My first week in Korea was filled with so many things. I really can't believe I how much I did still being jet-lagged and all. My first weekend here was a blast. On Friday night a group of us went down to Yawoori, which is downtown Cheonan. We first went to a place called Dr. Fish. prety much you stick your feet in a warm bath and allow small fish to eat dead skin off of your feet. An interesting feeling for sure. If I looked into the water and saw the fish I kind of got a little freaked out. But, if I tried to forget what was actually happening then I was okay. I just kept saying that I was getting a pedicure and it was just someone giving my feet a massage. But, I was actually sitting in a pool of flesh eating fish. Pretty interesting. I will probably go again! After that we went to Nori ban (I think I spelled that right). Pretty much it is private Karaoke. When going to Nori ban you pay 20,000 won and get to sing in a private room for an hour. So there were 7 of us who went and you go into this glass room with a big screen tv, huge wall that is a mirror and crazy disco lights and you sing for each other. It was so much fun. We had two korean with us so they sang a lot fo the k-pop songs. It was very fun to learn some of their music. That was pretty much that night. A lot of new experiences and so much fun.
On Saturday we woke up somewhat early and headed to Seoul. By normal train it takes about an hour. But, we decided to take the express train and get there in 30 minutes. Seoul was incredible. I have been to New York and to L.A. and I can tell you that they do not even come close to comparing to this place. We went to N. Seoul tower and looked at the view of the city from up there. The lights kept going and going. It was almost like when you look at the ocean. You know how it looks like the water is melding into the sky? That's how far stretched Seoul was. I couldn't even see the end of it. Needless to say, there was a lot of Seoul I did not get to visit. But the parts that I did visit were great. There was a lot of shopping there. It was pretty neat to see the different stores that they have here. A lot of them are the same as we have in the States, but many new stores as well.
I have had many people ask me about the locks on N Seoul tower, so let me explain. N Seoul is for sure the date spot. Many couples come to N Seoul tower and buy a lock and write something lovey dovey on it and put it on the tower. There are thousands and thousands of these locks. So when you get up to the tower there are a lot of couples and foreigners. Couples because it is the romantic spot to go, foreigners because it is a great view of the city. After N Seoul we caught a train back to Cheonan. It was a really great day.
Tuesday was my first day of school. I don't have too much to say about school right now. the kids are pretty amazing. They are HILARIOUS. My favorite thing so far is what I like to affectionately call the "fusion" greeting. This is when the kids and teachers are not sure how to say hi to me so they bow, wave and say hello all at the same time. Or, they say Anyonghasayo and wave. The normal way here is to bow and say Anyonhasayo but when you put a megook (American) in the mix and who knows what will happen. I have really felt like a celebrity over the past few days. There are not too many foreigners in South Korea so when someone who does not look asain not only comes to visit here but to live and teach here, it is overwhelming for them. I have gotten a lot of finger points and giggles. Not only from students, also from teachers. I share an office with 5 others Korean teachers. It is really funny because I here my name or see them looking at me and I know that they are talking about me. A lot of times i here "Jordan" and laughter. It is actually pretty funny. School lunches have been pretty good the only problem I had today was the fact that there were octupus tenticles in my soup. Kind of caught me by suprise. I decided to eat around them. Besides that, all is well at the school. As more things happen I will let you know!
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