May 28
I didn't do much in the morning that day. I took the subway and then the bus to Eun Ju's house. Her parents were really surprised that I was able to do it myself. The Korean Transportation is really quite efficient and isn't so hard to figure out, I think. So to me, it wasn't a big deal. I went with Eun Ju's parents to Theresa's parents house in the "burbs" of Sungnam City in the Gyeong-gi Province. To be exact, they live in the Bundang District. I think. We picked up Veronica and Jae-Min and went to Veronica's place. We sat around for a while and then went to eat black bean noodles. Afterwards we went back to their home and Thomas (Theresa's Dad) came home and said hi and I briefly saw Theresa. Veronica took me to a movie. The only thing is, she went to one movie and I went to the another. So we both sat in separate theaters watching a movie at the same time. I went to go see Terminator and she went to see some other movie. Christian Bale, who played John Connor was cute but in Terminator 2 I had the biggest crush on Edward Furlong back in the day. Afterwards they dropped me off at Veronica's sister's place for the night.
May 29
That day I went with Veronica and four other old ladies to their Pastor's apartment for a bible study/church service. We then went to the countryside to visit the ocean. On the way, we stopped at a rest stop and then at a restaurant for raw fish. I put on my Minnesota nice smile and prayed that I wouldn't throw up. The fish was slimy and if you think Sushi is raw, you haven't had this. There was salted minnows, raw slices of fish, cooked fish, clams with hot sauce, spicy fish soup and these unidentifiable food objects. All I knew was that they didn't look like fish, were slimy and tasted...interesting. Well, with the help of some Soju (cheap ass Vodka) I got it all down. The Pastor kept toasting everything, from my arrival, to the death of the former Korean President and just about everything in this life to keep his drink going. In the end, the Pastor threw up.
Yeah, I don't really want to think about that anymore, so next subject. We arrived at the ocean near this strip of cute little coffee shops. We sat by the ocean and the ladies started singing folk songs. The Korean countryside is quite different than the city. I had gotten quite accustomed to being in the chic Gangnam District. The Coex Mall makes you feel like you are a guest star on the Jetsons.
I don't know if its the glass elevators, the cute beeps and chirps that machines make, flat screens pouring out advertisements in front of escalators and even on the credit card pad where you input your signature, the giant interactive touch screen map in the mall, the elevator buttons that aren't buttons, but touch screens or the chic fashion statements that people make, but I really feel like I'm in the new millennium. The countryside has a slower pace of life, but it has trees and plants and GRASS, and is quite different indeed. Anyways, afterwards we had to make all these pit stops to visit some of the ladies' relatives that lived in that area. We finally made our stop at a noodle house to have cold noodle soup (mool naeng myeon) before we went home. FYI: There are some drivers in Korea that actually obey the stoplights! I had to sleep at Veronica's sister's house again.
May 30
I spent that day with Veronica's sister, who ever so graciously allowed me into her home. We went to go shopping at a store, had lunch and then I was on my way to Seoul. It was really nice to be back at my hotel. It's just me, I like to be independent and having to depend on other people is kind of uncomfortable for me. I checked my mail and got a message from my company telling me that I had to be there at the hotel the next day because they were going to hand out thermometers and provide entertainment, because we had all spent the whole week in the hotel avoiding the Swine Flu. Oh wait, no we were SUPPOSED to, that's right. Oops. Seriously, NONE of us followed that rule, I'm guessing. Chungdahm Learning did however, shut down their schools, I heard from another person's blog. I told my recruiter that I had plans. He said that it was okay for me to leave the hotel, and just be sure to constantly wash my hands and avoid touching or talking to people and wear a mask. I simply told him, "why of course!". I was supposed to have dinner with Eun Ju, but she had to cancel because of work, so I was able to set something up with Soon Oak. Its a good thing because it was getting a little hard staying with Eun Ju's Aunt, who was constantly prying into my business, interrogating me on what methods I would use to survive ALONE in Bucheon, nagging me, screeching at me to sit up straight and monitoring my every move (which is a Korean way to show parental love and affection). I should say that I'm glad my parents are actually pretty fucking cool. Anyways Soon Oak came to meet me and told me that her parents would want me to stay the night. She knows that I like to sleep in my own bed and am uncomfortable at other people house and told me she felt the exact way so she just came up with an excuse for me. Her mom had cooked dinner and we ate. I played with Soon Bae's kids and Soon Bok's kid. Soon Bae's husdband is super nice and told me that I should probably spend the night, as our plans for the next day required us to get up early. I told him I had something to do that night that my company required of me. I took the subway back by myself.
May 31
I got up really early and went to their district so that we could meet. I went to Soon Oak's parents house and we had breakfast and then we all headed for the Zoo.
FYI: Soon Bae's daughter is incredibly clingy and does not by any means understand the concept of personal space. We watched various animal shows and went around looking at different animals. We had lunch at the zoo and then we went home and stopped to pick up PIZZA!!! Afterwards three of the sisters and their spouses were going to the public bath. Soon Oak and I went to the subway station and she got off at her stop and I got off at mine. I'm back at the hotel and its night time. I had received a message from the company saying that my training will start on Tuesday and that we may not take the elevator at the building because of the potential to catch the swine flu.
I didn't do much in the morning that day. I took the subway and then the bus to Eun Ju's house. Her parents were really surprised that I was able to do it myself. The Korean Transportation is really quite efficient and isn't so hard to figure out, I think. So to me, it wasn't a big deal. I went with Eun Ju's parents to Theresa's parents house in the "burbs" of Sungnam City in the Gyeong-gi Province. To be exact, they live in the Bundang District. I think. We picked up Veronica and Jae-Min and went to Veronica's place. We sat around for a while and then went to eat black bean noodles. Afterwards we went back to their home and Thomas (Theresa's Dad) came home and said hi and I briefly saw Theresa. Veronica took me to a movie. The only thing is, she went to one movie and I went to the another. So we both sat in separate theaters watching a movie at the same time. I went to go see Terminator and she went to see some other movie. Christian Bale, who played John Connor was cute but in Terminator 2 I had the biggest crush on Edward Furlong back in the day. Afterwards they dropped me off at Veronica's sister's place for the night.
May 29
That day I went with Veronica and four other old ladies to their Pastor's apartment for a bible study/church service. We then went to the countryside to visit the ocean. On the way, we stopped at a rest stop and then at a restaurant for raw fish. I put on my Minnesota nice smile and prayed that I wouldn't throw up. The fish was slimy and if you think Sushi is raw, you haven't had this. There was salted minnows, raw slices of fish, cooked fish, clams with hot sauce, spicy fish soup and these unidentifiable food objects. All I knew was that they didn't look like fish, were slimy and tasted...interesting. Well, with the help of some Soju (cheap ass Vodka) I got it all down. The Pastor kept toasting everything, from my arrival, to the death of the former Korean President and just about everything in this life to keep his drink going. In the end, the Pastor threw up.
Yeah, I don't really want to think about that anymore, so next subject. We arrived at the ocean near this strip of cute little coffee shops. We sat by the ocean and the ladies started singing folk songs. The Korean countryside is quite different than the city. I had gotten quite accustomed to being in the chic Gangnam District. The Coex Mall makes you feel like you are a guest star on the Jetsons.
I don't know if its the glass elevators, the cute beeps and chirps that machines make, flat screens pouring out advertisements in front of escalators and even on the credit card pad where you input your signature, the giant interactive touch screen map in the mall, the elevator buttons that aren't buttons, but touch screens or the chic fashion statements that people make, but I really feel like I'm in the new millennium. The countryside has a slower pace of life, but it has trees and plants and GRASS, and is quite different indeed. Anyways, afterwards we had to make all these pit stops to visit some of the ladies' relatives that lived in that area. We finally made our stop at a noodle house to have cold noodle soup (mool naeng myeon) before we went home. FYI: There are some drivers in Korea that actually obey the stoplights! I had to sleep at Veronica's sister's house again.May 30
I spent that day with Veronica's sister, who ever so graciously allowed me into her home. We went to go shopping at a store, had lunch and then I was on my way to Seoul. It was really nice to be back at my hotel. It's just me, I like to be independent and having to depend on other people is kind of uncomfortable for me. I checked my mail and got a message from my company telling me that I had to be there at the hotel the next day because they were going to hand out thermometers and provide entertainment, because we had all spent the whole week in the hotel avoiding the Swine Flu. Oh wait, no we were SUPPOSED to, that's right. Oops. Seriously, NONE of us followed that rule, I'm guessing. Chungdahm Learning did however, shut down their schools, I heard from another person's blog. I told my recruiter that I had plans. He said that it was okay for me to leave the hotel, and just be sure to constantly wash my hands and avoid touching or talking to people and wear a mask. I simply told him, "why of course!". I was supposed to have dinner with Eun Ju, but she had to cancel because of work, so I was able to set something up with Soon Oak. Its a good thing because it was getting a little hard staying with Eun Ju's Aunt, who was constantly prying into my business, interrogating me on what methods I would use to survive ALONE in Bucheon, nagging me, screeching at me to sit up straight and monitoring my every move (which is a Korean way to show parental love and affection). I should say that I'm glad my parents are actually pretty fucking cool. Anyways Soon Oak came to meet me and told me that her parents would want me to stay the night. She knows that I like to sleep in my own bed and am uncomfortable at other people house and told me she felt the exact way so she just came up with an excuse for me. Her mom had cooked dinner and we ate. I played with Soon Bae's kids and Soon Bok's kid. Soon Bae's husdband is super nice and told me that I should probably spend the night, as our plans for the next day required us to get up early. I told him I had something to do that night that my company required of me. I took the subway back by myself.
May 31
I got up really early and went to their district so that we could meet. I went to Soon Oak's parents house and we had breakfast and then we all headed for the Zoo.
FYI: Soon Bae's daughter is incredibly clingy and does not by any means understand the concept of personal space. We watched various animal shows and went around looking at different animals. We had lunch at the zoo and then we went home and stopped to pick up PIZZA!!! Afterwards three of the sisters and their spouses were going to the public bath. Soon Oak and I went to the subway station and she got off at her stop and I got off at mine. I'm back at the hotel and its night time. I had received a message from the company saying that my training will start on Tuesday and that we may not take the elevator at the building because of the potential to catch the swine flu.
Being a holiday, it was pretty crowded but I was able to make my way around. I boarded the plane, which was very crowded and was on my way to Korea. The flight was really, really, really...long. I sustained myself by sleeping, watching two or five movies and eating the meals. 
I flew Korean Air, so the flight attendants were really good about bringing hot towels, food and drinks. The only thing is, that it was really hot, but maybe Koreans have less body heat or something. The two girls next to me had on blankets. I arrived at Incheon Int'l Airport and had to fill out a Quarantine Form as well as get a scan. There is a huge paranoia about the epidemic formerly known as "
I think the paranoia is even bigger in Japan because Japanese tourists came wearing masks. I'm not kidding either. So I had to go through immigration and then I met Eun Ju, Theresa and her husdband Tony. 
It was really good to see them and they were there to meet me and give me a ride to the hotel. I called my recruiter and as it turns out, there was a change of plans. I tried to search through my brain for the emotion called surprised but couldn't find it. Korea is a lot different than say, Germany, where people's days are planned to the leather. So we came to a different hotel. It actually works out spifftacular because I have a room to myself and I don't have to have a roommate! Thank God! Or as Madea would say, "Hallelujer" 
I took a shower and then the four of us went to a Traditional Korean Restaraunt to eat. I had some spicy soup. For desert there is this cider drink that is traditional in Korea I think. Then afterwards Eun Ju and I went to "play" around the town. Being downtown in the chic district of 
People here shop, shop, shop. Stores are super crowded and the movie theaters are even more packed. In fact, you sometimes may have to make reservations for hot movies a day in advance.
Eun Ju and I went to a cafe, 
It's a really, really sweet phone. Companies here give there phones names like April or Autumn, Icecream or Lollipop. I got the icecream phone. It lights up in the front and makes sounds that are funny and not unlike those heard at the casino. It can write in both Korean and English and I think that Rubie would really love this phone. Two words to describe it: Colorful and Cheerful. The model is 
It can make international phone calls. Oh and it allows me to watch tv too, listen to radio, look at a subway map and go on the internet. It takes pictures and video. I guess the only thing it doesn't do is cook! lol. I will send pics of it once my computer has access to the internet. Also, here is my phone number if you are in Korea: 010-2475-xxxx. And now about me. Yesterday I went with Soon Oak to the doctor. We are required by the company to get a physical. Even though I got one in the U.S. and many others had to pass one to get their teaching visas, the company only trusts the Korean doctors' word, I guess. The process actually went fast. I had to do a blood test, urine test, interview, blood pressure/weight measurement, and xray. I was literally in and out for each of my stops. Its really efficient and I was probably out within a half hour. Afterwards I went to dinner with Soon Oak and her friends. We had Korean BBQ. Then I went home. Btw, Korean phones here are really advanced.
My mom and I were both getting our hair done and we went to get lunch at 