I survived my first full week in Korea!

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It is 3pm Monday, December 8 in South Korea.... which means I have officially survived one full week. Woohoo!! It's been a crazy week of adjustments, culture shock, jet lag... finding my way around a new city, learning some new words, and meeting an awesome group of English teachers that are also living in Yangsan.



Some first impressions of Yangsan, and Korea in general...


• The mountains and views here are stunning. Every day, I walk a mile to and from school, and get to see some amazing views. I have loaded some pictures on Facebook for those of you that are friends with me on there and I will try to load some onto my blog here for those that are not. Unfortunately, don't have any saved on the computer at school, so I will have to do that later on.
• One thing I could definitely get used to in Korea are the heated floors. Few things I hate more about winter than getting out of my warm bed and putting my feet onto a cold hardwood floor. In Korea, that's not generally a problem! (Now if only the heat in my apartment was actually working at the moment, I could have some nice warm floors again... 😊 )
• One thing I could definitely pass on in Korea is the fact that many buildings are cold. Like seriously, they're freezing... teachers and students walk around the school wearing winter jackets; the teachers in my office also have blankets and heated pads to keep warm. I asked my co-teacher, apparently the building is sweltering in the summer... not sure what will be worse.
• School lunch.... I was spoiled at Monadnock. Really, I wish I could pick up the MRHS cafeteria and put it in the school here. I can't / won't eat much of what they make... the soup today had some kind of fish in it with bones still attached. And the smell... for some one that does not enjoy fish and seafood, the smell can be overwhelming. I think I'm going to have to start bringing my own lunch...!
• Korean BBQ, on the other hand, is awesome. I went with a group of the English teachers here and loved it. It is a very communal meal where the meat is cooked by the customers at a grill at the table and then every one shares the meat and toppings. Korean BBQ is wrapped up in a lettuce-like leaf (it might just be lettuce) with different sauces or toppings and eaten with your fingers. The place we went to also served egg soup, which was better than I was expected. And they had a beer after me. So kind of them. :D
• There are several foreign teachers here in Yangsan (which is a city of about 280,000 I believe). They come from all over the world... USA, Canada, England, South Africa, even China (hope I didn't forget any one!). All of the teachers have welcomed me and taken me "under their wings" to teach me Korean, show me around the city, and just make me feel welcome. So thank you to Jay, Kendra, Jeremy, John, Tamas, Alyssa, Charmaine, Sam, Robin, Lara (I hope I didn't forget any one) and to those that I haven't had a chance to meet in person yet. The first couple days in Yangsan, I sat in my apartment at night wondering what on earth I was thinking by coming to Korea without knowing a single person... so glad I posted in the FB group and met all of you!
• At this point, I have learned a few words in Korean. It's a slow process... but I can at least say hello/goodbye, please, and thank you and I can understand a little bit of the money now! My task / goal this week is to learn the alphabet so I can actually read some of the signs 😊 Another goal.... figure out the buses / public transportation. I haven't been brave enough to go near that yet!



I have 16 days off in a row at the end of January for my winter break and am researching places I want to visit. So far on my wish-list are the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia... would love any suggestions and/or connections in those countries! I won't go completely alone / without knowing I can at least meet up with people while I am there 😊



I will add pictures to here as soon as I can for those of you that do not have Facebook!

Love and miss you all back home, and thanks to every one for reading!

~Cassie

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