First Full Day

On Sunday I got up at 8am and thought about how I'd spend my day. I ate my pastry and sandwich (I was really hungry!) and then unpacked my belongings and set things up the best I could. I tried to re-arrange the furniture but eventually kept things the way they were originally placed.

Time to explore!

The first picture is my new home. I am in the far corner apartment (not shown in the picture) on the 5th floor.

The second picture is the view down my street.

I went to the GS-25 convenience store and changed over some money using my ATM card. I should have changed my money at the airport, and while I did think about it, I didn't do so because I didn't want to have to make the driver and other girl wait for me. I took out just $50 or so because I thought that on Monday my co-teacher was going to take me to a bank and to do all my paperwork as we discussed last evening.

Next I decided to go find my school. The teacher who taught at the school before me, Katherine, was kind enough to leave me a map and directions about how to get to school and various points of interest around me. That was a major help! So with her map in hand, off I went. I walked through the park as the map suggested. It is a small but nice park.

Then I found a school. I thought it was my school at first but then I realized that it wasn't because I hadn't gone over the bridge and it wasn't in the right place. It's a nice school though! The schoolyard is made of a light dirt that the kids play baseball and any outdoor activities. Here is the picture of the school that is NOT mine. (see below, left)

Once I realized this was not my school I kept on walking until I found the bridge. The view over the bridge is kinda nice, I guess. It is pretty typical-looking with large apartment buildings that all look the same and a big street. (see below, right)

Finally I got to what I think is my school. It is probably about a 15-20 minute walk from my apartment if you don't get lost and go to the wrong school first. In order to get to the school you have to walk through a park and a playground and then there is the school. It looks like a brick American-style apartment complex but it had the same sort of play-yard that the first school had and little cartoon people in the windows so I'm pretty sure it's my school. (see below, left)

After I checked out my school it was nearing lunchtime so I meandered down to the Home Plus which is a giant bix-box store like a Super Target or WalMart or something to that extent. On the way I passed by and took a picture of a typical Korean building which is colorful and full of words that I can not read. (see below, right)

At Home Plus I picked up some things to get me by: yogurt, ice tea, lemonade, and some buns which I have no idea what they are but looked tasty and like things I have eaten in the past. The bun on the left turned out to be a spinach/pork with onions combo that was pretty tasty (thank goodness I stopped being a vegetarian!). The one on the right was red on the inside and

spicy. I did not like it at all and threw it out. (see below, left) Yogurt pictured at right.

When I got home I found that I had nothing to do so I read my book for a little bit and then took a nap. Later I found some people on the CouchSurfing website that were willing to go out with me that evening. Because I hadn't figured out the subway/bus system yet I took a cab to Suwon Station, which was about a 10-minute drive. It was easy to spot this guy and his girlfriend because he was a white guy. His girlfriend (who he has been dating for 5 years) is Korean and her name is Hana. The guy, Cyril, is French and is not an English teacher, but is just living here with his girlfriend.

Hana and Cyril live in Suwon at Hana's parents house. They were living in Seoul for a year and a half but then went traveling in Indonesia but had to give up their apartment there during their travel. So they don't know Suwon very well at all.

Hana suggested we go to the area where the Suwon fortress is because she thought there would be things to do there. Not knowing any wiser I said ok and we took a taxi there. When we got there it was completely empty. Not wanting to make our taxi-ride there a waste we wandered into the first restaurant/bar we saw and sat down. Hana ordered us some rice-alcohol which was pretty good and a potato-omelette thing. The restaurant was "very Korean" according to Hana and all the other people there were 60-year old Korean couples. The music playing in the background was typical sad Korean music.

When we finished our drinks we went back to the Suwon Station area. My camera sucks at taking night pictures, but here is at least a photo-image of the downtown Suwon nightlife.

One thing that I have noticed is that Korean streets are very dirty. There are always papers and garbage strewn everywhere. You can see it in the picture in the foreground. I will work on getting a better night picture soon.

Next we went into a Korean bar that looked like a chain-place so we figured it would be good. The interior was decorated with wood and each table was in a little booth. We sat down and ordered some more drinks. I'm not sure what it was, but I know that it was not Soju. Cyril and Hana both do not like soju. We also ordered food. "Oh, I'm not hungry anymore," I said to them and they smiled and said that you have to order food in each bar you go to. We got some soup with Ramen noodles in it. I ended up eating some because I figured, eh, why not. It was a little spicy for my liking. I think I'm going to have to get used to spicy food! Here is a picture of our food. You can also see the alcohol in the background. After we finished our second dinner and drinks we moved on to the next bar. It was time for Karaoke!

You can not buy alcohol in the karaoke bars so we stopped at the 7-11 and got 2 beers which we smuggled in my purse. Not being a big drinker, I was done for the night and did not get one for myself.

We went up to a Karaoke bar that looked fancy but again, what do I know? I think we paid w5,000 each (about $5 each) and went into our little private room. I hate doing Karaoke in the US because it's awkward and everyone is staring at you, judging your karaoke choice, but not in Korea. You only sing with the people you invite into your room and it's all fun and it doesn't matter if you suck or not. Plus, the microphones have a little bit of a echo to them so that it's not totally your real voice anyway. We sang karaoke for 2.5 hours! I can not name all the songs that I sang because there were so many but I sang some Jack Johnson, Kate Perry, Kings of Leon, Queen, Van Morrison and so on. There was a good English selection and something for everyone.

The karaoke pictures, naturally, were the best of the night. You should know that all the pictures are posed but the good time that you can tell I am having, that is real. By the time I made it back to my apartment it was 4am!! A long but great first day.