One month down, 11 to go..

Hi again. This past Wednesday marked my one month anniversary in my new homecountry! At times, it feels like it's been forever since I got here, but there's also so many things that I've yet to do and see. I've learned countless things and have had so many new experiences. But I have plenty more to look forward to..

So here's my apartment building from the doorstep: On the corner there is a restaurant that I haven't visited yet, so that's another item on the to-do list..

This is a city marker for Yongin in the nearby park:

And here's the E-Mart complex that I've talked so much about:

And a window sign at a local chicken restaurant (see previous post to read about my chicken foot experience). This picture gives you a clue into what part of the chicken they actually serve here. Unfortunately, our chicken foot restaurant didn't have a warning picture like this:

Here's a picture of the back window of a car in my neighborhood. I've actually seen several of this same advertisement for the car customizers. This is a great example of how things are presented in English in Korea. Count the translation errors, and check out the way it's written compared to how a native speaker would write this: (Oh, and another note on this picture, notice the mirror. A lot of the larger cars here have these 'back mirrors', and it's a pretty ingenious idea considering how often they have to back into parking spaces here due to limited space)

Last week, I mentioned a ginseng set of tea and candies that I received from a student. You may be familiar with herbs - before leaving my dad had mentioned Korean ginseng several times. Supposedly, it's pretty effective at increasing overall health and immunity. And it comes at a price, even here in the country where it's from. I visited a local ginseng store this week, where they sell ginseng in 100+ forms. A set like the one I got is rather pricey - so I hope it works! I also found out from the kid that gave it to me, his mother is a dentist. And I'm sure dad also works - so I'm sure the family is well to do..

I haven't mentioned this before: There's an aging system they use here that is different than ours back home, and they call it 'Korean age'. A person when born is already a year old, so what we would consider our first birthday, they turn 2. Furthermore, your age advances at the start of the Julian calendar year to the age that you will turn that year. So for example, my birthday is in July, but on Jan 1, I turn a year older. So in the US, now I would be considered 28 until July when I become 29, I am already 30 here in Korea! And before my year is over here, I will turn 31. So guess I got 1.5 years older when I came to Korea, but luckily will also get just as much younger when I come home!

My most eventful day last week was definitely Thursday, and I'll tell you about a few of the events. The day was for the most part a normal Thursday, until my last class period. It's only a class of 3 kids, but they are a handful! (At that rebellious-don't-wanna-listen-to-authority age). I've struggled with behavior problems from them during these few weeks, and have talked to their former teacher, whose advice was essentially that 'it takes time to build a rapport with this group of kids' and also tells me that it was her least favorite bunch of kids to teach. Well I had already tried several approaches with them during past classes, and nothing has seemed to work. So finally on Thurs, during a particular episode of bad-behavior, I had the head Korean teacher, Susan, pay a visit to the three of them. Susan is a great supervisor, and is extremely nice and cordial with us teachers. But heaven help you if you're on the receiving end of one of her Korean tirades! So after yelling for 5+ minutes, I come back to the class where Susan has the 3 kids apologize to me for their behavior. And for the remainder of class, they were quite the angels! I sort of felt like I used Susan as an immediate crutch, but also definitely think they needed to get smacked in line. We'll see if this better behavior is sustainable..

I came home that evening obiously a little out of sorts. I turned on the TV to a Korean channel, and found a travel program. The show was run by a Korean woman who travels all over the globe in search of interesting places. Guess where she was during this episode? I turned on the show as she was riding the gondola car up Stone Mountain, Georgia! What a strange coincidence to see my hometown on TV from so far away, huh? She went on to visit the Martin Luther King Center and other attractions around Atlanta, and then went on to other states and areas of the Southeast US. The show and her narration were of course in Korean, but she did also conduct several interviews in English. She was a pretty good musician too - she carried a guitar around, and several times sang/played American folk songs. She sang Ray Charles' 'Georgia on My Mind' while on Tybee Island, GA and later played 'Country Roads' while in the Smoky Mtns. In all, I only saw about 25 minutes of the show, but it was a nice reminder of home.

I then went to the gym that night to try out another group exercise class. It was called 'ABT', and I still have no idea what it stands for. The class consisted of about 20 members, and I counted as the second man, and the one and only non-Korean. It was quite the experience and I'm glad I tried it out, but doubt I'll be attending the class again. Another good thing that came out of the evening at the gym was meeting a nice Korean man named Patrick who studied in Toronto. He was very personable and fluent in English, which is not very common to find here. Most people can speak some English, but there are definitely varying degrees of fluency. I could speak very comfortably with Patrick. It turns out he is a minister here, and not sure if I'll ever attend his church, but he should be a good contact nonetheless. I have even run into him again on Sunday in E-Mart. The gym has been a great place to build my network - another good friend I've made is a trainer named Revan. He's from Korea, never been to the US or Canada, but his English is also very good. He's my age, and we've gone out for dinner and drinks a few times.

Speaking of Sunday night, when I ran into Patrick, I was on my way to see the movie Avatar. I did already see this in Atlanta before leaving (and saw it in 3-D, which is very cool). The theater is also in the E-Mart building, and has 8 screens. All the movies are in English, and have Korean subtitles. I've a feeling that I'll see quite a few movies here.

I've found a new food addiction. I was already hooked on several Korean dishes, especially one being the barbeque (called Galbi). It is so good and cheap too! I went to several Korean BBQ restaurants in Atlanta, and was lucky to leave a meal with a bill under $20 a head. The galbi restaurants here all charge 8,000 won or less (less than $8)! So I've happened on these waffles that they sell (also in, of course, the E-Mart building). They're just plain waffles, but covered in cream and honey. My theory is that they also put some drug in the batter. These are huge waffles, and cost 1,000 won (about $.85).

So that's all for now, but I'll be in touch! We have another 3-day weekend coming up too, so I hope to have some good stories for you.

Take care!

Matt