soul_to_seoul

There hasn't been much going on lately that's worthy of updating. The weather is getting colder, though momstly it's the wind that's cutting. It cuts through your jacket and chills you to the bone. Because of this, people stay in a lot more. In a way this is good because it's much quieter at night, but it's also a little depressing.

Last week was level up exams. This meant an easy work week for us teachers. Our main jobs were to proctor and explain the rules to the children. The more difficult part was that we had to grade our students work. There were four sections to the test: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. We had to grade both the writing and the speaking. I did the test four times, and I also had to do a makeup test. All of the tests I proctored were exactly the same, so by the end of it I could practically quote the listening portions.

We have the kids for 2 more weeks and then the new term begins and we get a new class. I'm thrilled about this since now the kids are starting to act up since level up tests are over. It'll be nice to have a new group, especially now that I know what I'm doing. I'm hoping that I will be able to teach with more authority and confidence now, but also that I am able to make it more fun.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

It seems the church is going to start Korean lessons for beginners, and Charles is going to introduce me to the local Korean program. Heh. I might be seeing more Korean soon than English. XD

We're losing a lot of kids thanks to the H1N1 virus. It's become more of an emergency now and some schools are forbidding their kids to go to after school events. This means that we're not the only ones suffering. All after school programs are dealing with the same crap. It really sucks. I haven't been too affected, but some of my co-workers' hours are getting cut because their classes are so small that they've been combined with other classes.

Korean mothers make me roll my eyes. A lot. We got a text the other day from our head instructor, instructing us not to play with the AC any more. Apparently, some of the mothers have been complaining that their children are getting sick from the AC being too low. From the AC being too low? Are you serious? Is that even possible? My whole attitude is to suck it up. If you baby the kids now, they'll never learn to grow tough. We have a lot of problems with the temperature in the classroom. Some kids want it on, some want it off. Some are hot, some are cold. My solution: if you're cold, put on your jacket. If you're hot, take it off! But do they do that? Nope! They just complain. It drives me crazy!

It was raining all day today. I went out shopping and was probably the only one wearing my hood instead of an umbrella. When I think about it, I've never ever seen anyone wearing a hood to block out the rain. This amuses me greatly since I always wore a hood in the US and never got looked at twice, but here in Korea everyone stares at me. When I came home I wrapped my purchase in my jacket and went out in the rain. And this time everyone stared at me. Even when the rain let up and an umbrella wasn't necessary any more, everyone was still using them and still staring at me. It was really amusing, but a bit irritating.

So my big question is, what is up with Korea and the weather anyway? Why are they so afraid of a little rain and AC? I really don't get it.

Well, not two weeks and the bike gets stolen. Heh. Guess you really don't get anything for free... XD
Actually, I think it was taken by the authorities because it got left outside by the bike rack all night

We're starting Level up exams in class next week, which means I'm changing classes soon. This is like a breath of fresh air, as some of my kids in Tera and Giga make me want to rip my hair out. Despite my profile, I'm not actually a big kid person. I can handle them for a while, but after a while they just drive me insane. We also have student evaluations, and I was surprised to see that I was the only one who's started on them, other than Charles. I'm about 1/3 of the way through them. I'm going to work on finishing it up this weekend.

Despite that, I'm getting more used to my life in Korea. I've successfully went to and from church safely by myself, and even made a friend at church. She, like Yuri, wants to show me around Korea. I'd really like to go back to Seoul and do some more Japanese book shopping, though it's hard to explain that sort of thing to Koreans. It sounds like I'm saying, "I came to Korea to buy Japanese stuff", which isn't really true, but it sure seems like it sometimes! Despite that, I'm intent on buying everyone some Korean souvenirs.

I just have to find out what to get everyone.

Fall is here and the trees are starting to change color. It's nearly Halloween! it's hard to remember that though since Korea doesn't celebrate the "holiday" at all. But I probably won't do anything for Halloween anyway. The landscape is gorgeous, and it feels to hear the crunch of leaves under my feet. I only wish the Fall didn't bring the remembrance of winter. I'm not looking forward to winter because I'm a little worried about the insulation in Korea... I've moved my bed away from the window and everything, but that doesn't make me feel much better. Thankfully, my apartment stays pretty hot. It's average temperature is usually around 27 degrees, which is 80 something, even with the window open. Pretty crazy, huh.

Well, off to work for now. Hope everyone has a great night (or day)!

Here's my room! Sorry the bathroom is a little messy. The sink is plugged up and I haven't had the time to clean it up. But I moved my furniture around because the weather was getting cold and I didn't think it was a good idea to have my bed right by the window, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to film my room. Sorry the quality is so awful. The camera I used is super old and doesn't work like it should.

The little wire basket in the sink is where all the food particles you put down the drain go. You're supposed to put it in a special bag and recycle it. The farmers use it for fertilizer. It's a big pain in the butt to clean out.

The "phone" is not an actual phone. It's used for the door. You can talk to the person on the other side through the it. The little TV screen shows who's on the other side of the door. It's pretty cool.

I moved the TV into the loft. I didn't throw it out. XD

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Today was a pretty busy day for me. Around 2 pm I went with Charles to go get our bike fixed. I told him that if he went with me to get it fixed I'd let us share it. Well, today we headed off to the bike shop to get it fixed. It turned out we had to replace both the tire and the inner tube. Great. That cost about $30. We also got a lock for it, which cost about $40. He was nice and we split the charges 20-20, so I told him the bike was half his and he could use it when he liked. The bike is for kids, but it works for us too, so we're not going to complain.

Before that we looked at my sink, which had been plugging up recently. I found out that it was a mere clean job. I had to clean three parts, the drain, the drain top, and the filter. What a pain. I'm going to start doing this weekly, because letting it go for a month is just gross.

A little after that I had problems with my toilet. It kept overflowing. It was the first time I was thankful I had a drain in the floor because all the excess water could go into the drain should it start to spill over. I plunged and plunged and plunged some more until the toilet went back to normal.

Disgusting jobs, but they gotta get done, right?

In addition to that, I hung out with Charles today. We took his dog for a walk, watched a movie, and went to Lotte Mart to do some shopping. I needed to buy some new cleaners and he wanted to buy some DVDs. Sometimes I think it's more fun hanging out with someone shopping at the local store than trying to find neat and interesting stuff to do.

Hahaha. Or maybe I'm just lame like that. :)

I might be going to Seoul tomorrow. Not 100% sure yet.

Today was a horrible, horrible day. My Tera kids went insane today. They're usually over the top, but today I felt myself nearly losing control of myself. Several times I had to remind myself to take deep breaths so I could keep from raging. Giga was much better, though the kids were in a rush to leave. Exams are ending this week, so we're getting a lot of kids back in classes now. Hopefully they'll all return.

And now, some pictures from Korea!

( Click here to see the picstures! )

It seems that I'll be going to Costco tomorrow. Costco cards are cheaper here ($35 for a year), so if anyone wants me to pick them up a card, let me know and I'll get you one before I leave Korea.

Please pray that I figure out a good way to handle my Tera class.... They're really starting to drive me crazy.

Greetings from Korea!

Despite my worrying about not having enough to do for Chuseok, I was pleasantly surprised.

Friday I went to Yongsan by myself and Saturday I went with Yuri, my Korean friend, and her family to the Global Fair and Festival in Incheon. The Global fair is the celebrate the creation of a new neighborhood. The area was originally filled with water, but they are planning to build a city on top of it. The city is well under way, though it won't be finished till next year. The fair had an assortment of activities. There were concerts, exhibits, a 3D movie, and even a few rides.

Some of the events we went to were the Teddy Bear Museum, which featured different exhibits with bears acting out what countries are known for. For instance, Germany was all scholars, Japan was all about hot springs, China the Great Wall, and America had the White House, the Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, and cowboys and indians. They even had the Netherlands! I felt bad for New Zealand because it got nothing but Lord of the Rings.
There were also other themes there, such as popular fairytales or dramas. They had Gulliver's Travels, with small bears climbing a top a large bear that was actually "breathing", and Goong, a famous drama in Korea that features a headstrong commoner becoming the wife of the crown prince (there are no actual kings or princes in Korea anymore. The story is pure fiction).

We also visited the Robot Zoo, which were robots designed to look like animals, saw a 3D movie, and visited the gardens. We saw European art and creations from the early 1800s, and looked at Egyptian and African artifacts.

We finished the night by going to a traditional Korean drum concert. All in all, a good night, though I was a bit chilly by the end.
-----

This week has been pretty good so far. Monday night I found a couch in the dumpster, so I was able to get myself a couch. It's a little dirty, so I've got to clean it before I try sitting on it.

Class-wise is a lot better too. I borrowed a game idea from my co-workers that works quite well. You divide the kids into groups of four and call each group a team. The kids earn points by answering questions correctly and volunteering. The team with the most points at the end of the day gets a reward. The reward can be anything from candy to not having to do homework, or having to do less of it.
My Tera kids were in uproar at first because they didn't like their groups, but after that they enjoyed it immensely. My EC4 kids had a blast, and even took the opportunity to tell me when I missed writing down a point for them or thought they deserved one. Hopefully I'll be able to work this into the system efficiently, but it's much more enjoyable for both me and the kids than to just go through the material.

Today I hung out with Yuri in Incheon. We wanted to go see the fireworks, but they had already finished, so instead she took me on a drive through Incheon. We went through Incheon Chinatown, saw the statue of Colonel MacArthur, who was responsible for helping Korea become independent from Japan and such, and even saw the ocean at night. It was much calmer than I expected it to be...

This weekend is looking to be good. I get paid Saturday, and Yuri wants to teach me Hangul, the Korean alphabet. I in turn promised to teach her cursive.

Today was my last day of work for the week. We get Friday off for Chuseok, a Korean holiday that's sorta like Thanksgiving. Families all go to visit relatives and have dinner, and sometimes they sleep over. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to Yongsan, though my plans might change since I got an e-mail from a Korean friend I made out here who wants to hang out.

So today I was not in the mood to teach at all, even though our lesson is more interesting. We've finished Spies of the Civil War and Gross Body Facts, so now we're onto Extreme Jobs and Mapman Around the Globe. We had extra time in both classes, so we watched movies about volcanoes and then about mummies in my second class. Fun times.

This weekend I am dogsitting for one of my friends, and he took me out to dinner tonight to compensate me for it. The meal itself was fine, but desert was even better. They had a 20% off ice-cream sale at the convenience store in our apartment complex, so we both bought ice-cream bars. He bought melon, I bought strawberry. It was so, so good. It totally beat out Mc Donald's. It managed to taste like REAL ice-cream instead of processed custard. I have to be careful or I will get addicted!

This week's been kind of hectic, and I apologize for not updating or e-mailing as I should. I should have much more time this weekend to get everything straightened out.

Today I did a very odd thing. I went to take a walk to get some fresh air and noticed someone was throwing out furniture. Score one for me! I've asked the others how they get furniture and most of them replied that they get it out of the trash. Lame, yes, but it makes sense. Most of us only stay a year or two, so why waste inordinate amounts of money on decorating?

Anyway, I asserted the furniture, chose the one I wanted, and tried to call the others on the cell phone, but no one answered. So it was up to me. So I dragged the thing up to the elevator myself. Later I went back for the chair. And whoot.

So this is what I received.

( Click here to see )

The microwave I had originally sat on a piece of wood meant to act as a step for the loft. It was low to the ground and very inconvenient. But now I have much easier access to it. It's the little things like that which make me happy.


Next week we get Friday off. I am so thankful.

Today is Saturday, but we had to work anyway. The Harvest Festival is next weekend, and the school will be closed. So we worked till 10:30 last night, got our new books, and had to be back at work the next day by 9:15. Not a lot of fun. I went home, watched an episode of Pride and Prejudice (I've downloaded a six episode bundle of P&P, mostly out of curiosity)to unwind and then got to prepping.

Prepping is not bad at all, mostly, because the majority of the books I use have been used by previous teachers, meaning the majority of the work is done for me. Still, after having watched the movie and eaten dinner, I was exhausted. And to top it all off, we had to wake up early the next day. I'm not aversed to waking up early- I did it all the time for work in America- but it's hard to wake up early after having gone to bed at 1:50. To make matters worse, my alarm clock was set for 7:30 PM, so it didn't go off. Thankfully, my body woke itself up at 8:42 and I freaked out and was out of the door, dressed and ready for work, by 8:50. I actually got there much earlier than most of my co-workers.

I taught my first class EC2, but was allowed to go home after that because no kids showed up for my MG class. I felt kinda bad about this, though I knew very few were planning on attending. Nevertheless, I got paid for the extra half hour I waited for kids to arrive.

After class I went back home and slept a little. Then I went out to dinner with some of my co-workers. I wasn't too excited to go since I didn't like spending money like they do, but I want to build better relations with them. Besides that, it was Chris and Renee, and I like them a lot. I don't hang out with them enough, so I agreed. They also know a lot of good restaurants, and I probably wouldn't eat actual Korean food if I weren't with them.

The meal was as sort of stew. There are three courses. The first is veggies. Basically, you throw vegetables in a big pot and let them cook, and then you all put some servings into a small bowl. You do the same with the meat and then the noodles, which is the last course. The veggies were pretty good. I mostly ate the onions since I like cooked onions. But my favorite, of course, was the meat. Cooked it tastes just like roast beef from home. Yum. My share of the meal, plus the two cokes I ordered, was about 13 USD.

One thing that is common in South Korea is communal dining. I said that we all shared one big pot. Well, we all use our chopsticks to grab pieces of meat or veggies. These are the same chopsticks that we use to eat our food. This is considered normal in Korea, and interestingly enough it's become something I'm used to. I'm still opposed to sharing drinks and eating food directly from the table, but I've gotten to the point where I can handle that much. I consider that a sort of accomplishment.

I found out today that EC2 is basically the worst class to teach. They always give it to new teachers. I'm the ONLY one that teaches EC2. But to be honest, I kind of like it. The kids hardly ever speak in Korean and they all think I'm cool thanks to my knowledge of Pokemon. I always knew that would come in handy someday. I have been asking Renee various questions about the company and banking and whatnot. She's super helpful and very nice. I've decided to keep my money here and then transfer it all back at the end. Apparently, it'd be a better deal than transferring money home every month.

One thing I have noticed that bothers me about Korea is the trash problem. People throw trash everywhere. And not just in bags. They throw random pieces of garbage everywhere on the ground. Granted, this is true for the US as well, but most of the time people throw trash on the side of the road or somewhere where it can't be seen. Here I see trash sitting on top of the bushes, or laying in the middle of the street. The kids have an online webzine where they can write about topics and more than one kid said that his or her bad habit was "throwing trash anywhere and everywhere". They even hire people to go around the town wearing Yeonsu Park uniforms that have long sticks which they use to pick up garbage. It's kind of amusing but sad at the same time.

Another interesting thing about Korea is its complete tolerance of alcohol. Here alcoholism is treated more as a joke than a serious problem, and 3/4 of the local restaurants serve alcohol. It's considered normal to go drinking with your co-workers after work, or even your boss. It's understandable to show up to work with a hangover, but you're not allowed to let it interfere with your work ever. Forget trying to use it as an excuse. I am not a big alcohol person, but I like this sort of methodology better than the US's. I guess it's mostly because alcohol is not associated with being a drunk moron and slutty college parties. It's more like just a drink people enjoy together with friends. Still, I can't help but be annoyed by peoples' reactions when they find out I don't drink and how EVERYONE here seems to do it. It's just silly.

Tomorrow is my only day off until next Friday. I'm really sad about this, but such is life. Jen and I are going to try to start a Bible study of our own together since she has no church of her own in Japan and I keep getting lost trying to find my way to churches.

We have a long week this week thanks to a Korean holiday. We're doing make up work this Saturday, which means no holiday for us. Boo. I've noticed that I've started to pick a lot of British slang, as well as slang from other parts of the US. Vacations are now holidays, pop is now soda, and Fahrenheit no longer exists. It's all about Celsius. I still get super confused about that though. For instance, my room is currently 29 degrees C. What is that in Fahrenheit? Dunno. Somewhere in the 70s or 80s? My room is usually kinda hot because I'm cheap and refuse to use the air unless I absolutely need it. It's easier to deal with heat when you wake up in it. Whenever I walk out of my room to leave for work or wherever I realize just how hot my room is. Oops? And then at school I freeze. There is no happy medium here.

Speaking of happy mediums, I need to suck it up and start investing in some sort of skin care treatment here. I have been breaking out badly ever since I got here, and it's not getting much better. I was hoping my body would adjust to it, but if it's not good by the end of this month I'm heading to Lotte to get something for it. They actually have some American brands here, but they are ridiculously expensive thanks to the fact that they're imported. The guy from before left a bottle of head and shoulders in the shower and I don't even WANT to think about how much that cost. Thankfully any kind of shampoo works for me.

My old training mates want us all to get together in Seoul this weekend for the upcoming festival. I'm still kind of undecided. I like hanging out with them better than my current group in some ways, mostly because we suffered through a lot of hardships together, but I feel uncomfortable about going to Seoul myself. And it's not like any one of them will be able to help me back if I don't know where to go. I DO have a map of the subway in English now, but that doesn't make me feel any better.

So what do you guys think I should do?

So yesterday we had our staff dinner. The whole CDI (Chungdahm Institute) was there, and we all went to a restaurant near our dorms. The meal itself was not bad, though it's definitely not something I'd eat normally. The restaurant was a typical Korean restaurant where you sit on the floor. No shoes are allowed, so we walked in socks the whole time until we had to go to bathroom and used the bathroom slippers (think water sandals for the bathroom).

The food was...interesting. There was a grilled fish. They basically took the entire fish, stuck it on a grill, and then served it to us. We had to rip open the fish and dig out the meat. Sorta like crab legs, I guess, though with a fish. The eye was not there, thankfully. Then they brought out the octopus legs...the octopus legs were still moving when you poked them. That was...fun. Our main dish was slices of raw fish meat. They were not that bad, though too slimy for my taste. You're supposed to dip them in some sort of sauce, though I was eating it raw.

Staff dinners to me really seem more like a chance to drink and make fools of yourselves in front of your co-workers and boss. The staff played a drinking game that's similar to the spin the bottle game, though with shots instead of kissing. I sat at the end, content with my bottle of Coke. I probably should have settled down at the normal table. I, unfortunately, unknowingly picked the rowdy table.

After the dinner we went to karaoke, which was fun. There's a karaoke place next door, and they had pages and pages of songs. We all shuffled into a small room with a large TV and couches. There they ordered more to drink and we all settled around the two mics and made complete fools of ourselves singing. I sang "Knights in White Satin", "Hey Jude", "That Thing You Do" and "Marry Me" by Ellegarden. It was pretty fun, though everyone was drinking and smoking and I wanted to be somewhere with fresh air. Still, it was nice to relax with my co-workers and laugh at their conditions.

All the better is knowing they'll all have hangovers at work today while I'll feel perfectly fine, if not a little tired.

This weekend is cleaning the apartment time and maybe another stop at Yongsan for one of my coworkers (she wants to go and I offered to go with her since I've been there before and have nothing better to do anyway). Hopefully I'll be able to stay away from the video game section...

Well, time for work. Seeya later!

Monday....the start of a new work week.

I'm starting to appreciate my Monday Friday MG and EC2 class more. my EC2 class is really enthusiastic, except for the last five minutes when all they want to do is go. My MG class is kinda slow and they want to talk in Korean all the time, but they get through the material and they're not jerks like my MT kids. I'm getting more used to my kids and they're starting to like me as well, so that makes me happy.

Today was shopping day. I've been running out of food starting yesterday and I didn't want to go out to eat, so shopping I had to do! It's hard to get me to go shopping in the morning, so I decided to go straight after work. Imagine food shopping at 11 o'clock at night and you'll see where I am. It's actually pretty nice. There are still workers there, but the lines for the cash register are pretty small. I bought two 2 liters of pepsi, some water (the water is not very safe here), eggs, hot dogs (I actually hate hot dogs, but....), some bread, ketchup, jelly, and a loaf of bread. I also wandered to the 50% off counter where I picked up tonight's dinner, mini chicken legs for 1,500 won, roughly $1.50. I love evening sales. I'm really tempted to go there every night and grab a 50% off dinner and just save the food in my fridge for breakfast/lunch. All together I spent about 18,000 won. Considering this is enough food to last me for a week or so, I'm pretty happy. I've been to restaurants where I wound up spending 13,000 for one dinner, so buying food instead of going out is definitely better in my opinion. I don't normally pick the restaurant, and my co-workers, who I normally go out to eat with, have expensive tastes. X_X

And it really felt good to put away my food and have a full fridge for once. I am really liking that.

Cheese, by the way, is ridiculously expensive (16,000 won for a pack. AKA $14). So is whip cream. A can of whip cream costs about 13,000 ($11). They actually import it though, which is where the extra cost comes from. Thankfully whip cream and cheese is something I can live without.

So lately I've been watching this Japanese show called "At Home Dad". It's a show about this businessman whose company closes and he can't find another job. His wife gets a job offer and takes it, so he is forced to be a homemaker and take care of the house and their six-year-old daughter, Rie. The guy is totally new at his job. He can't even vacuum properly or even wash clothing. And forget cooking.
To be honest, I think I like the show because I can relate. Granted, I actually know how to wash clothes (sorta). Of course, my situation is a bit different because my washer and appliances are all in Korean, so I kind of have to guess what does what. I am not even sure I wash my clothing 100% right, but they come out clean, so I can't be doing too bad, right?

Tomorrow is only Tuesday, and I'm already looking forward to the weekend. Thankfully I have a repeat class tomorrow so I only need to prep one lesson. Prepping isn't so bad, and working's not actually too, but not having the time to do what I want is the worst. By the time I get out and what to do stuff it's work time, and I get out too late to really do anything. But it's nice to be able to sleep in and stay up late. I'm actually a night person, so I guess this lifestyle suites me better.

The worst is just repeat lessons. We are reading a book about gross body facts, and I teach the class four times a week, the same lesson twice a week. It's ok the first time, but after a while it just gets old, having to teach the same material over and over again. I am going to be SO glad when we finally change books and learn some less disturbing material (who really wants to learn about athelete's foot or about snot anyway?)

I finally got a stable, working internet. The internet guy came Saturday and fixed me up, so now I have permanent internet! You have no idea how happy this makes me.

( Click here to read this entry! )

Yesterday was both good and bad. Good because I got my cell phone. Bad because we had testing day and we were late because of the cell phones, so I was completely disorganized. Thanks to that, I was missing some papers I needed and made a fool out of myself in front of my class because I didn't have the answers. I ended up using another student's paper as a guide, but it was still embarrassing. And then they told me the kids would have a vocab test on chapters 1 and 2, but the test only covered chapter 2. Utter chaos. The kids were really upset. Some of them told me that they had only studied for chapter 1. But what could I do? This problem persisted in all of the other classes as well, so I guess I wasn't totally alone.

So cell phones. Cell phones are ridiculously expensive in Korea. My phone cost $60, but I also had to pay another $30 for start up and other stuff. They tried to make us feel better by giving us gifts. We got a coffee mug and a box of house cleaning stuff. Um, okay? This is pretty typical in Korea though, to get gifts when you buy some big purchase like that.
But I have a cell phone now, so yay! It's black is a slider. I should have gotten a white one, but I wasn't fast enough, so I'll have to settle for black. It's a pretty cool phone. I wish I could take it back with me when I go back to the US, but I don't think it would work; at least the guy at the store told us it wouldn't. A pity. I posted some pictures of it on my facebook under my New Home gallery, so check it out if you're interested.

This Sunday I'm going to try another church. Charles is busy at his own church, so this time I'm on my own. I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure I'll be okay. I know what stop to get off at. It's just getting from my stop to the church that makes me nervous. But I really, really want to learn how to use the subway myself so I won't have to rely on others when I want to go places. Wish me luck!

Today I had a weird experience. While I've had to deal with my fair share of Jehovah's Witnesses in the US, I never really expected to see groups like that in Korea. I guess I was too naive. Just as I was getting dressed this morning I heard my doorbell ring. It was around 11 and I was expecting the internet guy sometime this week (hopefully), so I answered the door, thinking it was him. Nope. A man and woman came into my apartment and tried to share their own translation of the gospel with me. They used the NIV, but some of what they said was a little funny. For instance, they believe that we should rid ourselves of Christmas because it originally stemmed from a pagan holiday. According to Revelations God punishes those who follow pagan traditions, even if they are put to a Christian tune, so Christmas was evil. Worshiping on Sunday was also wrong too since God said that the seventh day was Saturday, not Sunday. The Romans had their Sabbath day on Sunday, and because of that Christians also changed it from Saturday to Sunday. I was always taught that it was because Christ arose on Sunday, though. Another weird thing they told me is that their is a holy mother in addition to God. They used Jesus' reference to Jerusalem as the mother for an example. I don't know about that. I thought they were stretching the idea a little too far. Nowhere in the Bible does it plainly state that there was ever a female god with God, so it wasn't enough to convince me of her existence. Lastly, they want women to wear head coverings when going to church. They pointed out the example in First Corinthians where Paul told women to cover their heads when going to church. I pointed out because it was a cultural thing, and that didn't necessarily mean that we had to wear coverings; it meant that we had to dress modestly. In those days, I said, not wearing head coverings was immodest. It meant you were a slut. In these days it doesn't. But wearing low cut shirts or short skirts is immodest, so we are to not wear that. But he argued against me, saying that what the Bible says there is true for us today, and I was forgetting that.

He wants to come pick me up Saturday for church services, which means I must make myself scarce this Saturday. That's not how I was raised, and I really did not feel comfortable with that sort of thinking.

He claims that there are churches like his all over in the world, even in the US. But I think that he's gonna have a hard time trying to get the Christians to give up their Christmases and worship on Saturday instead of Sunday. And really, does God hate it? I don't think so. If that were the case, there would be a lot less people in Heaven today than there really are. At least, that's my thought on the matter.

Sunday I met with Charles outside our apartment complex and headed for the subway. The closest church here was a Catholic church, so our only option was to take the subway. The subway ride was pretty uneventful. The train was pretty empty, so we got seats both on the way there and back.

The church was in the basement of a big building. This is not surprising since most businesses in Korea are like that. We entered the church and were met by the Pakistan leader who had squirted us some hand wash (because of the swine flu? Who knows) and gave us a newsletter and English language bulletin. There were about ten or fifteen people in attendance. We sang songs, most of which I knew. It was the Sonicflood variety, which meant it was mostly praise songs like, “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever” and etc.

The sermon wasn't bad, but it was really repetitive. The sermon focused around Joseph and how he was a man of faith. Even when times got dark, he had hope that he had a future and still believed in God. We are to do the same. What's more, Joseph also forgave those who persecuted him, such as his brothers.

After the sermon we had to introduce ourselves and were given gifts. Then we had fellowship, which included orange juice and cookies. I was glad of that, because we had Communion and I realized that I hate the taste of wine. I needed something to wash it down with really bad. Then after that we headed to Sunday school or Korean class, or wherever. I headed to the Korean class. Unfortunately, the group was one lesson 16, so I had a hard time following alone. Charles came in and taught me a little Korean, but for the most part I was lost.

Today we went back to work. I didn't have such a great day. I kept messing up my English for some reason and even called one girl twice who wasn't in class. To make matters worse, I didn't realize we had a vocal part to a test we gave, and because of that I was totally screwed. I ended up finding the mp3 on the computer and played it for the class. I found out later that many of the other new teachers found themselves in the same predicament, which made me feel a LOT better.

After work my boss came up to me and gave me my Alien Registration Card. So now that I have my ARC I can get internet and a cell phone. We're going to meet him tomorrow at 2:30 to get that all settled. We can also get cable TV, but I thought it might be better if I just avoid TV altogether. I don't watch TV much, but when I do it has a way of sucking me in and pretty soon I'm watching shows that I don't even want to watch, but I want to see what happens next. So TV for me is not a good idea.

One thing that's been bugging me about Korea is that ever since I arrived in Incheon I've been breaking out like crazy. I think it's due to the weather here. The temperature is almost always humid, and it rains a lot. We're supposedly in the rainy season though. But if this doesn't stop after a month or so, I think I might go visit a dermatologist before I go crazy.

Now off to bed with me. Hope everyone has a great holiday in the States!

Today was my first real free day. I didn't wake up until 10 am, which was fine with me since nothing opens until 10 anyway. I headed out to E-Mart to pick up some stuff. E-Mart is probably a 20 or 30 minute walk from my apartment. It's faster to take a taxi, but I have good stamina when it comes to walking and walked all the way there. Anyway, there were plenty of times when I could stop and wait for the light. Got to E-Mart where I explored all the different floors to see what they had. I had been there before previously, but it was ridiculously busy then and I was with other people who were rushing me. But this time I could go at my own pace.

I didn't buy much except for a butter spoon (for my jelly) and scissors. I headed over to the bookstore where they promised to have a "foreign language" department. The foreign language department consisted of TOEFL books (English Language Proficiency Test study books. Literally it's "Test of English as a Foreign Language.). After that I headed for the food court where the McDonald's was beckoning me to eat. They had Popeye's too, but the cheapest meal there was 6,000 won, where I could get a cheeseburger meal at McDonald's for 3,800 won. While I was enjoying my meal and watching other people shop and talk to each other in Korean, one of my students approached me and said hi. This made me kind of happy, even though she left soon after that. And before when I was standing in line for MCD, I heard a "Where are you from" behind me in a slightly accented English. It nearly freaked me out until I realized it was as Korean man behind me. I told him I was from the US and which state and he smiled and thanked me. Then he left. What was that all about? I have no clue.

Next I was going to be brave and face the subway to get to Yongson, an electronics district in Seoul. I managed to get the ticket okay (they have an English option for that), but I got totally lost when I tried to find the entrance. I wound up asking a guy who gave me instructions in Korean and pointed me toward a stairway. I headed down the stairway, saw a train, and entered it. Only when I got on and the door shut did I realize I was not on the right train. Oops. I stayed on a few stops, but soon got off and headed for the train that led back to my station, completely ticked at myself for wasting 2,000 won on the subway. Next time I'll have to ask someone to go with me so I don't get lost. XD

A little dejected, I went back to E-Mart, sucked it up, and bought the one gigabyte XD card for my camera. But before I could do that I wanted to try the ATM machine. I received an ATM card from my boss the other day, and he told me that I should try it out to make sure it works okay. I headed toward the back of the food court where there was a little line up of ATM machines. I headed toward the one that said "KB Bank", which is our bank, and took at look at the menu. It was all in Korean. Thankfully there was an English option on the bottom, along with a Chinese and Japanese one. I picked through the options and withdrew some cash. I spent a few seconds congratulating myself for a job well done (when you're in a foreign country and can't do anything you learn to feel good about the small stuff you CAN do) until I realized a woman behind me wanted to withdraw some cash herself. Needless to say, I backed off and let the poor lady have her turn.

Korean superstores are interesting compared to US ones. Here are some differences I have seen:
1) You have to insert a coin into the cart in order to release it from the rest of the carts so you can use it. You get your coin when you put the cart away. Think Aldi's and you'll get the idea.
2) You have to pay for bags. Most people bring their own.
3) The escalators are flat surfaces and you take your cart up the escalator. There are rough grips to prevent you or the cart from sliding. It's a neat idea, actually.

I took a walk later this evening around 10:30 pm. It's been a pretty muggy day and I had stayed in my room all day since coming back from the store. So I headed out to scout out the neighborhood. Like I said in my last post, Incheon is a hopping place at night. All the bars and prominent restaurants are open, and you can even see little kids dining with their parents. There are bright lights everywhere, and it's near impossible to walk around without seeing another person. I will admit that being here is the first time I have ever seen a drunk person. There is the occasional guy stumbling down the street with his friend's arm around his shoulder, helping support him. Even so, no one bothers anyone. I've never had any one come up to me, let alone talk to me. The most contact I had was with another foreigner waving at me from across the street. He was taking his dog out. In this regard, Korea is a pretty safe country. There are video cameras everywhere though, so I think it's safe only because people know that they WILL be caught if they try anything funny.

One thing I never really noticed until last night was all the sit on the floor restaurants they have here. At least half of the restaurants I saw had either all on the floor dining or partial on the floor dining. When you enter the restaurant there is a wooden shelf where you put your shoes, and then you step up onto the wooden floor in your socks.

Another thing I noticed that was interesting was the garbage. There are very few actual garbage cans. Most people bag their trash and stick them in a big bundle on the sidewalk. Trash must be separated, and you have to use special bags to put it in. Even at McDonald's there are different garbage compartments for different kinds of waste. There is one where you pour the ice, another where you put the cup, and another for the rest of your garbage. It's amusing how obsessive they are about that when they just dump the bags out onto the street. -_-

Well, time for bed for me. But before I go, here's a link to my Incheon album. You can view the pictures here even if you're not a member of facebook. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103571&id=587401858&l=22d20f9a7c