TravelStream™ news feed for member mmetzer on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mmetzer en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:46:50 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1226232840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1226232840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1226232840/tpod.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:46:50 -0500 My year teaching in Seoul, SK

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Kaesong, Korea Dem Peoples Rep

Hi,
Its been a very long time since my last entry. I have been keeping busy with teaching and hanging out with friends. I have not had any special trips lately other than the North Korea trip I just back from. It was a guided tour into Kaesong, North Korea which took about an hour to get to from Seoul.

All the people in the tour, about 35, met at Hongik University Subway Station in Seoul at 6am. The bus left around 6:15am and we arrived at the first checkpoint before getting into the DMZ. A South Korean soldier boarded our bus fully armed ready for battle with Aviators and rifle, yelled some Korean, walked up and down the aisle, shouted some more Korean, we clapped, he got off, and the bus proceeded to the DMZ boarder. The only Korean speakers on our bus was the driver and three tour guides. So none of us tourists knew what the guy was saying.

From here the bus drove over a bridge driving around military barriers set up on the road. At this point we were not allowed to take any more pictures from the bus. Our next stop was the South Korean-DMZ boarder. This is where we had to leave all our electronics behind other than our camera. I had to exchange my Korean won for US dollars because this is the only currency the North accepts from tourists, kinda ironic. We also received our North Korean passport because the North does not recognize/accept our foreign passports. This is also the place where about 7 other buses full of Koreans joined our group. From now on, the buses were always together with three escort vehicles in front and behind our group. Other than the group vehicles and North Korean military vehicles, I think I saw about 2 others during the entire day. So we basically had the roads and highways to ourselves.

As we were driving through the DMZ, we were able to see two gigantic flag poles a couple miles apart in the distance. The North Korean flag happens to be a little taller than that of the South, and is also the world's tallest flag pole, 136 meters. After driving about 10 minutes we arrived at the North Korean Border Office around 8:15am. We had to take all our belongings with us as were going through a boarder and had to go through a metal detector and send our stuff through the x-ray. We also had to do this when leaving the South. The difference was they stamped our new "North Korean Passport" instead of the real one. But I had the tour guide ask the man to also stamp my US passport, which he did. So, I added 4 more stamps to my collection: leaving South, entering North, leaving North, entering South. We were also not allowed to bring in any propaganda, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Now I am in North Korea. Now along with our tour guides, there are three North Korean officials keeping an eye on us in our bus. We were not allowed to take picture from the bus at any time. Were not allowed to take pictures of any soldiers or military equipment. Along with this, we couldn't take pictures of buildings under construction or any "humble" buildings, meaning dilapidated. All along the side of the roads there were soldiers stationed about 200 meters apart that just stood in one place, didn't break face, and made sure we didn't take pictures of anything. This was all along the tour, and we drove several miles to get from one stop to the other over the course of the tour. If the soldier sees a person taking a picture, he raises a red flag, the bus would have to stop, and they would find the perpetrator. Luckily this did not happen and I do not know the consequences.

The first buildings we saw in the North were all in the new industrial complex. The roads were paved nicely, there were traffic lights, but no traffic, and brand new construction. What we were told by our tour guide is that a train comes in once a week from South Korea with building supplies to build factories. The factories are all South owned and all the products go back down to the South. This complex is very unique for the country and after we passed this, then we saw the real North Korea.

All the hills are ruined from deforestation and all the crop land goes towards either rice or cabbage. I saw a couple tractors, none running, but I did see several water buffalo used to pull equipment through the fields. Everybody rode bikes or walked, there was no other means of transportation. I wish I had pictures to show, but pictures were not allowed. People's homes were scattered through the country and looked as basic as a house could be.

As we got nearer and nearer Kaesong, pop. 300,000, we saw more and more people walking on the sidewalk. It was very interesting seeing what people were doing. I always wondered where they were going. Most all citizens on the tour did not look at our convoy, as I assume they are discouraged too. I would think it would be hard not to look at a convoy of buses full of foreigners driving through a city which has no need for traffic lights.

As we arrived in the city itself our tour guide pointed out a huge sign in Korean that read something like, "Down with our evil enemy America". Talk about a warm welcome. The city was extremely interesting, the sidewalks had a tons of people riding and walking there bikes, along with people carrying produce or children walking together going somewhere. All North Koreans have to wear a red pin on their shirt. The women's is a red circle that has something on it, while the men wear a Korean flag pin with a picture of Kim Jong-Il. We drove straight through the city without stopping and headed towards our first stop, Pakyon Falls.

It was a pretty cool waterfall, but the colors of the country were amazing. There were bright red, green, orange, and yellow trees all packed together. I even picked a couple leaves to take home with me, free souvenirs! There were several food stands in the area that were selling basics such as coffee, cornbread, and cookies. I bought some stuff just so I didn't feel as bad when I asked the women if I could take a picture with them. By the way, if your interested is was $1 for half a Dixie cup of instant coffee. Wasn't all that bad though.

We loaded up on the bus a little after 11am to go to lunch. We drove into the city once again and had lunch as a group in the restaurant. Basically everybody had about 14 side dishes in front of them to eat from. I opted out for this and decided to eat at Taco Bell down the road. I went for the standard bean and cheese burrito, double decker taco, and Mexican pizza. It filled me up and I was ready to continue the tour. Honestly, the Korean lunch wasn't bad and it did fill me up. The bottle of beer probably had something to do with this too.

After lunch we were able to go walk on a street in the city. Us tourists were separated from the North Koreans, but we were still able to take some pretty cool picturesof an empty street in the city. We were half way up a hill with a golden statue of one of the Kims above us and the were able to see clear across to the other side of the city. It was very cool, the only people on the road were N. Koreans crossing from one side to the other. They were not allowed to ride their bikes or walk in the lanes. There was not trash along the road or sidewalk and no cars parked anywhere. Lunch and this sightseeing lasted about an hour and then we got back on the bus.

We drove to Sonjuk Bridge, which took about 5 minutes and was just down the street a little ways. It's not a vehicle bridge but a stone foot bridge. This is the bridge where Jung Mong-ju was assassinated by Lee Bang-won in 1392. The blood stain is still on the bridge which can be slightly seen in one of my photos. We also looked at some other buildings but nothing too exciting. There were walls all around us and we couldn't see any civilians. The tour guides or North Korean officials would prevent us from standing tall to look over the wall, which I thought was more interesting to see than the other stuff. All the stops in the city had women in hanbok, traditional Korean dresses, selling the same things from a stand. I didn't buy anything other than at our last stop.

After the bridge stop we went to another place two minutes driving away which was some type of school or something. It looked like it hadn't been used for a while, anyways we didn't even go in it. We walked behind it, up a hill and looked at some building thing. I don't know. It is/was some type of school I think. Maybe an art school because there was a stage looking thing. I wasn't too impressed, but there was a pretty good view of the city which we weren't allowed to take pictures of. I tried to sneak a couple pictures, but don't know how well they turned out. After this we walked back down the hill and all sat on the curb watching citizens of Kaesong walking by on the sidewalk across the street, about 2 first downs away. It was weird that none of them made any eye contact with us, which is a complete contrast of South Koreans that basically have a staring contest with you every second your in public. We did see some adults with their children that would prevent their kids from looking at us. This probably had a lot to do with the several soldiers across the street keeping an eye on things. When we were in the bus driving the chances of us getting someone to wave back at us dramatically increased. I got pretty good at it, I had several people wave back at me. I was even able to snipe out a guy from a building's third story window, I gots skills! Anyways, we sat there for about 15 minutes, not allowed to take pictures or say hello to them, obviously.

Our next stop was our last stop of the tour. This too was about five minutes away and was the Koryo Museum and a couple shops. The museum wasn't much of a museum, more like courtyards and a couple stages. I don't know, there was a cool tree with a huge hole in it which I got in and had a picture taken of me. I also got a good picture with one of the North Korean officials. Ya, I put my arm around his shoulder. The funny thing was, these officials did not crack much of a smile outside, but seemed to when they got back on the bus with us whenever we drove somewhere. I did a lot of "shopping" here, too.

I spent about $40 on stuff. I bought three pieces of artwork, a fan, a bottle of beer, blueberry wine, and soju. Although I don't smoke I bought two packs of cigarettes and a little doll thing that can be used as a Christmas ornament. I also bought some other stuff and a pack of cookies, which I gobbled up in the bus.

We left the museum, our last stop, around 3:30-4:00 and headed to the North Korean boarder check, driving through the city, country, and industrial complex. In customs we gave our "North Korean Passports" back to them and I also had the guy stamp my US passport for fun. And yes, I have a fresh untouched page in my passport with one entering and exiting North Korean stamp. We went through metals detectors again and got our bags x-rayed all while our bus was checked for the third time. The N. Koreans hastily looked through our cameras for pictures that needed to be deleted and such. No problems. Back on the bus, through the DMZ and into the South Korean boarder check, you know just the same old routine by now. Take everything off the bus, x-ray, metal detector, body heat sensor, bus search, and propaganda search. Ya, they look for stuff like stamps, postcards, etc. Luckily they don't check for it around your waist or tucked in your left sock.

The tour is over. We got our cells back, got on the bus and headed back to Seoul.

Good night, I have work tomorrow, so no more writing.

Pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mmetzer
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1223392440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1223392440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1223392440/tpod.html Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:26:13 -0400 My year teaching in Seoul, SK

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

So far everything has been going well here in Korea. I have gotten used to the schedule of school and become more acquainted with Seoul. I have been working everyday Monday thru Friday with not much down time. I get up around 8:30 everyday, sometimes later and take a shower and then head to school, which is about a 15 minute walk. I pick up breakfast on the way at 7-11, usually consisting of a rice triangle stuffed with Korean food. I then get to school prepare for classes, teach, eat lunch, teach more and then get home. I get home at either 8:15 or 6:45 depending on the day. I eat a quick dinner at home than go to the gym for about 1.5 hours. From there I either go to the PC cafe or go to bed. Obviously, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are different.

I got my first paycheck today and will be getting the Internet installed in my place tomorrow morning. There is a morning field trip for the pre-kindergarten students tomorrow that I do not have to go to. This means I do not have to go to teach my first class till 2:50 tomorrow. This will hopefully give me time to go to the cell phone store and get one.
Last weekend was pretty fun. Actually, last weekend was really fun. We did not have class on Friday so that meant there was a three day weekend. I decided to go with some friends to Busan, which is in Southern Korea. It is the second largest city and has nice beaches and stuff, supposed to be real fun. I left work Thursday and went straight to the train station which has a high speed rail link to Busan. I got there and found out all tickets had been sold out, so my plans changed pretty quick. But other friends were still in Seoul so I knew I could go out with them.

I went out to Korean bbq with my co-worker Andrew and his gf Annhang. She is Korean and probably does not spell her name this way, but this is how it sounds. We met a Korean friend of theirs for dinner and had a good time. From there we met Patricia (co-worker) and Woodstock. This is a bar full of white people that has music that is requested by customers. So they play some pretty good stuff. From there Patricia, the other Korean guy, and I went to a club. It was really fun, although the cover was $20. It was also very funny because most all people dont do much dancing. And barely any girls move at all. They just kinda stand there. I think I made it sound very boring and dry, but it wasn't. I don't know how to explain it. We were out till about 4am. Then we were able to walk home. The Korean guy said it was the craziest night he has had in a while.

Friday I met up with some other friends that teach at another school, but I trained with one of them. It was the two girls I knew with one of their Korean bf's and two other Korean guys. We went to a Korean bar and stayed there most the night, till about 3. The difference btw a Korean bar and a Western bar is that at a Korean bar you sit at a table with your group and haver to order something to eat. Usually just an appetizer that everybody shares. Korean culture is to never eat on an empty stomach. I had a real good time, other than the fact that I don't have a cell and went to the wrong station to meet them. After about an hour of waiting and calling several times from a payphone, we finally met.

For some reason Asian guys become very attached to me. Not in a gay way or anything, but in a friendship way. People that I went to Thailand with and are here in Korea with me can vouch for me. For example, the Korean that was dating the girl I knew wanted me to be his foreign little brother. He said to call him if I ever needed anything and would never let me drink by myself. Koreans for some way seem to gravitate towards me at bars that I go to, most the time they are drunk. Its kinda funny, I just wish it wasn't always only guys. Another example is the guy, Jimmy, at the gym who showed me around and signed me up. His English name is Jimmy because he loves Jimmy Hendrix. He is always super excited to see me. He wants my cell number as soon as I get one so he can call me up and talk to me everyday. I am pretty he was joking, I am hoping he was joking. The only thing that gets weird because Asians are much more touchy-feely. It is very common to see two drunk men holding hands as they walk with their wives in front of them.

I slept in on Saturday. The plan was to go to the festival at the park next to the river to watch fireworks for Founder's Day. It was Patricia, Lauren, and me. We took the subway. We had to transfer subway lines at a station about 4 stops away from the park's station. This was the place of my craziest subway experience ever. EVER!!! We got off the train walked downstairs and saw it. Thousands of people waiting in line to catch the next train. We finally found a place to stand and wait. About 4 trains came and left without us being able to get on because they were so crowded. It was finally our turn, I decided to take a video of the process. People were pushing to get in and people were pushing to get out of the train. People were pushing and shoving from all directions, the subway station turned into a mosh-pit every 5-10 minutes when a train came. The train doors would try to close but couldn't because people were getting stuck in the doorway. So people had to ram themselves even tighter into the train. Created a great video, sadly although we were only feet from the subway we did not get it. We made it in the next train and boy was it stuffed inside.

So now we just had to wait about four stops before everything settled and we were there. Wrong! Our destination station was so crowded with people wall to wall that it took us another 45 minutes to exit the station. Normally only taking about 5 minutes. There were so many people at the park, I guessed 500,000. This is a very conservative guess. There was an amazing fireworks show that lasted about an hour that was synced with music. Now its time to leave. Taxi cab maybe? None in sight that are available let alone moving. We got smart and went to another station about 45 minutes walk. So did the other half of the 500,000 people. We finally got the that station after walking is a massive group of people. We would have had to wait another 1-2 hours before getting on the train, so we just walked some more. I felt like I was walking out the gates of a pro sporting event because there were so many people. Keep in mind this was several miles away from the park and about 2 hours after it ended. We finally found some room to walk with a free zone around us. We got a taxi, sat in traffic and finally made to Hongdae.

Hongdae is a club district with several universities around it. It is very popular and fun, people are out all night and morning long. We went to a bar and had a good time. After this we walked and say a salsa dance club. The girls just had to go and check it out. We walked in and saw people salsa dancing. As the night went on the really good dancers came, it was actually very cool to watch. We were the only Westerners in the bar, who knew there were Koreans that knew how to salsa dance. Some of them were very good too. This was the last bar of the night. We took a taxi to our district and got some fried chicken in a bar/club area near our houses.

Outside of the chicken place were about 15 Americans that looked and sounded like they came straight from Oakland. They were being very load and obnoxious. Both Westerners and Koreans were all staring at them but trying not to make eye contact, they did not look too pleased either. It does not help that many Koreans are racist towards black people to start with. This did not help boost the reputation of Westerners in Korea. This type of thing happens every night in Itewon. Westerners that are either in the US Army stationed in Korea, tourists, or fellow teachers tend to make fools of themselves in front of Koreans. It is very embarrassing to see this happen and see your reputation drop right in front of your eyes.

I have written too much and am tired, bye!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1221743760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1221743760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1221743760/tpod.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:51:05 -0400 My year teaching in Seoul, SK

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

To start off, this was not that great of an adventure. It was not even that exciting, mostly consisted of walking on a hot and humid day and looking at people that are in better shape than me. But nonetheless, here is my blog about searching and finding the right gym for me.

Whenever I walked around in Gangnam, my turf, I would always keep an eye out for gyms. I had found three that I wanted to look more into so on Tuesday I visited them. The first one I went to was by far the nicest gym I had ever seen. It was 4 levels of brand new lifting and cardio equipment, all of which were in English and pounds. There were huge flat screens everywhere, a room for group exercises, a room for group bicycle class, a palates room, etc. In the changing room not only are there private showers, but also a sauna and a fragrance equipped counter. The problem was that it was extremely expensive, but the upside was that they gave me two free days to workout to "test" the facility. Both of which I used.

The next place I visited was the "Average Joe's" of "Dodgeball", while the previous gym reminded me of "Globo Gym". It was much smaller, but still had the basics that I needed for a good workout. The worker that quoted me gave me a special "foreigner" price, which was about a 15% savings. He told me they had 20 foreigners at the gym, I did not care how many there were, but he was quite proud of it.

The next place was even smaller and cheaper, and still did have basic weights that I could use along with treadmills and such. It is also the closest place to me and is open 24 hours. Which is a plus, but one I probably wont take advantage of.

Today I went to go use my second free workout at the nice gym, knowing I would not sign a contract. I used it but had to meet up with an agent because I promised him I would. I did and I told him it was nice, but too expensive. After negotiating and having another worker translate some stuff I was confused about. I signed a contract. The price was reduces about 20% off the grand opening special price which was ending today. I was happy and the contract works out to be under $90/month. Although I could have gone to a gym for half that, I decided to splurge a little while in Korea.

Now, hopefully I will still be going to the gym in 6 months. Who knows, we will see...

Side note,
As I was walking to the next gym I ran into a guy on a street corner selling pets. He had four puppies no longer than 10 inches long. They were so cute. He was also selling baby rabbits, birds, and fish. I also walked by a restaurant selling fried duck, it looked very good. Hope to eat there soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1221567120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1221567120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1221567120/tpod.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:50:56 -0400 My year teaching in Seoul, SK

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

So for the past two weeks I have visited different places around Seoul acting like a tourist. Last week we went to the Seoul Tower, which looks over the entire city. Well it would if all the pollution wasn't in the air blurring the sight. We took a taxi to the base of the mountain the tower was on and then hiked for about 30 minutes to the tower. For about $7 we took the elevator to the top of the tower and spent some time up there. After this we went to Yongsan Electronic market (HUGE)! This area has several buildings with over 5000 different stores, supposedly one of the biggest electronic markets. This was a Sunday that we went, so some places were closed. There is also a very big shopping store with a theater. We decided to watch Batman, although we had all already seen it. When we went to get tickets we noticed you had to take a number and wait your turn, while waiting we saw that each movie shows how many seats are left before it was sold out. Unfortunately the Imax Batman sold out seconds before we were able to place our order. When we bought our tickets, we also reserve our seat kinda like a baseball game.
The following week of school went very well, preparing for classes has gotten much easier and much less time consuming. This is a very good thing!!! Thursday I went out to dinner with a couple teachers and then me and one other foreign teacher went to the bars. It was very fun! At the bar we thought about ordering food and realized there were nachos on the menu. We were about the order them when we noticed what the nachos really were. Not only chips, cheese, and tomato, but also watermelon and some other melon. Two Korean guys ordered it right next to them. SO we started talking and were at the bar for about 3 hours just talking. There English was not great, but good enough to get ideas across.
This past weekend was the big national holiday in Korea, and the new teachers were not able to make plans in advance. This meant we stuck around in Seoul for the four day weekend. Friday night I had Korean BBQ with my co teachers. Basically you order raw meat and cook it yourself on a grill at the table. Well at least that is what the Koreans do, the restaurant staff usually do all the flipping and cutting of the meat for us because they awesome we are ignorant American (partly true). We went to a bar after this and then called it a night.
On Saturday I met up with a friend and we went to the COEX Mall. This is one of those super nice and huge shopping malls found in Korea. You know with the food court, aquarium, and movie theater. We were planning on going to the Kimchi Museum. It was closed because of the holiday, so we walked around and ate. Side note, tons of American restaurants/stores in Korea, I will have an article dedicated to this. One store that surprised me at the mall... FUBU.
Anyways, I went home after that and then went to a birthday dinner for a friend. We ate Korean BBQ and then went out and then noribanged (Karaoke in a private room).
Sunday was the day everybody celebrated Chuseak. This meant all stores were closed and not many people were out. I slept in then went on a walk to the Han River. The reason I didn't make it there was because I walked in the opposite direction, I had to take the subway back home. I did not accomplish much at all this day, but I felt better after talking to friends and realizing all the other foreigners didn't do anything either.
On Monday we started off by going to a sauna for $7. It was very nice and sweaty, there was a foot bath with tiny fish that eat/clean your feet. It looked very cool and I want to do it next time I go. We then ate lunch and went to a big park in Seoul. After about a 15 minute subway ride we were at the park which butted up against a national park. There was a lot to do and see, we rode on a ski lift thing, went into a garden, and did other stuff. We moved very slowly and took our time.
Today we went to the Korean War Museum. Although all the inside displays were closed because holiday there was still lots to do outside. There were war planes, tanks, and guns that you could climb in and on. There were also statues and monuments. It was very neat but I will go back to see everything when it is open. After this we ate and then rented bikes and rode along the Han River, this was very cool and we saw many things.
The four day weekend went very well and I am looking forward to a short three days of school before the next weekend comes up!
Bye

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1220532060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1220532060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mmetzer/1/1220532060/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:55:49 -0400 My year teaching in Seoul, SK

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Seoul, Korea Rep.

Before I graduated from college, I was job searching and came upon a post reading "Teach in Korea". After doing research I decided to take the job. My school in Korea is paying for my round trip flight and housing, along with a monthly salary. My job is to teach English to Korean children at a private school with other foreign teachers (Americans/Canadians). It didnt sound like a bad gig, so here's my story.

So I arrived in South Korea about a week ago, August 25th to be exact. I was put in my room that I will be living in for the rest of the year upon arrival. My first full day in Korea was spent observing teachers at my school teaching classes of 5-10 year olds English. The next 3 days were spent at orientation, which was supposed to prepare me to teach. After observing again on Monday, I started teaching my own classes on Tuesday. Today is Thursday and I have just finished my 3rd day of teaching. So far teaching has been my life, but it is getting easier and less stressful as the days go by.

As I said earlier, my first day in Korea was spent observing foreign teachers teach English to little kids. I sat in on about 8-9 classes at 40 minutes each. The school is about a 15 minute walk from my place. The kids were at all different levels of English some were still learning phonics, while others were working on conjugating verbs. The kids were so excited to meet the new teacher, "Teacher Marc". After work I went out to a traditional style Korean restaurant with a couple teachers. We ate Korean BBQ, meaning there is a little grill in the center of the table which we use to BBQ meat and eat. It was very good and the first time I have ever had it. This night was also the first night that I had soju, the Korean alcohol of choice. It tastes like watered down vodka at about 20% alcohol.

The next day I went to orientation via subway, which is a 15 minute walk from my place, opposite direction of the school. The subway is extremely efficient in both time and cost to get around the enormous city. There were 30 other newbies just like me that worked for the same company as me but a different branch, so I knew there had to be a couple people I could make friends with. Although there were lots of weird people, I did end up making friends with several people, one of which grew up in the Santa Cruz area, Emily. That night, Emily, another friend Raj, and I went to Itewon. This is a touristy part of Seoul, but we still had a great time. The next night after orientation we hung out in my area, Gagnam. The last night of orientation, Friday, I went out to dinner with my co teachers of my school and then proceeded to go out in Gagnam district. Gagnam is one of the prime places to party in Seoul, luckily it is only 10 minutes walk from my apartment. After going to a Korean bar, we went to a bar full of other teachers from around Seoul. From the inside, you would have no idea you were in Seoul other than the fact all the alcohol was Korean.

On Saturday, Raj, Megan, and I walked around a shopping district in Seoul. By this time I had gotten my Tmoney card, allowing me to pay for the subway automatically by RFID in my wallet. The shopping district was huge, level upon level of clothing, bags, and stuff. It was a good way to explore the city and find out what it was about. That night a group of about 8 teachers from around Seoul went to a soccer game at the World Cup Stadium. It was lots of fun, although the place was at about 10% capacity. We went out to some bars after the game, ending the night on a good note.

On Sunday I did not do much because I got lost on the subway on my way to meet people to do some touristy stuff. O well, I spent several hours wondering around and being lost on the subway.
On Monday I observed teachers again at my school. The kids had remembered me from the previous time I was there. They seem to really enjoy me and always say "hi" whenever they see me. The youngest kids, 4-5 years old, enjoyed touching my arm hair and big hands. As you can imagine neither of that is normal around here. That day I went home feeling good about my first day of classes.

My first day of classes was so Stressful!!! I was running around trying to prepare, while getting more work to do. By the end of the day I was already half bald. I am working about 7 classes a day / 5 days a week. Today is Thursday and things have cooled down a bit, but I am still working a lot. I will go into work at 9:15 and wont get out till after 8:00. If things keep getting easier, I will really enjoy it here in Korea. I am looking forward to the time when I am cool, calm, and relaxed at school.

There are several classes which I really enjoy. The kids really like me, as I like them too. We get along great and they are always eager to participate. My best classes have 5-6 kids, making it really enjoyable.
Anyways this has been a long post and other hopefully wont be the same. Hope to post soon.
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