Here is a link to a photo album I started, which has more pictures than I can put up here. The link is also in the left sidebar for future use.
I decided to go to Seoul Saturday. I needed to figure out how to take the buses and also wanted to get a feel of the city. I went without any real plan, which was probably my first mistake of the day. My second was leaving despite the fact that it was raining pretty hard. It down-poured the whole day, and I found out that the umbrella that I just bought at the 7-11 around the corner leaks.
I wandered around Seoul not doing much of anything, which would have been fine if not for the rain. Sorry, there isn’t too much to tell you right now, and also apologies for the deficit of pictures (there are a few more in my photos section. You can sort them by their tags). I will be back in Seoul for more exciting adventures!
Some of the subway stations also have underground shopping malls. I got to try my first squatty potty there, no picture, sorry!
Seoul streets:
Shopping mall. As far as I can tell, all shopping centers are like this. There are just open stall type things everywhere.
I really like how hilly Korea is. There are gigantic hills and mountains everywhere.
I did end up going to Unhyungung, which is a palace. Not one of the better ones, but it was right by where I went to dinner and it only cost 70 cents to get in.
The windows from left to right:
For dinner I found out about this Vegetarian Group that meets twice a month to try various restaurants. I was erroneously looking forward to meeting some like-minded people, but it was pretty much a bust. Some of the people were sort of … extreme. When I asked one person what she had done so far in Korea she said, “Well, I haven’t done any touristy things. I’ve been trying to do local stuff, like find a coffee shop I like.” Another, older gentleman, who I’m guessing has been here for a while, couldn’t speak any Korean. I wouldn’t fault him for that, because it’s very difficult, except that he insisted in talking in a very loud and obnoxious tone to the Korean waitress, then complained about how nobody spoke English. I think you lose your right to those sorts of complaints when you leave the U.S. Then he and this hippie girl argued about what abolitionism is. She meant in terms of animal rights, and he got his definition off of Wikipedia. While not everyone seemed completely horrible, there wasn’t anybody I could envision myself forming a possible friendship with.
I don’t mean to make everyone sound bad. I should probably insert here that everyone around school has been very helpful. Really, just bombarding me with information. Without them, I wouldn’t have made it to Seoul or back. I just haven’t made any real friends yet (and I know, it’s only been a week), but for some reason I feel like I need an ally. Oh, and I desperately want to be friends with the Korean teachers. Because it would be cool to have inside friends, and because Josh (another foreign teacher on my floor--who doesn’t drink!) said they took him to this super secret restaurant and I am jealous. I’m not sure how to go about it. It’s very segregated here between Korean and foreign teachers. Not at all unfriendly, but since the foreign teachers leave so often, I’m sure the Korean teachers see no point in making friends with them. I did bring in these Mud Pies (a type of cookie here) for everyone. They were left for me in my apartment, but they have marshmallow in them. The Korean teachers were way over-appreciative. One girl gave me a delicious strawberry cookie in return. So maybe that is a step in the right direction. Too bad I can’t remember any of their names.
I arrived here Monday night around 10:00, got to my apartment around 1:00, and started work Tuesday at 3:00! It has been pretty hectic. I am trying to unpack, buy stuff for my apartment, and start work. I’m a little overwhelmed trying to adjust to Korea as well. I knew people wouldn’t speak English much, or well, but it is entirely a different thing once here. I’m also going to have to learn Hangeul (Korean alphabet/writing) because I can’t read anything! Everyone assures me it is astonishingly easy.
Apartment
Now, I’m finally unpacked and will reward you all with pictures of my apartment. I like it quite a bit. It’s pretty cute and comfortable (except for the bed, which is like sleeping on a rock).
From the front door you step into a little room, which is the kitchen/foyer/shoe room. Also featured is my complete kitchen set!
(Amber, you thought you liked the taste of kitchen soap back home. Here it is orange flavored!)
The next room is the main apartment with fridge, desk, and bed.
Off of that is the bathroom. There isn’t a separate area for the shower; it’s right between the toilet and the sink, and there’s a drain in the middle of the floor. This is supposed to be very convenient for cleaning the bathroom, because you can just rinse the bathroom down with the shower head.
Shopping
In case you were wondering, the main shop here for household items and groceries is E-mart, which is like K-mart.
I’ve already made two trips, and expect about two more since I can only buy what I can carry back to my apartment. Things are mostly the same, except a little different, and in Korean. Like, they don’t have any big towels here. And the vegetables are kind of huge. The carrots are about 4x the width of back home. Grapes are similarly huge. I bought these ones, guessing they were either grapes or currants or something, out of curiosity. They taste like plums and are awesome, though expensive.
I’m having a hard time figuring out what I can eat, all in all however, I’m pretty proud of myself for finding the things I need. Yesterday, though, I did end up buying a men’s razor. I wanted to get the women’s Schick; I really did. But through a series of mimes with what ended up to be three sales people I deduced they did carry any razor blades for said razor. When I put the man version in my cart, they tried to get me to take the inferior Venus instead. No, E-mart employees! If it can shave a guy’s face it can shave my armpits.
E-mart also carries fish and small mammals, by the way. Amber, I’m sure you would love to get some of these fish! I actually wouldn’t even mind some of them. (Sorry for the shaky cam; I’m not a very good video-ographer):
Work
Work is fine. It’s hard catching on to everything. There is so much to learn, and they’re in the middle of testing, so I haven’t been able to do much. First day I just observed classes. Yesterday I had a sample class I had to give, and I have to do another one today, but that’s it. The rest of the day I have nothing to do. They told me to bring a book/computer/whatever. I think today I’ll walk around and try to figure out what the stores and where I can get stuff.
I’ve gone out to lunch with the guys from work the past two days. They have been pretty helpful, in a guyish way. I wish there were more girls around (there is only one other foreign teacher who is a girl, coincidentally also from MN, but she teaches on the floor above mine and I never see her). I got veggies with rice the first day, not so good, and got a cold noodle soup the next day, pretty delicious. But, I really miss home food! Especially Dad’s cooking.
Yongin
Oh yeah. A little about Yongin. It’s kind of like Woodbury. Very new, mostly residential and with shops thrown in. There’s really not much here, except the Korean Folk Village. I guess the place to go is Suwon, which is bigger and has many more places of interest. Plus it is connected to the trains, so you can get other places from there. Seoul is about an hour bus ride away, I guess, which really isn’t too bad.
I’m trying to figure out what I should do this weekend. Since I get to walk around the shops here today, I’ll maybe go to Suwon or Seoul or something. I have to get a transport pass and figure out how to use the buses (ugh).
Finally, it is really quiet. I am not used to living by myself. I sort of miss everyone already. Mostly I think I am daunted by the idea that I will not see all of you for a year. I really miss the cats. It’s hard not having pets. I kind of want to get a rabbit from E-mart.
But what would I do with it after I left? I guess you can also foster pets here sometimes, but I’m not sure how you do it, and then you are responsible for finding a home for them.
Here's a little info on where I will be staying:
Yongin is a city in the south of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, approximately 40 km south of Seoul. It has developed very abruptly since the late 1990s. Home to Everland, South Korea's most popular amusement park, it is a large city by area, though the city centre itself is rather compact. Yongin is also a very disparate city: the more recently developed areas to the north-west in Suji-gu, which borders Seongnam's Bundang Gu and the city of Suwon, are more affluent, whereas the more southern areas and the city centre itself are notably less so.
Yongin houses several universities, namely Yongin University . . . . The Korean Folk Village, the largest and most expensive to visit of the many around the country, is in Yongin. It is oft-visited, largely because of its proximity to Seoul and Suwon, but is considered more artificial than others in the country.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongin
Here's the Yongin City Website.
This is much better than the flights I found on Orbitz or Travelocity. Good thing I didn't book my own flight.
Northwest Airlines, Sunday July 13 2008
| Depart: | Minneapolis St. Paul Int'l Arpt | 03:05 PM | |||
| Minneapolis, MN USA | Sunday, July 13, 2008 | ||||
I also get a stopover at Japan. I'm looking forward to ogling all their airport goods.
I'm down to my last few weeks here. What a weird feeling. Since my date was postponed, the urgency subsided and I feel like I'm not going to Korean at all, like this is just another summer vacation from school. Which is why when people ask me if I'm excited they get a weird half shrug from me. Anyway, I have to keep reminding myself I am actually going, and will have to start resuming my hacky pack job pretty soon. I still have a few things to pick up, even though I have been shopping three times this past week. And I'm also trying to get in last visits with everyone. Went to lunch with Megan to Spoonriver in Mpls and checked out Mill City park a little. Spoonriver had woefully small portions (Megan got all of five ravioli in her ravioli dish), but was otherwise good. DT and I went to the beach, where it almost immediately started to rain after we arrived. We also went to see Wall-E (surprisingly good, though I'm still waiting for the new Batman to come out). Hung out with Micah and Jenna. Brought Amber and Corey's kitties outside to play.
This week, I have my interview with the Korean Consulate. I am nervous and can't wait till this is all over and I have my passport back in my hands. This whole process has seemed unnecessarily difficult. And once I get my visa, I will finally get my travel info, so maybe it will begin to feel real.
Yesterday Carol and Jim had a really nice going away party for me. It was great seeing everyone, but it was a little weird since now I am not leaving for another month and I will probably see everyone again before I go.
Things are looking up. I finally got a copy of my diploma from Park English so I sent that to the Korean Consulate today. The Money Order went out Saturday, so all I should have left is the interview. I can't wait until all this visa stuff is over, so I don't have to worry about it anymore. I would also like to know where I am staying and about my airline tickets, but with the way Park English is, I probably won't find out until a few days before.
Non-related Korean stuff: I tried making green smoothies today. I was pretty lucky. I think my first green smoothies turn out better than most people's. They were pretty tasty. For breakfast I did a banana strawberry with spinach. I am going light on the green until I get the hang of it, so it was only like 3 small handfuls of spinach with two small bananas and a bunch of strawberries. Then for lunch I just made a watermelon cucumber spinach strawberry smoothie. Also good! It is really light and summery. The only problem is that the watermelon is too light, so everything separates really quickly. I just started out with the watermelon and cucumber. I threw the spinach in for more green, but it was kind of a mistake. It won't blend in very well. It still needed something, so I added strawberries, which really was better than it sounds.
Now I need to get more fruits and greens for different smoothies. I'm not sure what I should get though.
Korea is off to a rocky start. My start date has been postponed a few weeks, departure date postponed over a month, the agency still doesn't know where I will be staying, and for all the apparent urgency there is for my visa to be processed, they haven't actually done anything to get it completed. Reassuring. Although, since my departure has been postponed I should have plenty of time, but I'd rather have it done now than two days before I leave. And now I have plenty of time to sit home and worry/complain about it. I'm trying to reassure myself with the idea that I'll get over there eventually, and I'm not sure what else can go awry.
Oh, Korea. I will see you eventually!
(Hey, it's actually nice out today. One day of sun before we get two more days of thunderstorms. And I don't even mind the thunderstorms that much, except that everything in the house feels uncomfortably damp.)
