(first published on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 2:18am)
Man-o-man is Korea a crazy place! So many things have happened, I can't even begin to put it all in one little note. I think we've finally gotten over the culture shock, but we're definitely still adjusting to the cuisine... At the grocery store we pretty much just buy the most random things. Either foods with characters we recognize, or just random packages that look pretty :P Meal times usually consist of randomly wandering around the city until we recognize something as being remotely edible... Then of course there is the problem of ordering. Who woulda thunk - most Korean's only speak Korean! So this first week has been spent mostly learning the language of ordering food... and usually butchering it in the process. So far we've been brave enough to eat at a couple places: The little chicken-on-a-stick place downstairs from our apartment (I'm sure that's not the real name, but it's what we call it :P) John is obsessed with the fried spicy chicken-on-a-stick, and I like the roasted barbecue, both of which are just little bits of chicken cooked kabob style. We've also tried traditional Korean cuisine (as shown in the pictures). I ordered, with a LOT of help from the waitress, the shrimp fried rice and thought it was really great. John got a traditional dish called Bibimbop which consists of a ton of veggies, rice, an egg, and about a tablespoon of ground beef all served in a tremendously hot bowl so when you mix it up the egg cooks. This is apparently one of the most popular dishes, but I don't really like it and John thinks it's only decent... haha. Luckily we've met some really really nice people who have been showing us the ropes, and teaching us certain phrases and names of dishes to make it easier to order. But still, it's rough!!
Luckily tonight our friends are taking us to an "all you can eat mean buffet" where you pick your meats and cook them at your own table. I'm pretty excited... especially considering the fact that we haven't had much protein all week!
This week was also our first week of work, and it was a learning experience to say the least. We get to work an hour early on Monday in hopes of receiving some sort of training, but instead just sat at our desks. The only training we got from the lead teacher was when she gave us our books and told us to look them over... So we did, and basically made up lessons in the 10 minute breaks we had between classes. Luckily on Tuesday the teacher who sits next to me showed me that there are syllabi that you can print out - so at least now we have some guidelines. Most of my classes are pretty neutral, I have a couple FULL of crazy hyper kids, another with a lot of kids who are totally silent, and then there are the really awesome older kids. Lucky for me I get to end my 2 longest days (Mondays and Fridays I have 7 classes each >.<) with my favorite class. These kids were pretty shy at first, but have really started opening up. There are only 4 kids and Friday is basically a "practice your speaking" class, so we just sit there and discuss different talking points. It's really cool to hear their opinions, and they even crack jokes and tell me things about their personal lives. At the beginning of class I handed them a list of different topics\questions and after picking the first 3 or 4 myself I asked them, "Do any of you have a topic you'd like to talk about?" they deliberated for about 3 minutes, and finally one of the kids, Dennis, yells "OH OH, I FOUND THE SHORTEST ONE!!!" hahaha this made me laugh so hard. This is definitely my favorite class this semester.
Oh - best part about teaching the little kids? They get to choose their own American names. So far the coolest ones include: Harry Potter, Obama, Knight, Dragon, Super, Pinkle, and my ultimate favorite - People.
Hwamyeong is SO different from what I'm used to, but is really starting to grow on me. Even so I already miss home >.< It's pretty pathetic when you are homesick during your first week! but We'll tough it out, and keep you guys posted on our adventures along the way. :)
