Well, another week another half a million Won...or something like that. I managed to survive the ultimate boredom of having 5 days off in a row. I was told that most things were closed so I never bothered to check on that until the Wednesday. I found my Internet Cafe open so I decided to throw together this web site. The last two entries were emails I had sent. Eventually I'll throw some pictures up and stuff like that rather than sending individual emails.
Boring holiday though, other than getting to watch Americans participate in the Olympics on TV there wasn't much to do in my little apartment. And a lot like the way I watched the Super Bowl, you kind of have to get up early in the morning to see what goes on in the late afternoon & early evening in North America. Not too easy to get up as I've now fallen back into my old habit of sleeping in till about 10.
What have I been up to lately...let me think now. I managed to teach myself the Korean alphabet, so I can now read signs, although with much difficulty. The girls at McDonalds were laughing at me the other day when I was trying to read the sign for a combo meal...I was saying Mack-Chee-Kaen, they laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world and one girl repeated back Mack-Chee-Keen. Funny thing was that I didn't even realize I was trying to say "McChicken" until after I'd left...I still don't see what was so funny to them...I was close.
Saturday I was originally supposed to drag Soo out to my area to track me down a couch, I getting sick of lying down all the time and it'll give him, or anyone else, someplace to crash if they so desire. I hadn't planned on calling him cause I don't want him to feel obligated to hang out with me, but I ran into him online (MSN) and he offered. Either way plans fell through when he had to work late. I thought to myself, "OK good I don't need another night of bar hopping, I'll just stay in and relax." Well that lasted for about an hour when I threw on my coat and decided to go out and explore my area. I had figured out the area South and West from my Apartment but I had never bothered to venure out to farthe other directions..
Turns out there's a Train Station right by my apartment...even closer than Wal-Mart. I was reading the destination (it was in Korean) and it said "Sinchon", based on my translation. Sinchon is an area that I was at last weekend and not to far from an area where a lot of Foreign teachers hang out, so I hopped on the train. I figured that at the worst, if my translation was wrong I'd end up somewhere in Seoul and have to track down the nearest Subway station to figure out where I was. Turns out it did go to Sinchon so I wandered around that area for a couple of hours. Last week when I was there we had a couple beers and then played some pool so I didn't really see the area. It was packed with young people and a whole lot of stores. Later I ran into a stop on my Subway map that was one stop in the opposite direction of Hongdae(which was where I wanted to end up) so I headed back towards the Sinchon station and then kept walking figuring I'd eventually find Hongdae. I didn't have to go to far before I saw a street sign directing traffic to where I wanted to head. So then I wandered around Hongdae and saw a Subway (the restaurant) and suddenly got an unbelievable urge for a sub. I wandered around for awhile again and eventually found the bar I was at last week "Route 66" which is usually full of Canadian teachers. Of course I was too cheap to go straight in (over $6 a beer) so I went over to a nearby bar that's about a third of the price for a beer, had a couple and then went back...heh heh.
I had planned on taking off before midnight so I could take the Subway home, but I met some interesting people and ended up sitting there till about 3 or 4am. The cab ride home was a bit of an ordeal. I hoppped into the nearest cab and offered him \20,000 and said "Ilsan". I'm told you should negotiate a fare when you're going a long distance because they don't go by the metre when you're leaving the city. He nodded, took my money and then headed off. I thought good...he'll take me to downtown Ilsan I'll recognize the area and then direct him to my apartment. Well that didn't work cause when we got to what he told me was Ilsan, I didn't recognize a flippin thing. I wasn't sure what to do so I said Tanhyun-dong, which is the area in Ilsan where I live. He nodded and kept driving around, although it was plainly obvious he didn't know any better than I did. He stopped and asked some people if they knew where Tanhyun-dong was so I tried to help by saying Wal-Mart? but they didn't know where that was either. We drove around for I don't know how long until I suddenly looked up and saw a landmark that I recognized and then saw that he was driving by my apartment block. I motioned him to stop and then flipped him an extra \10,000 for his trouble and then stumbled into my apartment. Next time I'm gonna have to tell whomever to go to the Subway station (they should know where that is) and then direct 'em from there.
I've been asking around about a gym and I think I've found one right by my apartment that's really reasonable by Korean standards, about \600,000 for a year but I'll have to go check it out after my first payday...not for another 2.5 weeks. My degree arrived in the mail Monday so now I'm headed to Japan to get my working Visa. I'll be leaving March 2nd and staying for 3 days. My boss asked me if I wanted to go for longer as that weekend is a holiday, but he'd only pay for 2 nights and I'd have to pay for the hotel for anything longer if I wanted. Three days is pretty generous compared to other schools I've heard of...they usually send you there in the morning and then have you coming home later that night so they can avoid the cost of a hotel. The thought of staying an extra day is tempting but knowing how expensive Japan is I told him that two nights would be fine. They cover the plane ticket and the hotel, I just have to pay the Airport tax and expenses...pretty good deal if you ask me to visit Japan. I'll be staying in Osaka and I plan to hit Kyoto for a day while I'm there.
Thats enough for today...talk to y'all later
