Finally! My first real post!

Wow, I actually have some time to post this! I've been working on it bit by bit this week, but we have 9 pm curfew on Sundays (yup.), so I finally have a little spare time on my hands. It's been a whirlwind week. Our days are 13 hours long, starting with 8 am breakfast and classes until 9 including the optional Korean lessons they provide in the evenings (which we badly need- been surviving on hello, goodbye, thank-you, and soju; I think we might need to know a bit more than that for the long term, however...) I can't believe it's only been one week! I have been taking as many pictures as possible, but I'll try to keep it down to the most 'wonderfullest' of them...

This is the first official Korean food we had. For plane food, it was pretty goshdang good, it's called Bibimbop (a very traditional dish- you can find it anywhere). It came with instructions.

I was a fan of the tube of red pepper paste. I held onto it for some reason. I'm being careful to keep it away from my travel toiletries, though...

And speaking of, here's the bathroom I share with my roomie:

The whole bathroom is the shower! Apparently this is a pretty swanky bathroom for Korea, too. I was perplexed at first, but now I kinda like it. It's liberating, in a way. You have a ton of room, and everything's going to get wet, but oh well! The toilet paper is protected and that's pretty much all that matters. Except, you have to turn it back to sink mode after you're done, which doesn't always happen, leading to surprise spritzes when you go to wash your hands.

Here's the view from the building we take classes in. A little contrast action...


I'm not sure what the old building is- I've been eyeing it for a while, dying to explore the inside. It seems to be abandoned...



Where, and how, to pee- inside HomePlus, basically a four-story Korean Wal-mart.


There are these chain bakeries called Paris Baguette all over the area. This one is across from Kyung Hee University, which is where we're staying in Suwon (about an hour away from Seoul, but still a very large city) for the month-long orientation/training program. Korea's take on Western breakfast foods- yes, that's a big pile of French toast on the lower right hand side. Just grab what you want (hot dog with yummy sauce wrapped in flaky philo anyone?) and bring them to the counter.

OR, you can order Pot Bing Su. It's shaved ice, topped with sweet beans, fruit, marshmallow-type rice thingies, and condensed milk... So. good. I was a little skeptical about the beans, as they're not exactly my first choice for dessert, but it won me over. Especially when it all started melting together!


I believe this qualifies as weird...



This past weekend, the TaLK (Teach and Learn in Korea) coordinators took all 500 of us on a field trip (wee!) into Seoul. We saw a performance called Nanta ("Cookin"), which is basically 'Stomp!", but with cooking utensils. Then they bused us into Insadong, a modern yet still somewhat traditional shopping and cultural district, and cut us loose. It was pretty tourist-y, but interesting, and just a wee crowded...

There were some amazing street vendors...

(these pots are filled with some sort of cockroach like insect. mmm.)

(Sausauge wrapped in bacon on a stick. he couldn't say no.)

And the streets, alley ways and everything in between are covered. Either in writing, lights, both, or passed out business men from the previous night.

I love that they have cafes/bars for girly-girls only. With their little chandeliers, and pretty floral chairs. So cute.



Well, that's it folks. Hope you enjoyed my first week as much as I did! I didn't finish covering the weekend, though... Next time I'll tell you about the Jimjilbang, or public bathhouse, we went to and stayed at on Saturday night...