Oh, where to start?

I'm slightly confused as to where I left off, but all I know is that I haven't written about Seoul at all, so I guess I'll start there! 

To be honest, I wasn't as enamored with Seoul as I thought I'd be. I kept hearing great exclamations of what a wonderful city Seoul was, but truth be told...I like Daejeon better! Okay, let's back up. Helena, Kellyanne and Laura took the KTX to Seoul, which took an hour. It was blazing hot that day, which should have been an omen for me. I don't like being hot. At all. Ever. I appreciate the cold and have, on many different occasions heard many complaints and grumblings from everyone about the arctic temperature of my apartment in Austin. My apartment in Daejeon is no different. I like it cold people! Get used to it!

Back to Seoul. By the way, I am not going to go blog about everything that happened in Seoul. It's honestly not worth my time, nor is it worth your time to read it. We arrived in Seoul Station after the hour train ride and immediately got on the subway so we could drop off our stuff at the hostel Helena found for us. We got lost trying to get to the hostel due to people's inability to navigate the subway or even read directions that were written verbatim from the hostel website. After 10 minutes of walking around, we discovered that we had, in fact, gotten off at the wrong stop so we needed to get back on the metro to get to the next stop. It was hot. I was sweaty. I was cranky. My shoulders hurt from carrying my bag. And I hate it when people don't fully research where they're going. Some people might find it fun, perhaps even exciting, to get lost in a city that they've never been to. Some people might even call it an adventure to go to a city with no plan, no itinerary and no research. I am not that person. I like to at least know where I'm going. At least. 

After I took over navigation (Katherine, if you remember, you also handed me the reigns of navigation in Europe), we found our hostel that was located on the fourth floor of some random building. I was looking forward to setting my stuff down, and maybe even laying down on my bed for a couple minutes to let the sweat covering my body dry. And I thought that might actually happen because the lobby/main room of the hostel was nice and cool. Then they opened the door to the room that we'd be staying in. There were five bunk beds crammed into this little room and the only ventilation in the room were two, small rotating fans. The door to our room was closed so that the hot air from our room wouldn't filter into the main room. Are you freaking kidding me?! I was absolutely DREADING going to sleep in that room. 

Our ridiculous room - and the two useless revolving fans.

Anyway, after discovering that I'd basically be drenched in sweat all night, I was slightly more cranky. I tried to shake it off though. I was in Seoul! In South Korea! I can rough it! This is going to be great! So I did shake it off. For the time being. 

The day was spent traveling around Seoul. We went to a Buddhist Temple:

Three gigantic Buddahs in the temple.

The temple entrance.

Apparently water is the best thing to offer. I should research why.

Then we went to N Seoul Tower:

Seoul Tower.

And rode the cable car up to the tower.

And saw lots of fantastic sights.

The purpose of the Seoul trip was to meet up with some Irish folk at an Irish pub. So after we were done at the tower, we set off to get lost a few more times on our way to the Irish pub that no one thought to google before going. Perfect. The Irish pub was all right - I drank some sangria and had some sausage and mashed potatoes. Weird combination. I was pretty exhausted after walking around all day in the heat  so I was ready to go home at maybe 1:00 am. So we all left. Upon arriving at the hostel, I was just looking forward to a shower. And why not? I was drenched in sweat 99.9% of the day and was covered in Seoul's gross pollution and nasty stench. So we got to the main room where there were three drunk guys sprawled out on the floor eating ramen and watching what could only be youtube videos. I immediately asked for a towel because the gentleman from earlier in the day (who was no longer in the vicinity) said that they had towels. The drunk kid got up and got me a hand towel that might only manage to clean one of my large thighs. "It's fine," I though. "I'll make it work."

I got in the bathroom that probably hadn't been clean in maybe 19 years and proceeded to take a cold shower. It felt good. In that moment, I was happy. I felt clean, not sweaty and cool. Perfection! That is, until I opened up the small hand tower to dry off my face and the stench of mildew assailed my nostrils like elephant poop that had been rotting in the sun for a few hours. Gross! 

Okay, people. I like to say that I'm the kind of girl that can rough it. I can hike in the woods. I can go weeks without wearing makeup. I can go without shaving for months. I don't blow dry my hair. I don't paint my fingernails. I'm perfectly content in sandals, workout pants and a tee-shirt. I don't wash my jeans more than two times a month. But please, please don't make me dry myself off in a nasty smelling towel that has probably dried off the bodies of countless grungy backpackers and most likely hasn't even been washed in a year. So this is what I did. Because I can rough it. I dried myself off with the clothes that I had worn that day. I wrapped my hair in my tank top and used my skirt to pat myself dry. Since I'm an idiot and forgot pajamas (because I usually don't WEAR pajamas), I wore a tank top that I planned to wear the next day and panties. I really didn't care if people saw me in my panties. I was preparing for the sauna that I was about to sleep in for an entire night. 

The night was as expected. Hot. I was the first to wake up, at 9:30. Surprisingly, I felt rested. As soon as I woke up, I took another shower (and used my sweater to dry off) and played around on the computer for a while. There were people sleeping everywhere. On the floor, on the couch, in the bunk beds...it was somewhat amusing. There was this guy sleeping on the floor behind me (the drunk kid from the night before who handed me that atrocious towel) that kept farting. It was slightly amusing.

 

That's the kid that kept farting.

Anyway, long story short, Laura and I went off to find a French village that must have had magical invisibility spells around it, because we didn't technically find it. We did, however, make it to a French bakery, which made the whole trip worthwhile. 

Pain au chocolat - the best snack EVER.

We got the train home to Daejeon and arrived during an outrageous thunderstorm. The loudest clash of thunder sounded the second Laura and I walked outside. It was terrifying. A sweet, old taxi driver drove us home in the pouring rain to my apartment. 

So that's Seoul. I am fully aware that it was not the most positive trip I've ever had, or blog I've ever written. There were definitely parts of the trip that were fun and weren't all negative. It's just that the majority was bad. I probably won't go back to Seoul until it's cold. I hope my blog will be more positive.

So now that I've written about Seoul, I really don't know what to write about next. SO much has happened and I wish I were more disciplined so I could have kept track of it all. Procrastination has always been my downfall. I think I'll write about what I've observed here in Korea. Nothing of great importance has happened since Seoul - I haven't been on any more grand adventures. 

First off all, Rachel (a girl from Philly who lives in my apartment building) and I went on the longest walk in recorded history. I swear we walked maybe 12 miles. It was incredible though. We walked from our apartments to the Expo bridge, then from the expo bridge to the arboretum, then from the arboretum to Home Plus. It was a fabulous walk and it was a beautiful day but MAN I was sore. My feet were throbbing but it was totally worth it. I had great company. Rachel is fabulous. She's so sweet and adorable and we get along really well. She's 6'0," which is also a plus. Katherine, watch out! Baha. 

Another thing to note: on the bus today, there was this gorgeous Korean guy. He was so adorable with big pouty lips. And he was tall! It was too good to be true. And yet...I shudder to think that the only men I'll find attractive are men who wear skinny jeans, have perfectly coiffed hair and carry man purses. Are feminine men in my future? This gorgeous guy spent the last five minutes on the bus staring into his camera phone whilst fixing his hair. And I wasn't even turned off. Ugh.

Teaching is going really well. It's nice having a job that you actually enjoy going to every day. The kids are so adorable and offer you candy on a daily basis. The eight year old girls love me the most. They get excited when they see me and like to play with my jewelry. Is teaching teaching me to love children? Perhaps. 

I love my co-workers. Maria, a 24 year old Korean teacher is so sweet.

Maria, at Starbucks.

Jude, our receptionist, is also so sweet and helpful. Jason, another Korean teacher, is so funny:

After dinner at a Korean/Italian restaurant.

Long story short, I feel like coming here was the right thing. Granted, I might still be in the honey moon phase of South Korea, but it feels RIGHT here. I had a friend ask me today what the best part about Daejeon was, and I honestly answered that just being here was the coolest part. I've loved getting used to living alone again. I've loved arranging my apartment just how I want it. I love cleaning my kitchen and doing my laundry. SHOCK, I know. I love riding the bus alone. And I love walking around Daejeon - whether it's a five minute walk or a 20 minute walk. I don't care. I don't mind walking. My feet like to protest a little bit, but I ignore them. 

I'm sure a lot of you have been wondering about my food situation here (or maybe you really don't care) but my food habits have changed a lot. Food is no longer my all-consuming thought. I'm trying to rebuild my relationship with food to where it's not detrimental to my state of mind or well being. It's a work in progress for sure. 

Well that concludes my ramblings for the night. I've been typing for what seems all night and am losing focus on my stories. I'll write more later and soon. 

And we're back...

And I'm back. I just had a tasty dinner of cha chang myeung (I know the spelling is completely wrong) which is a noodle dish with this black onion sauce. It's so delicious, and cheap! Costs only 2500 won. Thats about $2.12. I love it when food is cheap. Anyway, before I get back to the immigration story, I need to tell you about ordering food. Jude, our receptionist, will order us anything we want. So whenever she orders from a restaurant (EVERYONE delivers, btw), the delivery guy will bring the food on real plates (wrapped in styrofoam), with real chopsticks and spoons! Then, once you're done eating, you just leave the plates and everything there, and then the delivery guy will come back and pick up the plates. Isn't that awesome? I love Korea!
Okay, I seriously need to focus. The whole drive to the immigration place, Mr. Choi didn't turn off the AC ONCE. Yes, it was that hot. We arrived and it was super packed. The immigration place really wasn't that interesting. We basically waited an hour, then once it was our turn to, Mr. Choi and the woman spoke a whole lot of Korean to each other and then we left. Here is another funny/awesome thing about Korea. If a parking lot is full, it doesn't freaking matter. People will park in front of other cars, effectively blocking them off. But here's where it gets brilliant. People will either have their phone numbers on their windshields OR they'll have their car in neutral so that if their car is blocking off your car...you simply push them out of the way. Or. You call them and tell them to move their damn car. Organized chaos. Love it!
We left the immigration office and lo and behold a car was blocking us off. Mr. Choi tried to push it out of the way, but the inconsiderate bastards didn't leave their car in neutral. Another woman was trying to leave, and was, presumably calling the owner of the car because a few seconds later, a (cute) man came running out looking all apologetic and dreamy. Anyway, since the cute guy moved his car, Mr. Choi was able to maneuver his way out of the parking lot. And we were off!
After immigration, Mr. Choi walked me to the bank so we could change some money. Oh, I forgot to mention that immigration took my damn passport. And as fate would have it, I needed my passport to exchange money. Mr. Choi had his number memorized (I really should get on that) so we used his passport number instead. And yes, I am slightly stressed that I'm not in possession of my passport. I'm trying to not think about it though. Moving on.
We went to another traditional restaurant after the bank, which was good and bad - good because it was Chinese food (the REAL Chinese food) and bad because I was wearing my extra tight pants which made it impossible for my butt crack not to show. Grandma, I know you're reading this, and I'm sorry. Of COURSE, Mr. Choi took the sat on the floor with his back to the wall, which meant I had to sit with my back (butt crack) to the whole restaurant. I was thankfully wearing a shirt that I managed to pull down over my crack. These pants were really a bad choice. There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to cross my legs, so I had to stretch them out under the table without letting Mr. Choi know that I was simply not cut out for these traditional restaurants. I don't know what's worse - a skirt or super tight pants. The best part of this extravaganza was that I had cha chang myeung for the first time. It's amazing. And apparently it's a famous dish of China. Yummy.
I have to admit, on Friday I was a little bit cranky. I use the word "cranky" instead of "grumpy" or "in a bad mood" because I think "cranky" is just cuter. I was mostly cranky because I was doing all this work for the school but I wasn't getting paid for it. I was grading papers, teaching classes and creating lesson plans, but it was basically volunteer work because I don't get paid until the 6th of October. I hate eating into my savings, which was why I was so cranky.
Another reason why I was so cranky was because I got my health check results back. The number one comment? Lose weight. YES I KNOW, PEOPLE. I KNOW I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT. It's not like I think I have this super svelte body that's ridiculously toned and sexy. I'm not in denial; I'm perfectly aware that there's fat on my body that needs to go away. The second comment said that my blood sugar was low (74) and the third comment said that my blood pressure was high. Perfect. Great. I knew I shouldn't have let them take my blood. So because I'm me, I was basically beating myself up all day. And because I'm a girl, I was all mopey and self-conscious and ridiculous. Thank you, Estrogen.
So that concludes Friday. I still have the weekend and Monday, my first official (paid) day of teaching. More to come later!

More!

It's only been five days and already so much has happened. Blogging is getting downright ridiculous, but I know that I'll be grateful I spent all the time and energy to write my experiences down. I'm actually here at work, being, only slightly, unproductive, but I figured that I could take a break to update ya'll. Yes, I just said ya'll. I think that might be the first time, well, ever. I digress.
Where did I leave off? Friday, the 3rd of September, Mr. Choi took me to immigration so I could get my residence card! FINALLY. I had to meet him outside the school at 10:00 am, but MAN, it was so effing hot. The second I walked outside my apartment building, I was already sweating. I really don't know why I even bother showering in the mornings. Seriously. So I met him outside the school, which I'm sure when I say school, you're thinking of this one, perhaps two story building that's called Yang-G ELS (my school's name). Not so much. In Daejeon, or Korea, everything is high rise buildings. And when I say high rise, that doesn't necessarily mean that the building has 30 floors. A building will generally have five or six floors. My building, for instance has eight floors, but my school is located on the third and fourth floor. Get me? Same thing for shops, which is why naviagting around Korea is so damn difficult. A bookstore will be in a building, but will only be on the fifth floor of the building.
The people here also don't believe in houses. There aren't any houses anywhere, except perhaps in the rural areas of Korea. Everything is high rise apartments. Driving from Seoul to Daejeon, I literally saw clusters of high rise apartment buildings that probably consisted of 30-40 buildings. It was ridiculous. I'll try to take more pictures once I get the opportunity to do so. Where was I?
It was effing hot on Friday. I also don't know why I try to wear my hair down, because even though it's relatively short, wearing my hair down creates this inferno of heat around my scalp. It's awful. Anyway, we got into the car and Mr. Choi cranked the A/C (thank God). He, however, has this annoying habit of turning off the AC once he decides that he's cold enough. On the drive from Seoul to Daejeon, he probably turned the AC on and off again at least 35 times. In my deliriousness, I wanted to rip his head off because he kept turning the AC off, and whenever he did so, I started to sweat in my already smelly, sweaty clothes.
I actually need to go for a little bit. My food is here. I'll tell you all about ordering food here when I get back. Toodles!

Almost there...

I'm relieved that my last blog post was posted on the 29th because it's tiring trying to catch everyone up on a weeks worth of events. I need to get better about posting. Seriously.
My trip to the University Hospital was pretty interesting. Apparently all the teachers who come to South Korea have to get a health check (makes sense) so they can make sure we aren't on drugs, pregnant or diseased. Luckily, I'm none of those, so I wasn't really worried about the health check. I met Mr. Choi outside the school at 10 am and off we went to the hospital. We walked into the center where I was supposed to get everything done and it was MOBBED. There were so many Koreans there to get their health checks. They were all wearing robes and slippers, which I thought was cute. Anyway, the thing I was most terrified about was having my blood drawn. For those of you who know me well, this is the most terrifying experience for me. I think I'd rather meet a dinosaur than have my blood drawn. I think its awful and it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. So I was apprehensive about that. First things first though, I had to pee in a cup and for the first time in my life, my small bladder failed me and I could only fill up one tube (I had to fill up two of them). I noticed my pee had an orange tinge to it however, and realized that I probably shouldn't have taken the dayquil before my health check. I hope it comes out okay. After peeing in the tube, I had to get my blood drawn. And it wasn't bad. At all. I basically plugged my nose (don't ask me why) and looked at the wall. She filled up four different tubes with my blood and I was perfectly fine. Go me! After the blood, they had to check my eyes, hearing, teeth, height, weight (ugh), and then they gave me a chest x-ray (which I thought was interesting). There was a really sweet Korean nurse who was walking me to all the stations and we got to chat a little bit. I asked her why there were so many people here and she said that the Korean government makes it mandatory for its people to get a health check once or even twice a year. She said because of all the spicy food that Koreans eat, that a lot of people have gastric problems, mostly gastric cancer. Perhaps they should stop eating spicy food. Anyway, on the ride home from the University, Mr. Choi and I were talking and he told me this story about a teacher that they had hired who, after the health check, just disappeared in the middle of the night. Apparently he was addicted to heroin. Lovely. After the hospital, Mr. Choi took me to the pharmacist to get some medicine for my cold, then took me to eat lunch at this traditional Korean restaurant. I was, unfortunately, wearing a skirt, so sitting on the floor while not flashing my lady parts was very stressful, and I am NOT cut out to sit cross legged for long periods of time. My legs were dead asleep by the time lunch was over. If I wasn't trying to play it off so bad, it would have been a hilarious situation.
So the health check happened last Thursday, the 26th of August. Friday after classes, Patrick, Vincent and I went to eat dinner.

 This is our beautiful table. We cooked the pork, onions and rice cakes on that little grill in the middle of the table. 

And this is the bug larvae that they put RIGHT next to me. No, I didn't try it. 

While we were eating dinner, we saw some girls walk past the window who Patrick apparently knew. We had made plans earlier in the day to go downtown so I could meet his friends and experience the night culture of Daejeon. So Patrick invited them to come along. We met up with them around 11:30 then took a cab downtown. I'll just say this. Daejeon is like one big frat party. The guys (native teachers) are all just looking to score and the girls are there to drink a lot and stumble around drunk. My ideal is this: you can party and drink anywhere - why waste a perfectly good weekend drinking in Daejeon when you could be in Seoul, Busan, Jeju-do or at one of the many national parks that they have here? Maybe I've outgrown it, or maybe I'm just super lame, but it just really wasn't my scene. Anyway, I'll get off my soap box. So we met some of Patrick's (who will be called Paddy from now on) friends, most of whom were South African. The Irish girls and I were basically sitting there sipping our drinks (soju and orange juice) while everyone was socializing and drinking (heavily) outside of this convenience store, GS-25. There were groups of natives in little clusters - it was awfully cliquey and weird. I totally felt like an outsider. The most interesting part of the night though was people watching, which I have always loved to do. The Korean girls are all about wearing the highest of heels, the shortest of skirts, but the most modest shirts. It's hilarious. They look like hookers on the bottom, then nuns on top. It's hilarious. They were all beautiful though. Long, beautiful hair, perfect makeup, fashionable clothes, lean, svelte bodies. They were gorgeous. The men were a different story. A lot of them were actually so drunk that they had to be supported by their fellow drunk buddies. The men here dress, well I don't really know how to explain it. I wish I had taken a picture, but that's always kind of weird. They wear skinny jeans here, with polos (with the popped collar of course), thick, black framed glasses and Puma-like shoes. They dress pretty nice actually, but the skinny jeans? Not so much. We went to a couple bars while we were downtown, but since Korea allows people to smoke in the bars, I was totally not enjoying myself. I really didn't mean to be so lame, but I just wasn't feeling it. The Irish girls and I went home around 1:30 am - Paddy didn't get in till 5 am. Yikes!
The Irish girls and I got along pretty well. On the cab ride home, we agreed that we'd meet up Saturday morning so we could eat lunch then travel around Daejeon a bit. Helena and Kellyanne are part of EPIK, which is the public school system here. Since they're part of EPIK, they had this big orientation with all the public school teachers. The ones located in Daejeon agreed to meet at City Hall on Saturday, so after lunch, we were going to do that. I have to admit, I was pretty excited to be meeting some new people. We ate lunch at Mrs. Kim's, this Western restaurant that is owned by this sweet, older Korean lady. The chicken sandwich there is amazing. I have to thank Paddy for showing me that restaurant.
We met this other girl, Rachel, before braving the bus system of Daejeon (which actually turned out to be really easy). We took the 705 downtown. On the bus, we met two other guys who had been in the orientation with Helena, Rachel and Kellyanne. We got lost trying to find City Hall, but eventually found it with the help of some people on the street. We got to where everyone was and it was cliquey again! Kellyanne warned me about this. She actually said that the Americans tended to cluster together and not talk to anyone else, which was exactly what happened. Anyway, the plan was to go out and eat, and since we just ate and I really wanted to go to the E-Mart, Kellyanne and I split to go off and do our own thing. We had a really great time, and I ended up getting a set of drawers for my apartment at the trusty E-Mart.

This thing was awful to carry. I made it though!

On Sunday, we met up with Helena again and basically tried to do touristy things. It was POURING most of the day though, so we tried to find things to do inside. We really wanted to go to this Arboretum type thing here in Daejeon and take lots of pictures of the city, but that didn't happen because it just wouldn't stop raining. 

This is me and Kellyanne after running through the rain to catch a taxi.

Kellyanne and Helena in the E-Mart

We went to the E-Mart again on Sunday because Helena wanted to look for some shoes since hers got soaked from the rain. She wears a size 10, or a 260, so there was really no way in hell that we were going to find shoes for her. The highest they went was 250. Our feet are just too big for Korea. Hopefully all my shoes hold out for the year! So the E-Mart has three floors, and they have these escalator type things to bring the carts up and down the floors. They have these in Paris so I was pretty used to seeing them, but apparently a lot of people have never seen it before. I felt privileged. The rest of Sunday was pretty uneventful, we basically just took some fun pictures then went home to shower off the sweat from the day.

Kellyanne and I in front of the cutest statue ever!

Me in some cool artwork. I love taking pictures!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday flew by this week. This week was my first week of teaching. I didn't teach ALL the classes, but I did teach a few while Vincent sat in the dunce corner taking notes on how to improve my teaching skills. Baha. The first class I taught went okay. I was mostly nervous and insecure because I knew I had no experience in teaching whatsoever. His comments after the class were to be louder and more entertaining. I was basically boring. Great. The second class went better. I was able to engage with the students more and kind of joke around and be, well, entertaining. The next few classes went great. The kids seem to really like me - I'll hopefully take some pictures of them soon so everyone can see how cute they are! 

Haha, this kid today, his "English" name is James, was drawing a gun today in class. I thought about how much trouble an American kid would have gotten had the teacher seen what he was drawing. The gun even had a silencer on it! He's a sweet kid though. Once he saw that I was looking at his drawing, he started drawing Bart, from the Simpsons for me. Funny!

FINALLY caught up. Last night, Mr. Choi took us all out to celebrate Vincent's last week. We went to this restaurant where they put a pot of broth on the table, then they bring it to a boil on this little stove thats apart of our table. You put bean sprouts, cabbage, mushrooms, dumplings and raw meat into the broth to cook. It was SO GOOD. After you eat all the meat and stuff, you put noodles in the broth (my favorite part). It was so much fun and tasty. As you all know, everyone likes to drink a whole lot in my group of co-workers. We were having soju and beer at dinner, which was pretty nasty, but despite that, I drank anyway. After dinner, we went to this beer garten where we had this really tall glasses of beer. I wish I had taken a picture of them. It was ridiculous. I ended up pouring about half of mine into Paddy's glass though. Beer is disgusting. Our Korean co-workers also seem to think that there's something going on between Paddy and I because I guess we "look good together." We both thought that was hilarious because that would never happen. I played it up for him though. After the beer garten, we went to a Karaoke bar! At this point, I was drunk. Yes, I was drunk. All the beer and soju was just too much. So, inhibitions aside, I belted out some Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and the Spice Girls. It was a good night. 

I can't believe I'm all caught up. What a relief. I've been typing for an hour and I apologize for the length of this entry, but I really needed to catch everyone up. 

This weekend I'm going to Seoul with the Irish girls. I'm so excited! More to come later!