After being picked up by Mr. Yu, the director of my school, we started the drive from Seoul to Uijeongbu. A side not for all, never drive in Korea! It is comparable to driving in New York City rush hour, with New York City cab drivers going down the highway at 80 mph. But anyway, on the 40 minute death ride, Mr. Yu informed me that I was going to a temporary apartment. The real apartment that I was suppose to move into right away was still being lived in by the teacher I was replacing. Her contract ended on Aug. 31 and mine started on Sept. 1. So there was an overlap of living situations. He takes me to this building that he owns in the Uijeongbu. Aside from being the director of 2 Academys, Mr, Yu owns several buildings and offices in Uijeongbu. He is a very prominent figure in this city. If he says jump, they say how high sort of thing :) The building I lived in for the first week was 6 floors. The top two floors were apartments and the other floors were offices and restaurants.
Before going to my temporary apartment, Mr. Yu took me to a restaurant on the first floor of the building. We walked in and had to remove our shoes at the door and then sit on the floor to eat at this small table with a burner in the middle of it. I just loved this because it is so Korean and that is why I came here, for the cultural experience :)! Anyway, the server brought us this big pot of broth and placed it on the burner. Then they brought out an array of vegetables (most I couldn't recognize) and thinly sliced rolls of beef. All this was placed into the boiling broth. This type of meal is called "Shabu Shabu." While we waited for this to cook, we ate our rice, soup, and the most delicious salad ever! It wasn't lettuce, but cabbage and sprouts with cherry tomatoes and this amazing spicy ginger dressing. We started to eat the broth stew and Mr. Yu kept feeding me and refilling my bowl. It is very important in Korea to make sure that other people are fed and do not go hungry. I wanted to tell Mr. Yu to stop, but that would have been extremely rude and he would have been greatly offended. I just kept eating and even though I was miserable with fullness, Mr. Yu didn't notice because he was so occupied eating like I have never seen anyone eat in my life! He kept stuffing his mouth and slurping so loudly. Apparently, this is good to do in Korea. Loud eating shows the host that you are enjoying the food. It is impolite to not slurp, so I joined in with Mr. Yu :). I'll have to remember to not do that when I go back to the States haha! While we were eating, the server was curious about me so she came and talked to Mr. Yu for a while. They were speaking Korean, but they kept looking at me and pointing at me. They laughed when he told her that the only words I know in Korean are "hello" and "thank you." I wanted to say that I can actually understand enough Korean to know when someone is talking about me, but talk about being rude! It is always best to be polite as a foreigner in Korea. It could make or break your stay :).
After dinner, which by the way only cost $14 or 14,000 won (pronounced WAHN) and Mr. Yu paid, we went to my temporaryy apartment. Lets just say that my first impression of my apartment can be compared to my first impression of my dorm room at Western. The thought "I have to sleep here!" crossed my mind haha. But after I unpacked, made up my bed and got used to the place, it started to grow on me. Before Mr. Yu left at around 11pm, he introduced me to another teacher who works at the other ECC school, not my school. He lived on the floor above me and his name was Vince. He is a "bloke" from England who has been teaching in Korea for 10 years. He was so nice and helpful for my first week in Korea. He showed me how to use the shower (aaahhh!), washer, and air conditioning (it didn't work anyway!). Then he showed me the roof of the building which had the most amazing view of Uijeongbu. I sat up there for a while just thinking of how lucky I am to be doing this. I can't believe how my life and all my journeys have taken me here. I count my blessings everyday for my parents who have supported me in everything I do and for providing me with such courage and opportunities to see the world. Thanks Mom and Dad!
The first night I actually slept for about four hours. It was about 85 degrees and 90% humidity, but I made it work! I woke up the next morning, still exhausted and got ready for my first day of school in the unusual bathroom (pics to come)!
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