My Apartment!

     When you walk into my apartment, there is a two-foot by two-foot area to take your shoes off right next to the door. Then you have to take a step up onto the apartment's floor level. You have now entered my kitchen area:

          There isn't an oven, but that thing on the counter on the right is my stove/burner. I don't have any pots or pans yet though so I can't use it. I've heard that it works though. Also, you can't drink the water here really, so I have to invest in a brita water filter here soon. When you stand in the kitchen with your back to my front door you see my bedroom/main room:

      I have a twin bed in which you can feel every spring in it. I also need to buy a mattress pad. lol. There are sliding doors between each of my rooms by the way. Similar to the paper sliding doors you see in Asian themed movies, but mine are wood and fogged glass. From this view, my bathroom is on your left:

         First off, you have to step down to get into the bathroom. Second, as you can see everything is right there. There is no separate area or curtain for the shower. There is a drain on the bottom of the floor next to the toilet where all the water pools to though. It makes taking a shower pretty tricky. Everything gets wet and the floor is wet the whole day so I can't wear socks into the bathroom. lol. I'm going to try and find a solution to the wetness problem. Anyway, then we go back into my bed room:  

       From this view, you can see the kitchen and the sliding glass doors. The only furniture I have at the moment is a closet/chest, a bookshelf, and an end table. To the left of this view is my laundry room. It is also through sliding glass doors:

         That's my boiler! Oh this is a good example of what I mean when you have to step up or down from the main floor level (look at the sliding door on your right). Those are also sliding glass windows on your left. I'm taking this picture next to my washer by the way. I didn't take a picture of it because I didn't think it was important. Now that I think about it though, my boiler isn't either. lol. Finally, here are two pictures of the view from my window:

Arriving in Gangneung

        Once again I have failed to keep up-to-date on my blog. I'm sure this will just get worse as time goes on, but I'll try and blog at least once a week!
         Last time we chatted I was in the cab. The bad news: my cab driver did not know any English and tried to get directions from me to my school (our final destination). I, in turn, do not know any Korean. Needless to say we drove a few blocks on the sidewalk until we found the place. That's right, the sidewalk. The good news: I didn't have to pay! On arrival to the school I was greeted out of the cab by an assortment of important people who I don't really remember. lol. I know the school director and faculty manager were there. Then they whisked my bags from the cab and led me upstairs. When they asked me if they had all my bags I looked and only saw my one big suitcase that Aunt Lorrie gave me. "Ummmm.... I have one more." I looked in the back of the cab and it wasn't there. In a panic I tried to stay clam. "I'm positive that I put it in the cab." Alas the cab was empty. After a minute of freaking out, one of the men turned and revealed that it was on his back the whole time. Holy shit, thanks fancy suit man.
         Overwhelmed by meeting seven important people outside and thinking my bag was missing, I shakily walked upstairs to the school on the third floor. By this time it was about 7 pm. School was in session. I was led to the teachers lounge and told to wait there. Five minutes pass and all six of the other teachers come bustling in. Everyone welcomed me and tried to make conversation, but they only had 20 minutes before the next class started. At the end of this 20 minute break I watched two classes until the end of school. Sigh, maybe I can finally go home and sleep; after all I began the day at 7 am and it was now 11 pm.
        The teachers and our manager KP carried my bags and drove me to my new apartment. All the teachers live here. I'll explain more about my apartment in another post. After throwing my crap all over my room the other teachers revealed the plan for the night: Dinner then the bar. I thought to myself, "man, I'm going to like these people."
         We went out to eat and I had my first Korean BBQ! It was so tasty!!!! Before entering the dinning room you have to remove your shoes and then sit on the floor next to your burner where you cook the food.

It was an amazing beginning to get to know everybody. In clockwise order starting from the person sitting on my left: Matt, Rachel, Franesca, Aaron, Amanda, and Blake is taking the picture. Amanda is the one I'll be replacing; which is sad because shes a lot of fun. She kind of reminds me of Joy. Anyway, then they took me to the WaBa bar. There is this liquor called Agwa, which we don't have in the U.S., and we finished 3 bottles of it. Needless to say it was a pretty crazy night. The bartenders there (Cameron, San, and Zed) were all really fun and silly. I'm excited to talk to them again too. 

        The next day I crawled out of bed around noon. I should mention that Korea is like Vegas in the fact that the bars never close so you have no idea what time it is. We left the bar around 3:30-4 am! Hence why I crawled out of bed. Most of us went for the lunch to a chicken place where they also cook in front of you; once again shoes off and sitting on the floor. I've been there twice now; it's really good. Most of the food I've had is spicy, but in a flavorful way so it's manageable. Also, almost every meal has some form of cabbage. Fun fact.

       So Saturday evening (aka: 11 pm) we went to a foreign bar called Warehouse. It was nice, but I like WaBa more. Warehouse has loud dance music so it's hard to talk to people; which makes talking to Koreans nearly impossible. However I did make friends with the two Korean men that own a salon a block away from our apartment building. That was pretty sweet. 

       The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key. Blake and Rachel (the married teacher pair) took me to Home Plus which is like if Macy's and Wal-Mart had a child, so I could grab some groceries. Then we went to the movies. Yes, I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but we saw Twilight. Forgive me. It was interesting to see it in a Korean movie theater though. They are SUPER fancy. There is like three feet of leg-room and the chairs are almost like lazy-boy. Pretty cool. Also the seats are assigned, so you can reserve the best seats ahead of time. That was Sunday.

        Monday KP took me to do all the necessary, scary, life-changing, boring stuff. We drove an hour to get to the immigration office so I could apply for my alien residence card (ARC card). It was in some random town next to the ocean, so I got to see the ocean for the first time. There was also some old man there trying to prove heritage or something. For proof he pulled out these scrolls wrapped in newspaper that must have been at least 100 years old. It looked like they were made for papyrus. Amazing. My archaeology geekyness was in full swing. However, our business was done and it was time to leave.

         KP took us back to Gangneung. We headed to the bank where I (really it was KP who did all the work I just signed the papers) created a bank account. Next we went to the National Healthcare Center to apply for, you guessed it, healthcare. Note that every adults coverage is about $75 a month. I know it seems so simple as a write this day in my blog, but man was it overwhelming. 

        It had finally hit me that I was going to be here for a while; paying bills, working, becoming a real adult. No one really speaks English. The language barrier is almost as big as the ocean that separates Korea from the U.S. I was freaking out. The only cure? I walked around, got lost, found a doughnut shop, and then found home. Crisis averted. 

        Today made it all better though. I shadowed Rachel as she taught her classes; the ones I will start teaching tomorrow. Although I'm scared out of my mind to start teaching (with all the teachers and employees watching me on camera), I can't wait to start interacting with the kids. Man they are so funny. One of the classes today kept bringing up ghosts in every example they had to make. I think it might be a strange sign that everything is going to be okay, because you know I love me some ghosts!

Nice to blog with you,

          <3 Stine

              

Boom

                Training completed! By the end of the first day I got to know more people and others a lot more. Everyone was really great; guess I was just tired and putting WAY too much on first impressions. My bad. Hope that I stay in contact with a lot of them. I know it has been a long time since I’ve blogged (information wise), but I have had absolutely no free time. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday have been jam-packed with training. Wake up at 7 am, take subway to training center, start training at 9:30 am, half hour lunch at noon, training till 3 pm, prepare for following day, leave around 6 pm via subway, grab a quick bite on way back to hotel, prepare/study till midnight, sleep. Needless to say, with this same routine for the past few days, the days have all blended together.

                We have been bombarded with information about teaching techniques, methodology, and company (Chungdahm) information. Honestly, I’ve put more effort into this past week than I did with 95% of my college classes. If the time and effort was not put-in it would be impossible to pass training. To sum it up: it’s a lot of work and I’ve started to dream about my training classes! Chungdahm training is not for the weak.  Nevertheless, I have been in Seoul (South Korea’s capital) for the past week.

                Considering lack of free time, I didn’t really get a chance to explore or sit down and take in the city. However, I will try and give you my few impressions. The subways are amazing! The only time they are unfortunately busy is during rush hour; in which case you learn how crayons feel in their boxes. Besides that they are clean, quick, and easy to use. I will say though, that the ads in the actual railcars are mostly for cosmetic surgery. At first I thought this was strange until I learned that Seoul is almost beating Brazil as the plastic surgery capital of the world (hmmm… maybe I’ll get something done...).*

                I should also point out that I know more about Gangnam Style than you. This is fact and you will have to accept it. Our hotel for the past week and our training center has been in the heart of Seoul’s Gangnam district. Really it’s a normal place; it’s just the rich business area. For example, Samsung’s headquarters were a block or two from our hotel. All the people just wear suits, drink coffee, and think they are super fancy. The area itself is much like any other city: busy streets, tall buildings, and beautiful lights at night.

                However, some of the buildings are amazing! Sorry to pull a Ted Mosby, but the architecture in Gangnam and throughout Seoul is fascinating. Many of the buildings don’t differ from that of cities in the U.S., but others are fairly divided stylistically. There are the concrete blocks of brutalism most often seen in eastern European countries with histories of communism and then there are the super modern structures. The modern ones are really cool (no offense to those who enjoy concrete blocks). If I was smart I would have been taking pictures the last week, but I was rather focused on other things; sorry guys. However I will try and use my descriptions to paint you a mental picture. My favorite building was about 80 stories and black. Instead of just being straight up and down it was curvy, similar to how you would draw waves or a slithering snake. Okay, hopefully that makes sense. That wasn’t the coolest part though! At night, each window lit-up blue in random patterns throughout the building. It reminded me of the Matrix. Anyway, it’s great and there were a bunch of cool buildings throughout the area. Ted Mosby out.

                 Now let’s talk about food. Honestly there’s not a whole lot to say at the moment. I tried some pre-prepared Korean BBQ which was good, hard to eat though. I’ve been grabbing a lot of food from Paris Bagette which is a French deli/bakery with an Asian twist. Their food is really good, but I love carbs so that may have something to do with it. Besides that I’ve grabbed Asian rolls/wraps from convenience stores. They’re fast and don’t taste like much since they’re mostly made with sticky rice. Also, the cost of food is REALLY cheap. Even eating out in Seoul three times a day for the week has only cost me about $70. Not too bad, eh?  

                But the time has come for me to leave Seoul. I’m not too heartbroken; I’m just not a big city kind of gal. Today I passed training and am on my way to my school in Gangneung. This is currently being written in the taxi van that is taking me there in fact. I’m shocked that I’m in a taxi though. It’s a three hour drive. I’m banking on Chungdahm paying the bill for this ride. If not, I’m not going to be happy paying for a three hour taxi ride.

                Just as a side note, the weather has been quite foggy and rainy. Don’t get me wrong I love a good grey day, but I feel like I haven’t seen the sun since I left Colorado. I think that’s because the weather, tall buildings, and I’ve been inside most of the day. But really? I need to get some sunshine!

Nice to blog with you,

                <3 Stine

*Need not worry Mom & Dad. I’m not sure I want to look like Bruce Janner as a 22 year-old-female.     

First Day of Training

    Apparently some of my fellow teachers were not use to waking up "early" and leaving at 8 am. That being sleeping-in for me, it was easy to get up and start the day. The first thing on the agenda was our required medical test at KMI (pretty much a hospital). The bus driver was kind enough to drop us off a few blocks away and take off again without any directions. Being the clueless foreigners we are, we went into the closest building. That was a bust. Panicked, we ran around the area in a giant loop before finally finding the KMI building; which had the smallest sign on a third story window I have ever seen.   
    Inside was a hustle and bustle of patients and employees. It seemed like the male nurses wore blue scrubs while the women wore dashing bright orange; however this was not the case. Surprise! We were told to don this attire for our medical exams. We were shuffled about to each testing station looking like escaped convicts. I wish that the whole thing was on film because I don't think any American would be able to believe it. They checked vitals, did x-rays, drew blood, EKG-ed us, did interviews, did drug tests, did hearing tests, did a dental check, and all this happened in a matter of an hour or so! Not to put in a political plug, but if Obamacare continues its path, this efficiency could hit the US in 10 to 20 years. It was all rather impressive. Afterwards we went to the Chungdahm Training Center. *I should also note that one boy is now quarantined from training due to pinkeye...... that sucks
    Orientation answered many of our logistical questions and gave us an insight into what this week will hold. Basically, we should expect intensity. We have roughly three days to learn an entire binder's worth of information. People have done it though, so it can't be impossible. I have also found out that I'll be teaching lower-level students; which means younger kids!!!! I'm so excited. That pretty much sums up what orientation was to be honest. They told us we are going to have a lot of homework, so I'm going to try and get ahead tonight (those of you who went to school with me: yes, you heard me correctly, I'm going to do something before the last minute).      
   We did have to take the subway back from the Training Center to the hotel, and we will be now be doing this as our mode of transport. Although Colorado doesn't have a subway system, and I've only had some experience in Chicago and D.C., I feel more confident than some of the others I'm with. I think that subway is pretty easy to figure out, but it was a big ordeal to get everyone to calm down. Herding cats really. lol. Nevertheless made it and am now sitting peacefully in my room.
   Tomorrow will be the first test of my real subway skills as I head off to training. I'm nervous, but looking forward to figuring out exactly what I'll be doing the rest of this year. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one going to my school. It's also the least populated area anyone is going to. Gangneung is about 200,00 people compared to Seoul which is 20 million. Quite a difference I say! :)


Nice to blog with you,
     <3 Stine
        

My Trip and Arrival

     Well boy howdy that was a LONG flight! It was about 20 hours total of traveling time to get from my house to the hotel. Needless to say I fought to stay up till 9 pm. On my flight from Denver to San Francisco I sat next to a women from Iowa (small world, right?). She was telling me how the last time she was in San Francisco the earthquake happened. Similar to an action movie, she was on the Bay Bridge right as it started to collapse. Her car barely made it off before the destruction hit the bridge. It was an amazing story. Then on my flight from San Francisco to Seoul I sat next to a Korean boy. He is going to school at Harvard. He was very nice and welcoming, but did something rather surprising for a male going to Harvard: read the Twilight series the whole flight! Who would have thought?!?!?!
     Once landing in Seoul a Korean woman gave me her card in case I needed a translator. I don't have a phone that works here, but the gesture was extremely nice. Also, the girl behind me at customs was another Changdahm student. How fate happens, I'm not sure, but luckily she knew which hotel we were suppose to go to; while I forgot to write that down. Thank god for Rebecca! We hit up an ATM where I tried to withdraw $300,000 from my bank account because I was doing the math wrong in my head. Needless to say that didn't work. I figured it out though, so now I have money in my pocket!
     After leaving the airport we took a bus and then a taxis to the hotel (drivers are CRAZY). The hotel is really nice and has a distinct Asian feel. I should be posting pictures at some point. My roommate's name is Sam. Shes actually a Brit from Colorado who took all the same flights as me. I would describe her as if Super Dave and Susan from Frontrange had a British child. Yeah..... I've met a few other people so far and the only one I really enjoy is Rebecca from the airport. This is going to be a long week.

Nice blogging with you,

   <3 Stine     

Pre-Departure

     The day has finally arrived! I leave tomorrow for South Korea where I'll be teaching English for the next year. As I pack I'm thinking about all the things I'll miss and what the future weeks will hold. Besides my friends and family, I'm not sure what I will miss quite yet. However, I do know that I'm plunging into a new world that will give me life-changing experiences.
     Packing your entire life into two suitcases and a carry-on seems relativity impossible; I'm here to inform you that it is not as difficult as it seems! The bags are all set and ready to go. Nevertheless, mentally preparing yourself for the departure is a whole other bag of worms. What should I eat as my last meal in America? The question has been picking at my brain all day. These realistically petty notions actually help in distraction and anxiety avoidance; a tip I recommend for big moves. I'm not sure why I'm acting like an expert all of a sudden, I haven't even left my house yet!
     Once I make those first steps out my door and make my way to the plane I'll let you know how far my own advice will go. Although this first post is small I think it's important to know my mindset before I head out.
     So what am I most nervous about? Well that is a tough question. I guess I'm most nervous about having a new job. Creating a whole new routine is a lot of pressure, and I just hope that I'm a good teacher! That would be really unfortunate if I got fired and sent back home!

Nice to blog with you,
      <3 Stine