The whole GEPIK Orientation thing is really weird and confusing, because I had assumed that mine was next week. However, apparently the elementary school teachers from GEPIK have been backlogged, so they did not have any room for any of the teachers that started this March.
This completely does not make sense to me, because this orientation that starts tomorrow is going to be filled with teachers that started in September, which are people that already halfway done with their contract. Apparently the next orientation might not be until October. Having an orientation when you already done months and months of work already?! Absolutely weird.
Of course for the secondary orientation, they have enough room, so Aaron's going to his in two weeks, but I have to wait until later. Blah.
Click here to read more
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Foreigners in Seoul, Spicy Rice Cake Festival, and Mystery Pills
So today is Saturday, so yes, another trip. This time we went back to Seoul.
We took this express bus, which cost a little bit more, but it was really nice and roomy. Across a row, there was one seat, aisle, and two seats. We could prop our legs up and lean back and everything. We had bought some steamed buns (two packages of them of four each for 6000 won only. Or about 4.50). They were pretty yummy.
At Seoul, first we went to the so-called foreigners' district, Itaewon. We didn't really do too much, other than check out a foreign food's market, where we found plain oatmeal(!), ricola, and some other random things like Indian curry mixes and nuts and spices. We checked out a phone store for me, but I wasn't sure yet so I'd think about it. Itaewon is interesting because it is full of foreigners everywhere, and the signs are mostly in English. I almost felt like we weren't in Korea anymore.
I think they are trying to imitate starbucks
Next we wanted to check out a "topokki" (I'd rather write dukbokki myself, but that's what the signs said, romantized Korean is so confusing) festival. Dukbokki is pretty much rice cakes in spicy red sauce. We got to the festival ok, didn't get lost, but wow was there a lot of people there! We didn't expect this many people, honestly. There was a line to get into the festival room, and then we waited in this superlong line for a bowl of dukbokki that we had to buy anyway. The dukbokki was alright but it was too spicy for me, and I've had lots of dukbokki before that wasn't. I think they made it super spicy. Anyway, the festival itself was ok, lots of vendors displaying and selling their foods, and a stage where there was dancing rice cakes and some break dancers. It was an okay event but not worth the long lines and the crowds, in my opinion.
line to get inside the room
and crowds inside the room
fancy rice cakes
dancing dukbokkis
and breakdancing...
aaron is a dork
too spicy dukbokki
So then we took a bus back home and didn't get back until 8 or so.
In other news, I had been slightly sickish the last two days. On Thursday I woke up with a horrible sore throat, but later in the day it was okay. And then yesterday I woke up again with a sore throat that was almost swollen and hard to swallow or breathe, but during the day the throat was better (still a bit sore but better) but later that night I felt really achy and cold, so I wrapped up in a blanket for awhile. Aaron went to a pharmacy yesterday to get me some medicine, and the Korean pharmacies are interesting. They gave him this packet of random pills, and we still don't know what exactly they are. I guess that people here must really trust the pharmacists a lot because they just take a cocktail of random pills without knowing anything about it. At least it did seem to help because I feel better today.
random cocktail of pills, oh joy!
Click here to read more
We took this express bus, which cost a little bit more, but it was really nice and roomy. Across a row, there was one seat, aisle, and two seats. We could prop our legs up and lean back and everything. We had bought some steamed buns (two packages of them of four each for 6000 won only. Or about 4.50). They were pretty yummy.
We had TWO boxes of this for 4.50
At Seoul, first we went to the so-called foreigners' district, Itaewon. We didn't really do too much, other than check out a foreign food's market, where we found plain oatmeal(!), ricola, and some other random things like Indian curry mixes and nuts and spices. We checked out a phone store for me, but I wasn't sure yet so I'd think about it. Itaewon is interesting because it is full of foreigners everywhere, and the signs are mostly in English. I almost felt like we weren't in Korea anymore.
I think they are trying to imitate starbucks
Next we wanted to check out a "topokki" (I'd rather write dukbokki myself, but that's what the signs said, romantized Korean is so confusing) festival. Dukbokki is pretty much rice cakes in spicy red sauce. We got to the festival ok, didn't get lost, but wow was there a lot of people there! We didn't expect this many people, honestly. There was a line to get into the festival room, and then we waited in this superlong line for a bowl of dukbokki that we had to buy anyway. The dukbokki was alright but it was too spicy for me, and I've had lots of dukbokki before that wasn't. I think they made it super spicy. Anyway, the festival itself was ok, lots of vendors displaying and selling their foods, and a stage where there was dancing rice cakes and some break dancers. It was an okay event but not worth the long lines and the crowds, in my opinion.
line to get inside the room
and crowds inside the room
fancy rice cakes
dancing dukbokkis
and breakdancing...
aaron is a dork
too spicy dukbokki
So then we took a bus back home and didn't get back until 8 or so.
In other news, I had been slightly sickish the last two days. On Thursday I woke up with a horrible sore throat, but later in the day it was okay. And then yesterday I woke up again with a sore throat that was almost swollen and hard to swallow or breathe, but during the day the throat was better (still a bit sore but better) but later that night I felt really achy and cold, so I wrapped up in a blanket for awhile. Aaron went to a pharmacy yesterday to get me some medicine, and the Korean pharmacies are interesting. They gave him this packet of random pills, and we still don't know what exactly they are. I guess that people here must really trust the pharmacists a lot because they just take a cocktail of random pills without knowing anything about it. At least it did seem to help because I feel better today.
random cocktail of pills, oh joy!
Click here to read more
Friday, March 27, 2009
Internet guy and strange bills
Internet Guy
So, the internet was changed into the new account yesterday. It was semi-rough coordinating with the internet guy, the latest they can come is 5:30pm and thats barely when we return home. First, they had the wrong address so came super late one time and told us that they had to do it the next day (Tue). But, then I remembered I teach advanced students on Tue so I rescheduled by phone for Wed. Then, on Wed, my co-teacher tells me that there is a hike/dinner planned for the afternoon. (Telling me information last minute is a common occurrence at my school... It's lots of fun especially when you think you have a hour break between classes, but it can change in a heartbeat.) So, I had my co-teacher call the guy and reschedule for Thur. So, he comes and tweaks the internet settings and messes up the IP (internet protocol) numbers I have set for my school to use the internet there. I spent about an hour re-doing the ad-hoc network between Jacki and I.
Bill Confusion
Also, there's some weird thing about bills here. It really doesn't matter whose name is on the bill, the person currently living there is supposed to pay it. We've been trying to sort out a weird mix-up from a left-over bill from the last tenant. The internet bill was for two months, but we've only lived here for one month. My co-teacher calls the company and tells them the situation and then they say that because we 'continued' to use the account, we're responsible for the bill, since its as though we took over the account... I can understand this logic to a point, but how can I take over the account for more than a month if I'm not physically in Korea... lol.
The internet company woman was asking my teacher over the phone why I used the account, and I was like when people come to Korea and your utilities are hooked up, its not as if you assume your not supposed to use them... lol. The last tenant left the password on the computer and we just used it. So, we're running it through our schools trying to sort out the mess.
Click here to read more
So, the internet was changed into the new account yesterday. It was semi-rough coordinating with the internet guy, the latest they can come is 5:30pm and thats barely when we return home. First, they had the wrong address so came super late one time and told us that they had to do it the next day (Tue). But, then I remembered I teach advanced students on Tue so I rescheduled by phone for Wed. Then, on Wed, my co-teacher tells me that there is a hike/dinner planned for the afternoon. (Telling me information last minute is a common occurrence at my school... It's lots of fun especially when you think you have a hour break between classes, but it can change in a heartbeat.) So, I had my co-teacher call the guy and reschedule for Thur. So, he comes and tweaks the internet settings and messes up the IP (internet protocol) numbers I have set for my school to use the internet there. I spent about an hour re-doing the ad-hoc network between Jacki and I.
Bill Confusion
Also, there's some weird thing about bills here. It really doesn't matter whose name is on the bill, the person currently living there is supposed to pay it. We've been trying to sort out a weird mix-up from a left-over bill from the last tenant. The internet bill was for two months, but we've only lived here for one month. My co-teacher calls the company and tells them the situation and then they say that because we 'continued' to use the account, we're responsible for the bill, since its as though we took over the account... I can understand this logic to a point, but how can I take over the account for more than a month if I'm not physically in Korea... lol.
The internet company woman was asking my teacher over the phone why I used the account, and I was like when people come to Korea and your utilities are hooked up, its not as if you assume your not supposed to use them... lol. The last tenant left the password on the computer and we just used it. So, we're running it through our schools trying to sort out the mess.
Click here to read more
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Coldness, advanced classes, and readers
The weather here has been pretty unpredictable these days. Last weekend it was quite nice, maybe 60s, and it was nice enough that I was wearing a sweatshirt and tshirt when we went to the dog shelter, and I didn't feel cold at all. And then yesterday the temperature dropped and this morning it was freezing. I think it might be sprinkled some snow but most of it melted, but yet, it was still biting cold with chilly winds. It's almost April! I hope it warms up soon!
I think my advanced class has been doing a lot better these days. I had them on Monday and on Tuesday, and I made lesson plans about face and body parts. I gave them some worksheets, such as label the body/face, unscramble words, and word searches, as well as playing some games, such as simon says and draw a monster (of which I dictated what the monster has, such as two noses, one eye, long neck, big shoulders, etc), and that was quite fun and hilarious. I think I am having a bit easier time with them, but I did have to plan the lessons on the weekend, because I'm still not very good at it. For the warmup I've been showing them optical illusion type images, such as "how many xxx can you find in this picture" and "what do you see?" when the image can have multiple meanings. I hope these entertain them somewhat. I have one more advanced class this week tomorrow.
Today is Wednesday, which means I've been 25 for one week so far! It will almost be the end of our very first month in Korea. 11 more to go!
Oh, and I am curious, who actually reads our blog? The counter reads 800+ but we've only gotten one comment occasionally. So if you do, leave a comment below.
Click here to read more
I think my advanced class has been doing a lot better these days. I had them on Monday and on Tuesday, and I made lesson plans about face and body parts. I gave them some worksheets, such as label the body/face, unscramble words, and word searches, as well as playing some games, such as simon says and draw a monster (of which I dictated what the monster has, such as two noses, one eye, long neck, big shoulders, etc), and that was quite fun and hilarious. I think I am having a bit easier time with them, but I did have to plan the lessons on the weekend, because I'm still not very good at it. For the warmup I've been showing them optical illusion type images, such as "how many xxx can you find in this picture" and "what do you see?" when the image can have multiple meanings. I hope these entertain them somewhat. I have one more advanced class this week tomorrow.
Today is Wednesday, which means I've been 25 for one week so far! It will almost be the end of our very first month in Korea. 11 more to go!
Oh, and I am curious, who actually reads our blog? The counter reads 800+ but we've only gotten one comment occasionally. So if you do, leave a comment below.
Click here to read more
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Aaron's Random Post 2
Cavemen speak
So we've been traveling around during the weekends like no other, quite literally. Most newbies to Korea are fairly slow to emerge, let alone, travel far from their dens. But, we've been out an about to Seoul, some neighboring places, and probably back to Seoul soon enough. We manage to get around using my patented "Korean caveman" speak, lol. People seem to understand me if I bother enough of them.
Transportation
Korea has pretty decent transportation methods as we've been slowly figuring out, we're just slighly outside of the loop for convenience though. We've been trying to take different methods to go back and forth to figure out the system faster. Nothing like getting lost to help learn the system faster. Figuring out certain things as the days pass like the buses don't seem to run how we want them to, i.e. twice as many buses go in the opposite direction than the direction we want to go. We seem to refill our T Money (transportation money) card every week with about 20,000 won (~$13).
Food
Food is always an adventure. We go pick up most of our food from the E-Mart. They have a semi-decent variety. The only problem is that they are about 40 min away by bus. We do have a local Family Mart but variety is lacking severely. We've been meat and cheese binging lately (which is a semi-expensive habit, at least the cheese part), must be the American diet catching up to us.
Traveling
Traveling on Saturday has its pros and cons. We do go out and do something which is generally interesting or useful, but it is tiring. We do end up running into other expats and generally learning something new. Something different is that the subways have these weird vendors that pass through each subway train car and try to hawk their wares. Some are loud and play loud annoying music and others seem to be selling small toys or trinkets.
Lesson Planning
Well, lesson planning sucks, lol. So, a new teacher with no experience teaching, comes to Korea teaching about 700 students about 40 at a time... a logical person might think there would be some sort of training involved...um, nope. So, I've been winging it, but its been draining quite continuously. I generally am planning for half of the week, and tweaking the lesson I'm currently doing the other half. The other teachers seem to think I'm doing well enough, they don't usually do very much in my class although I do know they are quite overloaded in their own teachings. Teachers here have a double duty of teaching about 20-25 classes a week and administrative duties.
Punishments
Some days, classes, and students, are better than others. I keep on resisting the urge to punish them, but I can tell its not going to be long before I start doing it more often. The other teachers are allowed to whack the students on the palms with a stick, although they don't do it in my class (some threaten to do it at lunch). I'm generally going to stick to the stand and arms up method, I figure I'll start with that and see how it goes.
Bills
Bills are significantly different. I think we're paying about 70 USD for gas, 20 USD for internet, around 3-5 USD for tv, and about 15-20 USD for electricity. Haven't gotten a cell phone bill yet, so I don't know how much that will be.
Technological Savvy
So, understanding basic computing skills has its uses. Making nice powerpoints seems to impress the teachers here. Most of them have/use really old computers that the school provides. I think most of the classrooms don't have internet.
The internet, at our apartment, was a problem by itself. So, it was hooked up to a really old and heavy computer. Also, the dsl that we have has a password on it. So, I had to download a password revealing program, figure out the password so that I could use my own laptop. Then, I had to figure out how to send the internet to Jacki's laptop since their is only one cable connection and also one login/password. I ended up creating a network from my laptop and allowing her computer to connect to mine to use the internet. So far, it seems to work fine. Click here to read more
So we've been traveling around during the weekends like no other, quite literally. Most newbies to Korea are fairly slow to emerge, let alone, travel far from their dens. But, we've been out an about to Seoul, some neighboring places, and probably back to Seoul soon enough. We manage to get around using my patented "Korean caveman" speak, lol. People seem to understand me if I bother enough of them.
Transportation
Korea has pretty decent transportation methods as we've been slowly figuring out, we're just slighly outside of the loop for convenience though. We've been trying to take different methods to go back and forth to figure out the system faster. Nothing like getting lost to help learn the system faster. Figuring out certain things as the days pass like the buses don't seem to run how we want them to, i.e. twice as many buses go in the opposite direction than the direction we want to go. We seem to refill our T Money (transportation money) card every week with about 20,000 won (~$13).
Food
Food is always an adventure. We go pick up most of our food from the E-Mart. They have a semi-decent variety. The only problem is that they are about 40 min away by bus. We do have a local Family Mart but variety is lacking severely. We've been meat and cheese binging lately (which is a semi-expensive habit, at least the cheese part), must be the American diet catching up to us.
Traveling
Traveling on Saturday has its pros and cons. We do go out and do something which is generally interesting or useful, but it is tiring. We do end up running into other expats and generally learning something new. Something different is that the subways have these weird vendors that pass through each subway train car and try to hawk their wares. Some are loud and play loud annoying music and others seem to be selling small toys or trinkets.
Lesson Planning
Well, lesson planning sucks, lol. So, a new teacher with no experience teaching, comes to Korea teaching about 700 students about 40 at a time... a logical person might think there would be some sort of training involved...um, nope. So, I've been winging it, but its been draining quite continuously. I generally am planning for half of the week, and tweaking the lesson I'm currently doing the other half. The other teachers seem to think I'm doing well enough, they don't usually do very much in my class although I do know they are quite overloaded in their own teachings. Teachers here have a double duty of teaching about 20-25 classes a week and administrative duties.
Punishments
Some days, classes, and students, are better than others. I keep on resisting the urge to punish them, but I can tell its not going to be long before I start doing it more often. The other teachers are allowed to whack the students on the palms with a stick, although they don't do it in my class (some threaten to do it at lunch). I'm generally going to stick to the stand and arms up method, I figure I'll start with that and see how it goes.
Bills
Bills are significantly different. I think we're paying about 70 USD for gas, 20 USD for internet, around 3-5 USD for tv, and about 15-20 USD for electricity. Haven't gotten a cell phone bill yet, so I don't know how much that will be.
Technological Savvy
So, understanding basic computing skills has its uses. Making nice powerpoints seems to impress the teachers here. Most of them have/use really old computers that the school provides. I think most of the classrooms don't have internet.
The internet, at our apartment, was a problem by itself. So, it was hooked up to a really old and heavy computer. Also, the dsl that we have has a password on it. So, I had to download a password revealing program, figure out the password so that I could use my own laptop. Then, I had to figure out how to send the internet to Jacki's laptop since their is only one cable connection and also one login/password. I ended up creating a network from my laptop and allowing her computer to connect to mine to use the internet. So far, it seems to work fine. Click here to read more
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Our apartment!
We finally made a video and pictures of our apartment, because we cleaned up a bit and well, I'm sure soon our apartment won't be this clean ever again, so why not.
Here are some more pictures. We will follow up with a video post.
Click here to read more
Here are some more pictures. We will follow up with a video post.
Our neighborhood dog
Our clothes rack, since there are no dryers here
Our bedroom
Our kitchen
Our kitchen from the other view
Main living room. The sliding door on the left is to the kitchen, the brown door on the right is to the bedroom.
Living room towards the door
Our tiny bedroom
Click here to read more
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Doggies!
Yay, we survived three weeks of teaching!
Thus far, teaching, for me at least, hasn't been too difficult. For my normal classes, I just use a textbook and CD-rom, which is pretty easy to follow. It has some activities and random video conversations of which the students can watch and/or repeat. Pretty easy stuff. The only part I do worry about the advanced class, of which I have to make lesson plans from scratch, for 3 times a week, 80 min classes. So... I've been trying but I'm not sure if my lessons are that good, so we'll see I guess.
Anyway, today we took a journey to a dog shelter in the Asan-Cheonan area. First we took a bus from the main bus terminal to Cheonan, and then we got a taxi to the Asan-Cheonan KTX station. I think we got ripped off because we paid 8900 and I think we were supposed to pay half that. Then we met up with the other English speaking people to go to the shelter. It was on top of a steep hill, and there were tons of dogs. There was two pens, one for small-medium dogs that was outside, and one smaller one for smaller dogs inside. As well as a cat area. There are also a long row of random dogs in cages, as well as the larger dogs outside in their bigger cages, further up the hill. So we basically played with some of them, and lots of them were super hyper. It was mostly fun but a pretty long day. We didn't leave until maybe 5 or so.
Here are a few pictures of the shelter:
And thus began the huge journey home. This time, we took the subway to Pyeongtaek, and then we took a local bus to the Emart in Anseong, where we picked up groceries, then we waited FOREVER for our bus to our place. We were waiting for like 45 min or so before we caught a bus to downtown Anseong and then finally our bus came. I don't think we got back until 9 or so, and we left in the morning at around 8:30. The whole time we survived on a few snacks in our backpack and a bowl of noodles at Emart. By the time we got home, it started to sprinkle, but at least we got back to our nice dry apartment before it started raining hard.
More pictures from the Asan shelter are here. Click here to read more
Thus far, teaching, for me at least, hasn't been too difficult. For my normal classes, I just use a textbook and CD-rom, which is pretty easy to follow. It has some activities and random video conversations of which the students can watch and/or repeat. Pretty easy stuff. The only part I do worry about the advanced class, of which I have to make lesson plans from scratch, for 3 times a week, 80 min classes. So... I've been trying but I'm not sure if my lessons are that good, so we'll see I guess.
Anyway, today we took a journey to a dog shelter in the Asan-Cheonan area. First we took a bus from the main bus terminal to Cheonan, and then we got a taxi to the Asan-Cheonan KTX station. I think we got ripped off because we paid 8900 and I think we were supposed to pay half that. Then we met up with the other English speaking people to go to the shelter. It was on top of a steep hill, and there were tons of dogs. There was two pens, one for small-medium dogs that was outside, and one smaller one for smaller dogs inside. As well as a cat area. There are also a long row of random dogs in cages, as well as the larger dogs outside in their bigger cages, further up the hill. So we basically played with some of them, and lots of them were super hyper. It was mostly fun but a pretty long day. We didn't leave until maybe 5 or so.
Here are a few pictures of the shelter:
And thus began the huge journey home. This time, we took the subway to Pyeongtaek, and then we took a local bus to the Emart in Anseong, where we picked up groceries, then we waited FOREVER for our bus to our place. We were waiting for like 45 min or so before we caught a bus to downtown Anseong and then finally our bus came. I don't think we got back until 9 or so, and we left in the morning at around 8:30. The whole time we survived on a few snacks in our backpack and a bowl of noodles at Emart. By the time we got home, it started to sprinkle, but at least we got back to our nice dry apartment before it started raining hard.
More pictures from the Asan shelter are here. Click here to read more
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Jacki's Birthday
So today was my birthday, I'm quarter of a century years old now!
Today right after school my coteacher and other coworkers threw me a surprise birthday mini-party, which was really nice of them. They bought a little Asian styled cake and ordered pizza. It was Korean pizza so one had shrimp, imitation crab, and sweet potato on it, but it was actually pretty good. Of course the cake was delish as well, and they made me wear a silly hat while blowing out the candles.
When I went back home Aaron had bought me some yummy chocolate foodies (brownies, dark chocolate chewies, chocolate sticks, and some other random snacks), so that made me, a chocoholic, quite content.
Then we went to eat at a very small local restaurant in our little town. I had some kind of seafood rice and he got jjajangmyeon, which was his favorite dish. We only spent 12,000 won, which was a little less than $8.50, for this entire meal. Living in the rural boonies does have its benefits!
All in all, a pretty good birthday, although I did have to work today.
***
In other news, yesterday I taught my advanced class, and so the first half I had some slides and a short animated video on St Patricks Day, but I think it was pretty boring, so the second half we played charades again, but with harder phrases than the day before, so I think they did seem to enjoy that. Click here to read more
Today right after school my coteacher and other coworkers threw me a surprise birthday mini-party, which was really nice of them. They bought a little Asian styled cake and ordered pizza. It was Korean pizza so one had shrimp, imitation crab, and sweet potato on it, but it was actually pretty good. Of course the cake was delish as well, and they made me wear a silly hat while blowing out the candles.
me and my co-teacher
When I went back home Aaron had bought me some yummy chocolate foodies (brownies, dark chocolate chewies, chocolate sticks, and some other random snacks), so that made me, a chocoholic, quite content.
Then we went to eat at a very small local restaurant in our little town. I had some kind of seafood rice and he got jjajangmyeon, which was his favorite dish. We only spent 12,000 won, which was a little less than $8.50, for this entire meal. Living in the rural boonies does have its benefits!
All in all, a pretty good birthday, although I did have to work today.
***
In other news, yesterday I taught my advanced class, and so the first half I had some slides and a short animated video on St Patricks Day, but I think it was pretty boring, so the second half we played charades again, but with harder phrases than the day before, so I think they did seem to enjoy that. Click here to read more
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Expats and "Advanced" Classes
Tomorrow is my (Jacki's) birthday, and I'll be spending it in a foreign country!
Anyway, yesterday we went out with some other expats in Anseong downtown for some samgyeopsal (yes, the Korean "bacon"). It was different to be able to speak fluently with other people, and not have to use broken English to converse. We just hung out a bit and talked (and uh, complained) about our schools and lesson plans and teaching in general.
Yesteday was my advanced class, and it's tough, because it's pretty much like two classes in one. It's two times the normal class length, and I don't have any textbooks or CDroms or anything to follow. I had to do it from scratch. Anyway, yesterday I tried to do some things like writing three facts about yourself and drawing a picture of your family to present, but they just weren't too interested and it felt like pulling teeth to get them to present. Most of my normal classes are more active and excited and answer more questions than this class, which is ironic.
I have another one of those this afternoon, and I planned a St Patricks Day class, so we'll see how that goes. Click here to read more
Anyway, yesterday we went out with some other expats in Anseong downtown for some samgyeopsal (yes, the Korean "bacon"). It was different to be able to speak fluently with other people, and not have to use broken English to converse. We just hung out a bit and talked (and uh, complained) about our schools and lesson plans and teaching in general.
Yesteday was my advanced class, and it's tough, because it's pretty much like two classes in one. It's two times the normal class length, and I don't have any textbooks or CDroms or anything to follow. I had to do it from scratch. Anyway, yesterday I tried to do some things like writing three facts about yourself and drawing a picture of your family to present, but they just weren't too interested and it felt like pulling teeth to get them to present. Most of my normal classes are more active and excited and answer more questions than this class, which is ironic.
I have another one of those this afternoon, and I planned a St Patricks Day class, so we'll see how that goes. Click here to read more
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Seoul - Irish Festival, Insadong, and Costco
Today, since it is Saturday, we decided to take a trip to Seoul, since it's not too far.
First, we took the local bus to the Anseong Bus Terminal to buy our tickets to Seoul. We were having a little trouble deciding between the different buses but this Australian man with his son and son's friend helped us get on the right bus and helped us out a little, for which we were grateful.
The bus ride to Seoul from Anseong took about an hour, not too long. When we got there, we caught the Subway, which was pretty crowded but not too bad. It was actually pretty smooth, unlike the buses here, which jerk and move so much that it's hard to keep balanced if you're standing.
So first we went to this Irish Festival thing at Marconnier Park. It just started so there wasn't too much yet - there was a face painting place, a beer booth, and a stew booth. They had some shows too, we saw some Korean drummers and dancers. The free beef stew was pretty good as well, especially since it was pretty chilly (for our Texan bodies).
free soup!
We didn't stay long since we wanted to do some other things, so we high-tailed it out of there and headed towards Insadong. Insadong is this street that has lots of little art places, teashops, lots of little souvenir shops and stands, and food stands and stalls as well. It was pretty nice just walking down the street, which was filled with color from all the little pieces of art and knick knacks that are just lying around, hanging around, or displayed in their own little ways. We did have some snacks, first we had a hot cake filled with honey. It was pretty good. Aaron accidentally spilled some of it on his sleeve because it just oozed out. We also had this hot dog thing, which was wrapped in fish cakes and seaweed. For lunch, we went to this little restaurant and we had some dumplings and beef soup, which was delicious as well. Of course it came with three types of kimchi and seaweed.
Mickey's twin brother, "Mickel"?
fluffy!
hot cake filled with honey!
hot cake stand
After Insadong we decided to go the Korean Costco, and boy, what an adventure it was. So we got off the right subway station, and then we realized we had to take a bus to get to Costco. So we jammed pack into a bus (literally, we had like no room to breathe) on a busy stopngo traffic. When we finally got there, the Costco was pretty big, but there was lots and lots of people WITH THEIR CARTS, so it was nearly impossible to move around at all. We could just walk around a little without our cart but with it, you could barely move to navigate anywhere. We did manage to a buy a few things to fit into Aaron's backpack and another bag, as well as holding a few boxes. We ended up spending 155,000 won, which is about $104, on bread, cheese, deli ham, canned beef, canned clams, canned anchovies, canned shredded beef, instant oatmeal, these cracker stick things, and walnuts. Not too bad.
So then we headed back towards the bus station in Seoul to catch the bus to Anseong. From costco, first we had to get back on that superjammedpack bus to the subway station, take the Subway to the bus terminal, and then take that bus to Anseong, and then another local bus to our area, and then a 5 min walk in the cold and dark to our apartment. Whew! We kept on getting lost in the bus terminal/subway station/shopping mall place, but eventually we found it and went on our merry way. And so that was our long day in Seoul.
In other news, on Wednesday both Aaron and I went to get our ARC card, but of course they say it'll take a week or two so we are just waiting for our cards so we can have a bank account and all that good stuff.
Also, I uploaded more pictures here, so if anyone is curious, go check it out. Click here to read more
First, we took the local bus to the Anseong Bus Terminal to buy our tickets to Seoul. We were having a little trouble deciding between the different buses but this Australian man with his son and son's friend helped us get on the right bus and helped us out a little, for which we were grateful.
The bus ride to Seoul from Anseong took about an hour, not too long. When we got there, we caught the Subway, which was pretty crowded but not too bad. It was actually pretty smooth, unlike the buses here, which jerk and move so much that it's hard to keep balanced if you're standing.
So first we went to this Irish Festival thing at Marconnier Park. It just started so there wasn't too much yet - there was a face painting place, a beer booth, and a stew booth. They had some shows too, we saw some Korean drummers and dancers. The free beef stew was pretty good as well, especially since it was pretty chilly (for our Texan bodies).
free soup!
We didn't stay long since we wanted to do some other things, so we high-tailed it out of there and headed towards Insadong. Insadong is this street that has lots of little art places, teashops, lots of little souvenir shops and stands, and food stands and stalls as well. It was pretty nice just walking down the street, which was filled with color from all the little pieces of art and knick knacks that are just lying around, hanging around, or displayed in their own little ways. We did have some snacks, first we had a hot cake filled with honey. It was pretty good. Aaron accidentally spilled some of it on his sleeve because it just oozed out. We also had this hot dog thing, which was wrapped in fish cakes and seaweed. For lunch, we went to this little restaurant and we had some dumplings and beef soup, which was delicious as well. Of course it came with three types of kimchi and seaweed.
yummy beef soup!
delicious dumplings!
Mickey's twin brother, "Mickel"?
hot dog wrapped in fish cakes and seaweed, topped with ketchup, mustard, and something white?
fluffy!
hot cake filled with honey!
hot cake stand
After Insadong we decided to go the Korean Costco, and boy, what an adventure it was. So we got off the right subway station, and then we realized we had to take a bus to get to Costco. So we jammed pack into a bus (literally, we had like no room to breathe) on a busy stopngo traffic. When we finally got there, the Costco was pretty big, but there was lots and lots of people WITH THEIR CARTS, so it was nearly impossible to move around at all. We could just walk around a little without our cart but with it, you could barely move to navigate anywhere. We did manage to a buy a few things to fit into Aaron's backpack and another bag, as well as holding a few boxes. We ended up spending 155,000 won, which is about $104, on bread, cheese, deli ham, canned beef, canned clams, canned anchovies, canned shredded beef, instant oatmeal, these cracker stick things, and walnuts. Not too bad.
So then we headed back towards the bus station in Seoul to catch the bus to Anseong. From costco, first we had to get back on that superjammedpack bus to the subway station, take the Subway to the bus terminal, and then take that bus to Anseong, and then another local bus to our area, and then a 5 min walk in the cold and dark to our apartment. Whew! We kept on getting lost in the bus terminal/subway station/shopping mall place, but eventually we found it and went on our merry way. And so that was our long day in Seoul.
In other news, on Wednesday both Aaron and I went to get our ARC card, but of course they say it'll take a week or two so we are just waiting for our cards so we can have a bank account and all that good stuff.
Also, I uploaded more pictures here, so if anyone is curious, go check it out. Click here to read more
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