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Published: July 15th 2006
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Just in case anyone was wondering more about where I'm living ::::: Changwon isn't too big of a city by Asian standards (200,000+), but it feels pretty big to me. It's kinds of hard to find on a map, you should check some websites on it if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changwon , http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=209571 , http://www.changwon.go.kr/foreign/english/ . If anyone had Google Earth and would like to see what Changwon looks like the coordinates to my house are 35 13' 4.02"N, 128 40' 36.80"E and the coordinates to my work are 35 13' 6.93"N, 128 41'24.98"E . Just cut and paste and make sure not to leave out anything because it will only work if you have all the characters.
Korea itself a trip. Everyone pretty much stares at me because I'm almost the only one in this entire city of (200,00+++) with blond hair. Little kids run up to me and use their few English words (hi or hello. how are you? I am fine, and you? goodbye) in really funny accents. I like to think of it more like celebrity status than public spectacle. I think I had my first experience of culture shock the other day. I got
so sick of people looking at me and whispering that I wanted to fight everyone I saw. Luckily, I controlled myself to just silently cursing them under my breath. The whole country is really mono-cultured. They look down on people that are half Korean, are Korean, but have a darker skin pigment, or our internationally married. It's so different from what I'm used to. I've been reading a little about why the country is like this and all the material has said that they are getting much better with accepting people different. I think they still have a long way to go!
The weather sucks right now because it is monsoon season. It rains on and off all day, but it's really humid and warm. We actually survived out first typhoon last week. The wind was blowing so hard that the rain was coming completely sideways and for a few moments it was coming up from the ground. In a few weeks the rain will stop and then summer begins... it's going to be really, really hot. I've been told that the temperature gets somewhere between 32 and 38 degrees Celsius, but I'm not sure what they is
in Fahrenheit (I need to work on my conversions…)
The food has been an amazing perk. I knew I loved it before I came over, but it's so much better here. We have been eating a lot of bulgogi where they serve you raw pork or beef that you cook yourself on a grill in your table. It's really easy to cook and easy to mess up (aka burn). The server comes over and helps you cut it (using scissors, there are no knives used to eat here) and turn it occasionally. Besides that it's your responsibility. I've gotten pretty good at cooking it correctly though, so it's not too bad. There's a ton of spice in almost everything else. I like spicy, but sometimes I really can't handle any more. Those times I'll eat fried rice, bibimbap (vegetables, rice, egg and broth) or ramen-stlye noodles that they serve everywhere. The other day we were craving some American food so we bought ground pork and made burgers and cut up potatoes and made french fries on the stove (we don't have an oven). It was a delicious change.
Normally I get up and try to work out at
this awesome park across the street (it has a track through a bunch of trees with work out stations along the way, it also has badminton courts--so hot here-- where there are funny Korean people being oh so serious about the sport, a basketball court and some tennis courts), then I run errands, walk around town, and get ready for work. I get to work about 2 and prep for my classes. My first class starts at 420 and ends at 720, my second class begins at 720 and goes to 1020. After class I'll usually grab some food with Pat or coworkers and hang out a bit before bed.
Work is going well. There's a lot of lesson planning and prepping involved, but actually teaching the class has turned out to be more fun than I thought it would. It's making me reconsider getting my teaching credential (or something similar like my Montessori certificate). The kids are really nice and obedient, I like that in a student. They don't talk back like American children tend to(usually cause they don't know how... haha) and they are SO concerned with their grades that if they do fall out of line
all you have to do is threaten to take points off. It's awesome.
During the week we try to keep in low-key but weekends are open for adventure. We haven't done much yet because we're still settling in... but there are a ton of hiking trails, temples, hot springs and beaches all within thirty minutes of us and a HUGE world to explore up in Seoul. I can't wait to get up to Seoul for a few days and check out all it has to offer.
Just this week had to go to Japan to get my visa to teach legally here in Korea so my company sent me by ferry to Fukuoka for a couple of days. For some strange reason you can't get your E-2 visa in the country so they have to send you out just to come back in with it. It's a strange concept. They didn't tell me until the night before I was supposed to leave that I was actually going, so it was pretty short notice.
I was nervous to travel to another country by myself, but I had a great time. Japan is amazing. It's clean, people are friendly,
it's not so mono-cultured, it's fun, the shopping is awesome, their fashion is out of control... but it's REALLY expensive and I walked around all afternoon one day with the hope of finding at least one new item to bring home, but I couldn't afford a thing. Plus, t he heat over there was insane, like 37 degrees C. I was a sweaty mess after shopping (or at least pretend to )outside all day
I met an Australian girl on the ferry and we went out to a sushi dinner (also expensive) and to a bar. The bar, The Happy Cock (really), was cool. It was about $10 American for all you can drink and they had a buffet that provided snacks all night long. There were these Japanese guys that were pretty good break dancers, but kept pretending to be a boy band. They would do the same dance moves behind a guy who was lip syncing badly. It actually was pretty funny.
The next day I picked up my visa and visited a lot of temples and sites around the city. I went to the beach briefly, went up Fukuoka tower, to the Yahoo! Dome (where
their baseball team The Hawks play) and to a variety of temples.
That's if for now. I'm off to my first Korean night club tonight. Wish me luck. Hopefully there's not too many crazy rave dancers like in Japan because I seriously can't hold back my laughter for too long.
I miss everyone. Please write me back. I love to hear what everyone is doing and kind of need updates over here, I'm completely out of the loop!!!!
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