Must...catch...up...

Josh:

Only one more day until I get my Alien Registration Card! That means we will be humans again! Example:



Not exactly but close enough. One can only imagine finally getting paid, having phones and (of course) easy access to the internet.

Now to catch up (hopefully):

One thing I am very appreciative of having is the fact that all of our co-teachers are super concerned for our happiness. As soon as we got to this country all of them (Mr. Chu, Ms. Kim, Mr. Hong) said if we ever needed anything that we should call them. They also check up on us every few days asking if everything is okay; if something does go wrong, they try their best to fix it. We are very lucky to have co-teachers who want to make sure we are comfortable. I know this can make or break some teachers because half of the complaints about teaching English in Korea come from problems with co-teachers (being lazy, not caring, being rude, etc). One might say we are both quite lucky.

On Thursday (4/9/10) we decided to meet up with Zack (guy we met on the street randomly) to get some grub. We eventually decided to try to get some Indian food again and we headed to the place where we got glared at the first time (makes sense right?). This time there was a young Asian girl behind the counter who welcomed us in and took us to a seat. She spoke English pretty well and she turned out to be a really nice and cutesy person. We came back later and talked to her for a little while and ended up connecting fairly well with her. The food was fantastic and the naan was ridiculously huge so we had a very hearty meal. The owner of the store came in and it turns out that he had met Zack on the street and had invited him to his restaurant. We got to meet him and he was a very nice guy and he even gave us a free dessert. After dinner, Audrey still had some food left over so we decided it would be a good idea to take some home for later. We asked the owner if he had some kind of container we could use and he told the girl to put it in a little bag so we could take it. It turns out that she took him literally and put it in a tiny plastic bag. She came downstairs with it and handed us this bag with a tiny bit of food (it kind of looked like a plastic bag of vomit). The look on his face was priceless. We thought it was quite amusing so we said thank you and headed out. We have successfully found some amazing Indian food in Korea and it is only about five minutes from our house. Score one for Josh.

Side note: Not to sound like I'm bragging or anything but something that I absolutely love is how often I hear how much my co-teachers love me. Some of the things I have heard that just make me smile are "The students are excited to learn English because of how you teach," 0r "I like you. You like the food here so that makes me happy." As I said, I'm not trying to boast but it's so nice to hear my co-teachers say things like that. I also frequently get asked how long I am going to stay in Korea. I tell them I'm not sure because it's still to early to tell and they always say I should stay a couple of extra years. This could just be part of them trying to make me feel comfortable or it could be them authentically happy with me as a teacher. Either way, it still makes me feel good to hear it every now and then. Considering this is going to be my career in the future, it's good to hear that I am pretty good at it.

When we got out of school on Friday (4/10/10) we decided it would be a good idea to start cleaning the house. My co-teachers had told our landlady about the mold problem and they worked it out with her that she was going to replace the wallpaper on Saturday. They requested that I take down the old and moldy wall paper so it's easier for her to put the new parts up; so Audrey and I started cleaning. We decided we would try to get the house in a somewhat acceptable condition before she came. It didn't really pan out that well but at least we made some progress (keyword: some).

On Saturday (4/11/10) our landlady showed up with her husband to replace our old moldy wallpaper. We had already scraped off most of it (Not fun, by the way. Apparently it's super hard to get off wallpaper with a box cutter). We weren't sure whether she was going to replace the entire house or just those spots so we didn't strip down all the wallpaper (good move). It turns out it would only be those few spots. It's kind of funny because there are squares in our house of really white wallpaper while the rest of it is slightly discolored (it's not too bad of an eyesore but you can see a distinct color difference). We decided to give her and her husband a pear because of all the work they did (it took several hours) and she ushered us down into her house and gave us a huge container of kimchee (I'm talking more than we will ever eat). We thanked her profusely and headed back up. By this time we were starving so we scarfed down some ramen and rice. About an hour after we ate we heard an unexpected knock.

We opened it and it turned out to be Mr. Chu (AKA Ryan, Audrey's co-teacher). He was going to take us hiking but the weather wasn't good enough so he was nice enough to take us to Osan air base instead. One might also be able to call this place "America Town". As we walked through there were Americans everywhere. It's very funny to see the distinct difference in the dress and mannerisms of the English teachers and the military people. The English teachers tend to wear more formal things (keywords: tend to) while the others have shirts and skirts that don't leave much to the imagination and pants where the belt is worn around the knees.

Side note: With that in mind, on the drive over we heard a commercial that had two girls talking about another girl saying, "What is she wearing? I don't want her to represent America. I'm going to tell my chief," and then had a man saying, "Please dress appropriately outside." I thought that was utterly fantastic. There are commercials like that all the time apparently (with crappy voice acting and all). One that I loved had a guy saying, "Be careful! We should cross at a crosswalk and be sure to look both ways!" with another guy saying, "No way! I'm just going to cross here!" and then the sound of a car crashing and the last voice saying, "Don't be like him. There is a lot of traffic in Korea. Make sure to look both ways and to always use a crosswalk." I can't wait to get a radio so I can listen to these fantastic commercials.

To return to what I was getting at about the base area, it was awesome other than the people. There were shops all around (fast food, restaurants, street vendors selling ripped DVDs, suit shops, etc). I can definitely get used to coming back to this place. While we were walking we decided to grab dinner (Ryan was nice enough to offer to buy). We looked around for a little bit and my eye spotted something familiar. They were alluring colors with familiar shapes forming words that made me want to cry. After seeing this I shouted excitedly, "Mexican food!" Audrey said, "Where?!" I pointed out the glorious sign and we went inside. It was beautiful. We sat down, they gave us chips and we ordered burritos. It was really fun because Ryan hadn't really been to Mexican food that much in his life so we had to help him decided on what to get. When the food finally arrived we had to explain how to eat it. It was very refreshing because we saw a person get to experience the joy of Mexican food right in front of us. We showed his him to wrap the tortilla and what to mix with what. My favorite quote from him was, "This is very agreeable to me." It's so much fun to share food with someone who hasn't had it before. Audrey got a chicken burrito (very good) while I got a burrito with beef. Unfortunately the waitress didn't know the difference between ground beef and strips so when I asked if they had ground beef she said yes just hearing the word beef. So when my burrito came it was filled almost solely with beef. The strips would have been okay if they put more than just a sliver of beans and rice but the burrito almost consisted entirely of beef. Normally this would be good for anybody else because they are being generous with the meat (usually the part they are stingy with) but for a guy who really only likes ground beef, beans and rice it was a huge disappointment. I ate a decent amount (a little heartbroken), got a doggy bag for Audrey's burrito and Ryan took us home.

When we got home we cleaned a little bit more. I forgot to mention that I got my picture taken for my ID card. I ordered the "ID package" from a local photo place. It was only $13 and I got about 13 pictures of different sizes. I mention this because they not only included the photos in the package but gave me a plastic guitar key chain with my photo in the center. I thought this was hilarious so I gave it to Audrey and she put it on her keys. The awesome part is that I am not smiling because this is an ID picture so Audrey has a plastic guitar key chain with a picture of me looking serious with flowers around my head. I love Korea. (Audrey got the same package so I have a little key chain of her also)

Just to be "merciful" I will post this one and continue writing on another. It also works out because it doesn't seem as intimidating when you scan through deciding if you are going to read it or not. Who wants to read really long posts? Hmmmmm. Tricksy.