Week 3 in Korea (August 14-20)

 

This week I did a lot of chores and not a lot of touring. But I did get to take a colleague, Hailie, out for cake since it was her birthday. We went to Tous les Jours, which means "Everyday" in French, and that is sort of the theme for the post. The Oreo cheesecake was delicious, and Grapefruit-ade has become my favorite beverage treat. 

We had a day of classroom prep on Monday, then a national holiday on Tuesday. That was the start of many chores for me, including learning how to recycle (which is where the video begins). 

The first day of classes was Wednesday but it was a short day and it was Hailie's birthday (she teaches English and is in the new teacher cohort with me this year). I arm-twisted her into letting me buy her a treat at Tous les Jours to celebrate. She and I bonded over K-dramas and food. We have lunch together in the cafeteria pretty often. 

When I got home Wednesday night I was happy to see a water cooler had been delivered and installed in my apartment! I ordered it but I was not sure when it would arrive. I can have cold or hot water whenever I want it! No more lugging plastic bottles of water from the local Nice to CU. 

On Thursday I got to go to the Immigration office in Seoul (so I missed my morning classes) to get fingerprinted for my Alien Registration Card (ARC). The school bus took a group of us. The trip was over 90 minutes each way even though the office is only like 20 km away. Traffic was really congested. We don't have to go back to pick up the card though, and pretty soon I will be able to get a phone plan, hire a taxi, order groceries online, all kinds of things I have taken for granted. You really cannot do much in Korea without the ARC. It should be in my hands in about 3 weeks. 

I took Nimmi to Starfield City Mall and we bought so much stuff I had to buy a dolly to get it all back from the bus stop. The key thing for me was a foam mattress topper. It has truly improved my night's rest. I also learned how to use the 24-hour laundromat, I shopped for dinner in a convenience store, and the last segment of the video is about a trip to the grocery store that is the closest one to my apartment. There are many much larger grocery stores around, within a short bus ride from the neighborhood, but I wanted to get some things at the market close by so I can make tofu stew. We will see how well that goes later this week. 

My classes at SIS are really small (7-14 students per class). I am very impressed with the students so far. They are polite, respectful, engaged, and happy to be at school. I hope it lasts! 

We are in class a full 5 days next week so I am sure I will get much busier with work. And it is supposed to start raining again this week (right around the time that Hurricane Hilary is meant to make landfall in Southern California). I am looking forward to cooler weather! 

Thanks for the many emails and words of encouragement. I know I need to get better at making these videos. My chief problem is that I keep accidentally shutting off the camera instead of pushing record. I think I have all of this footage and then when I get ready to put it all together, much is absent from the record. The learning curve has a positive slope though. I will get better. 

Sending good thoughts and wishes your way as you face the week ahead!

Video link for week 3: https://youtu.be/rKNg81KEeCE



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