...fish soup, potato salad, kimchi, rice, and two fish that looked as if they were just pulled out of the ocean...only their heads and tails were cut off. i mean, i remember having the option to buy french fries for lunch. nothing else, just fries. where have those days gone?
anyway...
Sorry I haven't posted anything new in a week. Its tuesday and my classes are over for the day. its 4th period right now, which is my planning period, but of course i'm not planning. here's a recap from the past week:
1) Jessica and I went up to Seoul for the day on Wednesday, which was the Korean Chuseok holiday (Thanksgiving) so the city was extra crowded. We got to visit the Gyeongbokgung, which is an old palace for the king built around 1352 (maybe 1392). I don't know. Its old. you can see pics on Facebook.
2) On friday we took the bus up to Buseoksa, which is the oldest, and apparently the most famous, buddhist temple in korea. again, check out the pics on Facebook. i can't remember if i uploaded them yet but i know Jessica put them on her FB.
3) Finally on saturday we went with a couple of other english teachers to Andong to the Mask Dance festival, which is a pretty big deal. we got to ride the train, which we've been wanting to do. pics on FB.
sunday jessica and I decided we needed a few things from homeplus, a 30 min walk across town. we got quite a few things, which means that 30 min walk back across town was not the easiest. I had the bright idea to take one of the shopping carts from the store and roll our boxes back home. Jessica didn't like that idea, so we began walking with the boxes in our arms. 20 seconds later (literally) we were loading the boxes into a cart. shopping cart wheels are made for flat, smooth floors of the store they belong to. you can probably imagine the time we had pushing that thing across town....narrow, bumpy sidewalks...the constant rattling of the wheels and cart. we received countless stares. but that's ok, we stared right back. we eventually made it home, unloaded our boxes, and began the long walk back across town to return it the cart. I know what you're thinking, but i made an agreement before we left homeplus that I would return the cart that night. Jessica thought we were stealing the cart...i only wanted to borrow it, which means i would return it....someday. after all was said and done, we estimated we had walked in excess of 2.5 hrs that afternoon. so we ate ice cream, chips, and salsa right before bed....and didn't think twice about it.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
finally got a camera...
....but i can't upload a picture to the blog.
so anyway, we finally got a camera at Homeplus today. there are pictures on Facebook for you to check out.
While we were looking over the cameras, no one in the electronics department had spoken to us yet, which is very uncommon in Korean stores. Normally the salespeople hover over you as you look about the shop. I think I've figured that its a matter of customer service, being readily available to assist the customer. but this wasn't the case at Homeplus today. after a few minutes a young employee walked up and began speaking very good English. we were very glad to hear this, as we were about to make a larger purchase that we had questions about. Hye-jin told us that she had been paged to help the white people meandering through the electronics department...we laughed. it turns out that she had also been an english teacher, having spent a year in australia studying abroad, while also earning her TESOL certificate.
So feel free to look about the pictures on FB. we're planning on riding the bus up to Seoul to have a look around tomorrow. Lots more pics to come.
so anyway, we finally got a camera at Homeplus today. there are pictures on Facebook for you to check out.
While we were looking over the cameras, no one in the electronics department had spoken to us yet, which is very uncommon in Korean stores. Normally the salespeople hover over you as you look about the shop. I think I've figured that its a matter of customer service, being readily available to assist the customer. but this wasn't the case at Homeplus today. after a few minutes a young employee walked up and began speaking very good English. we were very glad to hear this, as we were about to make a larger purchase that we had questions about. Hye-jin told us that she had been paged to help the white people meandering through the electronics department...we laughed. it turns out that she had also been an english teacher, having spent a year in australia studying abroad, while also earning her TESOL certificate.
So feel free to look about the pictures on FB. we're planning on riding the bus up to Seoul to have a look around tomorrow. Lots more pics to come.
Monday, September 20, 2010
exploring town...
today Jessica and I got to explore an area of Yeongju that we haven't seen yet. behind our apartment is a hill with small houses on it. we started walking up through the neighborhood and found yet another school on top. Schools are everywhere. They also go on Saturday...interesting. anyway, as we walked up the hill we started getting really great views of our "small town". we passed some kind of memorial that looked like a very old traditional house. it was fenced in with old stone and wood. we'll get pictures up as soon as we can...hopefully getting a camera tomorrow in Seoul. later we found the beginning of a trail and followed it up yet another hill. it turned out to be a walking trail that ended (or maybe began) in a city park. along the trail we walked through gardens of the nearby houses. i couldn't tell what all the plants were, but i do remember pumpkins. after we came to the end (or beginning) of the trail in the park, we rested for a bit and then crossed the road and walked along the river. there are miles of walking/biking paths along the river. we were hungry so we walked back home and at a nutritious lunch of chips, salsa, and bacon.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
1 week down, 51 to go....
Its been a wet Sunday in Yeongju. This weekend begins Chuseok, which is the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving. School is closed for the entire week! Jessica and I haven't decided what we're going to do yet, but we want to take full advantage of the free time. We'll probably try to get up to Seoul to have a look around. Maybe go see the beach, either on the east which is the Sea of Japan, or on the west which is the Yellow Sea, across which lies China. Which ever side we pick, its gotta beat the heck out of Myrtle Beach.
Yesterday was a pretty lazy day. We got up around 7 to Skype with my parents and grandma. After that we fell back asleep for a little while and then went out for a walk around town...stopped at Dunkin Donuts (of course). we decided that in order to make our little studio apartment feel a little bigger we would remove the doors to the closet. so i bought a screwdriver and we came back home. In the evening Jessica and I walked to a western style bar/restaurant...western, as opposed to the far east, not Tombstone. There was a birthday party for another English teacher in town. it was nice to be able to hear English and talk to other Americans (and a few South Africans and Canadians as well). We started our 30 minute walk back home across town a little after midnight and went to sleep.
Today we slept late again...a little later than we intended. Around 3pm we set out for Homeplus to do a little shopping for some necessities. We got a small cooking pot and a frying pan, and grocery stuff. our little kitchen is starting to fill up. The walk back from Homeplus is a good 30-35 min trek...which when you're carrying 3 full boxes and an awkward broom in the rain, its not a fun walk. But we made it home, dried out, ate a little dinner, and now we're relaxing for evening.
Yesterday was a pretty lazy day. We got up around 7 to Skype with my parents and grandma. After that we fell back asleep for a little while and then went out for a walk around town...stopped at Dunkin Donuts (of course). we decided that in order to make our little studio apartment feel a little bigger we would remove the doors to the closet. so i bought a screwdriver and we came back home. In the evening Jessica and I walked to a western style bar/restaurant...western, as opposed to the far east, not Tombstone. There was a birthday party for another English teacher in town. it was nice to be able to hear English and talk to other Americans (and a few South Africans and Canadians as well). We started our 30 minute walk back home across town a little after midnight and went to sleep.
Today we slept late again...a little later than we intended. Around 3pm we set out for Homeplus to do a little shopping for some necessities. We got a small cooking pot and a frying pan, and grocery stuff. our little kitchen is starting to fill up. The walk back from Homeplus is a good 30-35 min trek...which when you're carrying 3 full boxes and an awkward broom in the rain, its not a fun walk. But we made it home, dried out, ate a little dinner, and now we're relaxing for evening.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Catch up post...
so much to write about, so i'll try to catch up with this one. here are the hightlights:
1. they think Jessica is Britney Spears.
2. we've gone to dunkin donuts for a dinner of coffee and muffins/donuts/some pastry with cream in it for the past couple of nights. the only thing that feels like home right now.
3. occasionally the teachers at school have "emergency meetings" in the teachers lounge. on wednesday we had chicken wings and korean beer...at school.
4. i've learned that children are children wherever you are in the world....i don't want them anymore.
5. korean thanksgiving is next week. we get the whole week off from school. the principal gave everyone a soybean oil gift set.
6. korean's don't use shower curtains. everything in the bathroom gets wet.
thats about it. i've gotta get ready for school now. just four more classes and i'm off for a whole week!
1. they think Jessica is Britney Spears.
2. we've gone to dunkin donuts for a dinner of coffee and muffins/donuts/some pastry with cream in it for the past couple of nights. the only thing that feels like home right now.
3. occasionally the teachers at school have "emergency meetings" in the teachers lounge. on wednesday we had chicken wings and korean beer...at school.
4. i've learned that children are children wherever you are in the world....i don't want them anymore.
5. korean thanksgiving is next week. we get the whole week off from school. the principal gave everyone a soybean oil gift set.
6. korean's don't use shower curtains. everything in the bathroom gets wet.
thats about it. i've gotta get ready for school now. just four more classes and i'm off for a whole week!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
i've got some time between classes so i'll start a post...prob won't be able to get everything in before i have to start my next class.
so...after we had the meal (from the last post) our two korean friends took us to a supermarket to get a few grocery items that we would need for the next 24 hrs....just some cereal, milk, yogurt, spoons with bears on them, etc. as we walked through town, which is a big city minus the skyscrapers, everyone stared at us and some older kids tried to talk...but all they could say was "hi". several of the girls in school uniforms kept telling our guides that jessica was very beautiful. we felt like celebrities. next we went back to the hotel and quickly fell asleep. i woke up at 3am...still trying to adjust to the time difference. i checked my mail and ate some Special K. after using the restroom and looking for the handle to flush, i tried a button on the side which instead of flushing sent a very firm stream of water into my man parts. They're OK, don't worry. i guess that is for when you're sitting on the toilet and want to wipe with pressurized water. so i went back to sleep and woke up again at 5ish.
our korean friends picked us up at the hotel at 7:40ish and we went to school for the first time. everyone was very excited to see us, especially the children. they all wanted to stand beside me and compare height, and rub the hair on my arms. apparently korean men don't grow hair anywhere but their head. we met my other co-teacher Suzy, who took jessica and I to Andong for a medical exam for new teachers. it wasn't a big deal, just weighed, measured height, chest xray, urine cup, and drew blood. we were back on the road in about 30 min.
ok, gotta get ready for class. more to come tonight.
so...after we had the meal (from the last post) our two korean friends took us to a supermarket to get a few grocery items that we would need for the next 24 hrs....just some cereal, milk, yogurt, spoons with bears on them, etc. as we walked through town, which is a big city minus the skyscrapers, everyone stared at us and some older kids tried to talk...but all they could say was "hi". several of the girls in school uniforms kept telling our guides that jessica was very beautiful. we felt like celebrities. next we went back to the hotel and quickly fell asleep. i woke up at 3am...still trying to adjust to the time difference. i checked my mail and ate some Special K. after using the restroom and looking for the handle to flush, i tried a button on the side which instead of flushing sent a very firm stream of water into my man parts. They're OK, don't worry. i guess that is for when you're sitting on the toilet and want to wipe with pressurized water. so i went back to sleep and woke up again at 5ish.
our korean friends picked us up at the hotel at 7:40ish and we went to school for the first time. everyone was very excited to see us, especially the children. they all wanted to stand beside me and compare height, and rub the hair on my arms. apparently korean men don't grow hair anywhere but their head. we met my other co-teacher Suzy, who took jessica and I to Andong for a medical exam for new teachers. it wasn't a big deal, just weighed, measured height, chest xray, urine cup, and drew blood. we were back on the road in about 30 min.
ok, gotta get ready for class. more to come tonight.
update...
...well not really, sorry, but for all of my faithful readers: I promise I will update tonight (tomorrow morning for you)....lots to tell!
Jake
Jake
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
update...
the president of the recruiting agency picked us up from Incheon airport yesterday and drove us across Seoul to a bus station on the east side of the city. we drove parallel to the Han River the entire trip, which is a very large river that flows right through the middle of Seoul with bridges going across every few miles or so. Seoul is a huge city comparable to NYC. a few sights we saw were the Olympic stadium and Olympic bridge from the '88 Seoul Olympic games. One piece of advice our driver gave us was not to go outside our apartment without our clothes, because a former english teacher did so and was fired from his job after parents saw him and complained...mental note made. Mr. Jay put us on a bus to Yeoungju and we said goodbye.
the bus ride was 2.5 hours to Yeoungju, which we ended up sleeping most of. when we arrived, a lady from the school board was there waiting for us. she took us to the school board office where we met my co-teachers. Jessica was offered a job, but it doesn't start until Nov.1! Hong Soo Jeong and Dee Yeong Woo took us to our apartment, which is tiny but we love it. it is right in the middle of downtown Yeoungju, which looks like an asian town you would see on tv. if you have seen Memoires of a Geisha, when the two little girls went on the rooftop and saw the rest of the city, this is what it looked like...little oriental style houses packed in really tight, with the downtown buildings behind them. we love it. the apartment wasn't furnished yet, so we were put up in a hotel for the evening, which by the way has complimentary condoms and hair gel in the room. next our two new friends took us to dinner in a traditional korean restaraunt where we had to remove our shoes before entering. the tables were only about a foot high and we sat on pillows. Hong Soo Jeong (or Sophie she said to call her) joked that our legs would be falling asleep soon. this must be why oriental people are so short, their leg growth is stunted every time they eat. The meal was great, some vegetable dish cooked in the middle of the table, tofu soup, several side items including tofu biscuits, sardines, and kimchi.
i'll finish the rest of the evenings events later. Gotta get in the shower to go meet my new school students and principal.
the bus ride was 2.5 hours to Yeoungju, which we ended up sleeping most of. when we arrived, a lady from the school board was there waiting for us. she took us to the school board office where we met my co-teachers. Jessica was offered a job, but it doesn't start until Nov.1! Hong Soo Jeong and Dee Yeong Woo took us to our apartment, which is tiny but we love it. it is right in the middle of downtown Yeoungju, which looks like an asian town you would see on tv. if you have seen Memoires of a Geisha, when the two little girls went on the rooftop and saw the rest of the city, this is what it looked like...little oriental style houses packed in really tight, with the downtown buildings behind them. we love it. the apartment wasn't furnished yet, so we were put up in a hotel for the evening, which by the way has complimentary condoms and hair gel in the room. next our two new friends took us to dinner in a traditional korean restaraunt where we had to remove our shoes before entering. the tables were only about a foot high and we sat on pillows. Hong Soo Jeong (or Sophie she said to call her) joked that our legs would be falling asleep soon. this must be why oriental people are so short, their leg growth is stunted every time they eat. The meal was great, some vegetable dish cooked in the middle of the table, tofu soup, several side items including tofu biscuits, sardines, and kimchi.
i'll finish the rest of the evenings events later. Gotta get in the shower to go meet my new school students and principal.
Friday, September 10, 2010
2 more days...
Two more days until we leave for The Republic of Korea (South). I just finished my E2 Language Teacher visa interview at the Korean Consulate in Atlanta. I can pick up the stamped passport tomorrow morning at 11am, so Jessica and I are sleeping on a friend of a friend's couch near Georgia Tech's campus tonight. For now, we'll just wander around Atlanta and wait for tomorrow to get here.
Jake
Jake
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