May 4, 2008: The Beginning...

Anyung,

So I'm pretty new to the blogging world, but it seems this is the best way for me to reach most of you. I want to start off by saying thank you for all your support and positive e-mails. If I haven't replied I apologize but it's been pretty shocking for me to be here. So here is a little background of my current situation. I'm currently in Pyeongchon which is in Anyang, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anyang,_Gyeonggi) which is a "suburb" of Seoul. This is not my permanent home for the year. I'm actually only here until Tuesday, when I travel to Gangnam-gu (http://wiki.galbijim.com/Gangnam-gu), which is in Seoul. This is where I will be for the year. They are currently building a new school where I will be the first teacher. So for the last couple of days I've been trying to acclimate to the time change and culture.

So my arrival was a major shock, even more then I had expected. The studio I'm currently in is only about 350 sq ft, so pretty small. I'm hoping that my permanent residence is a lot bigger and more modern. Apparently Anyang is not as modernized and, up and coming as described by wikipedia, what a surpise huh? So after spending some time here in Anyang I'm pretty happy to be going to Gangnam.

I've met a couple to people so far in my stay. A support provider (Justin) who has been in Korea for about 18 months and also a new teacher (Mindy) from Idaho. So interestingly enough the last couple of days have actually been very American. On Saturday we spent a good portion of the day walking around Pyenongchon getting a tour. And your not going to believe what we had for lunch, PIZZA! I couldn't believe it, and it was actually really good. But I guess most pizza in Korea is bad; the dough is really thick and they pile on the cheese. And you would not believe the toppings they offer here, it's pretty ridiculous. Well later on that night we actually went out and saw Iron Man, haha. And to top it all off we had fried chicken for dinner. So my first day in Korea was pretty much what I may have done at home. Following the dinner we did go out to a couple of bars, and man were they interesting. One of the bars was a western theme so that was pretty crazy; a picture of Clint Eastwood on the door. They also had a flame show and bar tending tricks, a bad version of Korean "Cocktails."

Fortunately today Mindy and I got away from American culture and had some Korean food for lunch. This was Mindy's first time trying Korean food so it made for an adventure. And man I really realized today how little Korean I actually know and understand. Not being able to read any signs or menus has been pretty difficult. I pretty much walk around blindly. We finally found a place near the school, that had pictures we could identify. So I used the little Korean I knew to order us some food. It was pretty good, but the amazing part was how cheap it was. Cost of living here in Anyang is nothing compared to what inflation has caused in California. Our entire lunch which would have been plenty of food for three people cost only $7. So I'm looking forward to saving a lot of $$$. Other then that it's been pretty simple.

A few other things I have noticed that many of you will find interesting. While I was flipping through the channels I noticed one that had two people playing the computer game Starcraft. And if you know what this game is, you probably understand how religiously they play it here. I couldn't believe they have an entire channel dedicated to this game, and I mean 24/7 haha. The other thing that was surprising is the number of pizza and fried chicken joints here. When I last came in 1998 I hadn't noticed any of these places but just walking through in the last couple of days I must have seen at least 30 pizza places and 20 fried chicken restaurants. This was especially bizarre, since I had been telling everyone that Korean people don't eat chicken, but I was completely mistaken. Other restaurants I've seen: KFC, of course McDonalds, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays, Chili's, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, and even a hot dog stand. Fortunately I don't plan on eating at any of these restaurants. Other then food the only other shock has been the showers. So in the U.S. we are all used to having a shower completly separate from the rest of the bathroom. In Korean apparently that is a large waste of space. So what they have done is eliminated the shower and made the entire room into a shower. There is a shower head on the wall and the entire room is used. I know this may sound pretty obscure and crazy but that is what I have been dealing with. I will make sure to take some pictures and send them over the blog which may clear up this concept.

I hope this has given you a little picture of my experience so far. I will try my best to blog as much as possible but I figure once I'm teaching I'll have less and less time. Hope all is well, and please send me updates on your lives. Remember nothing is too boring for me to read.

~Sunny