The Magical Medical Mystery Tour

    So now is probably a good time to discuss privacy and personal space at home, vs. in Korea. As you can imagine, in a country of 50 million people that live in this ittttty bitty living space, personal space is not a 2-foot ring or bubble around each person like it might be considered at home. In elevators, on subway trains, and in the grocery store, people are often wall-to-wall and face-to-face with complete strangers, and it's not unusual to be hip to hip, bumping along together on the train wishing for the next stop to be yours. The Koreans deal with it on the subway by closing their eyes and going to sleep. Row after row of people (sitting and standing) nodding off while stops tick off on the overhead speaker. In the elevator everyone silently faces the front of the car as the voice announces each floor, and the addition of one or two more people to the already-crowded car. I bring this up because today I went for my pre-employment medical. I didn't feel like my personal space was invaded, so much as my personal privacy. The government here had to concern itself with drug use in the foreign population (rightly so) and now we all have to undergo medical screening once we've been hired on at a job in Korea, within 30 days of beginning work, or they try to hunt us down and give us the boot. Today was much lucky day!

    Graduation day was happening at the school today (nothing to do with me), so I went with the other new teacher who's starting at the same time as me at Best Kids, Jerry. We chatted most of the way there whilst being crammed into the subway car with (what felt like) about a hundred Koreans on their way to work. We had suggested to our boss that we take the bus into Seoul (often quicker than the subway after all of the transfers etc.), but he insisted that the subway was better, so there we were, 2 more sardines packed into a can. Took about an hour to get there, only one transfer and about 3 blocks to the hospital, which was very well marked along the street (in English and in Korean), and we made our way to it easily.

    Many big public places in Korea are set up like the Canadian passport offices... 'take a number, take a seat' and when your number pops up it's your turn. We took our numbers on arrival, 18 people ahead of us and it was only 9:30 in the morning! And this was just at reception... all around us people are coughing and harboring goodness knows only what behind their colourful facemasks... we just edged around the outside of the pack, discussing the poor placement of sick people and our innocent and still-healthy selves. When I noticed an information desk I decided to make sure we were in the right line (sometimes you get to the front and find out otherwise!). Not only WERE we in the right line, she told me that we could ignore the line and just budd! So we lined up at the attendant who spoke the most english, and the 18-person lineup was gone - poof! 15 minutes and about $65 each later and we were headed upstairs to the 2nd floor (she called ahead and asked them to watch for lost foreigners), itineraries in hand, to start the magical medical mystery tour.

    On arrival to the 2nd floor we were looking for a "Health Preservation Office" or some such thing. We had the name in Korean on the sheets in front of us, and took our time searching the walls to match signs to our instructions. A grandma (volunteer at the hospital I think?) hesitantly approached trying to read the instructions over my shoulder from a distance (difficult when I'm a head taller!), and then pointed us in the right direction... to the ENGLISH sign directly in front of us, very embarassing!
    We got ourselves to Stop No. 1 on the medical-mystery tour and sat down toward the back of the room. It was a small office equipped with a few desks and a seating area, a scale, a blood pressure machine that you stick your arm in (like at the drug store back home), and a set of big earphones, along with 3 or 4 Korean nurses and a tiny little security guard. Now for some reason, the heat on the 2nd floor was set to about 30 degrees, heaters were blowing around every corner. I wasn't there 2 minutes before I was sweating, the jacket was off and I was wishing I'd worn a tshirt instead of dress shirt and vest! After starting and stopping a few times on his way over to us, the young security guard approached and said 'give to me your papers please,' meaning the 'itinerary' they'd given us at reception. From there, the show was on... they should have sold popcorn!

    The seating area had room for about 12 people, though there were only 4 or 5 of us there at the time. The first job was to go over and stand on the scale. After much 'stand in shoes off... no, um, stand up and shoes... no, um....' I watched as Jerry took off his shoes to stand on the scale. As he stood there with his back to the bar running up the back and some coaching about how to stand ('straight up, up, straight up!'), a little bar propelled itself down the spine of the scale until it lightly bonked him on the head - I'm assuming it measured his height. The nurse called his numbers across to another nurse at the computer (3 desks away so everyone in the room could be apprised of his measurements!), and then he was on to the hearing test (all of course while we watched avidly from the sidelines). Nothing like the 3 minute run at home, where you have to click a button each time you hear a sound, this one was 3 beeps, to which you raised your hand depending on which side the beep came on... left hand up, right hand, left hand, and 'ok finishee.' "Finished? That was the hearing test?" Jerry asked, 'yah yah, finishee,' and on to the blood pressure machine. This one was nothing special, exactly like to ones in the drugstores at home where you sit and stick your arm in. "No looking, no talk" directions to sit still and not speak, and the numbers once again called across the room to the nurse at the computer. Next came the eye chart, standard fare as at home, other than the small shadows of animals that lined the right side of the eye chart... a butterly, a bird, an airplane (yes, really). Cover left eye, cover right eye, all ok. Finally, the nurse brought Jerry to the centre of the room, so that he was about 2 feet away from the seating area (better viewpoint for the spectators maybe?) and mimed that he should raise both arms out at his side to shoulder level, at which point she took his chest measurement, and called those numbers out to the computer nurse, the women on the waiting benches giggling behind their hands. I joined in the process just after he finished his hearing test, and all eyes were on us for the remainder of the stop. The nurses were very friendly, and I'm sure it's normal practice (for example, in the waiting rooms your name is on an LCD board followed by the procedure you're waiting for). Head nurse stapled english instructions to our pages, and directed us to follow the green line (kinda like the subway map but on the hospital floor!) to x-ray.

    'X-ray? What? Since when, did you know we were getting an x-ray?'... x-ray indeed. After walking along the tape to get down the hall to stop no. 2 on the medical mystery tour, 3 very bashful boys (i.e. x-ray technicians) were waiting for us. I changed (shir-cha, tshir-cha, all top, top underwear too) into a little flowered hospital shirt and went in for my chest x-ray. It was a standing machine, the technician just squished me up against it with my little gown on and then took the shot. No nudity, which surprised (and gladdened!) me. Least intrusive most private spot on the tour, I even had a private room (with a locking door!) to change in.

    From there it was 'follow the red line and go le-puh-tuh (left) for sample correction,' which from the sound of alone we were both a little slower as we walked heel to toe along the red taped line. Upon arrival to stop no. 3 we were hit with a new blast of heat as the temperature had raised about another 10 degrees, and we had to pull a number, where there were just over 10 people waiting ahead of us. Sample coLLection, as one would expect, was blood and urine... only all the good times in Korea! When my number was called I walked up to the nurses's desk and sat down. On the tray next to me the nurse had piled (thrown) the empty (and bloody) syringe parts from each patient in line ahead of me, I was all kinds of grossed out, and couldn't help staring at the pile. I was thinking 'ew! that is so unsanitary! you can't just leave bloody things laying around like that! how gross!' before I managed to give my head a shake and remember that I was not at home anymore. 'still... gross...ew!' echoed in my mind as I tried to avert my eyes and listen to the nurse's instructions. With 3 vials of blood drawn (HIV and TB on the sheet, I don't know what else they were looking for) she slapped a sticker on a dixie cup and pointed me in the direction of the bathroom, through the waiting crowd and about 20 feet up the hall.

    "You put cup there, on tray." I looked at the cup, I looked at the little metal cart she had pointed at. 'That tray??' I asked, pointing to the little kitchen cart with a stationary basket on top parked next to one of the rows of benches in the seating area, and she nodded, moving on to the next patient. I giggled uncomfortably, looked at the cup and the tray once more, looking around at the 12-15 faces turned my direction in the waiting room (probably thinking crazy foreigners, what will they do next?), shrugged at Jerry who was still waiting his turn, and walked down to the bathroom with my little paper dixie cup in hand.

    Of course to add to the hilarity of the situation in the moment, this is also where I found the first squatter toilet since coming back, water pooled along one side of it with dirty footprints all around. I noticed a little metal tray that looked like a soap dish directly in front to rest your cup so you could stand up without making a mess. More giggles escaped as I shut the stall door, alone in the bathroom, shaking my head and imagining this working back at home. Sample collected I washed my hands and made my way carefully down the hallway with the cup out in front of me, not at all discreet or dignified, imagining bumping into some little old grandma or running child with my paper cup as I stifled more giggles. The waiting room full of eyes watched as I added my cup to the 'inbox' but I didn't look up. Instead I (carefully, watching for oncoming dixie cup traffic) just backed away with my eyes on the tape lines on the floor and went in search of hand sanitizer. I passed Jerry in the hallway on the way to the bathroom as well. We uncomfortably avoided eye contact, cleared throats, and I told him I'd wait for him down the hall where the air conditioning was on.

    5 minutes after that and we were on our way out of the hospital again, with directions to return in a week to collect the results. We cleared the hospital lickety split, both happy to be free of the heat and the scrutiny for a few minutes longer before making our way down the subway stairs again and back to school. Phewph... Glad that's done!

My Apartment

I have the internet hooked up at home now, yaaaaaaaaaay!! Apparently it's the fastest internet there is, something about new kinds of lines they're using in these fancy-pants office towers or something... really, all I care about is that it works and I don't have to go spend smoky evenings in the PC rooms anymore!

I spent a bit of time re-uploading my previous posts with the photos I kept meaning to add, so you'll have to take a flip back through there if you'd like to see them. I'll put some pictures up on Flickr at some point as well , but for now what you see is what you get.

Here are a few pictures of the inside of my apartment. It's really difficult to gauge the size without standing in it, but I'm going to try uploading a video so you can see what it's like in the building, around the neighbourhood and all that (maybe tomorrow after school?). Totally different to see it that way I think, we'll see how it works out! In the meantime, welcome to my itty bitty happy little apartment... still bare bones for now, but come April payday I'll be able to pick up a couple more things to make it cozier... it certainly works for now!  :)

Sorry for the multiple postings, I couldn't get the pictures in any kind of order!!

1st Day at School

So the first day of school... let me just say first of all that whoever thought of "Working Until 7pm" days being on  Monday and Fridays should be flogged! That aside, the school is a lot of fun. I got to the school around 9 to meet the teachers, and I spent the whole day following another teacher around. I thought it was going to be quite terrible honestly, at the very least boring, but I had a good time. It feels so good to be back in a school with kids, I was even excited when I first woke up in the morning. Of course for my mom I took a "first day of school" picture before I left the house, the outfit is a little different and I'm without a lunchbox, but I thought she'd appreciate the comparison, hahaha!

So a walkthrough of my day... I was up at 7 since Mags and I have to go for a morning walk before I get ready for work. We went down to the river for the first time, which was really fantastic. I let her off leash for the first time since arriving and she ran around like a crazy wahoo, rubbing in the grass with her tongue lolling out of her head. After she'd ran and ran and ran we walked up the path a little more, hopefully I'll repost this later with some photos added so you can see. I've noticed that when I walk "with purpose" as Ceasar says, Mags follows perfectly... when I find her way up ahead of me I know that I've started to dawdle and lolligag, it's very funny. So we walked for about 45 minutes total. My calves and quads are telling me that Mags has done more walking since our arrival than she has in her whole little life, and I can't remember the last time I walked as much as I do here! Good way to get some exercise really, happy for my MP3 player too since it makes walking so much more pleasant! So after our walk I dropped her off at home and went to the soup restaurant for breakfast. Quick bowl of soup, a stop next door at Coffeenie  for a Cafe Mocha and it was off to school.

The kids here are in their last week of school, and I start actually teaching next week with a new group of kids. We don't know for sure who is teaching what class, but of course you'll know when I know! Time flew by from class to class and it's obvious how much the kids have learned. There isn't a whole lot of preparation required for each lesson, and from what I've seen so far I even like the books, so that's a good start! In the mornings I'll be teaching a kindergarten class... 10 kids of my very own to thrill and excite with the english language, haha.... There is a lunch break from 12:30-1:10 (though I use half of that time having lunch with the kids, the boss' mother in law cooks a Korean lunch for everyone, it was delicious!!) and then class goes until 1:45pm. After that the kindergarten kids go home on the bus, and we have a break until 2:50pm when the elementary kids come. During the break I went home and got Mags, took her to the nearby public square and played fetch for half an hour - she was very happy about it, and the people in the park really liked watching her, it was very cute. In the afternoon there are 2 groups of elementary kids that we see for 2 hours each on Mondays and Fridays (the rest of the week there's just one group and we're done at 5pm). Time flies in those blocks too, and the classes seem really fun, I am actually looking forward to starting with my own kids next week!!

So that was the first day at school. The other teachers I'm working with are pretty great, friendly and helpful, and the school feels like it's going to be a good place to work. I'll be happy to finish at 5pm today so I can have some time to do what I want at home - and the itnernet arrives this afternoon!! I'll fill you in on a few more of the details (and hopefully show you some pictures) after work this afternoon... if you're back at home you'll be in bed before I get to it, but look for it in the morning!! My head is just exploding with things I want to share, and the teacher's room is very busy and chatty so I'm going to sign off my disordered brain for now... thanks for comin' by, see you again soon!


S.

Quickie Morning Note!

Just a short note as I'm out of time this morning. Mags and I discovered the river path this morning on our walk, it's quite nice with separate paths for bikes and pedestrians, so there's less chance I'll be run over by a scooter (they drive just about everywhere!). The wallpaper people arrived at my apartment at 8:30 and I didn't understand what they wanted (no wallpaper visible, I didn't clue it). I heard them in the hallway explaining that some crazy foreigner told them to go away, and then rememberd I was indeed expecting company - they're busily eviscerating the disgustingness from my walls as we speak. I'm hoping I'll also get my wardrobe from the upstairs neighbour as well (I've been left a power screwdriver so I can muscle it together myself, fun! fun!), so once that's done I should be able to take some apartment pics tonight!

Today is my first day checking out the school (which is why I'm in a hurry), I need to be over there shortly. I'm not sure what the heck is happening this week, boss just told me to show up so I'm going! Feeling a bit nervous, the whole meeting a ton of new people again (not so good at that), but I'm sure it'll be fine. That's once nice thing about Korea... in general, people are pretty friendly, much less of the crap that goes on at home happens here, (the whole sticking together phenomenon I think?). That said, I must run. Have a great day, more later, S. 

Home Suite Home

This note is probably going to be the only one I'll have time for today because I have a paper to write, and as it always goes I have today to do it so I need to get crackin'! If I finish early I'll stop and with some pictures, but I wouldn't count on it if you know me and school!! Dinner last night was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed myself and met a bunch of new teachers from my old school (along with my old friend Barb). We've made plans next weekend to go to noraebahng since I had too much to do this weekend to have been able to go and enjoy myself last night. So far so good with the 'if you say you're going to do it you actually have to go and do it!' plan, I'm much happier with myself that way!

So yesterday right before I was ready to leave the boss arrived to move my stuff. He was without his pal so it's lucky I was home or he's have likely tried to do it all himself. He buzzed me when he got here and I talked to him on the ensuite videophone. He told me he was at my door, so I (haha, oops) assumed that he meant the door downstairs, which nonresidents need a key to get into. So I went around the apartment tucking last minute things into bags and pockets and such, and after 5 minutes (maybe more?) wondered where he had gotten to. I thought 'maybe he wanted me to meet him downstairs to move things up?' and put my shoes on, opened the door to find him WAITING IN THE HALLWAY - he didn't even knock or anything, lol, I felt very embarassed but we got over it. We moved the bed and my stuff along with the box for my table up to the 9th floor suite of my home suite home.

Now this may surprise you if you knew me in my grime-loving days, but I took a deep breath going through the door because there was easily a half inch of disgusting floating around on the floors and in the cupboards and stuff, and my skin was just crawling at the thought of living there... the former tenant's mother had obviously never visited in the time she lived here! I say 'she' because there was a pile of very long black hair throughout the apartment, just about everywhere I looked there was dirt of dustpiles or hair, ugh, it was so icky!!!! My tuff little pup adjusted fairly quickly, and once I made the bed I put her toys up there to play and she happily rolled around with her ball while I finished getting ready for dinner. Found myself a taxi just across the street near the train station, and with rushour took about 20 minutes to get about 5kms... should've taken the train!!  :)

We went to a restaurant called VIPS for their buffet, and it was very good. Funny that's the first 'real' dinner I've been to since I got here and it was all foreign food with a foreign food price tag... I'm *dying* for a good BBQ!!! My old boss and his wife were really happy to see me, which was nice. While we were loitering around the buffet he said to me "I don't know if it's okay to say in your country, but can I say you look more better than last time? More lovely, very beautiful than when you worked here before?" Now if this wasn't Korea I'd assume he was hitting on me, but he was simply telling me that I looked great, it was nice to hear. His wife commented "Oh, Shauna, you got skinny one more time, it's very good!" lol... what to say, what to say! I bid them goodnight around 8 as they all went off to noraebahng and promised them I'd join them next weekend (which I'm really looking forward to!). With thoughts of the pile of gross that was waiting for me back at home I walked the rest of the way to E-Mart to get some cleaning supplies.

Weekend evenings seem to be the time many families go shopping, so the store was P*A*C*K*E*D. There were a few hilarious moments when the aisle girl tried to help me find floor cleaner by dragging me from one end of the store (about the size of the Walmart supercentres but on 3 levels) and back again as she tried to decipher what I was asking for, lol.... she was pulling my shopping cart by the basket through the throngs and I was holiding onto the little key fob that dangles off the handle, like a little kid hanging onto mommy's apron strings trying not to get lost, lol. I was giggling almost the entire time as people looked at us quizzically, mamma duck and her strange looking baby duck moving through the sea of people.

About 90 minutes and a friendly taxi ride later (a driver who, incidentally, told me that there was actually an E-Mart within base-fare range (2km) of my apartment and I didn't need to travel the 6km to the old neighbourhood - woohoo!) I got back home armed with a mop, broom, and various other kinds of cleaning supplies, as well as some hangers for clothes and a couple of storage boxes. I am going to spare you the details, but I turned up my music and cleaned this place nonstop from about 10pm until 2am. Now that wouldn't be a big deal at home, but my apartment (I counted) is about 16x15 heel-to-toe steps with my size 8 feet, plus the bathroom and entrance (maybe another 10 paces x 7 paces total?). After using 4 rolls of paper towel, a WHOLE bottle of bathroom BAM, 1/2 a bottle of windex and 1/2 a bottle of kitchen BAM and giving myself an achey lower back I finally had done enough to feel like I could live in the place comfortably... and I was very happy with myself! I unpacked most of my suitcases over the next hour, finding new homes for things and being mindful not to clutter up my little space. There are 4 stickies on my fridge door (it's not magnetic, so I'm going to remain the reigning queen of sticky-note usage!) labelled with things I would like to pick up, including a multi-drawer shelf and little bins/boxes to go in some drawers so they can be organized nicely, and food, at some point I'm going to have to buy some food!

That said, my apartment has (at this point) come furnished with a bed (pillow and quilt), a table (desk) and chair, a TV with stand, a wardrobe (that was delivered to the wrong apartment and will arrive some time today) and appliances (fridge, washer, 2-burner hotplate). I have to check my contract, but I thought I should be supplied the very basic of kitchen supplies, a pot, a pan, a cup maybe?? At this point I have 2 sets of chopsticks/spoons and 2 mugs, and that is IT. I'm not going to buy much that's complicated to cook until I know what I have to buy, as that stuff is all a little more expensive and I can buy it in stages.

So as I sit now typing this note out (internet should arrive at home this week sometime, along with the wallpaper guy to replace the disgustingly dirty badness on the walls right now!) I look around my apartment with the tidy bed, the scented candles burning and puppy curled up in her new bed and I'm happy... this place will work just fine, I'll love it here! Oh, and photos will follow because I FOUND my phone cable!!! :) (turns out the other cord is for my other camera, which I also brought... duh!). For today though I have to pack it in and get to work before it's already dinner time and I'm panicked about getting my dumb paper done. Have a wonderful day, talk soon!

Moving Day!!!

Not so bad with the time adjusting I guess, I should be all good by the time I have to be at school on Monday. After a quick bit of yoga to wake my poor tired body up after 6 this morning I polished off the Jolly Pong and water for breakfast, got dressed and took Mags out for a walk. I have to say it's good to have her with me, she gives me a reason to get out of bed and go for a walk, see the neighbourhood and everything! We went down a new block today and found a few shops I didn't know were there (mostly restaurants though!). It's already warmer so far today than the past few days, but I was very glad again for my puffy coat (will have to send you a photo!). Mags trucked along in her little Team Canada shirt at the end of the leash. She's getting much better with walking (not trying to be in front of me all the time), especially since I've picked up my walking pace a bit. She doesn't even try to get ahead now!

My apartment building has an international bank, a dry cleaner, a convenience store, several coffee/sandwich shops, a massage studio, a dentist, a skin care clinic and a gym (so far). Talk about conveniences at home! Discovered that (A) there is a new W50,000 bill ($50-ish) since my last visit when we went to the bank machine downstairs (B) the man at the convenience store on the 2nd floor speaks quite a bit of English, (C) Cherry Coke is almost as good as Cherry Pepsi, and (D) Ramyeon is indeed a sufficient breakfast food (at least when it is accompanied by (C)) (E) I really need some dishes so I can eat some real food at home!

Today is moving day, the day I get to move into the new-new apartment that's really mine for the next year. I can't really explain how happy that makes me, and how much I can't wait for the afternoon to get here! My own place, that sounds gooood. Of course I don't know what time the Boss and his pal are coming, and he asked me not to put my day/plans on hold to wait for him... he said he and his friend would move everything, but I really hate to leave it all! I've got everything crammed (mostly) back into suitcases and bags so it's as easy as it can be. I wanted to take Mags and go explore a bit more today. We need more soft food for her (she's refusing her hard food and I'm indulging her by mixing the 2 together), but otherwise would just like to see what's out there. Tonight I have dinner plans with a friend from my old school, which I am much looking forward to. We'll be in my city as well, so even if we go to norae-bahng (karaoke) or something afterward I'll still be able to get home easily!

Well, I'm itching to get out of my apartment, so I'll head this over to the PC room (can't wait for internet at home!) and check my facebook and such. Oh, and it seems that I might need a card reader as the cord I have that I THOUGHT was for my camera isn't (NO idea what it's for really), and I can't upload my pictures to my computer!! Hopefully the right one will be in my bags when I unpack later... otherwise, I guess, stay posted!! :) I hope you're having a wonderful day as much as I am... off for more exploring, and thennnnn - Moooooooooooooving day!!!!  Talk soon... S.

Life's Little Victories

Funny how the smallest of victories can make you feel on top of the world sometimes.

The other day when I was out in the department stores looking for a power adaptor all I could find was the multi-plug travel set with the plugs for all manner of countries for about $20. I'm trying to be a bit mindful of my money since my first real payday is about 6 weeks away, and thought that was too much. That, plus I couldn't even tell from the packing if there was a converter that would work IN Korea! There were rows and rows of 220V:110V adapters (Korea:Canada) for $2 each, but none the other way around. Then yesterday when I was walking I passed a couple of what I'd call hardware junkshops... they had an odd assortment of stuff out on the sidewalk reminiscent of a yard sale, but I thought I'd take my chances and see if they could help me. I pulled my battery charger out of my pocket so I could 'charades' them to understanding if my Korean didn't cut it, took a deep breath and opened the door.

There were 4 old Korean men inside sitting on boxes startled into silence when said hello (I don't know, either women or foreigners never visited them maybe?). I asked them if they had an adaptor for my camera charger (and flashed them my charger) they all jumped up, bumping into one another, trippingn over boxes and each hustling off to rummage around in a dark shelf or corner of the tiny space. Two argued together about which had grabbed the right part, the victor extracting the charger from my hand and fitting the adaptor snugly onto it while holding it out in front of him (think 'Christmas Vacation' when Chevy is about to connect the final 2 cords in his light display). There was much grumbling and more laughing as he handed me the piece I was looking for. I told him I'd like to buy 2 of them, and they were promptly placed in my open hand. So, how much? "$1 please". Seriously? $1? I have 2 of them, you know that, right? "Yes, that's $1 please."

I paid the men and thanked them, and left that store with the biggest smile on my face feeling like a million bucks, quietly singing along with my MP3 player and smiling the rest of the way to the store, the 2 little plugs tucked away in my pocket... some days it's the little victories...

Night out on the town (a.k.a... 'Getting There and Back Again')

Last night I did indeed make the trip into Seoul to see some friends from long ago, and though it was kind of a short visit I was happy to have gone. Finally met one friend's (not-so-new-anymore!) hubby, and he seemed wonderful, I'm even happier for them than before I met him! Met a lot of cool people really, but will have to go out another time because I really couldn't stay that late and still get home on the subway!

I left home about an hour and 10 minutes before I was due to arrive, and it still wasn't enough time. By the time I transferred twice and walked/jogged/climbed the distances in between it was a 90 minute journey!! Not so bad on the way there really, I had my MP3 player with me to keep me occupied. The trip home was another story though...

Left the bar about 5 after 11 (of course the party was really just barely getting going and I didn't want to go!), walked to the subway (5 min or so), got the 1st train, transferred, 2nd train, went to transfer to the last train around 12:05 and was told that the last train had already left... at 11:20!! After confirming 2x with my shaky Korean that there were no more trains coming I rode the escalator the rest of the way down and u-turned myself around to go up to street level. SO, what to do now... still a good 30 minute subway ride from home, best solution is probably a taxi. When I reached the street I had no idea where I was, and even by reading the street signs I couldn't seem to orient myself as to which way was home. This normally doesn't matter when you're not the one driving, but in Korea taxi drivers often won't take you if you're on the "wrong" side of the street from your intended destination. After about 10 minutes only 2 unoccupied taxis had gone by, and both drivers declined the fare to my neighbourhood (uhhhhhhh, bundang?.... shaking head, waving hands... ahhh, no, no bundang). Thank you very much, I guess I'll try across the street!

I had noticed quite a few more free cabs heading the other direction, so I thought at least I'd have a chance of getting home if 1/10 of them would take me!! As I crossed at the light I consoled myself that if needed, if absolutely necessary, I could always call my boss to help me, lol... while that would be humiliating it would be better than trying to walk home!! 3 more taxis pulled up to the curb, 3 more denials. By this time my toes and face were freezing, and my teeth were beginning to chatter (combination of sleepy-still-jetlagged, hungry and frustrated more than the cold, I think). When I was on the brink of tears and sure that one more refusal would send me over the top, a very nice taxi driver agreed to take me (if only because he had agreed before he really understood where I was asking him to go!). While the fare climbed and climbed (and climbed!) I really didn't care... my toes were warm, I had money in my pocket, and he had a general idea of where I wanted to go, all was well.

$20 later (well-spent!) I got home just after 12:30, and man was I glad to be there! I changed into some street clothes and sneakers, took Mags for a spin around the block (it's safe mom, lots of lights and people and traffic), washed the smoke off my face, played ball for a few minutes and then climbed into bed. When I think about it now I just would have stayed in the city if I didn't have the puppy at home in her little carrier, that will be less stressful once I have a playpen for her where she has some space to do what she needs until I get back again. Soon enough I'll have that all worked out! 

So, that was the night, adventures indeed!!  Now if I could only sleep past 6am!   :)

Check, Check and Check!

Almost time for dinner, I'm starving!! Got quite a lot 'accomplished' today (mostly involved spending money, I'm gonna be in need of payday soon and it's still 6 weeks away!!)...

1. Write a couple of emails before leaving the PC room - Check!
2. Find a power adaptor and an alarm clock - Check!

3. Find a jacket of some kind (even if it's a puffy terrible one) - Check! (puffy indeed)
4. Find a "Skin Food" shop for some toiletries - Check!
5. Get in touch with a couple of friends this afternoon to make weekend plans - Check!

It's been a good (busy) day out walking around and seein' the shopping sights today. Found a new bus line that is quicker than the subway and walking to the old neighbourhood. Looking forward to heading into the city tonight to meet up with some old friends. Haven't decided on dinner, but maybe soup again down the street... yum! Will fill you in on the trip to 'the big city' later... S.

Short days with much napping!

Shopping was pretty good yesterday, at least I had fun while I was out! Can't say I did much that was culturally interesting. Tried out my Korean (which needs MUCH MORE work!), picked up a couple little things (a softer pillow, soft bath mat, towels, a blow drier, sushi for dinner) and just enjoyed being out. I went to both Lotte (lo-tay) Mart and E-Mart, and found neither a power adaptor or a jacket (everyone is wearing puffy quilted coats here and I just wanted something simple!). Oh, and I stopped at the food court for some lunch before making my way back...

So after the 2 stores it was about 2 or 3, and I headed back down the subway with my arms full of bags (and a pillow!). At the platfor there were 2 young middle school girls who moved where I moved, sat where I sat, while giggling and whispering the whole time, it was very funny. They never did get up the courage to say hello, so I put in my earphones and turned up the tunes. Once home I took Mags for another walk (which she enjoyed much more in the sunshine!) as we checked out our new neighbourhood a little more. Found a vet up the block (with some very badly behaved but CUTE puppies in the window), and about 50 european cafe-style restaurants that will be fabulous in the summer (open air patio seating etc, gorgeous!). There are a whole lotta restaurants round me, and the boss tells me the BEST bbq place is right up the street as well, we'll apparently go there for parties and such in the future. I was a bit disappointed not to find much in the way of shopping (a lot of convenience stores, but not much for "real" shopping). Surely there are a couple of department stores nearby, I'll ask when I meet the other teachers. But I digress!

The weather as the day went on got nicer and nicer, but no so much so that you could take your jacket off. I am of course wishing that I brough some kind of coat to accompany my sweater and vest, as there was a really wicked wind around most of the day, so I had my toque and my hood up and probably looked very silly (but at least I was warm!). I'll hunt around again today for a coat and see if I can pick up a windbreaker or something at a sports store. At the bottom of this page I've added a little weather box, so you can scroll down and type in "Seoul" to see what the weather is doing here if you're interested.

We were back at the apartment again by about 4pm, played fetch for awhile, and I fed her some purina soft food (which she loooooooooved). I unpacked my bit of shopping and played my DS for a bit, and then decided to lay down for a nap around 6 o'clock. Unfortunately my nap didn't end until 1am, so I haven't really done a bang-up job of getting over jet lag to this point! I played DS for awhile, played fetch with Mags a few times, and then forced myself back sleep until a more realistic wake-up hour. We got up about 6:15am and had some sushi for breakfast - Mags, it turns out doesn't like sushi: She took the first little piece I gave her, swished it around in her mouth for a bit before spraying it out on the floor. When I handed her a 2nd piece (maybe she just didn't like whitefish!) she ACTUALLY made a gagging sound before opening her mouth, I was laughing and laughing and laughing, poor dog... she was still going to take it, but I just gave her some scratches and took it away, lol... I thought the sushi was actually really good, but it's an acquired taste in our household!

So otherwise this morning has been uneventful. Went and got another Vanilla Latte from Starbucks (even with the $4.60 price tag, it's gooooooooooood!!) and walked until Maggie's feet were cold. I've taken to bringing her bag with me when we walk because she happily hops in it when she gets cold, or when we go into shops and nobody objects. At the department stores there are special pet lockers with vents and windows so you can stow your pet while you shop - handy dandy! Then we hit the PC room to drop a few lines.

On the docket for today:

1. Write a couple of emails before leaving the PC room
2. Find a power adaptor and an alarm clock
3. Find a jacket of some kind (even if it's a puffy terrible one)
4. Find a "Skin Food" shop for some toiletries
5. Have a nap this afternoon (with an alarm set!!) so I can stay up past 6pm
6. Get in touch with a couple of friends this afternoon to make weekend plans
7. Meet up with a couple of old friends at a "school's out" party in Seoul later this evening

That's all I've got for now. Depending on how late I'm out I might write again today, we'll see! Hopefully by the end of the day I'll be able to use my computer at home and I'll send some pictures your way (either here or on Flickr)... Talk Soon!

Walkin' Walkin' About Town

I left the house again this morning around 8:30 after noticing that my computer battery is running quite low. No real plan for what to do, other than running out to the stores. Since I haven't been on the subway yet I thought I'd run over to the 'new' (since I was here last!) subway stop in my old stompin' grounds in Suji. The station is about 1/2 block from my apartment, so conveniet, it's great! Of course I stopped at Starbucks and had a Vanilla Latte (Korean thing I guess), which was FABULOUS, and kept my hand warm on the way to the subway station! After much figuring out on the new subway ticket machines (a whole lotta buttons with a whole lotta writing!) I finally figured out how to buy my ticket (whatever happened to the ticket man??) and easily made my way down to the platform. When the train came my frozen bottom was VERY happy for the heated seats, and it was another moment of giddy happiness when I relaxed into my seat and looked around the train... life is so good.

I popped out of the station at a familiar shopping centre, and walked across the street to a new E-Mart (the local version of Wal-Mart) where about 20 store employees were clearing snow with shovels and brooms... unfortunately it didn't open until 10 and I still had 45 minutes to wait, so I decided to walk the few blocks (6 or 7?) to my old neighbourhood. Found the old pet store where I got Mags and bought puppy food and mats, wandered for a bit and then walked up to the computer room so I could check in. I noticed a pet shop in my neighbourhood last night so I'll check in there later to book her soon for a 'hair and nails' appointment on the weekend!

Well, it's just after 10 and the stores are open now, so I think I'll wander over and do my bit of shopping. I'll upload some photos once I've got my computer plugged in, I want (of course) to be able to edit them before I just slap them up. Soon you'll be inundated with more pictures than you can stand about what's going on around me - just wait for it!!  :)  More soon... S.

Day 2, Woohoooo!

At 4am this morning I was wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide awake. Partially because I was kinda cold, my nose was freezing, and partially because I'd slept a lot by then. When we arrived in the apartment it had been closed up, heat off an everything, so th room temperature (when I finally figured out how to turn on my thermostat!) was at 14 degrees. I had the heat on all night. In Korea the heat comes through the floor, yummy warm floors, freezing concrete walls. I spent the night wrapped like a mummy in my heavy comforter and contemplated several times getting up to put more clothing on. I think I was in bed by about 8:30pm local, so really it should not have been a surprise to me that I woke up so early! The surprising part is more that my nose, sticking out from the covers, feels as it does when I go CAMPING!!!!!! Small other problem that requires fixing is that fact that my pillow is so hard that I woke up after sleeping on my side with a sharp pain in my ear as the cartilidge returned to it's normal position when I lifted my head. The bed was wonderful, the cover was warm (when you're not camping!) and I think even Mags had a good sleep when she finally settled in. On the subject of sleep, I have decided that if the apartment is not warmer by the time I'm ready for bed we will be sleeping on the warm heated floor with the mattress pad and blanket, cuz freezing and sleeping kinda mix like peanut butter and pea soup!

Waking up this morning in the dark I was acutely aware that we were "not in Kansas anymore," and it made me smile beneath the covers that were tucked up my nose as I remembered that we're off on an adventure. My apartment won't be ready for a few days so I won't be able to spend the next couple of days nesting, but I will take some time to walk around, get my bearings, figure out where the heck I live and what's around me. After laying in bed until about 5 I just couldn't do it anymore, so I got up and started getting ready for the day. Mags and I had jolly pong for breakfast (kinda like honey-coated puffed wheat) with a terrible cafe latte from the quickie mart. I looked out the window for awhile watching the traffic trickle through the toll gateway to Seoul (it realy didn't stop all night), and made a mental note to buy a plug adaptor for the computer so I could play music to cover the traffic. Of course once I made that mental note I had to go dig out my notebook (a lovely little magnatized book from the guys at work) and list the other few things I'd like to pick up while I'm out and about today. Last night I wished I'd brought a bar of soap and a hair care set so that I could shower, but I went out to the quickie mart and picked a couple of little things before heading to bed. After showering I remembered that I didn't pack a towel, so I dried off with my tshirt (we've all done that, right!??), and added 'towels' to my list. Once Saturday arrives and I know what I have and what I'm missing from my apartment I can do a nesting shopping trip, but until then a few things will do.

This morning when the sun finally came up I decided that Mags and I should go for a walk. Let me just say: IT'S FREAKIN' COLD OUTSIDE!!!! It's really not that bad temperature-wise, the snow on the freeway is mush where the cars are driving, It snowed about 5cm while we were sleeping, and you can just feel the moisture in the air when you're outside. Wearing a sweater, my hoodie and my down vest with my cute little toque I'm plenty warm enough (mental note: gloves), but I'm going to pick up some kind of jacket this morning when I go shopping. I put Mags in her little Team Canada t-shirt for the walk (yes, I bought my dog a tshirt) and out we went into the slush. Maintenance/parking guys were out with snow shovels clearing the business sidewalks on the main streets, and shopkeepers were out with plastic-bristled brooms clearing their storefront sidewalks of snow. I was going to take a picture but my fingers were already too cold, lol, I'm a terrible Canadian, unable to handle snow and cold!! We only walked around the block since it was so cold... just down and across the street I already found a Starbuck's (right out my door practically, I don't know if that's good or bad?!), and there's a Holly's Coffee on the 2nd level directly across from me. There are lots of other businesses as well, but it will take me some time to calm my brain and read through all of the signs. So far I have found 1 PC room down the block and up an alley, and 3 in my school building... 3!! Mags was alternating feet halfway through our walk since she was cold, so I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way home, silly pup - the snow will be gone soon or I'd be thinking about getting her new boots... what is this world coming to?? :)

For now, it's about 20 after 8 so I'm going to save this to my zip drive and try to find a PC room that's already open (assuming that they ever close?). Then I'm going to taxi over to my old neighbourhood to pick up a few necessities (and a couple extras!) so I can be a little more comfortable here at home. 'Kettle' and 'mug' just went on the list so I can make some tea... at least I'll be warm on the inside until the heat gets here!! Guess the good news is that I'll have lots of time to work on my paper since everyone I know is working! Hope you've had a wonderful day at home, and I kinda hope that you're warmer than I am!! Talk again soon... S.