Our Home (6,000ish miles) Away from Home

If you are anything like me, I am sure you are wondering about our living conditions. Before getting here, I had horrible nightmares about living in a hole in the wall joint that was infested with cockroaches. 

Well, we got lucky. We have a very nice "hole in the wall" and we have only had one incident with a cockroach, that I don't believe that was from an "infestation". 

Also, by me saying "we".... I mean Kenneth and me. Yes, we are actually allowed to live together over here, which we didn't think were were able to (but are glad we are together).

Let the pictures into our living space commence:

The lock for our door. I thought keys were universal, but nope. We have a punch code for the downstairs door and also for our door. 

After coming in the door, you see our entry way and into our kitchen area.

Our entry way has these awesome storage closets. Has enough room for our shoes, medicine, nail polish, hair dryer all those essentials. 

On the right bottom is for our jackets/umbrellas.

Our bathroom. As you will see, there is no door for the shower. 

Thus...... WATER MARKS..... ALL THE TIME!!! 

(bellow)

One of my first purchases, a Hello Kitty (dressed as a panda) toothbrush holder.

Our kitchen.... Scott's domain.  No stove, just the gas burner and tiny fridge.

Our director provided us with forks, plates, coffee mugs and towel for the kitchen.

Funny thing about our kitchen: you have to turn on/off the gas.

Quirk #2: 

You have to turn the hot water heat on and off. AND set the temperature in CELSIUS! 

Our washer and behind that is our hot water heater (left)

On the right is our dryer.  = ) 

You might also be wondering why we have 6 LITERS of empty water bottles...

Well, you are strongly advised to not drink the water. 

2 liters of water costs ~$0.8O

I never get sick of our views from our apartment. 

Since taking the top picture, that apartment building being built is now the same size as the one next to it.

We are a little mad because it will block our view of the mountains. = ( 

The brown ombre apartments are the ones we sneak into to play badminton! 

Our bed! 

Our director provided us with a new queen size bed and new bedding. 

Our bed is made of recycled.........................

CARDBOARD!!!! 

I always said I liked stiff beds, but this takes it to a new level of stiff. 

Also, as you can see in the left picture, we only get ~10 channels that get English speaking shows. 

That is NOT one of the channels.

My closets <3

My clothes have probably doubled since being here.... I was told Westerners wouldn't be able to fit in Korean clothes, I WISH. Scott wishes too, then I wouldn't drag him into EVERY boutique!

Our shared closets. South Koreans sure know how to make their closet space! 

AIR CONDITIONER!! 

Last but NOT least, our reminders on the door: (check out the locking system on that door)

Turn off Gas

Turn off H20 Heater

Unplug Chargers

Well, now you have seen our Korean digs. I feel kinda like I am on a written version of MTV Cribs, minus the fact that I'm not famous or that our house isn't 30,000 square feet with a water slide going from the second floor into the pool. 

Next pictures to come are from the DMZ! 

-C 

Adventure to the Other Side

Okpo:

Let me begin by telling you that this picture DOES NOT do the hike up this hill justice!

I would say, it was a one mile hike up this STEEP road to get to the

Okpo Nuri Garden (which was made to welcome all foreigners)....

Except we didn't know that at the time, Scott just wanted to 

climb up there because it looked cool. 

And he was right...... It was cool. 

Here's me, a little weathered but excited to have made it up there without dying of an asthma attack....

it came close. 

View from the look out before getting to the park. 

These pictures are kind of lame, but Scott and I met in Biogeography 

and it reminded me of niche and all that boring stuff. 

Another gorgeous view.... No, subliminal message intended here.

  

(Above) Outside of the Okpo Look Out Tower 

(Below) Interior pictures of the tower

The windows looking out to the 360 degrees were all framed like this.
 It almost looks as if I framed the picture. 

 The ceiling of the tower, I love the colors!

Looking out toward the ship yards in the Okpo Harbor.

Finally we made our way down to the Okpo Nuri Garden. There were a bunch of people just hanging out up at the park. Kids were playing all over the exercise equipment, parents were running after them telling them not to. But everyone was enjoying the park, which is much different than in the US. 

Right here and right now, I am proclaiming that when I get back to the States I am going to enjoy more of the parks that I take so much for granted.

 They are just as beautiful as Nuri Garden, it just took me traveling across the globe to realize that. 

Plaque at the Okpo Nuri Garden:

"This place was selected as a good village (a model village) to live in by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation on March 26th in 2007. The decision was made under the theme of "Making a Village of Foreigners." As a result, a grant was given, and a garden was created on one side of Okpo Central Park, named "Okpo Nuri Garden." The construction was begun on January 2nd in 2008 and ended on January 30th. 

In "Okpo Nuri Garden" we can find the national flag and anthem of foreigners living in Okpo. The anthem has been written in the offical language of the country it is from. Additionally, "Okpo Nuri Garden" was created to encourage foreigners to feel united, as part of this community and as our friendly neighbours. 

2008, 1, 31.

The Okpo 2 dong resident autonomy committe

All the many different flags and anthems.

Just a downward picture looking at Okpo, very dense city.

 

Scott got to eat at an authentic Korean restaurant while we were in Okpo, he ate mussel soup... Too fishy for my taste

 (If you remember, it's the "Model City" for foreign living)

So I found something sweeter (and more foreign)! 

This weekend (September 7th-9th) we are heading up to Seoul /Yongin to meet with my friend Jamie. On Saturday, we are going on the Adventure Korea tour of the DMZ (Korean Demilitarized Zone) it is the buffer area between North and South Korea. In the tour we are able to go as far North as we can, we are able to tour the first tunnel North Korea built to infiltrate South Korea, access to the Dora observatory so we can see into North Korea and then tour the two villages within the DMZ. 

I am really looking forward to the weekend and also to be able to see a friendly face from back home! 

GO HAWKEYES!!!!!! BEAT STATE!!! I will be cheering for my Hawks from the DMZ..... well at that time, the bars of Seoul!

Wishing everyone a happy, fun and safe weekend. Love you all and miss you very much. 

-C

September 1st, 2012

Little This, Little That

What does that 

say?

------>

Koreans love their soda, 

especially out of glass bottles 

 When going out to eat over here you are often served a couple of appetizers:

 Pickled Mu (radish, I believe?)
Sweet Pickles
Rice Crunches (that's what I call them, they are made out of rice and make a loud 'crunch' in your mouth. They taste a lot like cereal!)
And sometimes a salad with sesame seed oil on it (which I LOATHE) 

What's behind door number 1?.......... a women's URINAL! I opted to hold it. 

This really isn't too common, I have only encountered two... thus far. 

Don't mind the crazy hair, Scott prefers not to tell me when I look like an idiot. BUT.... those are eels that are in a tank outside of many of the fish food restaurants. You can pick out your very own, watch them slice the sucker open, have it grilled in front of you for your viewing pleasure and then for your dinning pleasure you eat it.

This is the same sort of tank, just has an octopus in it. Octopus is very expensive at these restaurants. 

This picture better depicts how they had the tanks set up outside of the restaurant. 

Even though they were going to their meet their maker soon, I thought this set up was actually pretty. 

 The picture above shows downtown from the boardwalk at dusk.We started off just trying to find a place to eat close to our apartment and stumbled upon the board walk..... 45 minutes later. So far this has been one of the best nights in Geoje. It was so beautiful!

(I plan to get better pictures of this area during the day,

 but this was just too beautiful not  to post.)  

 

The above picture is of the DSK and Samsung ships and you can vaguely see the ship yard in both pictures. The ship yards are a big part of Geoje's economy. It employs a lot of people and actually makes the cost of living pretty high in Geoje. 

 This picture shows the "skyline" of downtown. The boardwalk was outlined with flowers and then when you get toward downtown, it has the different flags of the different nationalities of people working within Geoje. 

 Sort of blurry (sorry... it was a bummer to me too) but that shows the entrance to the 'downtown' area. 

This is the downtown open market, I actually really enjoyed going to this (despite the hot weather and extremely fishy smell). It was interesting to see what they were all selling and how expensive a lot of it was.

We bought 6 peaches and a batch of cherries and it was 20,000 Won ~ 19USD.

Might not seem too high, but we haven't gotten paid yet, so we are on a.... dare I say.... 

BuDgEt?

More pictures to come on our trip to the other side of the island: Okpo. 

Much love,

-C 

Typhoon Let Down

Well, Typhoon Bolaven has come and gone and I am still here in one piece. Minus the fact that we had a little wind and rain, Bolaven was quite the disappointment for my first typhoon. This picture pretty much sums it up:

                                                 Ripped off from my friend Jamie in Yongin

Typhoon Bolaven

So, if some of you haven't been paying attention to the weather in Asia, I would NOT blame you (if I weren't here, I would be oblivious), but we are bracing ourselves for Typhoon Bolaven. The typhoon is said to be the strongest to hit South Korea since 1956. Currently Bolaven is heading our way, we are to get the winds by tonight (Monday) and be in the midst of the typhoon by Tuesday. They said we could get anywhere from 20 inches of rain to 40 inches. All of Geoje (Ko-jay) public schools will be shut down tomorrow and many may close tonight, if the winds pick up. However, our director says that he will let us know if we will be shut down. = S 

The crazy thing about Typhoon Bolaven is that it will affect two members of our family. Kory's husband, BJ, is stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and was the first to experience Bolaven. 

As of right now, we are just getting the start of rain and a slight wind. You can defiantly tell a difference in the people on the island though, I feel like I should be taking this more seriously. But, Scott and I went grocery shopping yesterday and have enough water, raymen (much like ramen noodles but spicy) noodles and eggs to last us a good week and we live on the third floor. = )

Nothing real cool to report on for this past week. We have become badminton enthusiasts (our apartment is located one block from the REALLY nice apartment complexes and we sneak in to use their badminton courts and the free gym).  Scott was really excited about finding the free gym, I was excited that I beat him 3/5 games in badminton! With working 3-10pm, most of my days are just dedicated to being in the hagwon and spending time getting to know my students. 

We have been working on pronouncing the different letters. We have been having the most trouble with the 'L' sound (it comes out as an 'R' sound). Example: 'Literally'--> Riterarry. So I have a worksheet of all 'L' words I could think of planned for this week. Hopefully that will help! = ) 

A funny story to share from my last week: 

On my first Friday here, I had taught my students the acronym T.G.I.F.  This Friday in the halls I was hearing "T.G.I.F .... Friday!" from all of my students. We will keep working on that one. 

In all actuality, this whole teaching experience has been trial and error so far. I have an assortment of different level of English speakers in my class, some come once a week, some come five times a week, so it has been quite difficult but I seem to have found my sea legs. 

Hope everyone is doing well back home and I miss you all like crazy!! 

-C 

Pictures from Geoje

Our first picture together in Korea. 

Our neighbor has this beautiful gate. The flowers are in full bloom now, the picture does not give it justice.

The river by our apartment has this stone walking bridge. By far the most beautiful thing we have stumbled upon in Geoje.