Sunday, August 31, 2008

This weekend was fun! I met some co-workers downtown, Friday, for a fun night out of dancing and singing!! Yay for Norebang’s (spelling??)!! That same night I met this group of guys: 2 from Finland and 1 from Holland. They go to college at one of the Universities here. They just got here and will be here for 4 months. It’s very interesting to learn things from other cultures! Finnish people are different from the kind of people I know… very interesting. Anywho, then Saturday I slept in a bit and went to get a phone, but the place was closing when we got there so I didn’t get a phone…ugh. I’m tired of not being able to call people when I need to… very much annoying! So my friend that was giving me their phone allowed me to take the phone and get to know it! Since it’ll be mine! Yay! So I have a phone, but no service! Good times.
Well, later sat night, I went back out to downtown to have dinner with some friends, as his mother and sister came to visit from America. We hung out for a looong time! Then we went to a Norebang again and then went to dance! I love dancing! It’s a lot of fun! Then I met this really nice (and handsome :o)) guy, Todd… he’s in the army here and from Florida! Good times. I went to the base today, Sunday, and had TACO BELL!!!! Thanks Todd! It was really yummy!!
You know, I thought we got off all the holidays that America gets off, but we don’t get aLL of them…because tomorrow is Labor Day, but I have to work. No good… but I guess I can’t expect to get EVERYTHING off for Korean and American holidays…
I still don’t have any complaints about Korea yet. So that’s good, right? I think my face is getting use to all the greasy food. It’s not breaking out AS MUCH AS it did last month. Not everything is greasy, but lots of stuff ARE! Yuck. But it’s still so tasty! I absolutely love Korean food! What am I going to do without Doekboki (sp?)?? It’s a spicy rice cake and fish cake!! Sooooo tasty. Im pretty much obsessed with it! Omg and I tried something new SATURDAY!! It’s called hodoek (sp?)…I think it’s pronounced something like hoe-duh…lol it’s a pancake with pieces of peanut and melted sugar in it…mmmm tasty. You should try some! It’s to die for… How did I get on a rant about food? Idk. Anyways, so I’m hoping to get a phone tomorrow…I’ll let you know if I do!! Lata!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Last night was so much fun! I spent my first birthday in Korea! I can’t believe that I’m 26 yrs old now! I am soooo old! Lol I don’t think I would feel this old if I were married or even had a significant other, but I am not and I don’t… I thought I was just going out with alpha and a couple of other people, but when we got in the cab, Alpha told me that there were several people waiting on us to be at the Retro bar. Yes, it’s a bar, but it’s much more than that… It has huge booths that are separated by these tassels (fun) and it’s a cozy place. We had a couple drinks, some cake, some smoked chicken, opened some presents, and also played darts! Did I mention I suck at playing darts!!! Lol We have been here so many times that I am starting to get a lil better at throwing them…but I’m still not very good… I am so thankful for all the gifts that I received…even after I told everyone to seriously not get me anything… I got a potpourri rabbit that lets off smelly good stuff after you spray it with a little water, some lil pillows, a huge scrapbook album, a sweet party hat, a much needed trashcan filled with all kind of toys and knick knacks, and some Neutrogena stuff for my face! After Retro (several hours later), we headed to a sam gyup sal restaurant around the corner from where we were. We spent a lot of time there watching Alpha get drunk and make a fool of himself… After that we headed to a Norebang, which is karaoke. They have the rooms where your party can go and hang out with just yourselves. You don’t have to worry about other people hearing you or seeing anyone else. It’s just you and your crew! It was fun! Alpha would be sleeping for a while and then all of a sudden wake up and join in on the singing, and then go back to sleep… lol good times. After that, it was 5am and time to go home. We took a cab home and crashed! I was ready…although I couldn’t fall asleep till 6. But it’s all good. I know it seems late when I say I stay up till 6am all the time, but you have to realize, that I don’t wake up till about 1230 every day give or take and work only till 835 4 out of the 5 days of the week. So I am getting enough sleep. It’s just like me being in TX and waking up at 6am and getting home around 5 or 7 and staying up till midnight. I GET enough sleep here… so quit worrying… ☺ I love you guys… talk to ya later gator!!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

I never went to mission Baptist church because I overslept, but I had good intentions… Nerida and I went to Seoul station to put our bags in lockers so we wouldn’t have to carry them everywhere with us. After that, we hoped in the subway and went to Itaewon. That place was PACKED with people. There is just one main road where all the shops (on three floors) are. And of course they also had street vendors. I felt like I was in New York again! I don’t think we took pics, first of all, because I don’t have a camera, but because we didn’t really think about it. And sometimes I think Nerida gets annoyed when I keep asking her to borrow her camera. So really, I’ll just eventually have to get one, but I just can’t afford it right now. Anywho, we spent all day in Itaewon and didn’t go back to the subway station till just before our KTX train was leaving. We made our journey home in just about 2 hrs. From the station, we got this cab home and HE WAS CRAZY… I literally think he just watched the FAST AND FURIOUS, because he was aaaaalllllllll over the road. It was absolutely ridiculous. And I think there was something wrong with his meter, because it usually only takes about 7 bucks to get to/from the station from our work and it def was more than that… So I jumped out (not while it was moving…) and took a bus home. It was much cheaper than having that crazy man take me FURTHER home (as I live further than Nerida from work). Anywho, we just buckled up and got scared but laughed it off! Good times!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Well, today was yet another rainy day in Korea. I woke up early and tried to get breakfast from the hotel, but I was too late for it. So I went to 7-Eleven and got junk food! I spent the day with Brian and partially Nerida. We walked around town and had burgers for lunch. Then we went to Brian’s freedom musical (a tribute to American Military)…it was from 7-9pm. It was VERY good! We got some pics…I’ll put them up asap! Now im just chillin at the hotel, alone. Nerida went on a date and Brian went to dinner with all his cast friends. (in case you didn’t know…Brian is a good friend from DBU. He came out here with a group from TX to put on the musical in Seoul this week). Anywho, I’m going to Mission Baptist Church in the morning. It’s down the street from the hotel. Then Brian and the rest of TX people are leaving around 2pm. Nerida and I will be going to seoul for the remainder of the day to shop and wait for our train!!! Fill in the rest later!!! Peace!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Well, Nerida and I started out on our journey to Seoul tonight. We hoped in a cab leaving work and headed to Dong-Daegu Station. From there we rode almost 2 hrs to Seoul on a train! We needed to go about an hour away by car to Osan, so we headed down stairs to the tube (the subway). Realized we had chosen the wrong time to arrive to seoul cuz the tube was about to close for the night. This was at 11:37pm…so we realized we had to take a cab. We got in the cab and the man was telling us it was gonna be about an hour away and that it was gonna cost 80,000 won, which is about 80 bucks… I was shocked! Lol So we called our boss and we had her speak with the driver. Since it’s after midnight and we had to drive so long on the highway and what not, it was gonna cost that much. So here we are in the cab driving there…im jamming to some Christina Aguilera while I’m typing this! We are debating on whether to get a hotel or wait till the morning and get one for tomorrow night. Hmm. Well, I’ll try to talk the guy at the counter cuz he knows we were coming from Daegu and it would be awhile. Maybe I can work out a discount! :o) Sometimes I’m good like that! Well, we’re almost there so I’ll talk to ya later, party people!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

I got paid for the first time in Korea yesterday! That feeling is wonderful…to know that you have money and don’t have to be broke! Ugh. I can’t tell you have great it feels. I am working on a budget so this doesn’t happen again. It was just so hard to come here with barely anything and then it all be gone the first 2 ½ wks.
Today is the last day before another holiday! Man, I love how Korea has so many holidays! Tomorrow is Korea’s Independence Day (from who, I don’t know, but I’ll find out!). Mostly all the teachers are off, but there are a few schools who like to keep their teachers working ALL the time…like my friend Alpha. They’re school only gives them off for Thanksgiving and Christmas (on the American holidays) and makes them work pretty much all the other days of the year, except for Sundays… I can’t believe how God blessed me here with awesome things! I’m still realizing little things that have fallen into place when I came here! Teachers from here keep asking me why I chose the school that I’m at now, and I just tell them because I liked how the Director spoke to me on the phone and how easy-going he seemed to be! I liked the things he had to say about the school and the current teachers! It felt so good to be thought of as continuing to better the school!! So, since I’ve been here a month, I have heard MANY stories about how foreign teachers hate their job or just little stories about their bosses and whatnot. But all I can say is that I love my: director, his wife, the other teachers at ILE, my apartment they provided, the pay, the location of my apt and school and where we are in south Korea, the new friends I’ve made, and the food! Can you see why I love it here! I have been thinking about whether or not I will stay here for another year… the cons are somehow not that much…so, if you think of a con that I don’t already have then I’ll add it to my list…
PROs for staying in South Korea:
No apt fees (except gas, electricity, and internet)
Walk to work everyday
Traveling countries I haven’t seen
Learning/Using a new language
Having a secured job
Meeting different people
I love what I do
The people here are mostly sweet and caring
Paying on my school loans on time
Paying off my credit cards and still have money

CONs for staying in South Korea:
Won’t get to see my family
Won’t get to see my friends
Won't get to babysit the 2nd best kids in the world, Newberry's
Won’t get to see the Garners on my way back to TX
Taking the Taxi places can get expensive
I have to eat out most of the time, since it’s so expensive to cook your own food
Have to wire money home which costs a lot

Well, I need to get ready for work seeing that I have to be there in an hour and a half…
Tonight, my friend, James (from London), and I are gonna go out and meet some new people. We’ll see how well we do! Then tomorrow him and I are going to downtown to look around at all the great places to shop and dream about. Then at 3 I am meeting a friend from work, Carrie. She wanted to take me shopping when I got paid! I won’t spend too much, seeing as I don’t really need anything…but it’ll be good to see what people have and where I can go if I DO need something! After Carrie and I are done, I am going to meet back up with all my friends and we’re going to take stuff to our friend who is under house arrest (not really but I can’t explain right now because I’ll be late for work so I’ll tell you about it next time…just know she’s not really in trouble with the law…just with her parents! Lol). After that I think we’re going out to downtown to see my asian crush (a guard at one of the clubs…he’s so hott!!) lol and then just chillin somewhere. Saturday will be a day of relaxation and then when Alpha gets off work I think we’ll be going out of town to Suncheon (spelling?)…maybe. We might wait till Sunday to go, so we don’t have to pay for a hotel. Which I’m sure we’ll do instead! So that’s what I have planned…we’ll see if it goes as well as I wrote it! Talk to ya soon peeps!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Obviously I didn’t die from water rafting!!! I’m here now! I’m currently in the process of uploading pics from our sat night and Sunday white water rafting experience! In the mean time, here’s what happened: Well, Saturday was crazy. It was POURING all morning and then just as I was leaving my apartment it cleared up. I headed to Dong A department store (on the basement 1 and basement 2 they have a grocery store), next to my work, to buy some groceries for Saturday night. While I was searching the noodles, meat, and sauce I stumbled on some surprising things… small container of chocolate powder for milk 8 or 9 bucks, one little box of swiss miss 7 bucks, knock off brand of peanut butter 6 bucks, some kind of American spaghetti sauce 5 bucks…and I saw more, but I can’t remember… anywho, I bought the cheapest, but best things I needed. While I was looking for the meat, I realized that they don’t use American beef because they’re afraid of getting mad cow disease. People won’t shop at a place if there is American beef there. So it brings down the business. So guess how much PER POUND the Korean beef was… 20 bucks…ugh. So thankfully, Alpha bought it cuz I was just gonna get pork (6 bucks) and make meatballs out of that… we all met and got to my home by taxi cuz we all had tons of stuff to carry. I had bought a watermelon the night before so it would be sweet…(and it was!). We had a grand ol’ time hangin out. Night came and some of us fell asleep and some of the others went to Alpha’s house. Woke up and it was time to go rafting! We met in front of Dong A again to meet our ride! We rented a 11seater van and we had just enough butts to fit in there. Good thing we didn’t take more of our friends. We wouldn’t have fit. Lol well, the ride was 2 hours long and we went south of Daegu. The time passed by quickly cuz we were all being silly and talking… we got there and ate lunch. Then changed clothes in a NASTY bathroom/shower room…yuck! We WAITED for a long time in the sun to go paintballing. We did three rounds of that. Then came back to the original spot to wait forever again to go rafting! While we were waiting we played with some puppies as you can see in some pics! The rafting was a blast! The rapids weren’t that great, but WE made it a lot of fun! All of us went in one boat. Our leader of the boat was one of our friends’ boyfriend. He was awesome! He totally showed us up on the muscle side of things; made us all look like wimps. ☺ after about 2 ½ hrs of rowing, jumping, rolling, and whatnot, we took a 3o min break on a beach type place. It was fun! All the other people who were tubing during our 3 hrs tour were there. So there was about 100 people on the beach. We were the only ½ Korean ½ white ones! Lol we piled 3 boats on top of each other and had one on each side of the pile. One would run up one end and slide down the other end into the water! We also turned two rafts upside down and tied them together and were running off them into the water. TO ME, IT FELT LIKE I WAS ON THAT JAPANESE TV SHOW MXC. CUZ WHEN WE WERE RUNNING OFF THINGS, THE PEOPLE WHO WERE HOLDING THE BOATS IN PLACE WOULD TRY TO MAKE YOU FALL BEFORE YOU HIT THE WATER! LOL GOOD TIMES! After that we headed back and jumped in the showers. People in korea don’t mind who they shower with. They shower naked and with whoever. Girls shower with girls and vice versa. I showered with my suit on. I didn’t feel brave enough to do that yet! Lol maybe in a year… lol (but probly not!) We all ate some watermelon and then headed back to Suseong-gu… Byeong and I slept on each others shoulders cuz we were tired. And others took pics of us and talked the whole time. We got back and ate some sam gyup sal…mmm it’s soo tasty!! Then I went home! I woke up REALLY sore and in just enough time to get ready and get to work. I was almost late for my first time! Lol Today was long…I didn’t have any breaks between my classes. And when I got off Ned pulled me away just as fast as I could get my purse off the ground… She told me we were going to a movie… we got there and she told me that we were meeting someone there. Come to find out, she’s been trying to hook my friend Byeong and I up for a while now. That’s who she invited. She didn’t tell him that I didn’t know… so it wasn’t awkward in the sense that I didn’t want him there, but it was awkward cuz I knew what she was doing…lol trying to hook us up. She’s so crazy! I love hanging out with Byeong, but we’re just friends!! You guys might have noticed on facebook that I went from being single to being a relationship to being single… well, I was playing a joke on Byeong cuz he left his facebook logged into my computer and Sumin and I thought it would be funny! But im still single…so no worries!! Anywho, that’s all for now! Talk to ya later alligator!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Hey people! I know it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted a blog… It’s just that I was really busy as soon as I got back from Busan, I just didn’t make the time. I’m sorry. Forgive me? Ok… moving on…
Busan!! We left for Busan last wed. The trip there EARLY wed morning was peaceful. We didn’t have any trouble finding things once we got there. We got in the taxi from the train station and realized our hotel was like forever away! Lol we weren’t sure if we were going the right way because we had never been, but we stuck with it and had a little faith that he wasn’t taking us for a ride. Well, 11 bucks later of a cab ride, we arrive at the hotel. It seemed really nice. The beach was right across the street and we were only on the 9th floor of the hotel out of 18… We sat everything down and went walking around and got a cab ride to this little place called rodeo outlet (it’s pronounced like rodeo dr. in Beverly Hills). It was way too expensive even for being an outlet. So we eventually left after Ned looked in almost every store. Ugh. I complained cuz it was hot outside. I went back and took a MUCH needed nap, cuz I stayed up late washing clothes and packing! She took a walk while I was napping. Then I woke up and we went to dinner. Well, during the first day we realized our toilet was leaking. Yuck! Thursday we switched rooms after we slept in till about 12. Thursday was HOTTT.. I didn’t feel like doing much, but we did some stuff. I watched her swim at a hotel that cost us 8 bucks to get in. I didn’t swim cuz I didn’t want to wear a swim cap, which was mandatory. So while I was watching her I totally was sweating like crazy cuz it was really humid (indoor pool). That night we went to dinner and walked along the shore. THAT was nice cuz it wasn’t that hot and the water cooled me off a bit. On our walk we met 2 guys. One from Canada and one from Korea. We all talked for about 30 min. Ned and I then went home and slept. By the way, our newer room was also leaking too. Friday morning we slept in and checked out around 1. We headed to downtown Busan. We got a locker at the train station to keep our luggage so we could walk around. That was fun, but geeeeez, it was HOT! I KNOW I was making Ned miserable with all my complaining, but who would I be if I wasn’t true to myself! Lol You all know I complain when I’m hot and sweating! Lol While we were trying to find out how to get to the actual downtown where there were stores and whatnot, a Korean girl approached Ned and asked if she could help us. Well, she ended up hanging out with us the rest of the day cuz she was just gonna shop all day! She wanted to show us around the area. So we did. Good times. Well, before we knew it, it was time to go home. We hopped on the train and rode home. We were both tired, but couldn’t sleep cuz we didn’t want to miss our stop (as the train was really bound for seoul and was the last train to our city that day!) Oh, I forgot to mention that guys are the same as they are in Texas…I was walking on the beach and this huge group of Korean guys were talking and they were all like “HI” as we walked by. Well, as we were walking by, one GRABBED my boob. Didn’t graze it, GRABBED it. Can we say awkward…I acted like it didn’t bother me, but it did. Lol How rude! Those are mine I shouted as we kept walking! Lol (of course they didn’t understand cuz they don’t speak English) One thing I think is hilarious…people will walk up and say “HI” but not say anything else cuz that’s all they know how to say in English! Lol It cracks me up every time! Well, I am having a get-together tomorrow night and we’re going white water rafting on Sunday! So, if I die, just know that I had fun in Korea and I love all of you! Talk to you soon!