Put some groceries on it

Prior to November of 2010, hardly any of these questions crossed my mind. In those simpler times, I didn't ever wonder which type of mayonnaise to buy (without any help from nutritional information or elaborations on the names). There's even a third option: "Gold." What to do what to dooooooo?

Visiting grocery stores while traveling has always been a treat for me. I love discovering bottles of wine for one Euro in Spain, cute half-loaves of bread in England, shelf after shelf of delicious chocolate in Germany and colorful cartons of juice in Thailand. But it's one thing to be charmed and amused by new offerings while on vacation and another situation entirely when you've got to navigate the shops to keep yourself alive for a year. I've made many timid visits to stores and markets of all shapes and sizes in recent months, and maybe my experiences can help someone else (*cough* Nathan) know what to expect.

Markets & Street Sellers
There is an abundance of proper outdoor (but covered) markets open year-round, but weather permitting, people also set up shop on the sidewalks all over the place. One can find seasonal fruit and vegetables, dried fish, frozen fish, grains, eggs, nuts and more. I liked how Luke put it when he visited: "It's like the farmers market. But all the time. And everywhere." Some sellers seem a bit more reputable than others, what with tables and signs and clean clothes. Others seem a bit more sketchy, so I asked a co-worker if it's ok to buy from them. He cautioned me that the produce might be from China, which is not good. He told me to see if other people buy from the person, and if they do, it should be okay. I've snagged some delicious and cheap fruit on the street, but once what I thought was a great deal ($1 for a huge bag of salad greens!) turned out to be some of the most disgusting stuff I'd ever ingested. Hit or miss, story of my life.

Grocery Stores
Because everything's not available in the street, sometimes an actual store comes in handy. I've frequented three sizes: Small, where there are only three or four aisles, the pickings are slim, and the shopkeeper might get to know you (and your habit of bringing your own bag or sticking your items into your big purse); and Medium, where there might be as many as fifteen aisles, there's greater variety and sometimes free samples, and there's probably a guy in the produce section yelling about the deals of the day into a microphone (which is broadcast throughout the store and also the sidewalk outside of the store). Here's a video example of this fun feature:

Then there's Large, where the signs and packaging usually have English and there are often dozens of samples to gobble up. On a few early trips I hesitantly picked up bits of dumplings and pastries with green toothpicks, fearful I'd be reprimanded for only snacking and not shopping. But after a lady boxed out a crowd of five or ten samplers to scarf down several pieces of a Korean cinnamon sugar pancake, I realized nobody cares. So with each visit I eat the same bites of tofu and chicken nugget, down the same tiny cups of instant coffee and drinkable yogurt, grab a handful of the same peanuts, and never buy any of these perpetually-featured items.

1+1

It's not just an incomplete math problem (which was my first guess). My friend Alison was nice enough to point out that this is the Korean equivalent of buy one, get one free. Or in some cases it's 2+1 (less exciting) or 5+1 (much less exciting).

Service

Service (or sohbissuh in Korean) means free! One of my favorite parts of going shopping is scanning the shelves to see what kind of service items have been taped onto boxes, bags or cans. Yes, taped. Just plain old packaging tape. No messing around with codes, or coupons, or mail-in-rebates. Sometimes it's something sensible, like two extra cartons of yogurt with your four-pack. Or an additional tiny box of cereal with your regular-sized box, or a baby bib with your carton of baby yogurt. Others make a little less sense but are still awesome.

• Buy a huge bag of instant coffee packets, get a neck pillow.
• Buy an eight-pack of beer, get two cans of tuna.
• Buy a box of cereal, get a frisbee (or DVD, or fuzzy socks, or special crafting scissors).

And perhaps my favorite: buy a jar of spaghetti sauce, get a roll of paper towels.

Other observations:

• Hardly any peanut butter to be found (especially when compared to a Minnesota store, below left), but seaweed and soy sauce options are endless.
• Save some money by buying your vegetables dirty!
• Canned food isn't so common; offerings usually only include corn, pineapple, bamboo shoots, and peaches.
• Creepiest brand name: 마더스핑거 (Mother's Finger)

So that's what I've noticed as I've wandered around stores, looking for things like eggs (they're by the vegetables?!), or spicy mustard (it's near the pepper, not by the regular mustard). Of course, just when I get the hang of things, it's almost time to leave.

Hanbok & Hula Hoops

Starting with my fourth-grade classes last week, teaching got a little more difficult. It's hard to compete with the noise coming from the soccer field each period as dozens of students shout and clap while music plays and teachers blow whistles. Closing the windows makes it a little quieter, but drastically reduces the quality of the air inside the classroom filled with thirty hot, excitable eleven-year-olds. Plus there's still usually a ruckus in the hallway to contend with.

The excitement comes from school-wide preparation for an important event coming up on October 1: Sports Day. The specifics of this highly anticipated affair are unclear, but I'm very excited by what I've seen as students get ready: relay races, choreographed dances, hula hoops, pom poms, traditional Korean dresses (Hanbok), and enormous inflated balls (taller than the students rolling them across the soccer field and around a cone). Saturday might be the best day ever.

Important things are happening.

With all this going on, I was surprised to be the only one with a problem concentrating; students could care less about shenanigans outside the classroom and were totally engrossed in our game of the week. I've found it works like a charm to take a simple game students already know/love and modify it to include English. Exhibit A: Bingo. Exhibit B: Yahgo Game.

In traditional Yahgo (baseball) Game, one person thinks of a three-digit number (and frequently forgets it, if that person is me). One at a time, players guess the number. If none of the digits are correct, that "pitcher" gets 0 balls and 0 strikes. For each digit that's correct but not in the right place, it's a ball. A digit in the correct spot is a strike, so guessing the correct number results in three strikes (and lots of cheering).

Not only can this game be adapted to practice numbers in English, but also any category of words imaginable! Animals! Fruits! Colors! Sports! We tried them all, reviewing vocabulary and practicing simple sentence structure and plurals: "Do you like yellow, pink, and orange?" "Do you like bananas, pineapple, and lemons?" Rather than a never-ending game that would surely result from allowing any animal or any color to be fair game (I could just imagine the advanced kids' guesses: "Do you like iguanas, rats, and killer whales?" "Do you like light pink, dark blue, and burgundy?"), students worked their logic magic on a list of a dozen items from the given category.

Watching the wheels turn in their heads was amazing. Some students took notes with each of my announcements of balls and/or strikes. A student got eye rolls from his peers for guessing a different order of the very same three fruits the previous guesser tried (and got zero balls and zero strikes). Many helpful (but usually incorrect) suggestions were lobbed toward the guesser who bravely rose from his or her chair to deliver the pitch. The forty-minute periods passed quickly and enjoyably without having to hear the same prescribed key phrases from the textbook a hundred times, and especially because I got to think about delicious fruit.

• • • • •   Video previews of the coming attractions   • • • • •

Stray Observations

• Lindsay Teacher to third-grade class: "How are you today?"
  Song-won (a boy): "Tomato sauce!"
  Jeon-oong (a boy): "I am angry...bird!"
• Thank you everyone who has continued to send me mail!
• The principal said at lunch today he wants me to stay another year! Flattering, but no thanks.

Happy Campers

Everyone's #1 at Summer English Camp.

Seochang Elementary School's Language Lab was abuzz the last week of July with two dozen third- and fourth-graders singing, dancing, crafting, shouting, snacking and hopefully improving their English skills. I was joined by Stella, a very experienced teacher, but I wasn't sure what to expect spending a whole week with her. It was her first time running a camp and she was a bit nervous, plus a month ago she told me my face "makes a lot of movements. The children like it. And you have a big mouth." She brought lots of great ideas, we worked well together and the week went smoothly (with only a few crybaby moments - none were mine).

Korean names are ridiculously hard for me to remember, but I had their English names down in no time, partly thanks to the brightly-colored name tags each kid made. Yuliana and Jennifer quickly stood out as the stars of the class. Mikey was also quick to volunteer answers, when he wasn't busy giggling and chatting with Befly, a cute boy who chose to name himself after a popular cartoon character. David wasn't shy about asking for help. Crystal was enthusiastic about everything. Lucy (my attendance sheet said Rucy) was really smart but usually looked bored (I tried not to take it personally when she told me on day two, "I can't wait to go home").  Helen was the self-appointed trash-picker-upper after every messy crafting activity. Twins Mimi and Flora liked holding my hand and taking cell phone pictures of me. Paul and Jason were a bit slow and Juliet was a bit whiny. Alex spoke loudly and confidently. Ken had a unique take on our coloring projects. Becky and Dana were sharp and adorable. Mary, Elizabeth, Lyna, Tina, Cindy and Angela were shy and polite.

(Click to enlarge.)
Front row L-R: Lyna, Mimi (or Flora), Dana, Cindy, Helen, Tina, Elizabeth, Flora (or Mimi)
Middle row: Befly, Crystal, Lucy, Juliet, Yuliana, Angela, Mary, Becky
Back row:  David, Jason, Tim, Alex, Paul, Lindsay Teacher
Not pictured: Jennifer, Ken, and Mikey (he was crying in the corner after an altercation with Tim)

Aside from the kids' fun personalities, one of my favorite parts of camp was daily snack time. Everyone was content and peaceful for ten minutes, and many kids shared with me everything from homemade rice cakes to corn on the cob to donuts. Here are some memorable (mostly) non-food-related moments:

Day 1: Space

• Plenty of repetition to try to get them past saying "locketship."
• Showed a video of astronauts in zero-gravity; everyone covered their eyes at a part showing shirtless men shaving.
• Constructed mobiles with dangling planets, stars and aliens. The kids were good sports despite the constant tangling of the strings.

Top left: Stella helps Tim untangle his mobile, Bottom left: Helen shows off her work,
Right: Elizabeth puts the final touches on her rocketship picture.

Day 2: The Sea

• Taught a choreographed song with fish, octopus, shark and whale actions.
• Mary cried during snack time because her mom hadn't packed anything for her.
• Colorful paper cup octopi were constructed; Becky named hers Billy.

Day 3: The Zoo

• There were crazy storms and flooding, but the majority of students still showed up.
• Practiced making Z sounds a lot to avoid the common pronunciation, "Let's go to the joo." The game Zip Zap Zop was a hit, but quickly deteriorated into Jip Jap Jop.
• Had to run my butt off when they kept picking me during Duck, Duck, Goose - there were a few tears when Cindy wiped out on the gym floor and skinned her knee.
• They were in awe of the coloring skills I utilized to make my giraffe headpiece. 

Paul, Alex and Mikey find out that reading is way more fun when combined with Jenga.

Day 4: The Body

• Reactions to the Hokey Pokey varied - some were having a ball, others looked like they were in pain.
• Playing Charades to act out verbs from a story we read was really entertaining - Yuliana was the champion. (here's a video)

• For some reason, Stella and I could not stop laughing during an activity where students had to cut out a list of dozens of body words, then tape the words in the appropriate spot on a teammate's body.
   

Left: Dana needs a little help placing the body part labels on Elizabeth,
Right: Thoroughly-labeled Tina.

On the final day we reviewed a bit from previous lessons, played more games and finished everything off with a pizza party. We handed out laminated certificates for each student in a mini award ceremony, then bid them farewell. Getting hugs from lingering students felt great in comparison to barely being able to get in a goodbye as winter campers sprinted out of the ice-cold classroom on the last day. Improvement!

Gettin' Dirrrrrrty

My hands are clean because I had to get the camera.

There's mud between my teeth. My hair is caked with it. Wiping it off my eyelids is difficult because my hands are covered with the slippery stuff. There are grayish-green splatter patterns decorating my arms and legs. Ooh just felt some slide down my butt crack. You can no longer tell what color my clothes used to be. And I paid for all of this. It's day two of the 14th Annual Boryeong Mud Festival and I am having more fun playing in the mud than I ever could have anticipated.

Day one began with a seven a.m. departure by charter bus from Seoul. Korean buses are comfy and often have delightful interior decor, but lack a vital feature: a bathroom. This means frequent stops at rest areas. At our second stop on the roughly 3.5 hour journey, we were instructed to change into swimsuits or clothes we wouldn't mind getting dirty during our "marine-type silt basic training."

For some reason, "marine" always registered with me as "water-related," rather than how it was actually meant in this situation: "related to a branch of the Korean military." Upon arriving at the coastline on the Yellow Sea with sprawling mud flats, we were given long-sleeved t-shirts and camouflage pants. I was tempted to stay on dry land and have a beer (as many people chose to do), but I mustered up some confidence (in this case, literally, by drinking a weird Korean Red Bull-esque drink called "Confidence," acquired at a rest stop) and soon the mud was oozing between my bare toes.

The first activity was mud soccer. Even though some middle-aged Korean ladies were tending the net, I still couldn't get one in. My passes (and everyone's) went about two feet, and dribbling was next to impossible. At least I didn't get an unexpected airborne ball to the face like a poor glasses-wearing guy on the other team.

Next was a sort of chicken fight on one leg, and then came the drills with an actual drill sergeant from the Korean Marines. His muscles were big and his voice was loud and his English was good enough to tell us to jump up faster from our push ups. We crawled, we rolled, we did ab work. After that warmup, he divided us into teams for a mud-throwing fight, a crab-walking wrestling contest, and full-out mud wrestling. Here's a visual aid from the event a few years ago:



Quick (and frigid) showers were taken, the camo pants returned, and we were back on the bus to the main site of one of Korea's biggest yearly festivals: Daecheon swimming beach in Boryeong City. It's to this lovely shell-covered sandy beach where mud from the flats is shipped (and purified) and used for several purposes during the nine-day festival: mud slides, mud obstacle courses, mud tug-of-war, mud wrestling and a station to just paint mud (plain or colored) onto one's body.

The festival originated in 1998 to bring attention to cosmetics produced from the mineral-rich mud (development started in 1994), but its present-day focus is a combination of live entertainment, beautiful scenery (and weather), fireworks, the aforementioned mud attractions, and a big excuse for foreigners to do some heavy day drinking. I was very relieved to find that the event was really popular with Korean young people and families, not just foreigners getting away for the weekend.

The remainder of the first day was spent wandering along the coast, taking in the fresh sea air, laughing at a dance competition, watching fireworks and bragging about the marine experience from earlier. The second day was clear, hot, and full of potential. My friends and I took the plunge and bought our $5 wristbands to enter the official mud area. We had to delicately tiptoe between attractions, as the mud-covered ground was ridiculously slippery. Also ridiculous was the number of self-photos taken by a Korean couple ahead of us in line for the Mud Super Slide Bounce. I'm glad they can rest assured that their Mud Fest experience was thoroughly documented from numerous angles and places in line during the 40-minute-long wait.

The glorious water, islands in the distance. The backside of the Mud Super Slide Bounce.

At last we arrived at the front of the line to wash off our feet and await the "GO" command at the foot of the Mud Super Slide Bounce's vertical climbing wall. The sign had promised to provide "a thrilling journey of speed" so I was eager to climb onto its brightly-colored inflated plasticity.  Marcy and I scrambled up the wall and fended off a water hose-wielding worker at the top. One, two, three and we jumped onto the slide, slipping thrillingly fast (not an empty promise) to the landing pad below. Forty minutes of waiting, but a full minute of exhilaration. 아싸!! (Asa! AKA awesome, as our Korean-speaking friends would say). And then my friend Maggie slid down so far and fast she knocked over the worker positioned at the bottom. Amazing.

Spent some time behind bars in the "jail" where workers would simply throw mud at us, tried out a mud pool and another slide, then decided to call it a day. Upon turning in my wristband I was rewarded with a bar of mud soap (current favorite oxymoron) whose box proudly pronounced, "Natural mud from boryeong-city hall is helpful in calming & smoothing & water balancing." We cleaned up and got back on the bus, thoroughly exhausted, sunburned, and quite happy to escape the legion of photographers trolling the event, hoping to capture the shot that would win the (approximately/according to 2010 Facebook information) $4000 first prize. Please let me know if you see my muddy likeness somewhere on the Interwebs? Thanks.

Happy Lunar New Year!

The bus driver had some nice
flair and a lot of cassettes.

February 3 marked the start of the Lunar calendar, which is quite significant to Koreans. Workplaces (and schools) close down, people travel to visit their families, they give each other gifts (perhaps a nice set of several cans of tuna in an attractive gift box), eat special foods and play folk games. Lacking relatives to visit, I signed up for a trip for foreigners to go on a chartered bus to a ski resort, a national park and a coastal town.

The bus ride from Seoul to the High 1 ski resort in the eastern part of Korea was slow going due to the holiday traffic. The first couple hours of the trip were made interesting due to an oddly subtitled version of The 40 Year Old Virgin broadcast on the bus's movie system. Maybe it was translated from Korean subtitles back to English - the screen read "legal" when the characters would say "cool," and when a drunk girl said "you're cute," the subtitles said "you are a grace."  Weirdness of the subtitles was proportionate to the raciness of the lines in the film.

We had one evening and another day to enjoy the nearly-empty ski resort and all of its great features. A little conveyor belt transported you from the waiting gate to the spot where the lift would pick you up. At the top of each lift were extremely enthusiastic employees, some in costume, some singing, some saying "See you again," or "I love you," as you went on your way. There were many clearly-marked rest areas along the slopes, in case the journey was just too far to go without pausing for a designated rest. The snow was artificial but not icy, and all the skiing and snowboarding outfits were colorful, except for the gray one I chose from the rental shop before I knew there was a dress code. The weather was great, the views were gorgeous, and I only fell once (and I didn't even smash the sandwich I'd put in my pocket for lunch) - but there was one major, constant annoyance: speakers every 50 yards blasting songs like this:


(try this link if the video isn't showing up)

From the resort we pressed onward to the eastern coastal town of Sokcho to check into our hotel, which was just steps (about 250) from the beach. Trying to stick to the trip itinerary but always falling behind, we arrived at Seoraksan National Park much later than intended. This didn't leave enough time to hike to the summit, and tickets for cable car rides to the top were sold out for the day. The result was plan C: an easy hike until it got cold and windy, then indulging in some Korean pancakes and rice wine before boarding the bus again. The scenery and fresh air were spectacular; I hope to return in the spring or summer.

Only $150 each!

Out of the mountains and back to the seaside, we checked out a famous fish market. Tiny restaurants were tucked behind the fish, squid and crab on display in tanks large and small. Shoppers bargain for the fish, then the shopkeeper clubs the fish with a baseball bat and sends it into the restaurant to be chopped up into sashimi and a spicy soup for the shopper to enjoy moments later. One of the guys on our trip was given the pleasure of killing our dinner, which was amazingly delicious.

After a party on the final night with fireworks then a morning trip to the sauna and the beach, it was time to head back to Seoul. We stopped midway at a restaurant where I had one of the best meals I've had in Korea - local pork marinated and specially seasoned, then grilled up at the table and accompanied by almost a dozen delicious side dishes. A bus is a perfect place to sleep off a food coma.

I didn't really make regular New Year's resolutions - maybe I should make it my Lunar New Year's resolution to post more frequently. 

(Alone) Time

Maybe it won't ever cease to amaze me that as I'm getting ready for bed, friends and family at home are getting ready for work. As you head to happy hour, I'm heading to school - tomorrow. I am so far away.

So if you ever find yourself musing, I wonder what a teacher in Korea, such as Lindsay, would be up to right now, then wonder no more! Here is an illustration of some examples of things we might be doing concurrently.

Having a lot of spare alone time on my hands has been a strange adjustment. I have to remind myself sometimes that some people pay large sums of money to get away from it all and have some peace and quiet. Though it can be frustrating to not yet have much of a social circle, I'm trying to be patient. And I like the ideas in this video. Maybe when she said go to an unfamiliar city she didn't exactly mean move to a city on the other side of the world. But as long as I'm here, I can definitely talk to statues and hang out at the coffee shop.



Stray Observations:

• Of course I would roll my ankle WHILE WALKING the day before I leave for a ski trip. Thanks, body.
• I see a lot of vomit on the sidewalks around town. (It has never been mine.)
• I am now the proud owner/user of a pedometer. Today's step count: 13,669. Walk yourself thin in SoKo.
• I see lots of people spitting in public. This had worn off on me a little bit, but today I got some spit on my scarf so that needs to stop.
• Vacation for 3 days for the Lunar New Year holiday - then I think kids actually come back to school on Monday!  

Hello, 2011.

With Alison and our sparklers. Sticks of fire in a small bar - maybe not the smartest idea.

Canadians, sparklers, Taco Bell, graffiti, shopping, yard-tall margaritas, Indian food, dancing and bunk beds. And plenty of soju. That's all it took to ring in the new year in a fantastic way in Seoul.

I made my way to meet Alison and her friends at Mr. Kim's Friends Guesthouse in Hongdae, a university area of Seoul. Kate, Diana, Steph and Gabby are Canadians teaching in the far southern part of Korea, which they affectionately referred to as the Alabama of Korea. We put on our party clothes and headed to a bar filled mostly with foreigners. There was some dancing, some drinks, and a lot of high spirits as we counted down to midnight. Because I am a classy lady, I began the shiny new year wolfing down a chicken taco and slipping on the ice. And then I woke up with this New Year's Party in my hair, which really impressed my new friends.

First hair party of 2011!

Climb these steps for tasty
beer & calamari.

January 1 headaches gradually dissipated as we wandered the curvy streets and narrow alleyways of Hongdae, ducking into shops when it got too chilly. We stumbled upon a great tucked-away Italian villa-like restaurant just in time to warm up with some calamari (served with kimchi mayonnaise) and toast the stroke of midnight in Minnesota with a beer. From there we wandered on and looked at a bunch of vibrant graffiti/street art/wall art that adorns alleys and shop walls. Another grand find was a store selling take-out margaritas (perfect timing to toast Alberta). Later we came across a rap battle in a park, then ate a feast of Indian food.

A tag seen several times: "Shame for sale. Inquire within."

Something's missing.

Purchases from the day's shopping begged to be shown off during a second night out. A confusing situation unfolded as we awaited our order at one bar: we had ordered six Cass and waited quite a while for the beers. Someone flagged down a server and asked if they'd forgotten. Moments later he returned with a tray of glass - six empty glasses, each with a shot glass and a straw inside. He said they were out of Cass. It reminded me of the scene from Hook where the Lost Boys are having a banquet with dishes of imaginary food. We didn't feel like imagining our beer, so we took off. We ended up at a club mostly populated by Koreans which made me feel like a giant on the dance floor (to say nothing of Kate, who's 5'11"). Just as in bars in the U.S. of A. there were some amazing dancers, some creepy lurkers, and lots of lame head bobbers. Awesome outfit of the entire weekend went to the booty-shaking Korean girl in her early 20s: Lynryd Skynyrd sweatshirt tucked into a green mid-calf length skirt, finished off with white Keds.

Heading home on the icy streets proved disastrous again. I fell, then struggled to get up, Bambi-style, in front of a Korean couple staring in awe. Back on my feet, I stuck my cold hand in my pocket to find that I had somehow managed not to smash my phone or my camera when I crashed to the ground, but had smashed my brand new lip gloss phone charm. That's what I get for spending $4 to finally fit in with the locals. 

Finally, for your listening pleasure I've included a track that is playing all over the place here in the land that is Korea. I may have cut a few rugs to this one.

Let it Snow

For some reason, I thought I had escaped snow. A few weeks ago there were some flurries that got the students excited at recess. But nothing stuck and mild temperatures prevailed.Then Monday morning brought snow showers and Monday night brought more, and now it looks like a winter wonderland is here to stay. My walk to and from school is a bit more treacherous, but prettier.













When I'm tempted to complain, I remind myself that I'm nowhere near the Minnesota-style snow that shuts down schools and quadruples commute times. I'm in an area where women still wear stilettos to the bus stop. Meanwhile, this happened in New Jersey. I can handle a couple inches.


December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

Home, Sweet Home (high-rise, sweet high-rise)

Let's hope the elevator doesn't break down.

Buildings - tall, tall buildings everywhere. When there are about 2,800 people per square mile in these parts (says Wikipedia) you have to stack 'em on top of each other. So here is my new little home on the 12th floor of the New Seoul Apartments (fancy name, right?).

It's much bigger than I anticipated, and there's even a sun porch with a view of nearby hills. There's also a wall decal of a vine, birdcage and butterflies that's super charming. I have a microsuede couch. The flooring reminds me of a yoga studio, so I will soon use the living room for yoga practice. One big miracle - thanks to the previous teacher who lived here paying for Internet through the month of November, I don't have to worry about finding a PC bang (Internet cafe) to carefully craft these online diary entries for you.

In addition to leaving me connected to the world, she left behind lots and lots of stuff - some great, some not so awesome:
2 hairdryers                         2 plants in good health
sheets & towels                  bootleg copy of "The Lovely Bones"
hardcover copy of Zorro        an opened pack of pantyliners
3 tins of Spam                     a mostly-eaten jumbo bag of gummy bears
a full change dish                 Hello Kitty jelly sandals AND shower tote
a sweater                            4 bags of American red beans & rice
lots of tea & coffee               a billion long black hairs

All in all, it was a huge relief that all I needed to buy was a mop and garbage bags. Because special bags are required for each neighborhood, I had to play charades with two workers at the grocery store (next time I'll look up the word in Korean). Surprising gestures came forth from everyone, but eventually we were on the same page.

Then there was a bit of a panic attack when I tried to shower the first morning. No hot water. Not even warm. I was prepared to have an invigorating wash of the hair in the sink, but then I remembered I could ask Google whether people in Korea use hot water. Turns out they do, you just have to push a button on your thermostat box thing. Thanks, Internet!

So in this time of no friends and no cell phone, I have stayed home and have learned a little more about my neighborhood. Which is important:

Fun rides!

Outdoor gym!

Jesus daycare castle? 

Bakery with tons of samples!

I'll give you a tour of the place if you promise to send me something!

New Seoul Apt. 102-1202

Mansu 6-dong, Namdong-Gu

Incheon, South Korea

(Sorry about the scary freeze frame)

Blogamania

DANGit, I tried to swap out the video and I messed up my original awesome post. Now there is no record of my first ever, really amazing blog entry. Waaaaaaaaaaaaah. Oh well, here's Dr. Steve Brule.