Downtown Gwangju

Annong Haseyo!

Downtown Gwangju is crazy. It's kind of like the mild version of Seoul, but it looks exactly the same. The streets are super narrow and all cobble stone, at least the parts that aren't being redone. Vendors and little stores are every where...like millions and millions of them. I don't think I've seen so many shoes in my life! And of course none are my size. Sadness. Oh well that just means I get to go to Itawan (the foreigner's mini city in Seoul were you can buy everything)!

Ok back to downtown... So you're walking down the street and the ground is littered with flyers either for a love party or prostitutes (basically the same thing), music is blaring from little shops and bars, old women are selling dried squid, hot dogs covered in who knows what, and barbecued chicken(there is a ton of street food everywhere). Stores are still open at 1:00 in the morning. There are streets that go on forever lined with cheap goods. Earrings for 1$, T-shirts for 5$, and pursers for 10$.

Apparently it's really cool to wear anything at has English writing on it. I saw a little old lady with a shirt that said "kiss of death" and an eight year old with one that read "the keggerater is tapped" ...if her parents only knew...lol. Another big trend is heels. All of the women wear high heels all the time! At the beach...heels. Grocery store...heels. What goes with a baseball cap...? Heels of course what else? What do the guys were? T-shirts with snoopy and mickey mouse on them. Why? I have no clue. With what? Designer jeans and matching shoes, what else...haha. All of the young people are all about fashion here. Guys can usually be spotted clutching their girlfriend purse as well. Boyfriends are expected to carry their girlfriends purse at all times. If you're lucky you might even see some couples wear! "Couples wear" is when a boyfriend and girlfriend wear the same outfit. All of the foreigners hate it, I on the other hand absolutely love it! If a guy has enough balls to wear matching pink Polo's and green plaid shorts he's got my vote.


Me and Jill

Downtown with the girls

Still here

I'm alive! Sorry for the lack of posting lately. The Internet and I aren't getting along so well.

So I finished my first week of teaching! My voice hurts, I'm tired, and I've decided I'm stuffing one of the little kids into my suitcase when I leave. I already have a favorite...he's so freakin cute!

"Teacha teacha, diss a...dissa a like (then he acts out whatever the new word is)...ok ok." Sooo cute!

So now I have a week off again...which sucks because I only get two weeks off a year. I think we're headed to Busan, but who knows. All I know is that I want to hit up a beach asap!

Teaching and Pics of the Apartment

Hi guys!

So I started teaching today...scary. I have eight freaking classes! OK that's probably normal, but that's still a lot. My schedule for the intensive summer course goes from 9-12 and then from 2-5, so classes are only 40 minutes. I know I know, it could be a lot worse. I don't even want to think about how many hours the Korean teachers put in. Lets just say it's way more then the foreign teachers. By the way, the little kids are sooo cute! Well, at least when there not hitting each other with their backpacks or trying to get you to say bad words in Korean...lol. A lot of the students were pretty shy today, I guess they just need a little time to warm up to me. The classes are pretty small also so that's good. My biggest class had 12 and my smallest had 3. All of the kids are around the 9-12 age range.

I also finally got my couch today! It's pink. Everything the directors get me is pink, WTF? It's cute though. It's way more comfortable then the bed, which basically feels exactly like the floor.

Last but not least, this past weekend! It was crazy. I met a lot of really cool people and a lot of really crazy stupid people. Apparently there are a lot of really crazy stupid people in Korea. Here are a couple pics of downtown Gwangju and more of the apartment including the new addition to the bathroom. I wish the one with the old drunk man would have come out better but it's still post worthy :)

<-- This is the crazy old man at like 2am.
Downtown Gwangju
My kitchen
New addition to the bathroom...
My washer! All in Korean! I just hit a bunch of buttons until it starts to fill up with water...lol.
Although there is hardly any crime in South Korea I still get a bad ass door that automatically locks behind you. I love not having to worry about keys!
Here is the new pink couch...very retro.

Hits

Woohoo!! Over a thousand hits! Cheers!



This is Chris and I at Speakeasy in downtown Gwangju. I finally found the other foreigners!

E Mart

Ok E Mart is also like a big Fred Meyer's. I've decided that I never want to go to this place again (at least not without a Korean friend, which I plan on making very soon). I hate E Mart. Picture this...

You walk into a store after a short walk from your apartment where pretty much everyone you passed along the way stopped to stare at you (on a side note I've learned I get stared at less if I have my hair pulled back). Once in the store you become somewhat overwhelmed so you decided to start from the fifth floor and work your way down. You skip over the sporting goods, car accessories, furniture, bedding ect., and make your way down to the clothing. You decided to look around a little, something maybe catches your eye and then bam! Before you know it you have your very own little Korean side kick. By this I mean some crazy Korean lady who works there and until you actually leave that department will literally be right next you the whole time. Literally I mean, get out of my bubble crazy close. It's so creepy. She just smiles at you and you have no idea how to politely tell her to go away. So being somewhat freaked out you head down to the next floor for groceries. I should have learned my lesson the last time. After a few aisles you get a huge headache from painstakingly having to examine every box or bag to try and figure out exactly what is you might be buying. By the way really loud annoying Korean music is playing the whole time. About every five minutes you hear bells and some Korean lady comes over the intercom making some announcement to everyone in the store but you. A couple of little kids run up to you and yell "Hello," so you say "Hello" back and then they laugh and run away. You walk around for a little bit longer and then decided to give up because your eyes are starting to go blurry. You go to check out...this part is never that bad. The clerk says "kompasuminda," and then you repeat whatever shes says back and smile. You bag your groceries and then you get the hell out of there. By the way people are staring at you the whole time.

Sounds fun eh? This is why I need a Korean friend stat! ...lol. I've decided to stick to the market at the bottom of my building and the 711 for the time being.

Seoul

I've been in Seoul for the past two days and now I'm really sad I don't live there! I love it there. There are people everywhere, so much to do, and crazy shopping. I think I spent a majority of my time in the subway looking for good deals...lol. I wish I would have snapped a picture because this place was insane. No worries though because I'm planning on going back to Seoul a lot! I found an awesome leather travel bag for only 10,000 won and it's huge! I also went to visit the Namsan Tower. Before I actually went to Namsan I thought it would be really boring, but the view is absolutely amazing. It's crazy to be that high, look in every direction and never see an end to the city. They say the population in Seoul has now grown to 14 million.

Here are a couple pics I stole from other sites to give you an idea, although the underground subway shopping is by no means justified. I would post the few pics I got from the tower but due to "haze" they didn't turn out so great.

The Bathroom

Here are the pics of my bathroom. Just to clarify after the messages I've received on myspace I do not use the green hose to shower...lol.

More pics of the apartment are on the way, I'm waiting for my couch to arrive to give the full effect. I did just get my washer the other day which was pretty exciting. No dryer though...sigh. It's the old hang dry method over here. Anyway the last pics is of the view from my room. It looks even better at night with all the lights but i have yet to get a good image of it.

Bar Food

This is the crazy bar food I was talking about earlier. No pretzels and fries like back home, nope here you get a dried fish cut in half (I'm pretty sure the eyeballs were included) with dipping sauce. Yum! So far I've only seen this once, usually the free food you get is actually pretty good.

Mud Fest 07!

To start, I'm sitting in my apartment right now!!! I love my directors! This afternoon they took me to the electronics store to buy the right cords for my computer, everything works now!!! I have power & I can upload my pics...sweet!

This weekend was amazing! Pretty much just what I needed after a frustrating couple of days. Some of the other ESL teachers and I went to the Mud Fest at Daecheon Beach in Boryeong, which is basically like spring break for foreigners. It was crazy! From being covered in mud, to taking soju shots on the beach, eating at my first traditional Korean restaurant (where you sit on the floor), finally trying pulgogi (which is marinated barbecued beef cooked in front of you on a burner...which by the way is my new favorite Korean dish!), to crashing in a hotel room with like 8 other random people, I don't think I could have asked for a better time. The best part was finding my way back to Gwangju on my own. Try figuring out a bus schedule in hangul. Not happening...lol. Luckily I met some incredibly nice ESL teachers from Seoul who showed me the ropes :) Buses out here are crazy. If they sell out of seats they sell standing tickets. My bus back to Gwangju was 2 hours, I can't imagine standing for two hours on a bus. People out here are nuts!

Enjoy the pics finally!

Good old Korea!

Well apparently Korea hates my computer!...lol. So I'm sitting here at yet another PC bang. I've now learned how to say one hour and no smoking in Korean. Score!...lol. This time I got an iced coffee, much better then the green tea.

I had my first Korean lesson today. It actually went really well, and I got to meet some other foreigners (always a good thing). A couple of the girls from Japan gave me directions to this huge electronics store where I found a new universal USB cord and converter. I think the old converter killed my adaptor though, so the computer is still not working. Soo sad. I think it also killed my straightener but I can live without that. The curling iron is the only thing that has survived so far.

I feel like being here is like being on a roller coaster. I'll get a huge high from something little like learning a new word and then become so frustrated I just want to cry. For example today I was so excited to start my Korean classes, learning to use the bus system (even though I took the wrong bus and ended up in the mountains...I got home, no worries),finding the underground shopping mall (which is HUGE!), and finding bagels AND cream cheese! (thank god for duncan donuts). Then I got back to my apartment, realized my computer still didn't work, couldn't figure out what was laundry detergent at the grocery store and couldn't ask anyone because no one spoke English, almost got ran over by some idiot on a motorcycle and then walked home in smog (ick!). Everything is a trade off I guess.

K question time.

So I went to the soju bar with the two other foreign teachers from my school, Chris and Jill (the two from Oregon), and my neighbor Jesse who is Korean but spent 5 years in the US. I'm recruiting Jesse to help with my computer :)

The smell here is definitely sewage but it's not everywhere, just down certain streets. My apartment smells good though,there is absolutely no kimchi! ...lol.

And no I am not taller then everyone. I am taller then almost all of the women, but not the men. I've been surprised at how many really tall Korean guys there are.

p.s. I love how I totally misspelled Coors, I'm going to fix that.

So the second day has been tough. The adaptor for my computer stopped working, and I discovered I forgot the cord to upload my pictures. I was supposed to start taking my Korean lessons today but due to the computer problems I lost track of the time and missed the bus downtown...oops. I spent the last three hours walking around gwangju trying to find a computer store, yeah that didn't go so well. The closest thing I could find was the Lotte... which is like the Korean Fred Meyers. They had had my camera but not the USB cord.

I finally decided to be brave and venture into a PC Bang (there is one on like every corner). I didn't want anyone to worry :) It's crazy! PC Bangs are like computer labs full of young Korean guys who just play video games all day. To use the Internet for an hour it cost 1,000 won... which is basically one dollar.

Walking around by myself has been really eye opening. People stare, little kids say "hello" and think it's cool and laugh because they're talking to a foreigner, cars stop for no one, the smell is not so good, and literally none of the older people speak English. I'm confident that things will get easier with time, it's just hard right now.

On a more upbeat note I did have a lot of fun last night. I went to my first soju bar! Soju tastes like vodka but without the horrible after taste. It mixes really well too! Afterwards we tried out an international beer bar. One Coors light was like 8$ US! I went for the 4$ house brew which was huge and basically tasted like PBR. I also got a sweet picture with the complementary bar food...you'll have to wait for that one...lol.

Before I forget I also wanted to tell you guys about the bathroom since I can't upload the pics yet. It's basically like an all-in-one type of deal. There is a room with a sink, toilet, and detachable shower head. No bathtub or shower curtain, you kind of just close the door and while you're showering you're cleaning your whole bathroom at the same time! It scares me that there are outlets too though (at least they are covered).

Well that's all I got for now. I'm going to try and finish my complementary cold green tea and get out of here!

Peace out from the land of morning clam :)

Hi guys!

So the trip went well, we never got lost or took any wrong buses. The flight from San Fran to Incheon was around 12 hours. It wasn't that bad though, I had a little monitor with a screen on the seat in front of me with like 40 different channels of news, movies, and TV shows to watch (all in English too!). I basically watched three movies and then knocked myself out with sleeping pills.

I'm not going to lie I'm having hardcore culture shock. A lot of people so far have gone out of their way to speak English to me so that's nice, but it's still hard.

I'm going to try to unpack and figure out my crazy bathroom before I have to meet with my directors for lunch (both are really nice). I'll include a pic of the bathroom on my next post. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting...lol.

Thanks for comments! I miss you guys tons! :(

I'm here!

Wow!

I'm finally here! So tired, need sleep. Google and blogger are in Korean...damn it. It took me a while to figure out how to get to this point. I'll figure it out later.

I'll write more tomorrow. I pinky swear!

Packing

I HATE packing! I hate it with a deep passion! How do you know what to pack for a year? Everything? I can't fit everything in my two suitcases and super huge hardcore hiker backpack...trust me I tried...lol. I tried to go back through my bags and ask myself, "do i really need this?" The answer was obviously YES :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't go over the 50 pound limit per bag for international travel. If worse comes worse the customer service lady promised me there is no weight restriction for carry-ons. Hell ya!

p.s. I was so excited I got a comment! Then i realized it was in Spanish...i don't know Spanish. So then I tried to use one of those free translators online. Yeah that didn't go so well...

I heard, achei teu blog hair google tá bem interessante gostei give post. Quando der dá uma passada I peel meu blog, é on personalized T-shirts, mostra passo to passo like bem maneira raises uma personalized T-shirt. I tied mais.d.

Wow those suck!

...hair, blog, personalized t-shirts...I have a feeling they want me to buy something. Oh well maybe next time.