A Hidden Marketplace, Girl’s Night, and a Lantern Festival

I didn’t investigate the singing Sunday morning, but I did attempt to figure out the washing machine and get some laundry done. All the buttons are in Korean so it wasn’t as simple as just picking cold/warm/hot. I used a guide they gave us in our apartment guide and so far, so good. I don’t think anything shrunk or anything. The annoying thing is that I’m a spoiled American with my reliance on dryers, and they don’t have them here. I’ll get some fabric softer and hope that helps, but for now, my clothes are a wee bit stiff.

That afternoon, my room mate and I went out to find some food, with both our groceries and funds running low, we were looking for a Korean marketplace where it was supposed to be cheaper to buy fruit. When we got to the station, the market appeared to be closed and undergoing construction, so we walked around a bit. We found a pretty dilapidated tiny park, and tried out the Korean exercise machines.

And then, we saw some old ladies with bags of fruit, and we thought, “hmmmmm, the market must be open!” But where? We went back to where we were and walked around where the market was supposed to be. We finally found an entrance, and some normal looking people walking into it. I say that because it didn’t look like a marketplace, it was more like a huge loading yard for mass distribution of lettuce and potatoes and the like, and it was a bit sketchy.

So much food!

Marketplace or perfect setting for a horror film…?

We eventually got confirmation from a Korean lady that there was, indeed, a market place. We finally saw fruit laid out in more reasonable quantities, and Koreans sitting by their wares. The fruit was all a lot cheaper, but the only problem was that you were expected to buy a ton of it. Oh, and we don’t speak any Korean, and only one dude in that entire place seemed to know any English. But my roommate purchased a million bananas, I managed to buy just one persimmon (which later burst because it was too ripe), and then the apple lady. Oh the apple lady. My room mate was asking her how much, I think, and the lady had about 20 apples in front of her. She said ten, and suddenly started bagging up ALLLLLL the apples. She was very determined, and there was nothing we could do to stop her. So we bought a million apples and bananas that we then had to drag home somehow!

I didn’t get a picture of all the ladies with their fruit on the ground, but here was just one aisle of fruit (there were so many more!)

Oh, and apparently Dragonfruit is a real fruit! My room mate got super excited to see one and paid 4,000won for one.

I definitely thought this was a made-up fruit!

We pressed deeper into the market and I smelled fish, and it was in a good, “I want seafood” kind of way. And then we found the fish market! If the fruit market had been at all overwhelming with the quantities and the insistent sellers, the fish market made it seem like nothing. Earlier in the day I had said I felt like going to an aquarium…and I suppose I got my wish. I have never seen so many fish in my life except maybe at the Boston Aquarium. Although, all of these fish and crabs and octopuses were all going to end up on someone’s plate. I even saw a man beat a fish to death right in front of us! It was quite traumatizing. They all wanted us to buy their fish, very badly. It didn’t seem to matter that we could only say hello and thank you as we shook our heads and tried to escape each seller. The funniest/scariest moment was when one guy with a lot of crab-like things, pulled one out of the tank and tried to get my room mate to touch it. I think he though we were scared of them, and wanted to make us like them enough to buy them. He literally took her hand out of her pocket and tried to make her touch the crab. We got out of there as quickly as possible, and the smell really started to get to me. We decided we didn’t feel like fish after all, and headed back with all our bananas and apples.

Rows and rows and rows of fish!

A few boys were throwing the feral cats fish.

Fish fish fish, smelly fish.

On our way home we visted a Daiso, a dollar store, and we got yoga mast for 5,000won to sleep on for the next couple weeks, and I picked up some moisturizer as my skin is not used to the cold. We got home and realized we still didn’t have anything to eat other than fruit, so we went out with another friend to find some dinner. She also wanted to find a winter jacket and something for her skin, so we popped down to the Gangum station, which is full of clothes and beauty stores. We ended up getting some Korean beauty masks for 1,000won and decided we needed a girls night. We got fast food, fries and fried shrimp, and headed back to the hotel. We also stopped into a couple stores outside of the station, and found so many adorable Korean things. It’s funny how doing something so simple as window shopping can make you feel human again, but we all felt much better after doing so. The masks were fun, and my skin feels so much better! But we looked quite scary:

Applying the masks.

Scary faces!

And then suddenly it was Monday already. I met my realtor in Anyang and looked at two of the apartments again. The smoky one hardly smelled like smoke anymore, but I realized how dilapidated it was, and how old the stove was. And what would I do with the extra room, really? I just didn’t like it, suddenly. So we took a look at the first apartment, and I knew I liked it so much better. It felt ten years newer and even though it doesn’t have any rooms, the shelves divide it well. It didn’t smell like their dogs or smoke, and even though they are apparently going to redo the wallpaper, it didn’t seem too bad to me. So I took that one, handed over 500,000won in cash (so scary and sketchy! no receipt or anything…I really hope things work out). It’s kind of ridiculous that I have to pay a realtor fee of 400,000won. I’ve never had to pay a realtor fee before, normally the apartments do that. Thankfully, she’s waiting until I move in to take the money, as I had to put down 500,000won to hold the apartment. I’ll get back 100,000won now, and she’ll take her 400,000. And I’ll sleep on a yoga mat until I get paid!

I went back to the hotel after that so I could save on eating out, although ramon really doesn’t do anything for me anymore. And then back to Anyang to meet my boss and see my branch. I really like it! Training was in an old building and our training room was so tiny. My branch is all brand new and has a nice vibe to it. My boss is awesome, and even having to cold mock a lesson I’d never seen before wasn’t stressful. I’m going back today a little early this time, in the hopes that I’ll see a few other teachers!

When I got back this time, I was ready to go to bed, but my friend messaged me about a lantern festival…so within twenty minutes we were out and getting on yet another train. So many trains that day. I’m going to have to refill my T-money card. The festival was pretty cool, and pretty, but quite small and oh so very cold, as we’ve hit freezing here in Seoul. We took some pictures, dived in a coffee shop to warm up, and headed back to the hotel.

Today I may be opening a bank account, and then back to Anyang for an hour of training with my boss. Wish me luck! I move in to my apartment tomorrow. And in a week, I’ll be in Japan. How weird is that?

First Day of Freedom: Anyang, Apartments, and Spontaneity

Saturday marked my first full day of stress-free freedom, and I was determined to enjoy it as much as possible. So determined, that I woke up at 5am! I am still so surprised by my new found love of the early morning hours. Today, I woke up at 8:30 and was disappointed that it was already so late. I think, perhaps, it’s that there is still so much to do, and there are simply not enough hours in the day to accomplish and explore everything.

Saturday I began by updating this guy, as I was three days behind, enjoyed a long, hot shower, and sorted through a lot of logistical stuff, researching and banking and the like. Around 11am, I met two friends in their room downstairs, and we headed off to Anyang, where I will be living for the next year. One of them had just received her Korean iphone 5, and I was very jealous. Any fear I have of getting lost will disappear once I get a phone. I may go ahead and order one today. They were both so nice, though, to come with me to help me pick out an apartment!

We were all hungry, so we walked around the Pyeongchon area a little bit to find food. It was a Saturday, and a lot of places were closed. But there are a lot of places to eat around there (also, a lot of bars!) so maybe during the week they are all open. The moment we noticed the mountains in the background, I knew I loved Anyang and would love living there. You can kind of see the mountain in the background of this picture:

Hook ’em from my new city of Anyang!

We found an open place, and I had some noodles and my friends had gimbap. The portion sizes are so huge here, and you can’t really take food home (the gimbap was easy to wrap up in foil though), so in the future, gimbap may be a smarter, and cheaper option.

The real estate office was easy to find, but they didn’t really seem to speak English, so thankfully my friend spoke Korean and helped translate. When I heard the prices of the apartments, the stress really started to hit me again. I had heard that in Anyang you could find places around $400, but all the places they have are around $650, not including the $100 maintenance fee and utilities. We looked at the first place, and the lady who lived there had so much stuff! But I was surprised, as it had dividers and I was expecting just a room, pretty much. Finally, after that place, we bumped into my real real estate agent with whom I had been talking to. She spoke English, thankfully! The second place was in the same building, but was completely empty, and cheaper that the first room, even though it was the exact same model. The other teacher from training was also there, and, out of all the rooms we looked at, we both picked that one as our favorite. The other units we looked at all had some kind of fault. My second favorite actually had a room with a sliding door, so I could have an actual bedroom and living room! That one was cheaper, but rank with a smoke smell. They promised the smell could be dealt with…but I don’t know if that’s possible. Other places were all pretty dirty or run down, had hideous wall paper, and were just a room, pretty much. Almost all of them had really nice views of the mountains, though, and I forgot to look in the first two.

So, which apartment? I’m not sure. The second one, hands down, except that I would have to fight my coworker for it, and I know he has quite a bit more money and could pay more. He has also been amazingly helpful, as he taught for a different school in Anyang for the past year, and I really don’t want to fight him for it. The good news is that I got my agent to haggle down the price of the first apartment, so I may just choose that one. I could probably get the smoking apartment price down a bit too, but as much as the lure of a room entices me, I don’t want to live in that smell. The other good news is that we don’t have to pay rent up front, just a small deposit until we move in, and then we get that back and pay the Realtor $250. My money will not come in till later next week, so this is a huge relief. Oh, and there is more good news! I knew we got a flight reimbursement, but what I did not know was that it would be the full million won (1,000$ minus taxes). I paid under $600, so yay free money! Well, I’m just calling it payment for all of this ridiculously unpaid training we’ve been doing. Today I will make up my mind about an apartment and tomorrow, secure one of them.

After looking around 7 places, I felt bad for my friends, but they were interested in seeing what other apartments looked like. One of them had an Aunt living in Anyang, and she invited us to hang out at her place and offered to take us out for some Chinese food for dinner. I was excited that finally things were happening spontaneously, and also that I would get to see a real Korean apartment, not just a cheap office-tel. Most Koreans live in apartments, houses are very rare, but the family apartments are bigger and nicer. We took a taxi to her Aunt’s place and it was really nice. She was really sweet, she’s an English teacher too, so she spoke English. I got to watch my first Korean TV, and she gave us some persimmons, the only fruit I’ve had here other than bananas. It was really hard to peel, but it was worth it and the best thing I’d tasted in days! We took a taxi to a Chinese restaurant and had some more authentic Chinese food (it was still Korean Chinese, but I bet that’s closer than American Chinese) which was good. Unfortunately, a lot of the starters and the desert had pineapple in it (I’m allergic), but the food was very tasty. The Aunt’s friend from church also showed up, she lived in the US for quite a while.

After dinner, they took us to an apartment building further out from our branch that was maybe $100 cheaper. It was all brand new and nice, but the apartment units were smaller than my college dorm room. Yes, furnished, which none of the other places were. But I really don’t think I can live shut up in a prison room for an entire year, and also be further away from my school and future friends and all the nightlife. For just a $100 difference, I do not think it’s worth it. I don’t need a TV or a bed frame, and I really don’t want to be cooped up and miserable. At least in the dorms you have a common room and lounge area. I would just have my bed and barely any other walking space. But still, something to consider, and so nice of the Korean ladies to help us out! It was a wonderful evening :) Today I am going to figure out my budget for the next two months, so I can make the right decision. Despite the stress of finding an apartment and figuring out how to pay for it, yesterday was a really fun and spontaneous day and I am happy :) I think there’s something going on outside here in Gangum, I can hear very loud singing…I may go investigate!

 

Days 3, 4, and 5 of Training

Training is over! And we all passed :) I am now officially a Chungdahm teacher, well, my contract starts on November 25th, and I still have to make my visa run to Japan… but if that all goes well, I will get to teach!

But to back track to where I left off. I promise that now training is over I will blog when things actually happen, not in retrospect. I will remember so much more that way. And, hopefully, things will actually be happening!

Day three: After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to… guess what? Yep, study. After the really critical feedback that day, and hearing some people not being confident about everyone passing, I let the stress get me. Failing training would mean being sent back to the US…and I have no idea what I would do if I had to go back now. I actually had a nightmare the night before our final mocks, that I did pass training, but still got sent to the US. I was like “hey guys…so I’m back? Now what?” I think Korea is definitely the place I’m meant to be right now, as weird and random as that might be. The culture shock hits me every now and then, and I know that won’t really go away for a while. I miss tall people, pizza, and not being stared at on the subway. But I love the Korean food, and everyone is so nice, putting up with my lack of any Korean words. I swear, every time I’m in the elevator alone, an older Korean dude tries to show off what little English he knows. Yesterday, one told me “elevator”… and I answered, “yes, elevator”….and he replied, “Elevator go up and down.” I nodded in agreement. Yes, elevators do go up and down. Very nice English. I can just about say “hello” and “thank you” in Korean, so I suppose I’d be pretty happy if I could explain the function of an elevator in Korean. But back to my freaking out moment. My usual go to de-stresser is open a window or go for a walk, but the pollution here is so bad, there’s not really such a thing as “a breath of fresh air”. I just buckled down and studied until a friend got back to me about a walk. I forgot that night time is really when Seoul comes alive, so I was pretty surprised by how many people were out and about on a random Tuesday. So many Koreans! So many Koreans shopping! I mean, they’re always shopping…don’t they have jobs to go to ever? I keep forgetting that dinner is a meal, so we grabbed some gimbap (korean sushi- rice wrapped in seaweed, I had the tuna roll) because it’s very cheap and very tasty. And then back to the hotel, reluctantly, for more studying and mocks.

Day four: Thursday’s mocks went a lot better for us all, and our trainer basically told us that if we hadn’t been pulled aside, we were in the green for passing! That was a nice stress reliever. Thursday was a mix of “yay, I know I’m going to pass” and “ahhhh, scary final mocks are tomorrow.” I still had to actually do the final mocks and exam, and we all had to work on our enthusiasm and style of teaching. It was a bit hard to still be excited to talk about the effectiveness of CCTV and the positive and negative effects of brands. No one mention CCTV to me for at least a year. Please. Doing so will very likely trigger my teacher side to come out and I will start drilling you about theses and main ideas and main details, you get the idea. For lunch, we found a specific restaurant for a friend, and even though I have no idea what it was called or what the food was called (she didn’t even know), it was yummy.

Lunch…yummy!

This is the food before it was cooked. It’s pretty cool, there’s a lot of dishes that they just cook on the table in front of you in Korea. This was probably the first cheese I’ve had since my last cheese stick on the plane, and it was yummy. After lunch, it was pretty much just buckle down and study everything until I couldn’t study anymore.

Day five: Friday signaled the end of training! They shuttled us to training like they did the first day, which was nice. And then I suddenly got nervous, haha. But everything went well. She walked us through the written part, and then we took it, all passed, and started our final mocks. Our group didn’t do as well as we did Thursday, probably the nerves, the extra observers popping in mid-mock, and our trainer throwing us off a bit with some harsh feedback. We weren’t supposed to get feedback on Friday. But oh well. We had to wait in the room, wondering, for a little while until a guy popped his head in the room and said “you passed” and something about coming back at 2:30. It was rather anti-climatic.  We passed, though! And could finally breath :)

We celebrated with some Vietnamese Pho. I’m slowly realizing that Koreans think we’re really bad at eating spicy food, as I’ve been avoiding the spicier options until I adjust…but the non-spicy options can be a bit bland, and the spicy isn’t always unbearably spicy, and even when it is ultra spicy and makes my sinuses explode… it’s still amazing! After lunch, we had to wait around at the training center for the staff to get back from their lunch. Some teachers popped into the convenience store and passed around some soju (super cheap Korean alcohol, it’s like $1.50 for a bottle), impatient to start celebrating, I suppose. Finally they let us sign our final contracts, our key money deposit agreement, gave us back our medical exam results, and told us about housing options. Later that night we met up in someone’s room for some soju.

We’re so classy…we drink soju out of wine glasses :P

Once all the teachers got back from their various branches, we went across the street for some chicken and beer. The spicy chicken was probably the spiciest thing I’ve had, but after some soju, I didn’t mind so much. It was all amazing, though! It was really nice to finally see everyone relax and to see what everyone is really like. We haven’t been human the past week!

The beer jug was gigantic!

My training group :)

That’s all for now. Today I will be apartment hunting, so wish me luck!

Training: Days 1 and 2

As you can probably tell by my lack of posting, training has begun! The rumors were that training was a nightmare week and really hard and intense, although I had heard that about 90% of people pass training. Also, those that failed were usually still given their jobs, as the schools need teachers. But these were all rumors, and in reality, I had no idea what to expect. Needless to say, we were all a bit intimidated.

The bus picked us all up on Monday, at 8:45ish. We finally got to meet the rest of the teachers, and a lot of quick introductions were made. Almost everyone is from the United States, which is a little disappointing, but almost everyone has traveled a lot anyway. Perhaps there will be more international teachers at my branch.

At the training center, we were split into a lot of smaller groups, mostly groups of three, I think. These groups are the group we have all week. That was a nice surprise, as we only have to embarrass ourselves in front of two other teachers and our instructor, not the whole group! They introduced the company, and we went right into training. The best part? We get Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0’s to use during training, and then we’ll get our own to use at our branches. They’re pretty cool. And so is the new way Chungdahm teaches, entirely through these tablets. No paper or whiteboards. It’s a little scary because we have to know all the answers ahead of time, but it’s not bad. And we can use the tablets for our own uses too, which is a bonus.

Monday, well, was a bit of a nightmare. We got done with training around 1ish, and were shuttled over to a medical center. We then spent the next couple hours being poked and prodded as they did all sorts of medical tests. I felt like a lab rat. Korea now has my fingerprints, over 5 passport photos (so far, there’s more I have to give before this is over), all of my medical measurements and the like, including probably a gallon of my blood (just kidding, but they took a lot). And it took forever. By the time we were done, we all knew exactly who the squeamish ones were (I definitely fall into that category), and what we all looked like in ridiculous pink and blue robes and nothing else. Talk about bonding. But finally, it ended, and a bunch of us grabbed some Japanese food, as we were all starving (we weren’t allowed to eat from 8:30am that day) and feeling faint from the blood ordeal. We probably spent too much time at lunch, but it was the first chance we really had to socialize and regather our humanity.

After that, we all headed back to the hotel.

Taken on the way back to the hotel.

I had just settled down with my training open on my laptop, my binder open to the instructions, and my tablet open to the lesson program…when the hotel phone rang.

All set up for mocking.

I picked it up…big mistake…they told us we were both going to have to change rooms. We went downstairs to try and convince them otherwise. What I think happened was that someone never showed up to the hotel, and so they had one person in a two person room, and us in our two person room…taking up two whole rooms instead of having three people in one three person room, which would free up two smaller rooms. At this point, it was around 7 or 8pm at least, and I was majorly panicking about how I would have enough time to finish the modules and practice my mock lessons for the next day. I somehow packed up all my stuff and moved rooms, despite the stress and panic, and got back to work. Our new place isn’t so bad, I was just really mad at the hotel for moving us right when we were the most stressed out. I was so exhausted, that I only got through the modules, and by 10pm, I was ready to pass out. I did so, but I set my alarm for 4am so I had time to mock some lessons.

View from my new window at night (the last room had no view so…better?)

View from my room during the day.

Tuesday morning, I successfully woke up at 4am, not even tired, and mocked all the parts of the lesson I’d learned the night before. I didn’t do it out-loud, however, which I should have, but lesson learned. After Monday’s shuttle, we’ve been responsible for getting to and from training on our own, which is hard without GPS. Luckily the subway app works without wifi, as long as you know where you want to go and what station you’re closest to. And it’s in English! Which is amazing. Tuesday I stumbled through my first mocks, and I think I did pretty well, considering the lack of practice. I was really nervous, so my main critique was to work on my presentation and enthusiasm. But I was fine with technology and meeting the objectives. I don’t think I was any better or worse than my other group members, so I felt pretty confident about everything. I just needed to get over my nerves.

Tuesday, we went to get lunch again, to a Korean place (lunch seems to be the only real meal I eat, but once I get my own place and pay check that will change). The place was pretty pricey, considering it was just soup, (about 13$) so another teacher and I left to find something more affordable. We found somewhere and I had my second bibimbap meal (that’s what I had for my first Korean meal), and have decided it might be a keeper. Apparently it’s what the k-pop stars live off of. And it’s actually a vegetarian dish, usually, as it’s rice with vegetables and some soup stew stuff. So being vegetarian in Korea is possible. I just think I’d get sick of it very quickly if it was all I ate. Although, every meal in Korea is served with a pretty consistent array of side dishes, which are bottomless. So it’s pretty affordable to eat a cheap main dish, and eat as much side dishes as you want. My main dishes so far, however, have been filling enough. I have enjoyed trying some different foods, though! I tried snail on Tuesday for the first time! And I actually liked it! The little silver hard crunchy fish that they served, however, were pretty nasty. But I still tried one (after losing one due to my clumsy Korean chopstick skills)!

After that, back to the hotel for some studying. I completed the first half of the online components before realizing that I had woken up at 4am…and needed a nap. I got up in the evening, got some yogurt and chips from the store, and finished the second half, and mocked the first half before needing to sleep again (around 11pm). Again I set my alarms for early, only 5am this time, though.

And I’m about to go for a little stroll to get away from the stress of mocking, maybe pick up some tea. I am so sorry if this is all rather boring, I’m just focusing on surviving training right now. I’m sure the future will hold many an adventure!

Arrival in Seoul

I made it! I’m writing from my hotel room in Seoul, and it’s been a fun, if long, couple of days. None of this seems real yet, and I’m not sure when it will all sink in.

But back to where I last left off, October 30th and 31st. I managed to pack up my room in Austin just in time for my mom to pick me up. We exchanged my super heavy 10lb suitcase for a 4lb one, found a lighter jacket in Costco, and headed back to Dripping Springs. I printed off all my copies of my documents and spent some time with my family. Those last two days, Austin decided to mourn for my departure with so much rain and thunder, that the flash flooding delayed my siblings’ school by two hours on Halloween. Lucky me! I got to spend a couple more hours with them :) And then the packing. Lots of sorting and decisions. But both my bags were right around 40lbs by the time I was done, so nothing to worry about at the airport.

The packing process

It then came time to drive back into Austin, to pick up an adapter and my Korean Won. As chance would have it, the bank teller who issued me my Won was Korean. She got really excited to see the Korean money! I remember ordering ‘mixed’ denominations of the money, but it came in all 50,000’s, which some places aren’t too happy about taking, as I’ve discovered. My mom dropped me off and we had our last hugs. That last drive back with here really made it real, that I will be gone for a whole year!

I went to bed around 8pm that night, knowing I’d need to wake up by 3:30am. So when my 3:15am alarm went off, I bounced out of bed, excited and wide awake! My amazing host for the past few months drove me to the Airport for 4am, and I breezed through checking my luggage and security in about 20 minutes total. Austin’s airport only has one terminal, so it’s either really quick to get through, or a bit clogged up due to the scarcity of space/lines/personnel. I had plenty of time to relax and eat some breakfast before my 6am flight to San Francisco. That flight was short and sweet, I may have napped briefly. The retired couple next to me were on their way to Reno, and couldn’t quite understand why I would be going to Korea for a year.

I landed in San Francisco with a couple of hours before my final 12 hour flight to Seoul, which I filled with getting to know a fellow Chungdahm teacher. Before we knew it, the plane was boarding and we were leaving US soil! The journey was finally beginning. After that, things got less exciting. 12 hours is a long time to be on a plane. The dude on my left pretty much slept the whole time, we had to reach over him to open the window and get our final glimpses of the US. When finally he did emerge from his incredibly slumber, it turned out he was also an English teacher in Korea, but with ten months of teaching adults under his belt. I still have no idea how he managed to sleep for so long, only waking up magically for the meals. The most annoying part of the flight was that we didn’t get our own TV’s, and the main one only played pretty bad movies/tv shows (The Heat, Now You See Me, New Girl, and some weird shows I hadn’t ever heard of before). I did pretty well for the first half of the flight, kind of napping every once in a while, but it was hard to really sleep. By the time we were a couple hours away, my energy level dropped to zero. Thankfully they did serve some weird, probably fake, egg stuff, that woke me up enough to get me off the plane and through immigration and customs.

Immigration was a little stressful because I don’t have my visa yet, so I had to explain that I’m only staying for two weeks, and show them my Japan itinerary for November 18th. But the officer nodded and stamped my passport, so I made it through and entered Korea :) I’m not sure what happens if they deny you entry and you can’t afford a flight home…so thankfully I didn’t have to find out. My luggage came through ok, the logo on my new one got ripped off but otherwise not too shabby. I instantly regretted having so much (a large suitcase, a large duffel, my carry on suitcase, and my heavy laptop backpack), but I was prepared with a bungee cord to rope two together.

So far, everywhere I’ve been, the Koreans speak or understand enough basic English so that it’s not hard to get by. The airport staff helped direct us in the right direction for the bus we needed, I spent my first Korean won, and then took a bus into Seoul to the City Air Terminal. It was supposed to be a 40 minute trip but it was quite a bit longer. I really wanted to be excited and interested in everything to see on the way, but the brief spurt of energy I got from the eggs deteriorated rather quickly and I found it hard to stay awake in the traffic. Traffic anywhere is, well, traffic. The signs are in Korean and the cars are slightly different (haven’t seen a single pickup truck), but otherwise, I don’t think I missed too much in my state of exhaustion. The most confusing part of that journey was that our packets had said to look for the red and black call vans. There definitely weren’t any. The service people almost tried to get us to get into a cab, but luckily a driver said to wait for the next black (not black and red) van which would take us to our hotel. We met two other teachers at that confusing juncture, and were told to all go and wait inside. We were all pretty exhausted but it was nice to meet some fellow teachers. Finally the van came and we took a short trip to our hotel. The hotel staff knew we were coming, and it was a breeze to get our room cards and find our rooms. The guys from the bus stop are rooming together with two other guys, and I’m rooming with the girl from the bus stop.

The rooms are pretty nice, a lot bigger than I expected. Ours was a furnace when we walked in, but we figured out how to turn off the heat, and opened a window so it would cool down. We also figured out the toilet, as it has a lot of confusing buttons in Korean that I’m pretty sure would flood the bathroom if we pressed the wrong ones. Tip: it’s not any of the buttons, there’s a hidden lever at the back. We were too tired to do much that night, but they provided us with two bottles of water, which was nice, and some basic plates, tea cups, and wine glasses. Also, weirdly, a Peter Rabbit cutlery set.  I made some tea but passed out before finishing it.

I woke up at about 2am, probably because I was hungry (no food since the weird eggs on the plane), but I messaged all my American friends and family to let them know I was ok. And then I slept until maybe 7ish? My room mate and I did some pre-training stuff and I took advantage of the early hours to chat with more friends. Before too long the boys came by and we ventured out for the first time to look for some breakfast! And that’s where I have to leave off, I’m afraid, as I’m getting very sleepy and my writing is deteriorating. I have some pictures from today that I’ll upload in my next post. Training starts tomorrow, so I’m not sure how much time I’m going to have for the next week. We shall see. Sorry for the boring filler post, I promise today was fun and more adventures and stories are sure to happen in the coming weeks!