Be forwarned that the spell check is not working on my computer at work and the keys on the keyboard are "sticky" so I appologize if there are a million misspellings in this update but I have been slack and am going to try to quickly type this up for you all!
It would seem that I am really beginning to settle in here in my new home, as I find less and less to be so starkly surprising and note worth to write home about--that doesn't mean that odd things don't still happen, I assure you, they do! It's just that I am beginning to see them over and over now and they are starting to feel a bit more "normal" for me.
Have been busy at school with after school programs for week 4 as well as getting back into my running again. Already up to 4 miles again! Spending lots of time with the coworkers doing eating out dinners and group potluck at home dinners. It's really nice to enjoy the company of those I work with! So very fortunate!! I have also found myself a new bestie here to keep me company. Her name is Mel and she lives on the closest side of town to me, so very handy! We are plotting many adventures for our time here (as she arrived about five days after I did) but we haven't gotten around to doing much of it just yet as she works a real teaching job where she must grade papers and give tests and prepare lesson plans in her own time, so that's really cutting into our play time! But, we did make time last weekend to get off to Busan to see some of the city and to have a riotous weekend in general together! Friday held a night of would-be bar hopping but instead was a night of sitting in an empty kareoke bar with two Korean brothers from Seoul in Geoje for vacation trying to have conversation through broken English, hand gestures, drinks, sake shots, some really not good Korean food, some even worse kareoke singing (sorry Lady Gaga for the butcher job on Paparazzi), the nicest and most unexpected indoor squaty potty, and some late night-total-flop Korean sushi! But at least we knew it was fresh (until the lady sneezed on it that is..) as she caught it from the tank just after we placed our order and then promptly disappeared into the kitchen. I half expected her to come back toting a small plastic bag filled with water and our fish but instead she came back with a plate of fish flesh (from our poor little only moments ago swimming Nemo) which she sneezed on on her way to the table. Yum. I opted out of the sushi (for this reason specifically) as it was a sort of "build your own" sushi thing going on and I am a lazy eater. I like my sushi to be sushied for me before it comes to my table. Saturday was a lovely bus ride into Busan followed by shopping and time with my friend Tori (who is teaching in Busan that I met in Honduras last summer while doing my dive masters) then out to a club for the night. We arrived early but it didn't take long for the party to kick off. We had ample oppertunity to "help" guys practice their English...yeah, they would just come sit next to us and ask if they could talk to us. It was always two friends who would want to practice. We'd talk for awhile then get bored of it and disappear on them, only to be asked by two more guys once we settled into a new nook of the club. Mel and I began taking to lying to those who came over to talk to us--telling them we are 42, married, from Canada, have kids, that we're sister, ya know, just whatever fell out of our mouths at the time. We were having a hoot of a time about it--the boys seemed a bit confused as to what was so terribly funny most of the time. It was a good time! Sunday was more shopping and lunch at a Japanese sushi place then catching the bus back home to Geoje. Aaaaah, home sweet home! I really like Busan, but I am very fond of my nice small island and town life here. Big city hussle and bussle is nice to visit but small town comfort is the win for me.
Other news:
I have a new boss at my job and we are one week down and things look good! She is very sweet and trying very hard to get up to speed! How fortunate I am to have two good bosses in a row here! Aparently this is the exception, not the rule.
I am the owner of a fine Korean cell phone---and let me tell you, it's erally quite nice! However, I had no intention of getting a nice phone, it's just the way things panned out, but it is lacking a full keyboard, so this is the first time in about five years or so that I have sent a text message on a multipush key pad. Talk about SLOW going!!
I will be purchasing a scooter (no, it's not pink, no it's not speedy, but, it sure beats walking all the time, everywhere, up that hill both ways to and from town!) in about a month and am looking forward to having my own two wheels to go exploring the island with!
I have had many successes--one of which was finding a reasonably priced hammer!--in my time here thus far. I have organized, reorganized, mounted, hung, and placed everything in its mostly permenant spot. I have put up my own clothes line in my room (with much effort, some cussing, some issues, and a victory!) and I have managed to find all of the items I have been looking for at good prices to make my house my home for the year--flat iron, blender, iron, clothes line, toaster, pots, pans, tea kettle, forks, a hammer, baskets and storage units, and an air mattress just to name a few.
Tickets have been purchased for my first visitor to Korea! Hannah is coming end of June for nearly three weeks! YAY!!
A few things I have noticed that I would like to share:
I believe that Koreans keep the bobble head doll companies in business. Almost every car I have seen has one on the dash. If not a bobbly head of some sort on the dash, then there is something hanging from the rearview mirror--often there is both.
The "smart car" is the standard car here. There are plenty of what we would call "full sized" cars here but there are sooooo many little bity smart cars! And they have the get up and go of a hair dryer on speed, especially when loaded down with the maximum occupancy load!
It is best to learn and be proficient at parallel parking if you intend to have a parking space in Korea.
If you want someone's number here, it is as simple as knowing which car is theirs. All vehicles are to have your phone numbers listed on the front (or rear) window in case someone needs to call you to have you move your vehicle as it is very common to "double park" in many areas. So you just hope that the person who parks behind you leaves before you do and no one else parks there again....or you look for aspace where you are the last one in! But, this makes stalking someone much easier!
For all the talk of Koreans thinking that foreigners (especially Westerners) are dirty and otherwise "not good" or lazy, I have been pretty fortunate I suppose, as I have yet to run across any issues with people being overly jerky to me (or at leasat above and beyond the cultural difference issues)...however, this could be because I don't know "dirty foreigner" in Korean. They probably say it to me all the time!
Yellow Sand is real and it's really kinda gross. --Yellow Sand is the dust that blows in from the desert in China and it is very dangerous to breathe in. It started this past weekend and is at a 2 on the 1-3 scale. A 3 is serious health warning and recommended not to venture out more than you absolutely have to. I will be purchasing a SARS mask for my runs, as well as pretty much always wearing sunglasses if I am outside until it subsides.
Ok, that's it for the past three weeks--there has been a lot that has gone on, butas I said, it is beginning to become day to day type stuff. But I assure you, I still love it here and am having a wonderful time!
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