Training and Adventures

It's been a helluva week, but with the end quickly approaching, I thought I'd hit a few highlights for yall. First off, we've had our hands full with instructor training here. At first, my roommate Paul and I were laughing because it seemed like we'd barely be training and it would be a short, easy jaunt where everyone was telling us, "It'll be the hardest week of your career with the company!" Turns out they may have been right, go figure. It probably doesn't help that I was unemployed and lazy as hell for 3 months prior to this, but the days are filled with lectures and mock teaching in front of small groups. As a teacher with some experience, you'd think this'd be no big deal, but standing in front of a group of peers and modeling an unfamiliar new style is still just as nerve wracking as when I first stepped into a classroom. Add a few hours of studying and prep every night, along with sleep deprivation, a drastic shift in time zones, and an unfamiliar environment, and the week has begun to take its toll. I'm feeling a little under the weather and plenty tired, even though I laid down for like a half hour and could get to sleep for the life of me. Luckily, tomorrow marks the end of this whole ordeal, and maybe I'll get a full night's sleep this weekend.

The people I've met here are definitely worth it, though. We've got people from all around the U.S. and Canada, so there's a great mix of personalities, with everyone being open to meeting new people and going new places. And what's more, we're going all over Korea, so we'll be able to keep in touch and visit each others' areas when possible. It's great to have an easy social network for this week, and it'll just expand across the country after that.

So now, about the city. Seoul is freakin huge! Sky scrapers everywhere, people just jam packed on every street, and there's no shortage of places to go. It's also a city that never sleeps, which I haven't really explored, but you can tell that everyone's up late into the night, and when it's time to party (which is every night) they will party hard. Every morning, we jump on a bus that takes us through Gungnam (just south of the Han river and downtown Seoul) up over the river and through the city to the training center. The bus driver's this older Korean dude that's always smiling and makes my morning. The drive is pretty crazy. Now, I've been to Latin America and seem some really insane driving, but the thing about this place is the sheer volume of cars, all super aggressive. Cars drive up and park on sidewalks, buses do U-Turns in the middle of the street, and the whole time you don't really see many accidents. It's well-orchestrated chaos.

The food has been pretty great so far. The first night I was here, we met up w/ a big group of trainees and ordered a ton of spicy pork rice and these basic noodles with a black sauce called jjajjamyung. Since then, I've been heading out for lunch and dinner every day, trying mostly new things. There's kimbop, which are these delicious sushi rolls that are packed with veggies, egg, and a bunch of stuff you can order like tuna, beef, kimchi, and so on. We found a dumpling (mandu) place that was similar to dimsum; you could get these simple rice paper wrapped pork dumplings or sticky buns filled with pork (or chicken? we actually weren't sure) or sweet bean. Another night, I had a spicy seafood ramen with squid and clams and these little shrimp that still had their shells. I paid for the spiciness the next day, tho, I promise you. And then there's bulgogi, which is only the most delicious of marinated beef. The amazing thing was that you can get your fill of any of those dishes for $3 or less! Truly, I am growing to love this country. I might have to take it behind the middle school...

Hilariously enough, we also went out on one of the first nights to a Hooters down the street. I can't make any excuses for myself except to say I followed the group, but the ladies definitely didn't fit the normal Hooters archetype. Also, it was by far the most expensive meal I've had here, like 7 times more than anything else! There are tons of chains around like that, and American food is pretty expensive to go out for. There are also a ton of coffee places (Starbucks, Coffee Bean, and even Dunkin Donuts), and they're usually pretty pricey too, even compared to the prices in the States. That's probably all for the best, since I prefer going out and trying all sorts of new stuff, and when I leave for Busan tomorrow, I'll have a whole new area to explore!

Anyways, here are some pics; I haven't taken many as I'm horrible at remembering, but you can get a sense of the city. The first ones were taken from the roof of the training center.





Take care all, and see you in Busan!