Toto, I've a feeling we aren't in Kansas anymore

Here is the picture, albeit blurry, of their "sneaky" cell phone towers.

And here is an outside view of our apartment building. We will have pictures of the inside once we have managed to clean it up a bit and finish the unpacking.

So to put it simply, I immediately switched from playing Apples to Apples and watching Fourth of July fireworks to playing “Guess that food” and watching Sean consume silk worm pupae… To say the least it has been quite the exciting transition!

The first day we were in Korea we woke up too early and found upon a quick outdoor excursion that apparently Korea is not awake at 9 in the morning. Our internet had not worked when we got to the apartment and we wanted some concrete contact with our parents. We set off on an adventure to have lunch and find wifi.

Walking outside it fooled you. The sun was out, there were roads and cars and people; everything appeared normal. It was not until you looked twice that you realized “Toto, I've a feeling we aren’t in Kansas anymore”. The signs are all written in Hangul, the people (every last one of them) are Korean, and the cars have no stoplights or stop signs directing them unless they are in at least four lanes of traffic. I thought I had been adjusting well to the transition, very little crying, no buying a plane ticket home, and no returning to old habits. So we treated ourselves with some good old-fashioned McDonald’s for lunch.

Yes, I admit it. We caved. Mostly just me, let’s not lie. I had not had fast food for over 7 months, no soda since last fall, and I wanted to indulge just this once. A Big Mac and a Coke later I was feeling good, a little American in this hectic foreign world. But ordering was almost beyond my miming skills, no fear we did indeed pull it off. To all you out there who fear I will forever eat at McDonald’s until I am back state side, do not worry because I will try all that my weak stomach will allow here in Korea.

We could not get on to the Internet at Mickey D’s because of their internet being in Hangul and not supporting Macs. We tried to go upstairs to something called a PC Bang where they play on computers but it was completely full and the dude there just stared at us while we tried to communicate to him. Our fellow teacher Liz suggested we sit in a coffee shop so that is exactly what we did.

We shot off a couple emails, checked up on Facebook and attempted to post blogs before my computer ran out of battery. We had been invited to go out to dinner that night with Liz and a couple of her friends and so we headed back to the apartment to shower and relax before going out.

The hot water becomes hot when you turn on the hot water heater. The hot water heater looks like a funky thermostat all in Hangul. That morning I had stared at the water heater, pressed every button on it, and even yelled a bit but could not get the hot water to run. I tried again before we went out to dinner and well this time I turned it on and let it set for awhile. It worked!

Something to explain, now that I have my hot water working there is a little trick to Korean showers. Your bathroom is your shower. There is a toilet, a sink, and a showerhead that you can pull off the wall and use to clean yourself. There is a drain on the floor and a metal shield over your toilet paper and you are just suppose to turn it on and go crazy.

I stop my story again to ask if you have ever felt the need to veer off the road, step off a tall building, push over a precariously balanced vase, or touch a hot stove? Using the shower is vindicating, freeing, and odd.

You stand there and just shower while water falls to the floor, spills over the toilet lid, and wets the outside portion of your sink. It runs down your body and flows to the drain puddle-ing gently on your bathroom floor. It puddles just enough that you feel the need to wipe it up as if you had spilled a glass of water but you don’t. You resist the urge to mop up your bathroom and the mess you have made the entire time you shower. When you finish the bathroom, wet and all, simply becomes a bathroom again. It is quite the experience!

After showering I changed into clean clothes and we met downstairs with Liz and her two friends. They were all great! Every one of them has been in the country for over three years and loves it. They are from England and South Africa, and they have experienced quite a bit of Korea and the surrounding areas. Their stories ranged from the Public bathhouses to the nearby ski slopes. Their stories flowed from them throughout all of dinner. A couple of the stories revolved around eating the legs off of a live octopus as it slowly dies in front of you or eating a squid that has just been boiled in front of you. A bit barbaric but I am sure some of the things we do in America reflect similarly on the Koreans...

Anyways,we had the pleasure of having them order for us and explain what came to the table. Apparently in Korea it is customary to give quite a few side dishes as appetizers for free. We had pickled radish, corn salad, spicy soup, and (gross me out) silkworm pupae/ larva. One of the girls offered it to me coyly but just looking at the fried crispy larvae made me want to retch. Sean immediately gobbled one up upon being offered it. We all laughed and cringed (and by laughed I mean I just cringed) as he consumed the crunchy treat. I can safely say I will jump out of a perfectly good airplane relying on only a piece of cloth to safe me but I will not, cannot eat bugs. Sean was all about embracing culture and odd foods, good for him =]

Dinner was pork in the form of inch and a half thick bacon/ pork belly. They put it right in front of you on your personal table stove and you cook it yourself. They bring out tongs and scissors, and when you are almost done you can cut it up and everyone will reach for pieces off of the stove. There are no plates per se, you just pick up a flat piece of lettuce, place your meat, radish, onion, etc into it. Then you kind of ball it together, dip it in the spicy sauce, and chow down. I really liked it!

We learned that when you pour for someone it is proper to use two hands. You hold the bottle with one hand and then place your other hand on your pouring arm in varying distances from the bottle when properly pouring. If you are pouring for a stranger maybe you will place your second hand on your forearm close to your wrist. When you pour for your boss you place that second hand all the way up by your armpit to show respect. Also you cannot pour for yourself, someone should pour for you and then you for them.

The dinner ended with us sharing oversized bottles of Korean beer (Cass beer) and we sampled a deceptively strong liquor whose name I cannot currently remember. Everything went down smoothly and we had all enjoyed a luxurious night out for dinner for 10,000 won (less than nine dollars a piece!) 

We walked around outside while one of the girls had a smoke break, just sharing stories and having them point out useful things around our house. It was refreshing to speak with a group of people in English without worrying about them not being able to understand if you talk to fast or rather if you talk at all. I found myself slipping heavily into a British accident and did my best to speak normally. But their accents sounded wonderful. They were fast and crude, clipped and had texture. I felt like my own voice was boring and lacked pizazz.

We left them to go back home and do a little unpacking. We had classes the next day and wanted to make sure that everything was in order for it. I was only mildly nervous about the next day because we were not going to be teaching, we were to be observing Liz’s classes for the day. I was excited to finally see where we would be working and what we would be doing. Sean and I both were ready to begin but please don’t think our readiness meant we weren’t nervous.

My final note that I will leave you with is the Koreans’ obsession and intrigue with foreigners. At dinner, in the roads, everywhere, Koreans flocked to get a good view of us. They wanted to shout hellos and then proceed to squeal in delight when we responded in same. The children called out “Me Gook? Me Gook?” aka “American? American?” It was amusing to see them do this but Sean and I both agree that it will get old quick. I am highly considering yelling back “Korean! Korean!” and then laughing at whatever response I get in return…

 P.S. Sorry about the lack of pictures, I forgot my camera at home for the night out to dinner = /