Just One Expat's Opinion: A little bit of Seoul, a lot of food.

My first full week of teaching went off without a hitch. I finally met all of my classes and learned that I am not, in fact, teaching 4^th grade or doing after school classes (reverse Korean surprise). I am contracted to teach 22 hours and being that my 3^rd, 5^th, and 6^th grade classes take up 21 hours of instructional time, I would have to be paid overtime for any additional classes. I was told that was “not in the budget” which is a little disappointing considering I would welcome any additional pay with open arms. On the other hand, I consider myself to be very lucky once I heard how overwhelmed my colleagues are with the additional work load and lack of coteacher support for the after school lessons.

One of my classes - ignoring my coteacher as she tells them the rules.

Once the week was over I had a lot to look forward to. The Fall EPIK intake group was lucky enough to have a mini vacation after only a full week of teaching. Monday was Chusok, which is basically the Korean version of Thanksgiving. A celebration of the harvest and a time to sit and enjoy a fantastically large meal with family. Schools were closed Monday thru Wednesday, giving us all a five day weekend. Even though we had just started the gig, I think it was a well-deserved break. I can only really speak for myself, but after the two weeks of incredibly overwhelming preparation to move across the world, an intense nine-day orientation and a week and a half of “where the hell am I?” I certainly needed the time off to re-group and relax.

A Chusok gift from my principal - tuna, sesame oil, canola oil and of course - Spam

My plan was to head to Seoul to see some friends I had met and spent most of my time with during orientation. Not to mention the fact that it was Seoul and I was dying to see what all the fuss was about. I had taken my luggage to school that day as my coteacher arranged for a taxi to pick me up from the school and take me to the bus station. She even helped me purchase my ticket and gave me step by step instructions on how to find the terminal and buy a ticket home once I got there. I plopped on the bus, exhausted from my week and still in a semi-food coma from our traditional Korean lunch, known by us expats as nap-time food, as it was almost impossible to stay awake after one of those meals (I can't even pinpoint why). Many of us have exchanged stories of almost nodding off at our desks daily during our “desk-warming” time (the required time for us to stay at school and lesson plan for hours after our classes).

One of the most Americanized school lunches I've had so far - typically there are tentacles in my soup instead of chicken.

The bus ride was amazing. I took the express bus which had more leg room on it than the back seat of a mini van and the seat went back far enough for me to take a solid nap on my 1.5 hour commute to Seoul. We were almost there when our bus collided with another car. Not the first bus vs. car incident I had seen along the way, and if you recall I slept for most of it. Everyone was ok, and I didn't miss Candace, who managed to find me in the very busy bus station. So I consider it a win.

Comfy seats!

Bus accident!

Well rested Shira!

We quickly met up with some other friends and went out on the town. It wasn't long before Richard and I managed to lose the rest of our group, oooof course, considering we were the only two who did not reside in Seoul and had no clue how to find our way back to where we were sleeping for the weekend. The story ends well, don't fret family, we found them within 15 “what the hell do we do now???” minutes. Phew!

Richard searching for our friends.

Happy to be found.

Wandering Itaewon

The next day we grabbed a bite to eat (see pictures – delicious noodles!!!), and took a quick shopping trip in the underground market which was in the same bus terminal I had arrived in. I bought a 5,000 won dress (which comes out to about $4.75) which made me ridiculously happy because it combined my favorite things - dresses, flowers on dresses, and a good deal. We then met up with everyone else for some amazing dumplings at Johnny Dumplings in Itaewon. Itaewon is infamous for being the “foreign city” full of foreign restaurants (Mexican, French, American, whatever you want, wherever you come from) and a place to buy shoes, bras and anything else that you normally cannot find in your size from your local province. I heard a rumor there was even a spice shop where I may actually be able to find some essentials such as basil and turmeric. I'll have to make a return trip soon for that.

A familiar sight!

A not so familiar sight!

Food court Korea style.
(Above - pick your chicken)
(RIGHT - our lunch: 냉면 "Naengmyeon"
or "ice noodles" and
자장면 "Jajangmyeon" or
"black bean noodles")

Turtle pastries! (melon flavor, not turtle flavor)
And an excellent quote: "Sometimes I like coffee and
pancakes more than I like people"

Wonton Soup with Mussels!

Yummy Dumplings!

Spicy Tofu Rice

Johnny Dumplings, Itaewon
(with a line out the door)

More Itaewon Pics for You!

Any kind of restaurant your heart desires.

This was a cereal place, that had cereal
milk shakes. Yum!

I love the view, and the girl laughing...
I wonder what was so funny?

Western Halloween masks and Korean
masks. I like the Korean masks better.

Flinging ice cream and a very unhappy
man next to some shawarma.

East meets West Hotdogs and this little
nugget at the Baskin Robbins

Patbingsu (팥빙수) - shaved ice and ice
cream with yummy strawberry stuff!

A fun day with these crazy kids in Itaewon

After wandering Itaewon for a bit we took a bus to the Namsan Seoul Tower on top of Mt. Namsan, famous for it's amazing panoramic views of Seoul. The bus took us straight up the mountain and dropped us off where we walked almost 90 degrees further up the mountain to finally reach the tower. Just like many famous locations in many cities across the world, the Seoul tower had a few places for “love locks” which is essentially a pad lock that couples can lock onto semi-permanent locations to prove that their love is ever lasting. The Seoul Tower had this love thing down to a science with a million different ways for you to spend your money proving your love. I can't remember who in our group said it, but someone pointed out the percentage of relationships that turn into marriage, coupled with the percentage of marriages that actually stand the test of time, and we all realized we were looking at hundreds of “heart break locks”. Still, the view was unbeatable, and un-capture-able (made up word, yes, I know) as our cameras could not do it justice.

"Trees" covered in locks

Front of our lock

Back of our lock

Buy your love some candy

Buy your love a postcard

Buy your love a plastic thing
to throw in a fake pond.

My final day in Seoul we took a trip to Costco (which apparently is only located in Seoul) to pick up some things we missed from home. I bought cheese. It made me happy. Just before leaving for Costco, I learned that my brother's wife had gone into labor and I was soon to be an Aunt. I was desperately attached to my phone for most of the day, seeking out any wifi I could capture to keep in touch with her progress. A beautiful baby girl, Lily Scarlet, was born. This has nothing to do with my blog but I cannot help but to brag about her adorableness. I'm sad that I will miss the first year of her life while I'm here, but I'm hoping pictures, whatsapp, Skype and any other form of communication I can find, will help me bridge the gap.

So everyone was mixing onions
ketchup and mustard. We
weren't sure why...but we tried it.
Not so good. Not so good at all.

Biggest bottle of soju ever - no we did not buy it.

Samples of Cheetos

My adorable neice!

I returned to Cheongju on Sunday evening and still had Mon-Wed to relax and take some time to myself. I slept a lot, watched a dozen movies (finally figured out how to get Netflix to work here in Korea – woooo!), ate some junk food and was as unproductive as possible for the first 1.5 days. Finally getting off my butt, I wandered off thru town to find my new running spot and Home Plus (like a Target here), bought some groceries, did some lesson planning and some laundry, created a piece of collage art, cooked some food for the week and now here I am, finishing my last productive task (i.e. blog update for you folks) then I shall enjoy my last few moments of laziness, a feeling I had almost forgotten in the last month.