Sorry for the random pictures, I'm still trying to figure out this whole blog thing and the other pics are of my place. Notice where my shower is? I'm still working on getting a good one of my living room/bedroom. It's difficult since my whole apartment is the size of my parents closet.

So it's odd not being able to do the most simple of things. For example, it took me a week and half to figure out how to work my washing machine. And the other night, I was so cold I had to wear shorts, sweat pants, a t-shirt, and 2 sweatshirts because I couldn't figure out how to turn on my heat. Well, it turns out that there's not heat like we have in the states; we just have heated floors and the switch was the strange green box that I always walked by and thought, "huh, wonder what that is." I had told my c0-teacher that I was cold the other night and she ended up calling my land lady and asking her to come down and help (even after I had told that I would just ask the other English teacher that lives upstairs). So, I'm in my PJ's, hair rolled up on-top on my head, and no makeup and I get a knock on my door. It was the land lady! This is yet again, another example of how much they want you to feel comfortable and have everything you need. Did I mention that my co-teacher is already a busy lady, but now she basically gets to have a 23 year old daughter who can't even figure out how to mail a letter. Then I went back to making my dinner (Kimchi Stew) and she knocked on my door 20 minutes later to show me how to work my stove ventilation because I apparently was stinking up the apartment.

Speaking of Kimchi, I did some research on it as it literally is served with every meal. And holy cow, it's a miracle food! It's loaded with fiber, the garlic and red pepper gets your cholesterol low, and the fermentation process creates microorganisms that benefit your body in a way that I forgot! So I'm all about the Kimchi right now!

Their food is amazing...but when they try to mimic others foods, it just doesn't go so well. It would seem that they just look at the pictures but never look at what the actual ingredients are. For example, a bunch of us foreigners went to an Italian restaurant in my neighboring town and one guy ordered just normal spaghetti. He got noodles and ketchup. I ordered a Gin & Tonic; which by the way, they do not have Gin anywhere and I LOVE G&T's. I have to take a bus to Seoul and go to this part of town that caters to Westerners. So I was about to past out because I was in shock that they would serve anything but crappy wine and Soju, and then I got my Gin Martini and I'm pretty sure I got a strange variation of Soju with an olive at the bottom. Then another girl and her friend ordered nachos a while back and they got chips, some strange salsa, cheese (good so far...), pickles, and vanilla ice cream. So that would be why I want to start a Western cooking class in my school!

But despite the fact that they cannot make American style food, they are still amazing people and I'm looking forward to learning more. Hopefully along the way, I can teach them something too;). Tomorrow, a fellow teacher is taking me to Sokcho (look it up, it looks like a really cool place) to go grocery shopping. Apparently they have a really great market. I've been asking where I can buy octopus and squid so when one of the teachers heard this, she offered for me to ride along with her. So I'll be taking pictures and I'm sure I'll have a story or two about my trip to Sokcho!

Well hello and welcome to my awesome adventure! I have been in Korea for two weeks and there is just too much to remember. If you really want to know all the details, call my mom. But from now on, I will keep you in the know. It's somewhat hard to believe that people would actually want to read about what's going on here with me. Korea seems so odd and far away; but once you're here, it's not that strange anymore. Well...there is way too much rice and the toilets are a bit uncomfortable (basically tiny, mini, toilets on the ground. You have to squat to use them) and loads of sharing and gifts. If you don't mind trying new things, then the food is amazing. Hence me gaining 10 pounds already. The women are way to gorgeous! But then again...so are the men. They're like little, pretty model boys. Image means alot to them. Someone told me that if they had $100, $90 of it would go towards their appearance. Soooo...I'm pretty much out of style then. And their kindness is out of this world. They will drop everything to help you. My faculty will be running around busy and I'll say "where do I go for paper?" and they'll drop what they're doing and actually go with me. And just simply paper is not good enough; they offer you thick paper, thin paper, blue paper, silk paper, whatever you want, they'll get it. It has to be exactly if not exceed what you wanted. And they share everything. If you go in public with a bag of peanuts, expect to share it. Otherwise you're being rude and selfish. So now when I buy things, I have to think about when I'll be consuming it. Will I be around people? If so, then I need to buy triple the amount. But at the same time, they will give, give, give and then never let you buy them even a cup of coffee. So I'm still a bit confused on the giving rules.

So, I basically live in a mountain village. There's 20,000 people and no movie theater, bowling alley, or even a proper market. But it is absolutely beautiful. I will be posting pictures soon so there will be no way that you can argue with me. I live right by a river, which is hardly running now, but in the spring people come here to go white water rafting. You better believe I'll be doing that! And there's a running/walking/biking path right along the river so it makes your run/walk/ride so relaxing (even though you're sweating like mad). I'm also 40 minutes away from the beach, on the Sea of Japan. The other side has the Yellow sea, which is about 3.5 hours away from me. I'm close to the ocean! How crazy?! Although, living on Lake Superior for 4 years kinda got me used to the idea of living by the ocean. Ok, well I think 'verambled on enough for now. Like I said, I'll go more into the personal details later. But for now, I hope you enjoyed my 1/2 novel of how crazy nice the country and it's people are.