Settling in

Holy Cow!

It's already been a week and a half since I last posted here!  Time is going by quickly here!  My first full week at the school was a long one.  We've been working extra hours because graduation was last Saturday, and then Orientation for the new year was on Wednesday.  Its a busy time for school.  BONO is a really nice school, and its quite expensive for kids to go there, so it's very important that we do things up to that standard.  There was plenty of cleaning, decorating and lesson planning to do, so we had a few days where we worked 9am-9pm.

Graduation

The graduates performing something

My classroom

Until last Friday I was sleeping on Don's floor at his apartment, which was just fine.  He's a good lad, that Don.  I was eager to live in MY apartment though!  On Friday we carried all of my stuff the half a mile or so to my place.  I found out that when Koreans move, they take everything with them.  Except the CRAP they don't want.  Needless to say, the apartment needed a deep cleanse and a few some appliances.  I also found out in the middle of the night Friday that my heat didn't exactly work properly... or at all.  Turns out they shut it off until the new tenant tells them to turn it back on. So until Monday night I just had to bundle up and think warm thoughts!  By Tuesday I was able to walk around in only one pair of pants and take my first hot shower in a week (Don had heat, but couldn't figure out how to get hot water)!

My apartment (before)

The Shower

So, the shower in most apartments in Korea is literally the whole bathroom.  There's just the shower head and a drain in the floor.  The toilet paper roll just has a shield over it, and its far enough away that it doesn't get wet... its pretty neat actually.  The shower head is attached to the faucet and you just have to twist a knob to switch between sink and shower.  Yes, I have forgotten to switch it after a shower.  No, it is not fun to be completely dressed for work and get blasted in the face by your own forgetfulness.

This is how I feel.

So by that point I figured I had it made... and then on Wednesday, I got my refrigerator, stove, washing machine, aaaaand my bed!  Woohoo!  So now I have everything I need for my apartment! This morning, the cable guy came and installed the tv and internet stuff, so I'm completely moved in.  The only thing left is to scour the streets for some secondhand furniture.  It feels strange to no longer be living out of a bag... it feels less touristy, and more real.

Here is a video tour of my furnished apartment (I've noticed it takes a while to load this and sometimes it seems as if the page is "stuck" but just wait for it, it'll get there):

Just a note: it's not typical for teachers to get apartments this large or nice.  My school is a very nice school and goes out of their way to make sure that the American teachers are comfortable.  So, thanks to them!  If you're curious, I'd recommend searching youtube for "korean apartment" or something to get perspective on how nice my place is!  

So now that I'm all moved in, it's time to get food.  So where else but to HomePlus!  Shopping there is always fun.  There's always a ton of salesmen that have to yell out scripted lines even though its clear to them that I have no clue what they're saying.  I got into a five minute discussion with a sales lady who was trying to sell me pantene pro v shampoo.  I told her I wouldn't even use that in America, where it didn't cost $12!  Haha... so I settled for the green tea and squid ink shampoo because who doesn't want to say that they've washed their hair with squid ink.  I'm expecting my super powers to kick in by the end of the week. 

Its pretty easy to get familiar products here, its just that they don't always taste the same, and they're prone to being more expensive.  A jar of skippy here will run you about 7 bucks.  So, when I set off on my first shopping adventure I decided to keep it simple.  This is what I ended up with:

All in all, I played it pretty safe... Got the OJ (tastes more like sunny d), lettuce, yogurt, eggs, tuna, just a little tofu (when in Rome), and some ramen.  I guess they call it ramean here or something like that.  All I know is they say it different.  This brand however, is the best ramen/ramean I've had in my life.  

Sincerely yours.  

The finished product

What makes it so good you ask?  Not only do the flavor packets in it make it taste good... but near the end you add an egg and whip it up.  It thickens it up and makes it fantastic.  So good.

Other favorite foods so far:

We went to a vietnamese place that was one of the most unique meals I've ever had.  You started out with a pot in the middle that they added veggies to, and a big plate of meat and veggies on the side.

So what happens is you take some meat and throw it in the pot in the middle.  The hot soup stuff cooks the meat.  You take one of these weird rice wafer things and stick it in your own personal bowl of hot water.  It about 2 seconds it becomes this sticky weird rice tortilla.  Pile the meat and veggies into your weird tortilla.  Enjoy.

Happy Don

Mmmmm

It is expected that your group eats all of the meat and vegetables.  Once you are finished (I was full at this point), the waitress comes and adds noodles and other vegetables, and it is served as a soup.  There is still broth at the bottom of the pot.

(This is where you unbutton your pants)

Once you've eaten your soup, the waitress adds rice, and a pumpkin or squash like vegetable to the broth at the bottom until you reach your final destination of this rice dish:

Now waddle on home.

It was neat because each part of the meal was connected to each other.  They all had the same base and ingredients but each tasted so different.  Definitely a favorite so far.  We also experienced another first during this meal: "service".  Basically if they like you, they give you free stuff.  We got some free pepsi basically just because we're foreigners.  

One last favorite food: Kimbap!  

Its pretty much sushi, and I love it.  Its so good, and its good for you.  It gets even better for two great reasons:

1. You can get egg around your kimbap
2. These two large rolls cost me about $3.50

All in all I'm loving everything about life here.  Once things settle down, I'm most likely going to have a hard time of finding new things to write about, so if there's any specific subject you want to hear about, feel free to let me know.  Otherwise you're just going to keep getting food posts, cause I like food, and it likes me.  

God bless all who are at home!

Love you all.

One last treat:
Me and Don went to this restaurant and we didn't know what we were ordering, but we ended up with this really spicy chicken stir fry meal.  Watch Don whine like a girl about his food: