Yes...Gumi 08/30-09/05

Ok , so far it has been five days that have been living in my new city. I am really starting to like it. Its in a city, thank God im not in a rural area. Lol. I have met other foreigners here, in total about four . I'm glad I met them because if I didnt , I would have been lonely here, and than the staring really would start to get to me. I arrived in Gumi, more specifically Okgye ( the town) Friday evening. I was greeted by two-coteachers who than took me to the elementary school that I would be working at and introduce me to my main co-teacher and the vice-principal and prinicipal. They were all very nice to me, and were shocked by age. I dont think 21 is that young, but to them they were surprised. We then went out for dinner with the other staff member because it was a " Farewell" dinner for the current vice-principal ( He was handsome, for an older man, im sad ). Dinner was really good but I don't know how they can sit " Indian style" for such a long period of time, my legs started to cramp. I ate a lot of food, there werre so many side dishes. One of the teachers, made me take a shot of soulju, which doesnt taste that good. I was also encouraged to drink a lot of beer. The staff members were all afraid to talk to me, because they were so embarassed of their english, but I was so afraid to talk to them becaue the only words I know in Korean are Hello, Thank You, and How Much( Of course, I would remeber that). They gawked at me as I tried to eat with my chopsticks, which was very difficult, but then the applauded me when I was able to pick up a piece of sushi and but it in my mouth. It was hilarious.



The first foriegner I met was, Melody. Since my apartmet was not ready for me, they set me up with Melody. Melody has been in Korea for about 5 months now. She is from Georgia,and she is really cool. She didnt mind that I was up her ass the whole weekend. But finally after three days , I moved out of her apartment and into my new apartment. My apartment is relly nice . Its realllyyyyy small, but its comfortable. I will have to post pics later. Its only across the street from my school which is really convienet. I cant wait until I start working at my new school !!!!

Public Bathhouse and Gumi !!!

There, I changed the font so that it is easier to read. Ok so far orientation is still going on , but it ends this Friday. Which is quite scary and exciting. My Korean, so far is terrible, the only thing I know is Hello, Thank-You, and How Much. Im not sure how Im going to survive in the next couple of days because I will soon official be living on my own in Korea. Ahhhh!!!! I have a phrasebook but if you don't have the pronunciation master in this language, then no one will understand what your trying to say :(. But I will not let that get me down and I will continue to make practice.

So in other news the other day me and a couple of my friends went to this place called a Jjim Bang( The spelling is completely wrong). It is a public bathhouse, if you think this is weird its not. Its very popular over here, and it is pretty much a spa. We went to this HUGEEEE Jjim Bang . It was incredible, but I have to be honest. The whole getting naked thing was a bit mind blowing to me. When you first go into the spa , they give you a small bag with a cute top and pants, and some towels, and then the women and men separate into the locker rooms. You take off all of your clothes and then the women and men separate into their own bath house. Oh my god, it was soo hard getting naked in front of people. I saw naked bushes everywhere lol. You could tell who the foreigners were because we were the ones dressed in the a ton of towels and giggling. But we eventually dropped them ,and took a shower and got into the jacuzzi. It was incredible . Than we went upstairs ,( btw there was like three floors lol ) and we went to a sauna room, and a cold spa room ( to close our pores afterwards). Also then you put on your shirt and pants that they had gave us to wear ,to go to the sauna, and its co-ed. Only the showers and bath are separated. It was soo NICEE. There was a massage room, a place to get your nails done, a lil eating area. a fitness room, and an outside spa where you can soak your feet. The whole experience is something that I definitely recommend to anyone. Just get over the whole naked experience. Ohh ......and the whole experience was only $8,400WON basically the equivalence to like $7.00. Totally worth it!

I found out what city im going to finally !!!!YAYYY !!!! :) The city is called Gumi :) Im nervous and excited at the same time. I think Culture Shock is going to set in when im no longer surrounded by foreigners, but we'll see. Oh and im teaching Elementary School students, sooo i hope that goes well. I don't know how much teaching is going to get down, we are probably going to play games. I start teaching on Monday. I will definitely write another post to say how that went !

안녕하세요 ( An-nyong -ha-sea-yo) Hello !!!!

Finally my first entry ! Im so sorry that it took so long but it has been very hectic here . I did not have internet connection for a long time and my day has been pack with so many different things. I have six hours lectures on how to teach and than I have one hour of Korean lessons. Ok so I just want to say Korea is different but FUN! Its a whole different world over here, but I guess you could say that Im in the Honeymoon phase ( I learned about that in my class ) .

The flight here was super long, of course, but I had to take two connecting flights one from LGA to Philly then Philly to San Fran, and then San Fran to Korea. The flight from LGA to Philly was super scary ( for those that are afraid of flying do not do it ) . The plane was so freaking small that when I step on it my head almost hit the ceiling and my backpack could not fit on the plane they had to check it under the plane. Other then that my flight from Philly to San Fran, was pretty much smooth sailing. The food from San Fran to Korea was good, I watched Xmen : Wolverine movie, the Soloist, and Family. They gave us a ton to eat, and I had the Korean Fish and Rice. Im already liking Korean food.

Im staying at Jeonju University ,and I have an awesome roommate name Helen, whose from Chi-town aka Chicago. Its great because we are both in the same boat, with being excited and nervous about starting to teach here. Just like about 70% of the other people here. There are about 600 people from the EPIK program ( English Program in Korea), and everyone is not American. There are people from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand ,Canada and South Africa. The dorm rooms that we are staying in are soo nice. Its also a Korea style room . I have to take my shoes off before I actually enter the room.

We went out the other night which was awesome. I got to try some Korean Beer ( which wasn't that good, it kinda of tasted like Budlight Lime) and try this liquor called Souljo ( which has a Grey Goose feel to it, only because it goes down smoothly ) Ahh , almost forgot we went to a Narebong( a Karaoke Club) Its not your typical Karaoke club in which we are singing to the whole club , but you pay for your own room. Its so cool , and the lyrics come up on the screen, and there two microphones, its so cool. ( I will post pictures soon)

We also took a trip to the city of Jeonju and we got to walk around the cute Korean village. There were a lot of traditional style houses. We made fans and took a tour of a lot of temples. The temples were incredible. Also this teenage Korean boy came up to me and gave me high five ! They are so fascinated by Americans. I love when they stare ,LOL . ( Yeah I know that was weird)