around town

So I've been trying to take more pictures, but still only have a few of the area that I live in. I've been wandering a lot by myself, trying to get my bearings, and also find some interesting things. Today I found a Din Tai Fung, which is a Famous Taiwanese handmade Chinese dumpling place. Super excited about that one.

Here is a picture of Cafe Street, the area right down the road from me that is packed with cafes and restaurants. There are a lot of Italian and wine places, but also some Chinese, Japanese, and maybe American(and Korean, of course). Its a little pricey, but could be fun for a cup of coffee or some wine on a weeknight. I can't wait for the spring when all the trees will be in bloom. More pictures then.





Last weekend, I made my way to this department store, Shinsegae. It is right next to an E-Mart, the Korean equivalent to Wal-mart(classier, though). Shinsegae is a very high-end department store, with Louis Vuitton, Channel, Coach, and all those special names. There is also an over-priced Gap, and I was thrilled to find a Kiehls and Aveda store. Yay!





This weekend was my coworker Joel's birthday. We went to a Brazilian restaurant, where I attempted to use the little Portugese I knew with the waiters and we overdosed on meat. It was far from being close to as good as real Brazilian food, but it hit the spot for the time being. Afterwards, we went to a "Clubby Bar". It was here where a few of my coworkers bet me $50,000 won(a little less than $50) for me to go into the crowd and dance with a Korean guy. If they knew me, I'm sure they wouldn't have bet that much, because of course I jumped right in there and danced a song with a guy. Anyway, after that, the guy assumed we were bff, and all his friends came over and started to talk to us like we were celebrities. These girls were so excited to meet us, so I asked for a picture with them. Don't they look so happy???!





At the next bar, nothing significant happened, but this scary mask was hanging on the wall right next to me. Weird.





And finally, here is a picture of my new picture collage. I spent last night watching Vicky Christina Barcelona and putting these up. I like it a lot. All of the pictures are from within the last year. Also, Vicky Christina Barcelona is an OK movie, not great, but worth seeing just for Penelope Cruz's preformance.


And that is all. I joined the gym in my building, so I am trying to get motivated to work out. Marian suggested putting on my workout clothes and seeing if that helps. But Sunday afternoons are for naps, right??

Kimchi

As many of you probably know, Kimchi is a very popular dish here in Korea. It is basically fermented cabbage with chili. I tried it a couple times in Taiwan, but was never really able to get used to it. Since I've been here though, I've tried a couple different varieties, and discovered that it can actually be quite delicious. It can be eaten cold or cooked. Tonight, I cooked it up and put on some great french bread with cream cheese. Yummy indeed.


I've asked my kids at school if they like it, and they all do. Can you imagine young kids in North America liking this sort of thing? Yeah, no chance, huh?

well, I'm here.

Yes! I made it to South Korea safe and sound! I left California early Monday morning for my journey. It went amazingly well. I think the more I worry about flights these days, the better they seem to go. The girl at the check in counter for China Airlines didn't even weigh my bags! I was super worried about the weight, since I have the tendency to always be over the allotted 50 pounds. I was also pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep on the plane. Leaving in the middle of the night has its benefits though...I slept like a baby. Despite the uncomfortable seats and having nowhere to lay my head, I was awake for only about 4 hours of the 14 hour flight to Taipei. When I arrived in Seoul, I found a taxi easily and made it safely to my new apartment, where my boss met me. The first day, I just stopped by the school to meet all the teachers and then took the day to rest and unpack. I was delighted to find that my new single occupancy apartment is on the 34th floor of a very nice building, complete with a gym, pharmacy, bank, convenience store, and several restaurants.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were my training days. This just involved observing the veteran teachers and meeting all the kids. I will be teaching a Kindergarten class in the morning and an elementary class in the afternoon. I didn't meet my Kindergarten students yet since they will be brand new on Monday! I am already expecting lots of tears and possibly wetting pants. My classes are very small--only 10 students. So much better than Taiwan in that aspect! I have really been impressed at how smart and well-behaved they all are as well.

So far, I couldn't be happier here! The teachers I work with are all amazing. So helpful and fun to hang out with. My boss is also pretty cool. He is willing to help has repeatedly told us that whatever we need he will do what he can to help. On Friday we all went out to dinner and drinks and had a blast. I'm excited to get to know these new friends:


After dinner, we ended up at a Norebong, the Korean KTV or Karoke:



Here are a few of my apartment:






Pretty nice, huh?

I'll try to get out the next few days and take some pictures of the area...very nice. There are lots of cute cafes and restaurants in the area, as well as good parks for running and exploring.

All of the sudden....

...its only 4 days until I leave for South Korea. What the heck? Where did all the time go? I can't believe I've been living at home since August and I went through so many agonizing weeks deciding what to do with my life. In hindsight, I was very anxious for a while there, locking myself for hours in my room doing internet research on various countries and employment opportunities. Now that the day is (almost) here, I don't know what to think! Yes, I am excited. Yes, I am a little scared. Yes, I am stressed. But, I know it will all be O.K. The things mostly on my mind right now are whether I will have enough space for all my clothes and shoes and whether or not I will find people I like to hang out with in this new place. I suppose I should be worried about learning Korean, right? Or maybe figuring out places I want to see in Korea? Well, I'm not, I can worry about that later. And maybe at that point, fretting about the amount of space in my suitcases and weighing them in under the allotted 50lbs will seem insignificant. All I know is that there is a lot of exciting times ahead of me this year. Hopefully. AND I WILL UPDATE THIS BLOG!!!! (keep your fingers crossed...)

Merry Christmas!

To get you in the mood, here is a classic video. Hope you enjoy. Also, I posted a bunch of new pictures on my Picasa web albums(link always on the right of this page). Check em out!

My family is moving this week, so its gonna be a little hectic. We happen to just be moving down the street, but its still a hassle. I am finding myself busier these days, which is definitely better for my psyche. I tend to get a little down when I am not occupied. I'm getting all my paperwork together for South Korea and getting more excited about it as the days go on.

This Christmas, I am trying to step back and realize the significance of all my family members being in the same place at the same time. I don't know if this is unusual for most people, but it did not happen for us last year and it won't happen next year, and you never really know what life situations will lessen the possibility of it happening for a long time! So if you are with your family and loved ones this Christmas, remember to cherish the moments :) Merry Christmas!!

What's next

I guess its finally time to inform my readers(or lackthereof) of my plans for this upcoming year. I have decided, after much boredom living at home, to continue with my traveling/living abroad. This time South Korea is lucky enough to host me. In the past several years I have heard many good things about South Korea and met some interesting people who are either from there or have worked there. I recently signed on with a school near Seoul and if all the Visa stuff goes smoothly, I plan on leaving at the end of February. The greatest part about working in South Korea is that the school will pay for my flight and for my apartment there. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

As always, starting a new chapter in life is a little scary. I won't have a friend by my side the entire time to lessen the blow of culture shock, which will be quite the change. I am excited though. I have sincerely missed teaching since I have been back, and look forward to all those adorable little Asian faces I will be teaching.

So there you have it, just when you thought you had me here for good. I hope to continue blogging, as I hope you will continue reading!

FINALLY back in the US of A

The stress of my final trip back to California was somewhat lessened and yet exasperated by a long layover in Vancouver. Lessened because I got to spend hours alone observing the now strikingly noticeable differences between Eastern and Western cultures and exasperated because all I really wanted was to get home to my soft American bed.

Some of the things I noticed on my 7 hour layover I was able to document (despite my overly fatigued body and eyes) in my journal.

The things I observed on my way home:

*Americans move much slower, but stay out of each others' way.
*Kids in North America are not as obnoxiously loud
*Everyone orders their own dish at a restaurant in North America, whereas Asian cultures seem to always share everything
*Americans are more friendly conversationalists(I think this was more of a language-barrier thing)
*Strangers don't talk about you and how weird you look!
*Everybody is talking loudly on a cell phone
*People obviously don't care about "saving face"(more to come on this)
*Toilets are very high! You can't squat! And the bathrooms smell just as bad here, its just a different smell.
*I know its gross, but I kept trying to put toilet paper in the trash can!

And believe it or not, those were some of the most shocking things. Other daily activities that I missed so much while I was in Taiwan, didn't seem as strange, maybe because I expected them. I was even able to drive a car normally and without incident. I was sure I was going to try to run red lights all the time.

One absurd thing did happen to me in the Vancouver airport that would never have happened in Taiwan. I was unable to check into my flight until 3 hours before departure. So, I hung out in a restaurant until the time finally came to check in. I meandered over to the Alaska Airlines counter and amidst about 15 confused customers all looking for the right place to wait, I found the appropriate roped-off area that read "wait here for the next available attendant". Normally I would have informed the rest of the wandering people that this was probably the right place, but I was a)extremely sleep-deprived/jet-lagged(i.e., delirious); b)somewhat still uncertain if I was even in the right place; and c)very anxious to get on that flight. So when the "next available attendant" looked at me and said she could help me, I started to walk forward. No sooner had I taken 3 steps that I heard a very loud and angry American man say "Um, excuse me, I think we were here first". I looked at him and saw that he was freshly showered, well-rested and had about 15 oversized bags with him, as opposed to my already-checked baggage. After waiting anxiously for so long, his anger debilitated my ability to speak and caused tears to form in my eyes. "I...I...I...but I've been waiting for so long...." I whispered. Luckily, the same flight attendant had helped me earlier and new my desperate situation, she kindly told the man that it would only take a minute to check me in and that he was in the wrong line anyway.

Now, I think if I hadn't been out of the country for so long, this situation would have caused me to just write off that guy as a stupid American jerk and move on with my day. But I was really offended by this....I mean, this guy has no right to be so rude and has no idea what my situation is. The difference with this and Taiwan is that almost always they would make sure they were following the rules and NEVER raise their voice at a stranger like that.

Anyway, eventually I made it home. When I got the United States stamp in my passport and the guy at the counter said "Welcome Home" I literally started crying. Whoa, it was very strange and very unexpected to have that sort of reaction. Oh well, I guess that is what culture shock is all about. Strange, unexpected feelings.