Oh My Gubeundari

This is my new home. It is quite nice. The picture is from a couple days after arriving but it is starting to shape up. There is a lot of space. I have three rooms: the bathroom, the balcony, and the living space. In the picture you can see the kitchen reflected in the doors to the enclosed balcony. I have a large refrigerator, a nice sink and two counter-top burners. The bathroom is awesome and spacious. It is a big shower with a toilet in it basically - the shower is attached to the sink and there is a drain on the floor. It makes cleaning the bathroom so easy. The balcony has a washing machine and i use the drying rack in the picture to hang the clothes. I live in the same building as my school so my morning commute is 3 steps: 1. walk out the door 2. walk down one flight of stairs 3. walk into my classroom. It is really awesome. Also the is a small fake soccer court on the roof and some really great people I work with that make my job great.

My job is tough to start out because I had no idea where the last teacher left off, but I made new lesson plans and it should be easier to deal with from here on out.

Right now it is Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving. Koreans know how to make thanksgiving rock. I have off 3 days from work = 5 days weekend. I will spend it trying to figure out Seoul (Renae said "with my girlfriend Renae!) and settle myself in a new home.



My vegetarian meal on my way to Seoul on Japan Airlines. I want to fly Japan Airlines for everything. They were the best.



Cool street art in Insa-dong.
Renae took me to a cool market in Insa-dong, Seoul. The market was great I want to go back. I think what I want to do with the rest of my life is just sit on the side of the street and sell things. There are a lot of markets in Seoul and I am going to have to stop myself from going broke on cool stuff from street vendors. We went out to eat at a nice restaurant on a side street.



The silverware is usually spoons and chopsticks and are at the table already. These were in a drawer under the table.

I was feeling a little uneasy about eating seafood. I am still trying to eat veg but had some seafood that evening. It was good but I didn't feel to happy about it. The prickly pear wine (the pink drink) was strangely sweet and I didn't like it too much. Despite all of this it was still a wonderful dinner. I like the way Korea does its dishes. A lot of it is communal and there are plenty of side dishes. We went for pizza today and it was so good. Sweet potato pizza with mushrooms, onions, and peppers for 8900 won ($9) and it came with salad and pickles (I was very happy about the pickles) I am not sure if it was just because the owner was so nice but he gave us free soft serve ice cream and I think he was doing it for everyone! It was soooooo awesome.

Maybe next time little friend... I almost cried for this tiny octopus thing.


Some crazy photo op at the largest underground mall:



This sign warns of how foreigners can summon flames from there bare hands and light midget construction workers on fire and at the same time humiliate them to the point of crying... or it is just me wanting to be Jimi Hendrix and make fire come out of anything I touch.


Speaking of Jimi Hendrix...
I went to a bar called Freebird, with my friend Lauren (a teacher at my school from Texas) and she accurately describe it as looking like a hookah bar with large b&w pictures of rock stars like Jimi Hendrix. It was a great time, two bands played called:

I am still learning Korean so I will get back to you with that one. (Note that happy hour is from 11-12pm = the subway stops at 12pm so they try to keep people in there i think. On another not I love the subway here. More on that later)

The first band was awesome funky dance rock and came running out after the set in a big picture frame - I didn't have time to change any settings before they got camera shy but I am happy I got this photo.


The second band opened with a folky version of:!!!!!!!

the video is too big and i am too tired right now

and if that weren't awesome enough, the singer broke out a:!!!!!!!

ditto

So it has been a lot of fun. I went back to the area (Hongdae) where Freebird is the night afterwards to see The Queers at a venue called Skunk Hell which was really amazing (almost as good as a New Brunswick show) with Renae and Jesse and two friends, Deanna and Lana. I forgot my camera but am glad because it would have been destroyed. But i took pictures of the area the night before and there is an awesome park where kids hang out and it is right next to a huge art college that has "Free Market" every Saturday where people sell art and stuff they made and I don't know what else... I can't wait till next Saturday. I just heard about it so didn't go today. In the park a band brought a generator and rocked out. It was beautiful to see a space alive like that. Also, you are aloud to walk anywhere with your booze so some people make a night of it to hang in the park. (Who needs to pay a cover and too much money for drinks when you have friends, a mini mart that sells drinks and a guerrilla band with its own generator!) I think this will be my favorite place to be in Seoul but I have soooo much to see. Outside of Skunk Hell and in the park there were awesome murals:
I think the first one is a Nike ad but the artwork is cool and I don't have picture from SKunk Hell... next time.





Also after researching some other info about Korea, I saw some pictures of people who dye their dogs' hair. I witnessed this today in the form of a poodle with yellow ears crossing the street. I love it and wish I thought of that.

Today, after a long night last night, Renae and I, Lauren, Deanna (another teacher from my school from CA, who is awesome) and Lana (a teacher who was fired from my school but found another one, and is also awesome) had an omelet picnic on the roof with fresh pineapple for dessert. It was so nice I am feeling everything all at once but optimistic even when I am scared or sad. I spent the day exploring my neighborhood with Renae. I am so sad that I lost my new glasses before I came to Korea - I will never find a more perfect pair. But I bought new glasses today to. They give you a free eye exam on the spot and I like my new glasses almost as much as my missing pair. I will go take a picture now even though I am tired and then it is off to bed. I have been here two weeks and sorry I havent got in touch with everyone personally yet. I am doing a lot, learning a lot and working a lot too. I am sure there will be more time once I feel settled but I am enjoying the process of discovering a new place and new people.

I Love you all, (even the strangers,)

p.s. the heart came with my bathroom and Gubeundari is my yuk (subway stop)