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Haseyo!
Sorry that it's been a while since the last update, but I got the last one out later than usual and there really hadn't been enough going on to warrant more blabbering from me so I waited until I had a little more to talk about.
My buddy/co-worker Alan and I have started filming videos with my camera to talk about life over here. We're aiming for it to be like a Discovery Channel thing...where they show you what it's like living around the world. We haven't gotten out to see much yet so we only have a few up right now, but we finally recorded a few more tonight in Seoul. It was the first time I'd made it back up there since training. We didn't get much time there as he had to work today and we didn't get on the KTX north until about 5 PM. It's a 40 minute train ride there with a few stops (2 hour drive) and about a 30 minute ride back. The last train leaves Seoul heading back at 10:30 so we didn't have time to do much, just looked around a bit and ate at a Middle Eastern restaurant. I had hommos and minced lamb...first time I'd ever eaten that kind of food before but it was really good. We almost missed the place as he saw it on the cab ride into Itaewon-dong. Itaewon is the area of Seoul most friendly to westerners and really all foreign folk. Our cab driver from there back to the KTX station tonight actually spoke English! We hope to document more of the troubles of not knowing the language in the future, but for now just some short updates on what we've been up to. The link to my video is the post script to this e-mail. I'll let you guys know when there are more online, but for now you can click over to the other three (all of Alan talking) on the right hand side of the link I'm giving you. I'm sure most of you are familiar with youtube, so further explanation isn't really necessary. If you have any problems, let me know and I'll just e-mail the videos.
For further talk on Itaewon, though, it was nice. We didn't even get off the one block we were in. We first took a cab to Sincheon-dong looking for a particular bar we had heard about, but our directions weren't very good so we didn't find it. We just got a beer at Blue Moon in the Sky bar which was on the 9th floor of its building and had a nice view over other parts of Seoul. I can't wait to get up there during the day and get pictures/video from Seoul Tower...would really be a great view over the city. From Sincheon, we took a cab to Itaewon where we spent about an hour or so before getting back to the KTX. We're looking to return next weekend and probably stay overnight someplace so we can see a bit more and enjoy a few more drinks. I only had one Leffe Brune on the evening. :(
It's kind of funny that for a country that produces piss-poor beer, they have very good selection for imports. They have all of my favorite beers from Belgium (my favorite beer-making country) and lots of quality selections from elsewhere. From the US, you can usually only find Budweiser, Heineken (is that actually a US beer?), and most of the time Miller. One place had Ice House though...I don't know what was up with that. Staying on the alcohol topic, I found a brand of soju one night this past week that as horrible. I tried the second bottle to the left at the Sun Mart outside my apartment and I'll never make that mistake again. I'll just go back to the one on the far left that I like. The stuff I had the other night was worse tasting than rubbing alcohol (and really the closest thing I can think of to honestly compare it to).
I'm a bit more at home now as I purchased a microwave a few days ago. Cooking had been a little inconvenient because I always tried to figure out exactly how much I would eat without making too little or too much because work was the only place that I could warm stuff up at. I usually am not awake in time to cook lunch, so that means I really only cook on weekends. Having a microwave at home now makes things easier. It was a bit of a problem when I bought it, however, as I did so in my first trip to Home Plus here in Cheonan. I was in one in Suwon a few weeks ago, but I didn't buy anything then. There are four levels to this place and you have to pay before leaving each level, so I spent about two hours in there and all I bought was a pair of gloves, a few groceries, and the microwave. I then began searching for how to leave and drop off my shopping cart. I wen to the lowest level but that turned out to be the parking garage...and I couldn't figure out how to get back upstairs. I decided to leave my cart there and just walk out of the garage to the street...which sucked because I was carrying this big, heavy microwave and trying to balance a couple bags of stuff on top of it. I walked up the twising exit and then a few blocks around the outside until I got back to the front where I flagged a cab for the ride home. My arms were screaming at me by the time it was done, but it was a good workout at least.
One difference at shopping places here is that you have to (temporarily) pay for using a cart. You have to put in a 100 coin to release it from its lock to push around. There are flat escalators inbetween floors that are magnetic, so they lock the cart down as you go up and down them. You get the 100 coin back when you turn in the cart. The first time I used one, I easily got the coin back. This week, however, I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to get it back. It wasn't a big deal since that is pretty much the equivalent to a nickel back home, but it just added to the ordeal that was my Home Plus shopping experience that night.
Back to the food topic for a minute, I had some porridge from a place just downstairs and outside from my school the other day. The menu has the selections in English as well as Korean. I had a beef and mushroom porridge that was really good. I can't wait to eat there again and try some different kinds.
I really need to get a better handle on my par level listening class. It's me with 6 little girls and they love to tease me. They're always so happy and fun to teach for the most part, but they also are never quiet and it leads to problems in getting through all the material. It's hard to raise my voice to them or punish them, but I know I'll have to if I'm ever going to teach them everything they need to know for their level up tests later this month.
My other classes are still going well. Memory is just second-nature by now and the other listening class is slowly improving. I still struggle with the bridge listening because of one girl, Susan, who honestly scares the crap out of me. She has these dark, dark black eyes of death and whenever she looks up at me I feel there is nothing more in the world she wants other than for me to suffer a long, painful death. She has a big future in horror movies like The Grudge and The Ring, however, so at least she's got that going for her. Leah hasn't had the past few Illini scores, but I think she's going to have the Illini score for today's game against Indiana on Monday.
I had my first problem with being unprepared for class last Friday. I started my par level listening class realizing that I had forgotten my teacher's books at home. Too late to go get them so I had to wing the first two hours until I got to our other book which I had two copies of. The students never knew, even though one girl found it strange that I wanted to take a closer look at her book while they were taking review tests. I was scared but never heard anything from the bosses so I must have done well enough to make them believe nothing was out of the ordinary...or maybe they just expect bad teaching from me...I don't know. :) I'll make sure I don't get into a bad situation like that again.
I'm going to have a new cuddle-buddy here in the next week or two, his name is Clark. It was George when I met him, but he doesn't really respond to his name anyway so it's not going to matter when I rename him (probably Soju Boy). He's no more than a 4 month old kitten and we hit it off the one time we met. A friend of mine is having to get rid of her pets and I'm volunteering to take care of him. He's the least graceful cat ever and his pur sounds more like a tiger's wheeze that just gets louder each time you pet him, but I'm going to love him anyway. The next time he walks in a straight line for more than 3 steps will be the first. I've been pretty excited at the thought of getting him the past few days when I thought I was going to get him this weekend. The only problem is I'm going to have to have his favorite treat imported from the US since he hasn't cared much for the Korean kinds.
I really need to start keeping notes of what I do each week...I know there is more to say but I cannot think of them as I sit here and do this from memory. Maybe I'll remember for the next time.
In the mean time, take care and have a good weekend!
Joe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti96xgfCbqc&feature=channel_page
Sorry that it's been a while since the last update, but I got the last one out later than usual and there really hadn't been enough going on to warrant more blabbering from me so I waited until I had a little more to talk about.
My buddy/co-worker Alan and I have started filming videos with my camera to talk about life over here. We're aiming for it to be like a Discovery Channel thing...where they show you what it's like living around the world. We haven't gotten out to see much yet so we only have a few up right now, but we finally recorded a few more tonight in Seoul. It was the first time I'd made it back up there since training. We didn't get much time there as he had to work today and we didn't get on the KTX north until about 5 PM. It's a 40 minute train ride there with a few stops (2 hour drive) and about a 30 minute ride back. The last train leaves Seoul heading back at 10:30 so we didn't have time to do much, just looked around a bit and ate at a Middle Eastern restaurant. I had hommos and minced lamb...first time I'd ever eaten that kind of food before but it was really good. We almost missed the place as he saw it on the cab ride into Itaewon-dong. Itaewon is the area of Seoul most friendly to westerners and really all foreign folk. Our cab driver from there back to the KTX station tonight actually spoke English! We hope to document more of the troubles of not knowing the language in the future, but for now just some short updates on what we've been up to. The link to my video is the post script to this e-mail. I'll let you guys know when there are more online, but for now you can click over to the other three (all of Alan talking) on the right hand side of the link I'm giving you. I'm sure most of you are familiar with youtube, so further explanation isn't really necessary. If you have any problems, let me know and I'll just e-mail the videos.
For further talk on Itaewon, though, it was nice. We didn't even get off the one block we were in. We first took a cab to Sincheon-dong looking for a particular bar we had heard about, but our directions weren't very good so we didn't find it. We just got a beer at Blue Moon in the Sky bar which was on the 9th floor of its building and had a nice view over other parts of Seoul. I can't wait to get up there during the day and get pictures/video from Seoul Tower...would really be a great view over the city. From Sincheon, we took a cab to Itaewon where we spent about an hour or so before getting back to the KTX. We're looking to return next weekend and probably stay overnight someplace so we can see a bit more and enjoy a few more drinks. I only had one Leffe Brune on the evening. :(
It's kind of funny that for a country that produces piss-poor beer, they have very good selection for imports. They have all of my favorite beers from Belgium (my favorite beer-making country) and lots of quality selections from elsewhere. From the US, you can usually only find Budweiser, Heineken (is that actually a US beer?), and most of the time Miller. One place had Ice House though...I don't know what was up with that. Staying on the alcohol topic, I found a brand of soju one night this past week that as horrible. I tried the second bottle to the left at the Sun Mart outside my apartment and I'll never make that mistake again. I'll just go back to the one on the far left that I like. The stuff I had the other night was worse tasting than rubbing alcohol (and really the closest thing I can think of to honestly compare it to).
I'm a bit more at home now as I purchased a microwave a few days ago. Cooking had been a little inconvenient because I always tried to figure out exactly how much I would eat without making too little or too much because work was the only place that I could warm stuff up at. I usually am not awake in time to cook lunch, so that means I really only cook on weekends. Having a microwave at home now makes things easier. It was a bit of a problem when I bought it, however, as I did so in my first trip to Home Plus here in Cheonan. I was in one in Suwon a few weeks ago, but I didn't buy anything then. There are four levels to this place and you have to pay before leaving each level, so I spent about two hours in there and all I bought was a pair of gloves, a few groceries, and the microwave. I then began searching for how to leave and drop off my shopping cart. I wen to the lowest level but that turned out to be the parking garage...and I couldn't figure out how to get back upstairs. I decided to leave my cart there and just walk out of the garage to the street...which sucked because I was carrying this big, heavy microwave and trying to balance a couple bags of stuff on top of it. I walked up the twising exit and then a few blocks around the outside until I got back to the front where I flagged a cab for the ride home. My arms were screaming at me by the time it was done, but it was a good workout at least.
One difference at shopping places here is that you have to (temporarily) pay for using a cart. You have to put in a 100 coin to release it from its lock to push around. There are flat escalators inbetween floors that are magnetic, so they lock the cart down as you go up and down them. You get the 100 coin back when you turn in the cart. The first time I used one, I easily got the coin back. This week, however, I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to get it back. It wasn't a big deal since that is pretty much the equivalent to a nickel back home, but it just added to the ordeal that was my Home Plus shopping experience that night.
Back to the food topic for a minute, I had some porridge from a place just downstairs and outside from my school the other day. The menu has the selections in English as well as Korean. I had a beef and mushroom porridge that was really good. I can't wait to eat there again and try some different kinds.
I really need to get a better handle on my par level listening class. It's me with 6 little girls and they love to tease me. They're always so happy and fun to teach for the most part, but they also are never quiet and it leads to problems in getting through all the material. It's hard to raise my voice to them or punish them, but I know I'll have to if I'm ever going to teach them everything they need to know for their level up tests later this month.
My other classes are still going well. Memory is just second-nature by now and the other listening class is slowly improving. I still struggle with the bridge listening because of one girl, Susan, who honestly scares the crap out of me. She has these dark, dark black eyes of death and whenever she looks up at me I feel there is nothing more in the world she wants other than for me to suffer a long, painful death. She has a big future in horror movies like The Grudge and The Ring, however, so at least she's got that going for her. Leah hasn't had the past few Illini scores, but I think she's going to have the Illini score for today's game against Indiana on Monday.
I had my first problem with being unprepared for class last Friday. I started my par level listening class realizing that I had forgotten my teacher's books at home. Too late to go get them so I had to wing the first two hours until I got to our other book which I had two copies of. The students never knew, even though one girl found it strange that I wanted to take a closer look at her book while they were taking review tests. I was scared but never heard anything from the bosses so I must have done well enough to make them believe nothing was out of the ordinary...or maybe they just expect bad teaching from me...I don't know. :) I'll make sure I don't get into a bad situation like that again.
I'm going to have a new cuddle-buddy here in the next week or two, his name is Clark. It was George when I met him, but he doesn't really respond to his name anyway so it's not going to matter when I rename him (probably Soju Boy). He's no more than a 4 month old kitten and we hit it off the one time we met. A friend of mine is having to get rid of her pets and I'm volunteering to take care of him. He's the least graceful cat ever and his pur sounds more like a tiger's wheeze that just gets louder each time you pet him, but I'm going to love him anyway. The next time he walks in a straight line for more than 3 steps will be the first. I've been pretty excited at the thought of getting him the past few days when I thought I was going to get him this weekend. The only problem is I'm going to have to have his favorite treat imported from the US since he hasn't cared much for the Korean kinds.
I really need to start keeping notes of what I do each week...I know there is more to say but I cannot think of them as I sit here and do this from memory. Maybe I'll remember for the next time.
In the mean time, take care and have a good weekend!
Joe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti96xgfCbqc&feature=channel_page
posted by JayD at 3:22 PM
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