened! I'm just blind I guess! It was pretty bad though, skinned up both my knees really bad and my foot. I almost lost it there for a min. but after I had regained my composure I was laughing hysterically at my own stupidity! haha
• My student loan payments are starting in 10 days and they will slowly be the death of me....someone I know..PLEASE win the freaking lottery! I can't suffer in this misery of the greedy american civilization just for some education which hasn't done anything I was told it was going to do.  :(
• I have recently developed a new punishment for my students. One day I got the bright idea to make them write sentences! I remember having to do this in the 1st grade one time and it was the worst thing ever! So, when they do something bad or forget their book or something I make them write a sentences about whatever they did bad! For example: I will not forget my book - maybe 50 times! It works like a charm! :)
• One of my students asked me the other day randomly that if the world was going to be destroyed tomorrow, what would I do? This caught me off guard, they were probably asking just to get me off topic but nonetheless, I stopped so we could talk about it. It was interesting to hear their responses. I said that I would probably go to Disneyworld because that was about the most appropriate thing I could think of at the time! haha
• Another interesting thing I am going to try out this week is this activity called "Draw your Habitat," you ask your class to draw a picture of their house and then you ask them to draw a picture of what a house is supposed to look like and see if there is a difference. I find this to be mind boggling because for some reason we all think that the house WE live in is what a house is supposed to be like. It's hard to think outside the box sometimes. I wish we could all come to this realization about things in our life, that maybe our way isn't always the right way...
• One of the foreign teachers at our branch, Robin, finally left monday! AH! What a relief, I wasn't sure how much more of her bipolar self I could take! It's so much more quite at work now!
• Some other exciting news is that I only have to work 4 days in the next 2 weeks! Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving, is this week. We have to work Monday and Friday but then we have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off from work. Then I have to work Monday and Tuesday next week and then it's off for another vacation while the students take their exams! Karissa and I have booked tickets to the Philippines and are going to bask in the glory of white sand beaches and cheap rum for 5 days! :D It's going to be awesome! We hope to go diving or snorkeling while we are there too! We're sooo excited!! I'm really glad I have her to vacation with everywhere, we make a good team because we are so much alike, especially when it comes to traveling! 

That's the best update that I can give for now.... it's been an exhausting summer and I'm so glad fall has arrived. I vow to blog more! It WILL happen! Good news is.. I've been here for almost 4 1/2 months! Time seems to be flying recently! Before you know it I will be almost half way done with my contract and then just another 6 months to go! I can do it!! :D 

BTW, thanks to everyone who has sent me a care package at some time or another since I've been here. I truly appreciate it more than you'll ever know. It's nice to get things from home! :)

It's not wrong...it's just different..an inside look to Korean culture...

It’s been almost two months since I first arrived here in South Korea and I just want to start this post off with a look inside of the Korean culture. I haven’t quite fallen in love with this place yet unfortunately, but I also didn’t fall in love with Barcelona immediately either. I think a lot of that has to do with the culture here. Culture constantly fascinates me in ways that I can’t always describe. Korean values are pretty similar to American values; they surprisingly seem to come off as a very materialistic culture. Everyone must have nice things as a symbol of status like cars, clothes, and cell phones. They are also a very “wired” culture; it’s very rare that I see someone without a cell phone attached to their ear or hand (most of the time sending a text or even watching live tv). Appearance here is also very important and the hierarchy system is still very much in place. Men are in charge and it would be very rare for a woman to own a business. They are a very touchy feely culture and tend to be clingy sometimes. Koreans are some of the nicest and rudest people that I’ve ever met, all at the same time! They have no sense of personal space, enjoy silence on public transportation, love their spicy ass food, and refuse to let any sunlight penetrate their skin. They are a very active and physically fit culture with a huge emphasize put on being  “tall and skinny.” Education is the absolute most important thing. The language to me is confusing and every single word ends in a vowel and this is no exaggeration. Everywhere I go it’s, Yogi-yo, kam-sam-nee-daa, on hay seo…. everything ends in the vowels…nee da, ha-seo, or yo. The average size family includes 1 maybe 2 children. Koreans also don’t sweat and will wear turtle necks, long pants, gloves, and a huge hat to shade their whole face when it is 90 + degrees outside, and STILL – no sweat.  Koreans are also very big on national pride and take their country very seriously. The children are adorable but Koreans do not age well at all. The older they get, the worse they look I’ve noticed.

 I think that overall when it comes to cultural values here and the way of life, I’m not sure that this is a place that I would want to live forever. Korea is very nice and maybe I haven’t experienced enough of it yet to really form an overall opinion of this place, but these are my initial thoughts after 2 months. There are worse places on this earth to spend my days and Korea is certainly not one of them. 

Educational Culture – Here in Korea the students go to school during normal hours just like we would in the US. From about 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. everyday. In school they study a variety of subjects. After school almost all Korean students will attend some type of academy. For example, one student’s week could look like this: Monday & Thursday – English academy after school for 3-5 hours, Tuesday & Friday - Math and Science academy for 3-4 hours , and Wednesday & Saturday maybe a sports academy like Taekwondo or a Korean academy. Then after the kids go to academy, most of them get home around 8-10 p.m. every night and then have to do normally 2-3 hours of homework on top of all that. I’ve been told that 6 hours of sleep for a Korean student each night is a joy! The kids also go to school pretty much year round here, they get a month off during summer and a month during the winter but that’s about it. Education is the top priority here in Korea. Where we might see this as demanding and cruel, this just happens to be their culture. It’s not wrong, it’s just different…




That's about it for my cultural rant at the moment. At this point I think anyone who's reading probably has a grasp on my daily schedule at this point: Sleep in, wake up, gym, work, and then stay up late doing whatever. So I don't need to go through everyday...BUT, I will give you the highlights of the past 3 weeks...here are my random thoughts in no particular order...

• Here in Korea, if you happen to be in a relationship, you can purchase matching clothing! Couples do this all the time and it's not rare to see couples in matching clothes just walking around! They also have an entire section dedicated to this fad or fashion trend at the large department store here called the Dong-A! Crazy! I will try to snap a photo if I can...
• There was company picnic June 20th- none of us went though, it included having to pay 25,000 Won for lunch in some remote outskirt of Daegu. Pssh, Maybe next time if they decided to do something not so boring and worth my weekend...
• There has recently been a crackdown at work concerning use of the internet, cell phones, too much chit-chatting, and electricity conservation....My thoughts on this = GAY! The boss has been watching our every move on the CCTV system, I think a lot of his stress has to do with one of our branches closing, I can imagine that the merger is a little stressful but one of the rules implemented included no talking in the staff room except for during the 5 mins. break period...I mean come on, seriously!?
• I almost got hit by some idiotic woman driver the other day. They drive on the sidewalks here and she just started coming up onto the sidewalk off of the main drag at probably 25 mph! She nearly hit me and when she saw how pissed off I was she started doing some weird arm motion that I'm assuming meant "I'm sorry!" Regardless...I hit her car a couple of times and gave her the bird just to let her know how pissed off I really was...!
• I recently started drinking Aloe, it's a big thing here in Korea. At some point in time I remember my grandma telling me about it's benefits because she had purchased some for my sickly aunt. I had some at work when we had snacks one day and it was delicious and now I'm drinking it all the time. It might be the single cause of me staying here - it's that good!
• Another piece of advice from my lovely grandma..and this is verbatim... "I think that you just need to get laid. It will stop all this nonsense talk about being in love." - HAHA! My grandma...the world's best right there folks! She literally knows everything there is to know. I miss having our Saturday work days together!
• Another note about work - we have treats all the time! I love it! One day last week, the big boss guy (Woon Jang Nim) brought us in a big tub of baskin robbins ice cream, another day, our team leader brought in ice cream cones for everyone, and then another day the big boss brought us some Korean goodies...some purple noodles and some rice cakes in some spicy - wait, you guessed it -RED sauce...not too bad, that's when I tried the Aloe. We have also had cake on many occasions as well.
• Terrorism is stupid. 
• The fruit here in Daegu truly is delicious. The apples are probably some of the best I've ever had and the pears here are to die for.
• The humidity has decided to kick itself up a notch and is slowly trying to suck the life out of me...along with this humidity have arrived our not so friendly blood sucking pests that we like to call mosquitoes. I have already been bit about 5 times and from what I hear, I'm lucky, it could be worse! I need some bug spray STAT!
• While I have been neglecting my blog we had a vacation from work. It was supposedly a 4 day vacation but turned out to only be a long weekend - we had Thursday and Friday off... I did nothing productive with myself, sad to say but totally true. I hung out with Chris and Joel all weekend because everyone else was away on vacation. I spent the majority of my time frequenting the downtown area and staying out until 8 & 7 a.m. respectively! I did locate a pool though and thus went for a swim. I also did some shopping and actually purchased a few things for a change. I met a lot of new people so overall it was a good weekend. I kinda wish I would have traveled somewhere but I decided to just be boring :-/
• Speaking of pool...I did locate a pool that I can swim laps at. I purchased myself a swimsuit, cap, and googles and decided to get back at it! I didn't realize how much I missed swimming until I did my first 50 meters! Ugh, I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to stop doing it in high school (wait, I recall the big shoulders paranoia) ...I miss the swim team, great exercise. The Koreans at the pool seemed to be pretty impressed with me and the lifeguard went so far as to complement me on my great swimming with the little english that he knew. I liked it so much that I decided to go back this weekend and ended up meeting another girl named Victoria from England. She signed up to take swim lessons and the lifeguard asked me if I could come and help him teach her because he doesn't speak any English and is having a hard time explaining things to her! I felt so flattered but I can't do it because I work during the time of her lesson. I told her that I could give her some advice on the weekends though if she wanted some help...
• I also received my first care package from Auntie Jo, loaded with peanut butter, nutella, popcorn, and English magazines..I'm only allowing myself to read 10 pages per day so that they last me for a while! lol Thanks again Auntie Jo!
• Here in Korea they have this terrible music called K-pop, which in short stands for Korean Pop. It's probably the worst music on the planet. I told my students this and they said, "No teacha, no!" I explained to them that if it was good music it would probably be recognized internationally or at least in one other country - AKA there's a reason for this - it's TERRIBLE! If you don't believe me - download some.
•  Common courtesy goes along with any job.
• What’s so scary about being human is the unknown….
•  The most beautiful Korean women are supposedly found right here in Daegu.
• Boys hold hands here and girls hold hands here but it’s not considered gay, just friendly.
• I love memory foam and desperately want some for my bed!
• It's pretty cool to be paid in millions!
• One recently cool experience that I had: Joel and I went to this place called Dr. Fish. This is how it works..you go in, pay like 2 dollars, put your feet in these little tub things that are full of these little fish and they eat all the dead skin off of your feet! It feels so crazy! I am extremely ticklish so it was hard for me to get used to it at first but it's like receiving a pedicure by little baby piranas! Very cool. I also read that Dr. Fish only exists in Korea and Malaysia but that could be false...interesting experience though, I can't wait to go back!
• Canada Day was this past Thursday and the Fourth of July is currently occuring...haha It's been a fun filled weekend that included a sloppy night at the bar yesterday. Special food was offered in honor of these holidays this weekend here in Daegu at this bar called the Holy Grill. Goooood Eats if I do say so myself! 
• The past two weeks we haven't had hardly any students at school because final exams are taking place in their regular schools so it's been extremely quiet at work. Relaxing, but I'm ready for my little darlings to return to school tomorrow because I'm bored and they keep me pretty entertained at times...
• I'm trying to plan what I'm going to do for our next vacation. Karissa wants to go to Taiwan...anyone know anything about Taiwan? I wouldn't mind going there or the Philippines.

Random thought for the week..

Whose to say where I'll be a year from now?? I honestly can't even begin to think about that right now. People keep asking me this but I just can't make plans anymore like I used to. If there is one thing that I've learned over the past 3 years it's that you gotta take this world ONE day at a time...and sometimes you even have to take it hour by hour, and minute by minute.... Make it count because you never know when you won't be with the one's you love anymore...

Question of the week...

Is it wrong to go out with someone even if you don’t see yourself dating them in the future? Is it still wrong even if you just see yourself having fun with them as a friend?

The World Cup has officially begun!!!..oh yeah..and another week in Korea..

Well, I'm two days late but its still exciting...this past week has been busy!

Monday - Hit the gym in the morning and made a new friend! I met a girl named Kelly that lives and teaches in this area too! Very nice! Then I headed to school...Back to work..ugh. I hate Monday's for the pure fact that the weekend joy has to come to an end. It's sad. Monday's are also my busy day at work so that's no fun at all. The day flew by with 5 classes and 2 phone calls at the end of my day. After work I headed home and did some Spanish stuff before I just passed out.

Tuesday - Gym in the morning and then off to work. Nothing too exciting at work this week except for the fact that some of our co-teachers have moved classes so I had some new teachers and that created a bit of extra work for me but nothing too bad. After work I didn't do anything. I live too far away from everyone else to do stuff, it sucks sometimes and other times I like it that way.

Wednesday - Gym in the morning and then work again. Wednesday's are my favorites because I only have 2 80 minute classes and so much free time that I don't even know what to do with myself. I also got my first pay stub on Wednesday! Yay! I must say, it's pretty cool to be paid in millions! haha. We also had to work 2 holiday's this month so I got an additional 100,000 won! Altogether it turned out to be a pretty nice pay check and I am going to try to save the majority of it.

Thursday - Gym in the morning and then I headed over to Susung branch for work. Thursday was the official payday when our money gets deposited into our accounts so everyone was in a fabulous mood. I was pretty lenient with my classes too. I like almost all of my students but there's one or two that I would love to just have kicked out of school! After work I decided to skip TND this week to hang out with one of my other friends named Jon. We grabbed pizza downtown and it was delicious!

Friday - I skipped the gym in the morning because I just couldn't pull myself out of bed! It was pitiful! I headed into work, the day seemed to creep by so slowly and right before it was over I got an email from our boss saying that he needed to talk to Brendan and I. So, at 10 we headed to his office only for him to be at the other branch so we had to call him up on the phone and that is when he told us that the Beommul branch that I live by and work at is closing down due to the fact that the lease is up on the building and they think it would just be best to move all the teachers over to Susung. So, I will also be moving. Now, this is obviously a little bit of an inconvenience to me considering the fact that I have been here for like a month and I will have had to move twice within two months! I'm a little annoyed but at the same time, I'm happy to be back on the subway line and closer to the other foreign teachers. I will no longer have to pay 10 dollars for a cab ride home every-time I want to go out after work! It's exciting.

The downside is this...They gave Brendan the option of staying in Jisan, where we live now, or finding him an apartment in Susung closer to the school and they just flat out told me that I would be moving back to Manchon. I was excited about the move until they told me this. I do not want to move back into Manchon. Compared to where I live now, Manchon is like living in a closet and I would still have to take the subway to work everyday! Plus it's like living in a college dorm with people that live in the same building always knocking on my door and what not. Ugh, annoying. So I decided, after talking to Karissa and the other foreign teachers, that I was going to ask them to find me a different place too! It's only fair, even if they do favor guys here. lol It was alot of excitment within a short amount of time. It has it's downsides and it's upsides. I'm sad that I will have to find another gym and the fact that i finally know my way around here and now I have to leave! The move will be official on the 17th of July but I will probably be moving sometime before that. After working I got invited to do a couple of different things but instead just decided to stay home because I had to be up early the next morning to go to Costco! BTW, the World Cup officially started on Friday! WOO HOO! I'm so freaking excited for this! I am backing Spain all the way because I think they have one of the best teams in the world. I am also in favor of Portugal, Brazil, and Germany....in that order! All have great teams and it's going to be interesting to see who ends up in the final together. I think that soccer players have the best bodies of all athletes and this is one of the main reasons that I have started following this sport, plus, it's so much better than American football and all the other professional sports that are out there these days...So yea, if your a fan, let's hear who you are supporting! I'd love to know!

Saturday - I had to get up at 8:30 in order to meet everyone at 10:00 to go to Costco. I was going to pick up a few things for Brendan so I met him around 9:20, took out some money and caught the bus to meet everyone else. We taxied it to Costco and I was so excited when we got there! We started out on the bottom level where all the stuff is that isn't food. I didn't really get to look around much because I was with 3 other people and I felt really rushed. I did get a normal size bath towel though so I was pretty stoked about that! Here in Korea they only use towels the size of hand towels back home to dry off with when they get out of the shower. It is beyond me why they do this, I think it's strange and I don't see the point in depriving yourself of a luxurious bath towel if you don't have to! I think it's silly. I need normal towels, I like to be able to wrap up in a towel when I'm done with my shower!
After looking around in the home goods area we headed upstairs to the food. It was sample day but I didn't have time to try much like I said, I felt rushed. Overall we were there for about an hour or two, we shopped and then we had lunch at the cafe which was really good. We all spent a total of 360 dollars and each time I spend money I get a certain percentage of that back at the end of the year. So anytime someone wants to go to Costco and use my card I'm okay with it! Everything comes in bulk at Costco so I ended up with a substantial amount of things...here's what I got: Egg-o waffles, honey nut cherrios, fiber one bars, pace salsa, slices of smoked salmon, slices of turkey breast, a huge block of colby jack cheese, 6lb. bag of veggies for my lunch, and a 4lb. bag of trail mix! I saw so much stuff that I wanted but I'm just going to have to go back another time when we aren't in such a rush.
After I got back from Costco I headed to the gym, I love going to the gym on Saturday's because I'm never on a time limit so I always get the best workout. Got home around 5, showered, and then headed over to meet up with everybody to go to Druyu park, the huge park here in Daegu, to watch the South Korea vs. Greece match! We arrived at the park about 30 minutes before the game started and it was absolutely packed! There had to be, and I'm not even exaggerating, at least 20,000-30,000 Koreans there! It was insane! We couldn't even get close enough to see the huge TV screens. Honestly, you would have thought that we were going to a live sporting event the way that people were acting. They are really backing their team here and I think that's great. It was very exciting just to be there in that crowd. The game was obviously in Korean so not only could we not see the TV's but we also couldn't even understand what was going on...haha it was a bit of a waste and we probably should have watched it in a bar but nonetheless, it was a good time. Afterwards we had Galbi, or Korean BBQ nearby before heading home and calling it a night. We were all too exhausted from getting up early to stay out late.

Sunday - I got up around 11 and realized that I had no reason to be up so I went back to bed and got up again around 1:30. lol Sunday is my day of rest. After I got up I decided that I was going to go downtown and do a little shopping before I had to meet up with everyone for dinner. I found this great store called Basic House and they actually had clothes that fit me! I've been having trouble finding things that fit right. Here in Korea, the women do not have boobs and a butt so everything is like a "one size fits all" kinda deal and it literally does. Unfortunately for me..this isn't going to cut it. I need clothes for curves and this store just happened to have normal stuff! I was pretty excited and I ended up finding a skirt that I really liked. I bought it and then I later bought a shirt to go with it! After my shopping adventure I met up with the majority of the other foreign teachers and one of our Korean co-teachers. (his name is Soo-jin and he went to school and lived in texas for 10 years so he's very Americanized, it's great) We had decided about 2 weeks ago that we were going to get together the first Sunday after payday and go to this western place where you can BBQ! So, we arrived, and we ordered this huge platter of meats and stuff and then had a cook-out! Each table is equipped with it's own grill, an actual grill. It was sweet. We had squid, steak, shrimp, duck, chicken, pork, sweet potatoes, smoked salmon, roasted chestnuts, veggies, and of course no meal would be complete without some Korean salad! Everything was delicious! We will definitely go back . After dinner us girls headed downtown to do a little more shopping, we also grabbed a Coldstone Creamery ice cream and then had bag drinks later. We called it an early night and headed home around 11:30.
So one thing about Korea is that they have TV's in almost all their cars AND buses here! Talk about a distraction! If you think cell phones in America are bad...try having a TV in your car! Haha, so all of the taxi's have them of course and on the way back in the cab I was watching the World Cup while sipping my bag drink! Life doesn't get any sweeter than this! Someone is chauffeuring you around while you drink a martini in a bag and watch the World Cup! Life at this moment was grand! It was ruined when I was exiting the cab and accidentally spilt more than half of my drink the floor of this guy's cab! AH! I felt so horrible because he didn't even try to rip me off! I tried to say I was sorry but it just wasn't happening in Korean, but the good news is that he just waved his hand and basically said no worries! I was so relieved! After getting home I of course checked all the updates on the World Cup for the day, made my predictions for the next round of games and headed to bed.

Monday - I went to the gym in the morning and then headed to work. Like I said earlier, mondays are always my busiest day at work so I don't enjoy them. I got most of my grading done quickly and I had sent an email to my boss about my new living situation. He eventually called me into his office and I calmly and rationally explained to him that I would like the same option as Brendan was given to move closer to Susung and explained to him my reasons and why I did not want to live at Manchon. Long story short he said that he would see what they could do....I'm not sure if this means they are going to look for a place for me or what? Hopefully they do though because if not then I'm going to keep complaining until I get my way! After that discussion I proceeded with my classes and as my day was coming to an end I learned that 2 of the teachers, Robin and Karissa, had gotten into trouble for using the internet for personal use. So then we all got an email telling us that we are not allowed to use the internet for personal use, we are not allowed to use the printers at work for personal use (even if it's to print out one thing), and we are not allowed to have our MP3 players out at work listening to them. lol I just laughed out loud when I got this email...seriously...that's the dumbest thing, but whatever...rules are rules I guess. I'll follow them because I'd like to keep my job.

Tuesday - Today I didn't do much before work, I went to the gym and bought some awesome whole grain oat bread at the Dong-A department store. Work was pretty boring...most of my classes were good except for the last one. It's been predicted that we are going to lose some of our students in the move and I honestly wouldn't mind losing my last class! Haha, they are a group of those stubborn teenagers that think that everything you do is "uncool and lame." How did I get stuck with this class? I hate them probably as much as they hate me! Whatever..I laid out the rules and they have to follow them...and if they don't..I'll enjoy every minute of punishing them..! After work I came home and actually turned on my TV for like the second time since I've been here! I finally located the World Cup on some sports channel and even though it's in Korean and I can't understand what they are saying..I can still tell what's going on in the game. So, my day was made whole by this. I probably won't turn the TV off now until July 11th! I love World Cup fever...I'm so into this year!

Side-notes:

• I have been diligently practicing my Spanish! I love it! 
• Did you know that Samsung makes cars? A NICE car at that however, they do not export them!
• I found the one place that you can buy English magazines here. I wanted to get Travel and Leisure but it was 17 dollars! No thank you! - Crazy! Someone mail me one please!
• I want to go to the Philippines and Thailand but I'm too poor, at least for this vacay..I hate student loans, they might be the death of me...I wonder what would happen if I just didn't repay them? Could they take me to jail? Will I have to hide out here forever?
• It is very quiet here on the trains and on the buses. I was told there's like this unwritten rule that you don't talk on the trains, subways, or buses. It's creepy..I don't like the silence...this makes me reflect back on my train rides in Spain...always conversation, always song, always dance..I miss it!
• I bought some spa stuff, like face masks and an under-eye treatment thing the other day...I tried them out..and they work! They are crazy about their skin care here, there are so many products to choose from, it may take me a year just to try them all!
• They drive with absolutely NO CAUTION here in Korea...they are crazy drivers...if anyone thinks Europe is bad..you should check out Korea...they drive without even thinking that someone might be around the corner..no possibility at all! I'm surprised there aren't more accidents. I know pedestrians get hit a lot and if someone even TRIES to run me down with their car I'm going to beat the hell out of them if I am still standing! haha
• Something else I've realized this week...We all stereotype..it's just what we do as humans...but, I discovered this week just from teaching that we actually learned how to stereotype in school. It's inevitable. 
• Most days here in Korea...I feel like I'm living in a world of gay men and high class women. All of the men here are extremely feminine...and I mean..to the extreme's worse than Europe..except here..being gay does not exist whereas, the majority of the flamboyant ones in Europe are 50/50, straight or gay. They carry nicer handbags than me, wear tighter pants than me, and use more products in their hair than I do! It's just gross..I am completely repulsed by the majority of Korean men...it's sad...The women here are equally as crazy. They all wear high heels everywhere they go..to the grocery store, in the pouring rain, to the SOCCER GAME at the PARK of all places where there are dirt paths! In fact, while hiking I do recall seeing a couple of girls in heels. They are also crazy about their sun umbrella's here. Koreans refuse to let any light penetrate their bodies. They will wear turtlenecks and pants and visors even when it's 90 outside and THEN, in addition to all that, they will also carry around their annoying sun umbrellas and they will just hit you in the face with them and then keep on walking. I'd like to slap these *****. Don't these people know that you NEED 15-20 minutes of direct sunlight a day to get enough Vitamin D? The sun can be good for you in moderation. In western culture..we think tan and golden is beautiful but here they think that being as white as a ghost is attractive. They even have moisturizers and skin creams to help bleach your skin and keep it it's whitest! Crazy! I wonder if that's what Michael Jackson was using? lol Just wondering...
• They also do not sell normal size brooms here. They only sell short brooms, you can't buy a normal one at the store. Trust me, I've checked 6 different stores. I'm just going to go ahead and throw something out here...I think that I'm putting two and two together when I say this... I've noticed that the majority of old women here are hunchbacked...like bent all the way over..and I'm just taking my best educated guess when I say this..I think this is because they have been sweeping their floors all these years with brooms that are too short for them! Maybe, if they would have thought to make the handle longer..they wouldn't be in this positon...literally! 

Oh Korea...this week you and I have not seen eye to eye on everything.....I hope this week is better so that I don't have to buy my own sun-umbrella to take people out with.....

Annie

Oh Korea..Greek food should not be spicy!

As promised, it is Sunday…so here is another post!

Good news is that I have officially been here for a month! The bad news is that the humidity has arrived. It came suddenly and quietly in the night like a thief and I am in no way excited about it! Now, onto the goods….

Monday – I decided to venture out and find a gym! I had asked a Korean co-worker about a gym in my area and he suggested one for me. Well, I went there and signed up! I was pretty freaking excited about it. It’s 60,000 Won a month but that includes all the machines, showers and whatever classes are offered in the “stretching room.” I think there are yoga classes but this lady’s English was terrible so I’m not really clear on that subject yet. I’m just excited that I found a gym so easily!Work was good, nothing too eventful. After work we all got together for Chris’ birthday. We ate at this really nice Italian place and then afterwards we went to this place called Fun-Joy and then it got sloppy! This place serves what we call Soju cocktails. Now soju, as I have expressed, is not the best thing in the world but it’s about the only thing here to drink, it’s hard to find vodka, rum, tequila, etc. Soju is dangerous because when it is mixed with anything you can’t even taste it unlike a Vodka and cranberry you can tell how heavy the bartender’s hand was when he was pouring it. Soju, not so much! So, we had these delicious cocktails with Soju, almost like a fruit slushy, and then next thing I know we are all drunk. I didn’t get home till like 4 or 5 in the morning. What a night!

Tuesday – Hit the gym before work! It was excellent! Level tests begin! Yay! My schedule said that I only had to proctor one test and teach one of my classes so I was pretty excited. So I had a lot of downtime at work this day. However, during the last period, one of the Korean teachers came up to me and wanted to know why I wasn’t teaching her class. I pulled out the schedule and clearly showed her that she was supposed to be teaching and even though I know she understood me, she acted like she didn’t and I did not want to stand there and argue with her so I had to go into my new class that I’m not supposed to start until Friday and teach them. They were little hellions and I decided that Friday I was going to lay down the law after the way they disrespected me. I left work kinda mad that night because #1 if I was supposed to teach that class then it was my Team Leader’s fault for not telling me because the schedule is in Korean and it was his responsibility to tell me, I thoroughly went over it with him and he didn’t mention it and #2 I know that I wasn’t supposed to teach that class, it was the Korean teacher that should have taught it so I wasn’t very happy with her for putting me in that position. Oh well…there’s only so much you can do about this kind of stuff…

Wednesday – Hit the gym before work. Level testing again, I still got to teach my classes though. I now teach another class at 4, it’s just one girl so it’s a little boring. Hopefully this will change and she will get put into another class on a different day after the level tests have been calculated. I taught my favorite class this day also, I know I shouldn’t play favorites but I do! I also got invited to go on a Korean blind date! Haha One of the desk teachers asked me if I would like to go out with one of her friends. She told me a little bit about him, he bakes cakes, is 26, and likes foreigners. I asked her if his English was good and she said not really. Now, how does this guy really expect to be able to carry on a conversation with me? If he really likes foreigners that much then he should consider taking an English class or something. It sounds to me like maybe he wants a green card or something. (I’m just saying!) I said no thanks.

After work I came home checked my email and I had received a message from the US Embassy in Seoul. I registered with the embassy so that in case of an evacuation, they know where to find me. The letter basically addressed the high concern for war between the North and the South. It said that they didn’t see any immediate threat to the American community here but to stay up to date on the latest news reports and what not.

Thursday – I went into work today feeling a little drab. I didn’t make it to the gym because I didn’t have enough time and then when I got to work I just didn’t really feel like doing much. Thank goodness for level tests! My kids were pretty good so I let them play a game. We found out about our vacation dates. They are going to be from the 24^th – 27^th. So basically 4 days. Everyone else is already making plans and stuff but I don’t think I’m going to be able to afford to do anything. I really want to go to Barcelona and I found a good deal on a ticket but I soon realized that my friend won’t be in Barcelona until like the 28^th of June. Talk about bad timing. I also have another 4 day vacation at the beginning of August so maybe I’ll do something then. After work we headed over to Alexis’ because she was hosting Thursday Night Dinner. We actually turned it into a Thursday Night Breakfast and had breakfast instead. We had chocolate chip banana pancakes, sausage, fruit salad, scrambled eggs, toast and frozen mochas! It was great. It was fun to hang out with everyone even though I wasn’t feeling really social that day. Good day overall.

Friday – Yay for Fridays! I went to the gym and it was great after that I headed into work and prepared for the day and taught my two classes and then I taught my two new classes that I got. I went in with Class Rules for both of my new classes because their old teacher Brendan, I have discovered, was a huge softie! So I had to lay down the law to these kids and they behaved pretty well for their first class but we’ll see how it goes this week. I was pretty excited when 10:30 came around and after work I headed downtown to go out with everyone. There was a billibow tournament at this place called Billibow ( what a coincidence!) Billibow is a mix between bowling and pool. It’s set up like a bowling alley but the pins are smaller and you shoot a pool ball down the bowling alley with a pool table stick. It actually looks really fun. Anyways, almost everyone from our group was in the tournament, 3 of us were not. It was fun to watch nonetheless and I got free drinks all night so it ended up getting a little sloppy. I made some new friends and then had Gim-Bop at 5 in the morning with Joel and Andrew. I got to see the sun rise in the cab on the way home! Hahaha Oh Korea! The sun comes up at literally 5 am here and sets at like 7:45. I hate it, there needs to be more sunlight, I can’t even being to think about what it’s going to be like in the winter months! Ugh!

Saturday – I went to the gym around 2 and spent about 2 hours there. I saw another foreigner at my gym so that was pretty exciting. I didn’t talk to him or anything but if I see him again I’m going to say hi and find out where he’s from. He must live in my neighborhood somewhere. After going to the gym almost everyday for a week I have already seen a noticeable difference in my sleep schedule, eating schedule, and my mood. I feel so much better about myself. I’d give it another week or 2 at the gym and my body will be back to what it once was. I can’t believe that I was just letting myself go like that, getting no exercise and just eating whatever I want. I guess I’m to that age now where I can’t do that anymore and it took gaining 10 lbs. to realize this! Haha But honestly I love the feeling that going to the gym gives me, it’s actually fun! I never knew that I was missing out on all this enjoyment! After the gym I headed over to the store and picked up a few grocery items to help get me through the week and then once I got home I made some lunch, got a shower, and then headed downtown. I decided just to take the 3 bus and fortunately I didn’t run into my favorite bus driver friend! Haha. Once I got downtown I just wondered around I went into a bunch of face and make-up stores, they are everywhere. The Koreans, like most Asians are really into make up and beauty products, these people will do anything to look younger, it’s crazy. They always stay out of the sun because they think it’s going to give them too many wrinkles and they also have these creams here that you can put on your skin to make it whiter! Creepy! I wonder if this was what Michael Jackson was using? Lol It’s seriously a little scary. It’s a good thing to be super pale. Over here it is considered beautiful. So as soon as summer is in full swing I’m sure I will be getting even more stares as I start to get darker. I don’t think that I’ll be laying out anywhere and tanning but I have noticed that I’ve gotten sun since I’ve been here and I’m already starting to get darker, I just tan so easily, I want to thank my Dad for these wonderful Fan-TAN-tas-tic genes/ability. I think we have the same skin. Chelsea didn’t get that lucky; she got Mom’s and burns easily. So anyways I checked out some of these girly shops and bought a few things to try out like some face masks and some blackhead things. Gross, I know, but I just want to see if they really work. I shopped around for probably 2 or 3 hours and that’s all I bought. I spent like 3 dollars. Lol It was fun nonetheless to kinda find my way around. After being there for a while I grabbed a quick bite to eat at this Greek place. I got what was supposed to be a Gyro and it would have been decent Greek food if it wouldn’t have been for the freaking red chili peppers that they decided to throw in there and RUIN it! Ugh, I was so mad, I didn’t know that it was going to be spicy. Hey Korea…GREEK FOOD IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SPICY! They make everything spicy here! I was so disappointed. After that I headed to Beomeo to meet up with Karissa, Joel, and Chris. We just hung out down by the river, they had some drinks, I had one and then we called it a night around 3. Pretty boring I guess.

Sunday – Today, I got up, headed to the gym and it was CLOSED! Ugh, I was sad. I was really looking forward to getting in a great work-out but instead I just ventured around the DongA looking at everything and then decided to do my workout at home. I made lunch and did some cleaning. I also watched the movie Precious today. Sad movie in it’s own way, a little disturbing in parts. I also broke out the Spanish stuff the other night and I have been diligently practicing and I spent a good 2 hours on that today. It was a pretty relaxing day.

Some side notes:

• I have found that everything in Korea is very high tech and I mean everything. It’s very modern here, the cars are amazing and the buildings are equally impressive.
• You can’t buy English magazines here unless it’s like Times or Newsweek. All I really want is a Cosmo but I’ve heard you have to go to Seoul to get a copy. L
• Dad and Auntie Joe are sending me a care package soon with all things that I love! I’m excited!
• I've also realized how much of a girly girly I am. I knew this somewhat already but it seems to be coming out full swing recently. I wouldn't have it any other way though! 
• I have become an amazing cook recently. I’ve been told that it runs in the family and I would like to also thank my Nan because she taught me a lot of things while I was home on sabbatical! Haha I now have confidence in the kitchen!
• I hate taking cabs here, they charge you based on how long it takes to get there and the RPM’s so they will purposely rev up the engine, go slow, and act like they are lost or try to carry on a conversation with you in what little English they know in order to distract you from what’s really going on. This is annoying and has happened to me like 4 or 5 times now and I’m going to ask my co-teachers what to say tomorrow when this happens again.
• I told a cab driver that I was from Canada when he asked and it’s a good thing I did because after that he said that he hated Americans. I think this seems kind of ironic but whatever.
• I want to travel to maybe a few places in Southeast Asia but honestly nothing is really jumping out at me, any suggestions would be appreciated!

Something else I realized this week.... here's some sappy wisdom..prepare yourself because I know this is out of the ordinary for me, but it's been an interesting week full of realizations.

Our lives are full of decisions. Good ones, bad ones, and sometimes it's hard to know if we are making the right decisions and sacrifices for the ones we love. At the end of the day it doesn't or it shouldn't matter how much money you have or how far behind you are on your house payment or how many cars you have in your garage ---- what should really matter is who you are sharing your life with, or who you are living you life for? Are you living it for yourself? For god? At the end of the day did you tell the ones you love how you really feel?

Truth is...these are the things that should matter, but in today's society it's a whole different ball game. 

Annie

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