A Little Bit Of Culture

Happy Chuseok! We just finished celebrating our first Korean Thanksgiving. We enjoyed some time off school and went and did some sightseeing around Seoul. We got to visit several historical places while here and some modern sites as well.




I had written a blog about a week ago and intended to post it, but my conscience got the best of me. (Or maybe it was Cory.) I was going to complain about all the difficulties we're having because we're foreigners. It just makes some things a little more complicated - like banking, phones, internet, and . . . communicating! :) Also, in my case, it is hindering my shopping! Going to the grocery store is quite an adventure - I can't read 80% of the labels! Learning to read Korean won't help until I can understand what I'm reading! My other shopping problem is my feet. They're too big. No one sells above American size 8 . . . ok. Not "no one" - just hardly anyone! :) I 'm thinking about coming up with a Top Ten List of things we can't find . . . just for your amusement. Deoderant and shoes for Jen are at the top!




We've been able to travel around Seoul using the subway and bus systems quite freely. There aren't great maps here, just women directions - you know "turn right at the big department store and left at the big tree." Put that in Korean with a few hand signals and we're really confused!

Write us when you can! We miss being able to keep in touch with people. Our families most, I think. As we figure things out that should get better, I think.

Keep in touch and write us when you can!

Getting My Feet Wet.

As much fun as I thought I would have going out and getting lost in Korea, it's really not all it's cracked up to be. Keep in mind that we haven't actually seen anything but our town (Goyang) and Seoul. So we're tickling the armpit (geographically, not qualitatively) of Korea without really exploring the rest of the body. I want to go see some of the other stuff around here, but we'll have to wait for the piggy bank to get back to market shape before that happens.

We have gotten to see some pretty sweet stuff, as you can see below. We've also been to the underground. Not the subway, the black market. Okay, I don't really know if it's black or not, but there are tons of shops in just a little bit of space and everybody sells electronics. It looks shady even if it's not. Anyhow, what I'm talking about is a place called Yongsan. It's heaven for anybody who loves technology. I am becoming a bit of a gadget lover, so I was pretty pumped that we got to stop by there last week. I picked up a presenter mouse for class, some RAM for my laptop, a new DVD burning drive for my laptop (installed for free) all for less than two hundred dollars. (I had to stop and think about that real quick, but it's true.) It's a pretty happening place. I might go back down there sometime and pick up some software. I have a DVD burner, but I don't have a program that will convert home video to DVD format, unless I'm an idiot (entirely possible).

Anyway, enough about all that. I want to say that I miss you guys. I'm not sure exactly who all reads this, but I'm thankful for you. We've only been here really for three weeks, but I have been missing you a lot lately. I'm glad Jen is here with me, otherwise I'd probably be miserable. I look forward to hearing from you all. My email is up in the "About Me" section of this page. I can forward things to Jen also. Alright everybody, Shoot.

Aussie Accents and Crackers

We are in the midst of our Orientation in the city of Suwon, which is South of Seoul. We are staying here all week with all new English teachers from the Gyeonggi Province. There are almost 200 of us "Native English Speakers" from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, and South Africa. It's unbelievable how many different types of people we have met!

One of the funniest things is the several Koreans we've met who speak fluent English - with a DISTINCT Australian accent! You just don't expect it to come out of their mouths!



We've spoken about our friends Sophie and Joe from Ilsan, where we live. Here's a picture of their family. They've been SO helpful in so many ways! Joe is hilarious - and somehow while we were out with them last weekend Cory managed to teach him the slang term for white people. As we walked around a busy shopping area everytime Joe would see some white foreigners he would proudly state "there's some more crackers!"

Here's a few pics from while we toured Insadong, Myeungdong, and Namdaemun (the main gate fortress wall of Seoul).

Settling In

We arrived in Korea a week ago Thursday but our apartment wasn't going to be available to us until the following day. We stayed w/my Korean friend I met in Guam (Sophie & husband, Joe) the first night and then she took us around some the next day. There are several nice stores which have almost everything from clothing to furniture to bedding to groceries. Since we didn't bring much w/us besides clothes, I, Jen, was anxious to start finding some things to make our apartment a home.












Our apartment is in an awesome location. As a newly married couple w/no kids, we couldn't ask for more. We are in the center of the city and right outside our window is one of the nicest shopping areas in town. LaFesta is the 2-3 blocks to our right and to our left is a block of restaurants. Both areas are bricked streets for walking only - no cars. At night our apartment is lit up by all the street signs outside. Noise is only a problem w/the windows open - but so far we've only done that occasionally. It's cool enough most days for windows, but during the weekends it's too noisy.

There are so many American chains here - you'll see more later (we've been exploring Seoul already) - but in our immediate area are multiple Baskin Robbins, Starbucks, Pizza Huts, as well as a Dominoes, Papa Johns, Uno's, Bennigan's, and more I can't remember. So when in need, there's plenty of American food around. Most of those restaurants have an asian twist, but the pepperoni pizza at Dominoes tasted great!

Back to the house - after shopping around we've found some bedding, although sheets here are almost impossible to find. I almost called Guam and asked for someone to hit Ross for me! :) (We managed to find a fitted sheet at a place in La Festa - just across the street.) We've picked up a few odds and ends like pillows and a bamboo plant and our friends Sophie & Joe have been very gracious. Joe brought us a gum tree that's about 4 feet tall that improves the view in our apt as well.













All in all - it's coming along. We are gradually getting unpacked, but are both very happy with our new place. As time goes by we hope to add some furniture to what the school provided us with. Our "American" home in Korea is coming along well! But we do have the traditional Korean-style slippers right by the door!

Although we've been working and teaching all week tomorrow we are off to another city for Orientation. They put us up in a hotel and we have meetings Mon - Fri. It should be fun to meet some other English-speaking people/teachers. We'll try to update more often - there's lots to tell!

-Jen

We're HERE!

I won't write much, we got here on Thursday and moved into our apartment on Friday. We have a real nice two-bedroom, one-bath apartment that's about 20 minutes walk from both schools that we work at.

Right now I'm mooching off of somebody else's internet connection until we can get our own ethernet connection. I should probably go. We don't have a phone number yet, but as soon as we do, we'll put the number up on the web. Shoot folks!