Gumi

We have survived our first couple days of teaching. I teach the higher level students, and I have to say they are pretty good at speaking English. Besides a few grammar errors and some pronunciation they are good and can get their point across very clear. We are working in a new branch so the class sizes are very small. The most students I have in one class is 3. The parents really love this because they are getting the most for their money, and their child gets lots of attention. The owner of the company Mr. Moon has hopes to double the size of the school in 6 months, and judging by his business skills he will be successful.
Friday night Britt and I ventured "downtown" Gumi. I say "downtown" because we are not exactly sure if it is downtown or not. We were told it is kind of downtown, but to us it is downtown and has everything we need. We got off work at 10, came home and got ready. By 11 o'clock we were downtown trying to find a place to eat, but a lot of things close down early here. We eventually found a bar called Waegook Cook which we were told was the popular hangout in Gumi for all the westerners. We are the newbies in town so when we arrived at the bar all heads turned to look at us and see who we were. It didn't take us long to fit in a find people to party with. The bar has a great ice breaker game in involves hitting a nail into a tree stump. Each person gets a shot or two if you are a girl at hitting their nail, and who ever gets it all the way in first wins, the loser has to buy a round of shots. We had supper and drinks, which including a picture of soju (watered down vodka), and many shots. The owners of Waegook Cook also set up an annual ski trip in Kangwando Casino and Ski Resort, which is about 4 hours from here. 45 forgieners and a weekend of drinking, partying and skiing. Britt and I signed up to go to that as well, so that will be something for us to look forward to at the end of the month. The bar is a great place, by the end of the night we were even playing flip cup. At 4am we made our way to another bar called Corona which also had a large group of foreigners. The US has a military base here so a lot of the soldiers party there on weekends. We ended up partying until 5am, which for me is a bit of a push. In Wolfville the town shuts down at 1am, so to party until 5am was a very late night for me. Here in Korea most people party all night until 8 or 9am, go out to breakfast then home to bed. Britt and I will have to take baby steps towards the all night party. Last night we went to Waegook Cook again, but we didn't drink as much and were home in bed by 3am. Still a late night, but more low key than most nights out will be I feel.

My Korean Experiences

The culture here really confuses me. Somethings are so advance and amaze me, well other things are VERY under developed and 3rd world country. Wireless internet here is amazing and very fast. The heated floor are genius, and the cars here are very nice. While some of the following things make me wonder. There is no happy medium here, its one extreme to the next.

1. Korean laundry. My washer is so high tech, and works amazing. It measures the water level according to how many clothes are in it, and it looks very "space tech", BUT they have no dryers so the laundry which I did on Wednesday night is only now dry...4 days later.

2. Korean toilets. My apartment and school have a traditional western toilet, but the school we were observing last week had a "Korean" toilet. I have no idea how to use, or who every thought the design was good. I would rather squat in a bush somewhere. (See picture)

3. Lotte Mart. I ventured to Lotte Mart alone on Saturday. I was the only foreigner in the whole store (which is huge). Everyone was looking at me, and what was in my cart. I was also chased down by a Korean man who was giving out samples of garlic juice. He REALLY wanted me to try some, so I did. I almost threw up on the floor, who would every want to drink hot garlic juice...apparently it will make you strong.

4. Korean "showers". The Korean bathroom is completely tiled (floor and walls). You have a shower head that runs from your bathroom sink and the water just runs into a drain in the floor. There is no tub or shower curtain so everything in your bathroom gets wet.

5. Korean beds. It is only as of late that Koreans have slept in beds. Traditionally they sleep on the floor, which is heated and wouldn't be so bad if you were use to it. Britt and I do have beds, but no sheets. We have a comforter and a bed skirt (which we are using as a bottom sheet). Actual bed sheets are a hard find around here.

I am sure I will get accustomed to the way of life here. The adjustment has been easy, and Britt and I both feel luck is on our side. From talking with other ESL teachers we have a great job, great pay, great living arrangements, and great vacation time. Everything is falling into place very smoothly, we just keep knocking on wood, giving high fives, and enjoying our luck.