Warren:
We still do not have internet set up in our apartment... we're waiting on our Alien Registration Cards. Hopefully it will arrive within the next 2 weeks - we need it to set up an internet account and get cellphones, among other things. Until then we can only really check email and such at school, but luckily this weekend another EPIK teacher in our apartment complex offered us the use of her internet while she was away. So we've taken the oppurtunity to update the blog.
We'll try to catch everyone up with the events of the past month in a nutshell. It was almost one month ago exactly when we flew out of Boston Logan Airport bound for Korea. We stayed 2 days prior to our departure with our friends Jamie and Tim at their place in Boston. It was nice to relax a little before the big trip and after saying goodbye to our families. The travel time was about 24 hours total - a 5 hour flight to San Francisco, a layover and another 12 hours to Incheon Airport, outside of Seoul. The flight over the Pacific was long but comfortable enough. We flew on Singapore Airlines and the service was really good. You have your own little tv in the seat that you can play games and watch movies on. I almost forgot a funny little story from our trip - Sarah getting her pant leg caught in one of the moving walkways at the San Francisco airport. Luckily someone hit the emergency stop button before her pants were entirely eaten by the walkway. I had a good laugh.
Sarah:
Next was the EPIK orientation in Daejeon, with about 150 other EPIK teachers. The first night we arrived there was a mix up with the hotel rooms, and we had to stay in a Korean style hotel, which we would later learn are usually called love motels, as they offer hourly rates, and provide 2 of everything. It was pretty nice actually, but we were so exhausted from the flight, we would have been happy with anything, as long as we could go to sleep. We had about a week of lectures about teaching that were very helpful for the most part. This was broken up by a trip to a Korean Folk Village where we were able to see a traditional Korean village from the past reinacted. At the end of the week, before we left for Busan, we decided to venture to the public bath right next to our hotel, which is very famous in Korea for their ancient hot springs. Even though it was our idea, we almost chickened out right before, both being terrified of taking off our clothes in front of large groups of Koreans, but we were strong and did it in the end. I went with another girl (they are seperated by the sexes) who I had met only an hour earlier. It was interesting actually, because as soon as I actually undressed, I felt comfortable. There is something about being naked when everyone else is naked that makes it not embarrassing. I really enjoyed it. There was about 5 different small pools of mineral water, each at different temperatures and with different vitamins and herbs in the water, like ginseng. The Korean people scrub themselves very intensely with rough clothes, until their skin is bright red. But they have very nice skin, so maybe that is their secret. Warren said he liked it alright, but he was alone, so I think it was a little more awkward for him to figure out what to do. We were both very glad we did it.
On the morning we left for Busan, we both were very nervous, but on top of that, I woke up nauseous and started throwing up, and couldnt stop. We were dressed up and rehearsing how to say hello in Korean, but I was distracted with my illness, and felt panicky and upset. We had a 4 hour bus ride, which was hellish, as I spent a good portion of it dry heaving in a plastic bag. When we arrived, I was too worn out to care how my first impression with my coteacher went, but luckily, when we were introduced, I felt comfortable with her pretty quickly. We were both very lucky actually, because our coteachers were friends with each other, even though they were from different schools. This made our lives much easier, as the coteachers took care of figuring out our apartment space, and took me shopping for things for the apartment. They also took us to dinner, but as I was still very sick, I had to confess that I couldnt stomach most of the food, which was a little awkward, but not that big of a deal.
Warren:
We will post some pictures of the apartment sometime soon, but for now I can just tell you that while it is certainly smaller than our apartment from this summer - its plenty of room for us and we like it. It has 4 rooms and a balcony - A kitchen/dining room, a living room/bedroom, a bathroom and a little extra room that we will probably use as a workspace or something of the sort. We live on the 11th floor of Jugong apartment building 103, in Danggam - gong area of Busanjin-gu. Danggam is the name of this whole apartment area which was built by the goverment. We have a nice fairly nice view - we look down on a little pond with goldfish and you can look across our part of Busan to mountains in the distance. Right behind our apartment is Baekyang mountain... not exactly right behind, but 5 minutes walk and your on a winding footpath up through the trees. All up along this path are little terraced garden plots - this is where residents of our apartment complex can grow some of their own plants and vegetables. You see a lot of older people coming and going on the path, tending to their gardens. It makes for some good exercise and nice escape from the city. Close to our apartment complex is a little cluster of stores - a bakery, a small restaurant, a grocery store and a post office. There is also a fried chicken place and a pizza place... in front of which is our bus stop. We hop on the bus here to take a 15 ride into Seomyeon or the half hour commute to work. Sarah and I will save the info about our schools for another time, but I'll tell you a little bit about Seomyeon.
Busan is a sprawling city with lots of different hubs of activity, most of which we haven't seen yet. There is the Haeundae beach area which is a more upscale, trendy place and the most popular place during the summer time. There is a also a lot going ow down by the city port, another sort of downtown area called Dongnae and a lot of activity around Busan University in the north. Seomyeon is apparently the busiest of these places - two subway lines cross here and there main landmark is the giant Lotte Department store - over 10 floors of all your consumer desires! The surrounding area has restaurants, bars, various little shops and tons of street vendors selling everything from fried squid to imported American alcohol to clothing and cellphones. Its a very brightly lit place - we had lots of fun the first times we went there just wandering the streets under the lights of all the giant signs and whatnot. But not all the activity is above ground... seomyeon is a metro hub and while the station itself is huge, it is also connected to underground shopping mall that stretches for blocks! Seomyeon is a lot fun and I think we've only scratched the surface. Just yesterday I went with another EPIK teacher to a music market - an old building sectioned off into tons of different areas selling all sorts of musical accessories. Seomyeon is also where the swing dance club that we've been invited to is located - but I'll let Sarah explain some of that story...
Sarah:
So, we are going to write more details about our schools in another post, but I will just say that the majority of the teachers I work with, while more than kind and helpful, do not speak the greatest english, if any. However, within just the first week of working, I was invited by the school's P.E. teacher to a swing dance party in the city of Daegu, which is the third biggest city in South Korea, and about 1 1/2 hours away from Busan. Not sure what I was getting into, and completely overwhelmed, I agreed. So, despite Yashin's(her nickname, which means Goddess!) broken english, she became my second friend in Korea, after my main coteacher. She has taken both Warren and I under her wing, and completely randomly we have started to learn swing dance. But I am getting ahead of myself. She picked us up that first saturday with her two friends, Cheena, and Smurf (his nickname, after the cartoons. We dont even remember his Korean name, which is not important, because everyone calls him Smurf). We drove to Daegu. Luckily Cheena knows a little more english than Yashin or Smurf, so we could maintain conversations pretty well. We went to an amusement park first, which was very fun. I even went on two rollarcoasters, despite my notoriously disasterous stomach. But I was eating anti-motionsickness drugs like candy, so even though I felt a little ill, I managed alright. It was a really good time, and then of course we were tired and ready for bed, but we had a big swing party to go to! We had no idea what to expect, but it turned out it was a large gathering of a few swing clubs from Busan and Daegu, to celebrate the year anniversary of the club or something like that. There was delicous food and drinks, and of course, amazing dancing. Warren and I were completely intimidated, but thrust into the midst of it anyway, and forced to learn the basic steps. The whole thing was really fun and inspired both of us to learn and at least attempt to be a little more graceful. We are both pretty terrible now, but maybe by the time we are back in the states, we will have a little more talent. Here are some pictures of that weekend:
(Click on the images to make them larger)
Well, that's all for now... many more photos and stories to come!
-Warren and Sarah
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