Life's Lessons In Korea

I know, I know...I've been MIA for a while. I've just been too busy loving life here to write. Last you read, I told you why I decided to teach in Korea. Already, I've put my gifts to work at school and have started to reflect on the ways I am growing personally from this year long experience. Here are just a few things I've discovered: if you have three different meals you enjoy, three is enough to survive and be satisfied; if you don't understand the language of the person you are trying to communicate with and vice-versa, there are plenty of universal gestures that say what you mean; going to college for four years and getting a degree does not automatically get you a house bigger than a dorm room, but it's a roof over your head; drying racks take up half of your apartment space and leave your clothes extremely wrinkled coming directly from the washer, but none-the-less your clothes are dry and you have saved energy without a drier, and if you can't cook at home in the US with a microwave, oven, and toaster...you definitely won't have much luck with just a stove top. All of these and much more I have discovered in just over a week...imagine what more I will learn about life and adapt to in the coming months!

Here's also a rundown of my last few days before I started teaching. Last Thursday, a co-worker invited our staff out to dinner with the LCI Kids Club staff from a town near by. It was great to meet fellow teachers (many from Minnesota) over a few delicious pitchers of Sangria. We returned to Suji for my first night with Soju cocktails and Noribong. Let me help you visualize...a cozy little room with padded seats and a table, jazzy wallpaper, mood lighting, a few snacks and drinks, tambourines, microphones, and a widescreen TV with song lyrics flashing across it. Drinks or no drinks, Noribong is a night of karaoke fun! Please see the attached photo of my friends exercising their vocal chords!

Friday evening was a send off/welcome party for leaving and new coming teachers. The Korean staff took us out for duck Galbi and wine and then followed the "fun teachers" to Noribong until 3am! As much of a blast that Noribong is, I couldn't do it two nights in a row, so Shauna and I headed back to the hotel as we were visiting Seoul the next day. My first trip to Seoul was wonderful! After a 40 minute ride on a coach bus with leather seats and air-conditioning, we hopped out onto the busy shopping streets in downtown Seoul. After a bit of wandering, we ended up at the Insadong Art district, a long street with many beautiful shops, restaurants, and tea houses. We ended the day in Itaewon, the military base district of Seoul, with lots of foreigners and delicious American food! I'm not sure if I just miss food from home, but I ate the best cheeseburger I've ever tasted...no exaggeration! On Sunday, Shuana and I got to leave the "love motel" and move into our apartments. Shuana has a nice open studio apartment and mine...well, let's just say it's a bit too cozy. It's fine for now, but the Korean staff has informed me that I will be moving in a few weeks when the lease on my apartment is up. Like I said, it's a roof over my head.......