Week 4 in Korea

Week 4 just flew right by! The weather was nice (warm, but not too rainy). It was a week of social evenings for me. I had Sarah and her kitty (named Peanut) over for dinner on Tuesday, then Nimmi and Sarah came to dinner at my place (again) on Thursday. On Friday I went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Wyrie with my neighbors (Mark and Kevin, Mark is my neighbor at school AND in the apartment complex). And then on Saturday there was a school-sponsored trip to IKEA, so I rode the school bus for about an hour to Gwangmyeong (near the Gimpo airport), shopped for 2 hours, and then rode the school bus back. Then I spent about 24 hours putting together everything I bought at IKEA. I was too exhausted at the end of the weekend to update the blog so I put it off until Monday afternoon, but that is still technically the weekend in the USA. I had a hot dog and boba drink (hot dog on a black bun, there is a fascination with black food here and the black bun is accomplished using squid ink) for dinner after school on Monday and then settled in to write. 

No video this week. I took one (of the scenery from the bus ride) but it was just a lot of trees and mountains flashing by, and the occasional tall building. I promise to do better next week. I am going to a baseball game next weekend so there will definitely be more to video record. 

Photos from the week: 

Nimmi is vegetarian so I cooked a Korean pancake (pictured left) for her on Thursday. Sarah joined us too (see the photo of the two of them below sitting on my couch). These two are the shortest and tallest women at the school. Sarah is from Nevada (via Oregon) and was last teaching in Turkey. Her kitty, Peanut (not visible in the photo) is getting adjusted to being an indoor cat and it has not been easy. She brings Peanut over for visits. Peanut and I get along pretty well. I foresee kitty-sitting opportunities.

Nimmi had to bring forks from her apartment for dinner because I only had 1 fork! For the first time in my life I had dinner guests before I had anything on which to serve dinner! I had to go buy paper plates. The IKEA trip solved all of that, you will be comforted to know. I now have 6 place settings of silverware and enough plates (and glasses) to serve anyone who can squeeze into my apartment. I don't have much of a dining room table yet though. 

Nimmi is the closest person to my age among the new people. She and I are checking in on one another and dragging each other out to do errands and have adventures. She is from Chennai in India. We started texting one another on WhatsApp in about April (long before arriving in Korea). She is level-headed and very good-natured. Her last post was at a school in Myanmar. Before that she spent several years in Oman. She has some very interesting stories about working in International Education. I am enjoying getting to know people in this micro community. Although these two are recent arrivals like me, we have many colleagues who have been here for awhile taking good care of us. Everyone has been warm and supportive. 

Mark and Kevin live next door to me in the Quad. They are Southern gentlemen (very polite, very quiet neighbors) and they decided to take their classroom neighbors to dinner in Wyrie at their favorite Italian restaurant. So Lindsay and I got to ride in a taxi (my first taxi ride in Seoul!) and I ate a plate of delicious gnocchi in cream sauce. We had a nice dinner with great company. The evening weather was so pleasant that we walked back home. I am glad we did because I realized how close the neighborhood was and there is so much to explore there! Rumors of a lizard cafe...I have to find this before Emma visits next summer!

Saturday morning about 10 of us left the school on a school bus at 9am to drive to Gwangmyeong and shop at IKEA. I had a long list of things I wanted to buy and several things to have delivered. Being in IKEA in Korea was very much like being in IKEA in the USA except that the scenery out the window was verdant (a forest, really) and there were NO Swedish meatballs in the cafe. Not that I had time for the cafe. I was on the hunt for dishes and forks...

The area we were driving through is near the airport for domestic flights (like flights to Jeju Island) and this is a photo of the train station that 

                                                                                    has the fast train to Busan. I think. I never really 

know for sure if what I am hearing is correct. 

The photo below is a picture of my black bun hot dog and boba drink tonight. The hot dog was tasty. A little spicy, a little sweet, and very savory. The boba drink was not what I was expecting but it was not bad. I had to take pictures of things on the menu and show them to the clerk in the restaurant. Fortunately I was the only customer at the time. This whole meal was about $6.45 in US money (8900 Korean won). 

The last thing I wanted to say about this week is that I have just about learned the names of all of my students. We are getting along pretty well. Some of the grade 11 students were telling me about the national anthem and they showed me a picture of the national flower of Korea. It is called the mugunghwa (the Hibiscus syriacus). And guess what? Nimmi and I saw a whole bunch of these flowers on bushes just below the temple we hiked up to visit. See above for photo!

It started raining today again. It looks like the rain will persist this week but I do not mind. It is much cooler when it is raining. I enjoy the sudden spurts and the way the sky changes. 

I hope you are having cooler weather and looking forward to fall. Good adventures to you!