Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I feel so disconnected from America. I didn’t even realize that 9-11 was the other day until almost the whole day had gone by… Things are still going well here, except for the cut from American reality. I can’t believe I have been for 2 full months! It’s crazy!

So I’ll back track to last Friday, the 12th… I worked as usual till about 835 then went to home to pack. Then got a call from my boss telling nerida and I to come eat with them. So we did and then we went straight to downtown afterwards to walk around and hangout with people! Then it came time for me to go home so I could finish packing and leave for the train station at 3:15AM. My train left on time at 4am. It was the longest 3 hrs of my life… I fell asleep a few times, but got woken up by the announcements and/or the person beside me getting up and out (diff people came in/out at diff stations). So finally got to Pyeongtaek and took a cab to Songtan which is where my hotel was (the one nerida and I stayed at last time we were there…very nice and cheap!). Took a nap till about 11:30 till I got a call from Erik asking where I was! Lol I should have been with him by then, not just waking up!! Ugh. I would. So finally made it to the subway station and headed to Suwon. When I got on the tube, a group of really cute airforce boys got on too! I didn’t talk to them cuz they were standing a little too far to make conversation, but not too far to make eye contact! Lol eventually they got off and the REALLY hott one gave me the “nod”!! ugh. Why do I have to go back to TX?? Lol jk During this time of me scoping out these soldiers, my friends hopped on the subway so that we didn’t have to wait for the next one. They finally found me after getting on the subway 10 cars behind the car I was at! :o) suckers.. so an hour and 15 min later we arrive in seoul only to change subway lines a couple more times to actually get to where we were going, Itaewon!!! We got there and shopped all day! I made some good purchases. Before we decided to leave Itaewon, we wanted to grab some cold stone. While we were in cold stone, I felt something on my ankle. I reached down to brush it off and realized it was this HUGE bug!! I screamed, spilled my powerade, and jumped REALLY high and jumped around! Lol needless to say EVERYONE was looking at me and laughing after realizing it was only a bug… but this bug was HUGE!!!! Omg. I couldn’t believe I did that, but if you know me, you probly CAN believe that! Lol well, we left there and headed back down to the subway station. After erik and april got off in Suwon, I snoozed here and there. During a couple stations I would look up at the marque to see what the next stop was. I guess I was sleeping when mine went off, cuz I had to get off at the next stop and take a cab back to Songtan. I can’t believe I missed it. That happened a lot this weekend… hahaha So finally made it back to the hotel just long enough to wash my face and change clothes to meet up with some other friends! We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant down the street from the airforce base and then met up with some other friends around that area. Well, we were playing darts and one of my friends was being stupid and wanted someone to throw a METAL dart through his hand..well 3 of his other friends took one dart. The first 2 missed, but the 3rd guy nailed it right through his left ring finger. It went straight through without any problem.. it was sick! Someone pulled it out for him and it was dripping blood everywhere, but it shortly stopped and he was fine. After this eventful night I went back to my hotel and slept in till about noon the next day! Yes!! It feels soo good to sleep in while everyone else is up and getting ready for their day! Lol (not like I wake up early anyways!!!) Eventually I headed back to Suwon to meet erik and april again. We had subway for lunch. Suwon was deserted…. It felt like a ghost town cuz it was a national holiday, called Chuseok. It’s pretty similar to our Thanksgiving. So typically everything is closed and everyone is in their home with their family. So we had the city to ourselves pretty much! So we ate lunch then walked around Home Plus (a Korean walmart) and bought tons of stuff there! Then headed back to the train station…just barely giving me enough time to get there without being late. Good thing…my train was delayed a few minutes. On my way home, I watched two of the three movies I bought. 3 and a ½ hrs later, it’s time for me to get off the train…I forgot one DVD on the train in the case…and my new little Korean fan I had bought. Sad day. Ugh. Oh well.

So on my way home, I totally forgot that I didn’t have any cash on me. So when I got out, I realized that I needed the cab driver to go to a bank so I could get some out. So he drove me to about 20 atm machines, but guess what?? They were ALL closed. Cuz it was after midnight…so, finally about 20 min and 15 dollars later I called nerida and went by her house and borrowed some money. Geez. I was soooooo lucky she answered. Idk what I would have done…

So MONDAY!!! I woke up a lil late cuz I was suppose to meet my friends and go to another friends’ house for Chuseok lunch. Well, I finally got there an hour and a half late cuz I woke up late and my eye was sore cuz of a stupid stye… anywho, we had the BEST Korean lunch I have ever had!! We had a little bit of everything:
Bibimbop
Barbeque Chicken
Shark
Cooked Bacon (it might have been beef, but not sure)
Egg fried fish
Beef and potato soup
Lightly fried sweet potatoes
Lightly fried greens
And a couple other things I can’t remember
Doesn’t this sound amazing!!? Mmmm. There was kimchi too, but I didn’t eat any…yuck! We also had fruit for dessert with icecream!! Yummy!! After that we played some Korean games and then I taught them how to play phase 10 and they loved it! There was about 15 people at lunch and about 8 of us kids playing the games!

Later that night I went to eat dinner in downtown at PAPA JOHNS with a new friend I met in downtown Friday night! We had fun! Her name is Izzy and she teaches 8yr olds on one of the army bases here in Daegu. She only lives about 15 min from me (bus ride), so I think we’ll hang out often! Anywho, we had fun and today was just a regular ol’ day at work!

BUT I BOUGHT A BIKE TODAY!!!! It’s cute! It’s white with big tires and black and hot pink writing and décor on it!! I can’t wait to take a couple pics so I can show you! I’ll do that soon! It’s gonna be so much easier to get to work and faster. It’s hopefully gonna work out my legs! Yay! I can’t wait to take it around the lake too!! Yay! Well, its’ 3:30 am…I’ll talk to ya another day!! Peace out!!!

SNACKS i eat in korea!!!

and this is the fish cake that's mixed in with the dukboki!!! it's actually quite tasty if you like fish. (yes, it's cooked) so that's it! i love it!!!!! i love the snacks here!


this is the actual piece of dukboki.. tasty!


this my friends is dukboki... mmmm... it's prnounced duck bow key... tasty!!! but spicy. see the red stuff. yea, that's not bbq sauce! lol


these are korean snacks! you can pick them up at the grocery store or they serve them in bars to make you more thirsty....clever.. hmmm. anywho, the white ones are candy covered peanuts.. really tasty and the other ones are green thingys that i don't know what they taste like, but they're grrrrreeeeat!!! :o)



my boss and i being crazy at work!!

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!