Assimilation Begins

First of all, a shout of thanks out for all of the nice e-mails.... I was never having a terrible time here I was just going through a period of homesickness. It is getting better again though. I think partially this has to do with the fact that I have been so so so busy. I have been making final tests up for my elementary classes, now I am commenting on report cards for all my students ( I swear I have something like 50 of them), I have been busy thinking about Christmas, and we got a new teacher (to replace our friend Bridgett ;( ). His name is Dan (or Joseph) if he comes up in the blog. He is from Kansas I believe and seems like a really great guy. So this has been a great breath of fresh air for all of us, especially because we no longer have to substitute our preps in the Little Kindy classes.

ok enough about work... social stories are a little sparing... but last weekend we were at the foreigner hang out lounge and this Korean lady came running in to our table. She exclaimed that she needed two foreign teachers for tomorrow (Saturday) to help out at this Korean Kindergarten school. We (being Roberta and I) decided to go. We ended up sitting outside on these little (like one foot off the ground chairs) , wearing navy white hats, and pretending to be Immigration Officers. This simply involved us asking them “What their name was, how old they were, and where they were from.” Well, some of the students had never seen foreigners before or ever had to talk to them---- They were just plain scared of us---- one even cried!!! Ha ha ha-- I am sure our over excited smiling ‘teacher face” is a little scary!!!! It ended up being a great morning because I got to see a lot of neat crafts that the students were doing at that school. And once again, met some great people.

Other than that I have been shopping around for Christmas nic nacks. I believe after the last posting I thought that I was feeling ‘ridiculous’... and decided to get out on my own and discover some new great places. Well I went to Seoul and I wandered this great market; Namdaeum Market. I LOVE wandering and there was so much shoved into this four block radius. Large ginseng, next to the most adorable children’s clothes, next to nice pottery, next to a ‘button’ shop, next to prescription glasses, next to raw fish! Complete randomness! I Loved it!!!

So there is not much else left to report!
So I will leave you with another episode of

“Korea Korea”
*one can not drink the tap water-- we buy large bottled water-- around 80 cents to $1.50 a litre
*there are no public restrooms in restaurants... instead one walks out to the hallway in-between all semi-highrise buildings and there is a restroom there (so girls buy toilet paper but more like kleenex in fun animated wrapping from convenience stores to use at these washrooms)
*all the buildings are concrete up and down buildings--- architecture appears not to be an art that has caught on in Korea
*people SQUAT--- I mean if they are waiting for someone on the street, or stopping to have a cigarette, instead of standing straight they squat down a little off the ground... it is so odd seeing men and business suits do this.... but it is What they do in Korea!
*there are no big red/blue garbage bins instead you put your garbage out on the street corner and the city takes it away.... it is a little gross... BUT their recycling/compost system is the same... in my building I get rid of recycling on thursdays by putting it on the corner and food compost on tuesdays--- everything has its own coloured special bag you buy-- white special bag for garbage, yellow for compost, etc.
*there are random fish tanks outside (as you see in the Halloween pics) those contain the live creatures... that they kill in the back to make your meal... mmmm FRESH sushi!
*rent for my place is about $300.00 a month (not bad hey?-- I don’t pay it but I though i should find it out) and then another ($100.00- this I pay) for Utilities (minus cable).
* there is no tax added on when you pay for things --- the price is as marked but I believe tax is something crazy low like 3% (I should look into this)--- and it is all in WON- 10000- would be like $10.00
* they love ‘junk mail’ here-- in the form of colourful cards... or flyers with magnets on them that they stick on your apartment door... or shove under the door
* personally I do not own a microwave, or couch/comfy chair... I sit on the floor most of my existence... and live a simple life... haha ha
* with every meal Koreans eat “Kim chi” it is usually cabbage but may be another vegetable such as radish... it is then fermented for months in these large pots-- it has an odd red spicy sauce with it... and really doesn’t taste very good... but seems to be a necessity because if for some reason it isn’t served with a meal... they go out and buy it!
*worst food I have seen thus far is “fish soup” that is all I call it but it is smelly and has fish cakes which I think are equivalent as pork is to hot dog--- fish is to fish cake!

Finally -- I am going to throw a shout out to my “bro” Camille... who is such an amazing girl (the New Zealander) and has made this whole experience that much better with her amazing personality, her love for life & a good shot of soju/ Kim and Chi, her giggle, and well her just being her. Love ya Camille!