What is your sign- I mean your blood type?

I have not written a lot lately due to the adventures of life, but the other day I had such an interesting conversation that i had to share what I had learned.

When I first got here, I had heard a radio announcer say that you can't tell personality through blood type. I thought at the time "of course you can't, and where did that question come from''? I posted it as a facebook status, gave a laugh, and didn't think about it again. Untill the other day that is. I do a teacher's class once a week for the teachers in my school and from a conversation dealing in abortion, adoption, and woman's rights issues one of the teachers mentioned the "blood type" deal to me. I looked at her with shock and awe and said in my southern english asked her, "Ya'll really do believe that blood types can determine personality?". After some laughing at me, they proceeded to tell me how blood types can determine personality.

They explained to me that the idea of personality through blood types comes from Japan. From my research I did, I discovered that a series of articles were written in the 1920's about the study of tempertment and blood types. In the early 1970's the concept was expanded on in a article and blood types in pop culture was born.

Now my teachers do not speak that great of English so I had to look up what each blood type meant but they were able to tell me some things about each. First, Korean women do not want a man with a B blood type. They said "Casanova and Player". It is common for women to ask men on a first date what their blood types are. Guys, for your sakes, I would lie! But then I guess that goes in with the B blood types personality! The girls then told me that the AB blood type is not ideal either. It either means you are a genius or poor. My bartender later told me though that it means genius or psycho. Either way its a 50% chance. A blood types are calm, and simple minded. O (which I am) are active, outdoorsy, and lack patience.

I copied the end of this post from a Modern life page in Korea. It is what the blood types mean in case your curious about your own. Whether its true or not, maybe, I don't know. Mine describes me in a lot of ways but maybe not. So for those bored with horoscopes, on that next date ask them "what is your blood type" and you judge!!

Blood Type Pesonalities

"Blood Type A: Positive Traits: Conservative, introverted, reserved, patient, punctual and inclined to be perfectionists. Worst Traits: Obsessive, stubborn, self conscious and uptight. Referred as ‘farmers’ in some descriptions, Type A’s are said to be considerate of others and loyal to a fault. They can also be secretive and reluctant to share their feelings. Apparently they don’t hold their liquor well, either.

Blood Type B: Best Traits: Animal-loving, creative, flexible, individualistic, optimistic and passionate.Worst Traits: Forgetful, irresponsible and self-centered. Referred to as ‘hunters’, Type B’s have very independent natures and tend not to be concerned about what other people think of them. Although often described as shallow and lazy, they can be quite passionate about the things they hold dear. Patience is not their strong suit either. Type B men have acquired a very negative reputation in Korea and are not considered by many to be good husband material. Often described as ‘players’, they are perceived as being selfish and mercurial, quick to anger and not terribly reliable. That said, their bad boy image makes them very attractive to women, but not for the long term. (Type B women do not share in this bad rep, for some unexplained reason).

Blood Type AB: Best Traits: Cool, controlled, empathic, introverted and rational.Worst Traits: Aloof, critical, indecisive and unforgiving.Referred to as ‘humanists’, Type AB’s are said to be controlled more by their heads, than by their hearts. They are rational, good with money, but unpredictable. Although inclined to be distant, they prefer harmony and as such, work well with mediators. Some consider them two-faced, and therefore untrustworthy.

Blood Type O: Best Traits: Ambitious, athletic, robust and self-confident. Worst Traits: Arrogant, insensitive, ruthless and vain.Referred to as ‘warriors’, Type O’s are viewed as natural leaders and are often, also, natural athletes. They tend to be outgoing, expressive and passionate, but can also bore others to death with their obsessive drive for success coupled with their absolute convictions that they are winners. This certainty that they will always win explains why they aren’t afraid to take risks or gamble. They have a strong physical presence and are unlikely to ever be overlooked."

Koreans and the Swine Flu

In the whole time that I have been here, I have not felt a feeling of complete non-understanding as this whole situation with the Swine Flu. So here is this flu that is being passed around that no one has any immunity to because it is a brand new flu. It sounds a little scary when you hear that. Yet, if you read articles from the CDC and WHO, then you know that this was just a mass scare that although could have been bad- wasn't.When I first got to Korea, I was quarantined for 2 weeks. Ok, that could probably be understood. The Swine Flu was in the US and a quarantine was probably a good idea. 2 weeks was a little extreme, but if it made the parents feel safer then so be it. After this period, it seemed that the fear sort of dropped. At least until about three weeks ago. I, not understanding the Korean news and being out of school, had no idea the Swine Flu had hit Korea. I found it odd that every time I went on the Korean Air Base in the past three weeks, that the Koreans (wearing their masks) all took my temperature. I just figured it was a new policy and let it go. 1 week and a half ago I went out to lunch with Yunny who told me that the Swine Flu had hit Korea and 2 people had died from it. Well that explained the Koreans taking my temperature. I find this such an odd thing that they are so scared of this. Maybe it is the scientist in me but the Swine Flu is just a type of the flu. The people that died from the swine flu, would have probably died from a regular flu. "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that although this was a very serious virus, cases worldwide were usually mild, and most hospitalizations and deaths had been of persons that also had underlying conditions such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or a weakened immune system". Maybe it was just their time. Apparently I am a minority in this thinking here though. Yesterday I started back to school. As I am walking in the school, some of the teachers took my temperature with their masks and gloves on it. They were taking everyone's temperature before they were allowed in the school. Then they cancelled our school sports day set for a month from now from fear of the swine flu. I asked why because I could not grasp this idea. They told me because the families of the students would be up here and could pass on the Swine Flu. I told them back "If the families had it, then the kids would get it at home and pass it on." Like I said, apparently I am a minority in my thinking. So today I come to school and now they are more organized at the temperature taking. The only thing is that when they took my temperature, there was no cleaning of the ear cover or changing of the plastic. Completely unsanitary. I told Yunny that if a child did have the swine flu and they took his temperature and then took another child's, then they just passed the flu on. I am not so concerned with the swine flu as I am with ear infections. There are tons of bacteria that live in the ear. Yuck. I told them that I am bringing my own disinfectant tomorrow before they stick anything else in my ear. More kids have on masks today. The funny thing with the kids wearing masks, as I observed yesterday, is that they take it off in the classrooms. It's like their parents told them to wear it and they wore it just long enough to appease them. It's very amusing. I learned today that if any more cases of the swine flu hit Korea, then they are closing all the schools. Good grief. I mean how long can they do that? The flu in the US stays around for months. Are they going to keep the schools closed for months? The Korean's are very serious about this. I read a blog yesterday about a Hogwon teacher (Private Academies) that caught the Swine flu in Seoul. The doctor put him on a regiment of medicine and told him to check back in a week. His temperature was gone after the week. The school was not satisfied and said that he needed to stay home longer. He said fine, but I should still get paid because this is your choice for me to stay home. The administration threatened to fire him and five hours later they called him and did fire him. They stated the reasons that parents were threatening to pull their kids out if he came back. Ok, completely unfair and unnecessary. First, if the doctor cleared him then that should have been enough. Second, since he has had the flu already, he is the least likely to get it again. The children's parent's are more likely to give their kids the flu then this teacher at this point. The point of this is just to explain the seriousness that the Korean's are taking this. These are the same people that believe that fans can cause death by hypothermia, so I guess the Swine flu is a bigger deal than that! In their defense, there are millions of people squeezed very tightly together here. If there was to be a mass epidemic in one of the countries of the pandemic, it would probally be here. It is a good thing that the swine flu was not as severe as first thought. I just hope this whole scare will be over soon.

Kimchi

Kimchi. Ahh Kimchi- it's either a complete love or a complete hate. Kimchi is a staple dish here in Korea. Korean's eat kimchi with almost every meal and I really mean almost every one.. It is a taste that you learn to crave. I had never had kimchi before I came here but I was warned about it. Most kimchi is made from cabbage but that is not all. Kimchi is also commonly made with cucumbers, radishs, or turnips. Not to mention all the types of kimchi that I have eaten that I really don't know what vegetable was used in there. My warnings included "it is rotted cabbage (false)"," they bury it for months or years (true)", "it is way to spicy (false-well it is spicy though)". Kimchi is a very spicy food. It should be- the main ingredient is red pepper. There are so many different recipes for kimchi that I will not even go into. Common ingredients are sea salt, onion, garlic, anchovy, and brine. Alot of work goes into the making of kimchi. There is a kimchi making demonstration in Seoul that I have not made it to yet, but I will. Apperantly, it is popular for the women to get together and make kimchi. Here is the kicker with kimchi- the fermentation. Kimchi has to ferment for at least three days, preferablly a month or so, and it is best within 2-3 years. Ok, so they do bury the kimchi for up to three years. THey have special pots that it is buried in. Kind of crazy when you think about it. But is it really? Our ancestors used to hang meat up for long periods of time. That sounds crazy now, but it was the norm back then. Kimchi has been around for over 3,000 years. That is along time for a recipe to stay around. The magazine Health named kimchi in its list of top five "World's Healthiest Foods" for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly reducing cancer growth. They must be doing something right then! There is a belief here that kimchi prevents Koreans from getting certain diseases including the flu. There are videos on youtube about the Kimchi warrier. I showed my class one on the kimchi warrier fighting off the swine flu. Is it true? Maybe. There haven't been any cases of the swine flu here. It could be just careful prevention, but who is to rule out kimchi?

I found this information on a kimchi website, "One study conducted by Seoul National University claimed that chickens infected with the H5N1 virus, also called avian flu, recovered after eating food containing the same bacteria found in kimchi. However, the veracity of these results has been questioned due to the very small sample size of only a handful of chickens and the fact that no subsequent research supported the claims. During the 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia, many people even believed that kimchi could protect against infection, although there was no scientific evidence to support this belief. However, in May 2009, the Korea Food Research Institute, Korea’s state food research organization, said they had conducted a larger study on 200 chickens, which supported the efficacy of kimchi in fighting off avian flu.

So we don't really know either way. We do know that it is healthy though and therefore I will continue eating it. My first taste has turned into a love of a food that I did not know anything about. Kimchi will probally be the thing I miss most when I head home! The true benefits of Kimchi may remain a mystery to me but the taste sure doesn't!

Things I will apreciate more

I have come to really appreciate the small things since I have been in Korea. There are so many things that are different or things that Korea does not have that the United States does. The first thing is pickles. Anybody that knows me know that my favorite food is pickles and I would probally die without them. Korean pickles are not real pickles. They taste like bread aand butter pickles and I do not like those. Thank Goodness for the base. When I finally got a pickle, it was so wonderful that iI will never not appreciate pickles again. This goes for popsicles-well flavor ice too. Korea popsicles are real fruit popsicles- there is no biting them and getting a bite of ice- just a bite of a frozen smushy fruit. I think the biggest thing that i will appreciate when I get home is the bathtub. Since my whiole bathroom is the shower and all I have is the shower head, I do not have a bath tub. I miss laying in hot water reading a book with bubbles in the bathtub and a wine glass at my side. Ahh... Another thing is the dryer. I absolutley hate hanging my clothes up and waiting two days for them to dry. Not fun. I am an American. I like instant gratification. I do not have the patience to wait on the clothes to dry!! I miss my oven. I do not have an oven so nothing can be baked, or roasted. I can not make desserts or casseroles. My biggest thing is how do i cook thanksgiving dinner for my husband without an oven? My wonderful best friend Bree suggested a fryer. I can just see me out on the Sidewalk cooking a turkey for thanksgiving. I'm sure the Korean's will get a kick out of that one!! LOL. I miss television. I have become so dependent on ovguide, project free tv, and all the other free tv internet streams. The idea of watchiung tv unpixilated is proposterous!!! I can not wait. COrey and I have joked that we will not leave the couch and the tv for a week straight when we get home. Driving is a big thing I miss. To just get in your car, crank up the tunes, and drive. At least Corey has a car here. The smell of gasoline when he was filling up gave me such a warm feeling of home. It's wierd how smells can trigger memories

So although I am really enjoying Korea, there are definatly things I miss. So tonight watch tv, make brownies, dry your clothes, go for a drive and think of me!!

Korean Yoga

So I have been taking a yoga class for about a month here now. Yoga in Korea is different than the Yoga I was taught in America. Maybe I was taught wrong or maybe it is just different, who knows. Anyways, so my yoga class is at the gym within walking distance from my class. I go three times a week and my Korean co-teacher takes it with me. I haven't got to go in a week since I have been sick so I am looking forward to today's class. The breathing was a difference to me in yoga. I was taught that in Yoga, you are supposed to sound like Yoda when you breathe. Yet I made the noise while breathing and my teacher tolkd me not to. My teacher can speak a little bit of English luckily. In class he uses no english so most of the time I look over at my neighbor or he comes and places my body in the positions that he wants me to be in. All the people in my class are older than me- two of them look to be at least 60 or 70 years old. The oldest lady in there is probally the most flexible. Everytime I look at her, her legs are over her head or she is doing something that my body completley refuses to do. I don't know any American's her age that can do what she can do. Or any people my own age for that matter! Yoga here is just as soothing as at home. The positions are different and there is no mantra or namastae (if I spelled that right) as there is at home. The word that gets said often is mescal. I don't know what it really means but I have figured out if he says mescal, it is time to switch positions! The people in my class can not understand me so every once in awhile the teacher will ask me the new Korean words I have learned. Last time I replied- Pay go paw (which means I'm hungry) and the whole class laughed at me. To them I am just the little foreigner (weiggoogan) that is attempting to do Korean yoga with them. The more I have gone to class the more flexible I have gotten and the less that the teacher has to put me in a body position. I think that the repetiveness of the words allows me to figure out what position I should be in next. Anyways, the class is a lot of fun and I am very glad that I have been able to experience an Asian yoga class.

Teachers Overnight Retreat

So last weekend I went on a teachers trip. About half of the teachers, the principal, vice principal, and the two handymen loaded up on a bus and off we went. I realized that this was not going to be what I expected when I saw the case of beer and the teachers offered me glasses of rasberry and strawberry wine. The wine was so sweet and wonderful. I had never tasted wine like that. I wish I could remember the name of the town we went to first. It was a town right on the Pacific Ocean. When we got in town the first thing that we did was go to a resteraunt that is famous for its tof because it is made with seawater. Tof is made from beans and I really did not like it. Now I have had no problems eating Korean food, but this trip was a different story. It started with the tof and progressed from there. After we ate (well, they ate-lol) we had this traditional corn liquor. The liquor is usually made from rice so it is special when it is made from corn. It was actually pretty good but it smelled just like cooked corn. After lunch we went to an old Korean house where the man from the 5,000 won and the woman from the 50,000 won lived. The man was a philospher and the woman was his mother. She was special because she is known for her paintings and for her mothering abilities. She is special becuase not many women are honored in Korea. For her to be placed on the new 50,000 won was a very big deal. From there we headed to Naksan Buddhist Temple. I had been wanting to go to a Buddhist temple so I was thrilled when they said that we were going. It was honestly the most spectectular thing I had ever seen. I had such a peace being there. Looking at the giant Buddha gave me such an awe. Now Buddhists are big on wishes so I probally made 5 wishes there. The first was walking down a wish path.The second is standing in front of the giant Buddha. The third was at the Wishing Pond. The fourth was making a donation and staring at the giant Buddha through a pane of glass in a shrine. The fifth was at a different shrine. I should have so much luck from this!! There were people lighting candles and giving food to the Giant Buddha and in the shrines. It was really neat to see how much these people beleived in their faith. The temple is high up on a mountain because one of the kings did not like buddhism so he made them put the temples out of the way and hidden. Now even though the temple is a long and steep walk, there were so many old people coming to pray. It was amazing.
Now being on the sea, in the town there were dried squid shops everywhere. They sold dried squid, octopus, shrimp, sting-ray, and who knows what else. Koreans love to eat this. Now I have a fairly strong stomach when it comes to food, but these stores had the strongest grossest smell I had ever smelled. It litterally smelled like burning bodies. The teachers told me that many of the older people that were around during the Korean war can not eat this because it reminds them of the bodies. The smell is that strong. I tried the squid and the octopus and the taste was not horrible, but I could not eat it because of the smell. I got to the point that every store we walked by I held my breath. It was horrible. For dinner, we went to a sashimi resteraunt. Now on an ordinary day, I love sashimi. It is one of my favorite foods. Not this day. Everything I tasted, tasted like the way the squid smelled. I was sick from it and couldn't eat. Luckily when my coteachers finished their meal, they took me for a walk on the beach. I could not even go back in the resteraunt. Talk about embarassing. Following dinner, we went to a bar that had a karokee room. Koreans love karokee, singing and dancing. It was a lot of fun. They made me sing though-- Finally we went to our hotel. I roomed with 4 other teachers. Now Korean hotel rooms are different. There are no beds. There were blankets in the closet that we put on the floor. My pictures show this. Suprisingly, even though I was sleeping on the floor, I slept great.
The next day we went to Mt. Seorak. This place was absolutley breathtaking. The mountains were so green and so high. Very beautiful. We rode a cable car to the top of the mountain where there was an amzing view. It was foggy so I didn't even get how beautiful it really could be. After that we went to Shinhung Temple. This temple was neat because their was a prayer ceremony going on. 49 days after a buddhist dies, they do a special ceremony where the guests offfer gifts to Buddha and to the dead. They then burn all the dead's belongings. They were in one of the shrines and one monk was banging on this drum and the other was doing the most amazing chanting. Very spirtual. The people were all bowing. After they had been in there awhile, they left the the shrine and marched over to the furnace thing where they burned the dead man's beloingings. It was very neat. Another cool thing I did there was to write my wishes on a cement shingle. It is believed that if you write your wishes on here, they will come true. The shingles are used to roof the temples. The temples roofs are many layers high of these things. I wished for a happy marriage, beautiful children, and the health and happiness of my friends and family. My other wish that i made while I was there was made by stacking small rocks on top of each other. Stack rocks, make a wish. There were stacks of rocks everywhere! After that we went and stuck our feet in the river for awhile to cool off. We then went to lunch where we had my favorite Korean meal- Bibimbab (or however you spell it). This is rice with vegtables put on top. The vegetables are always so good and these especially because they were mountain vegetables. The only thing I can recognize is bean sprouts and mushrooms. The others are a mystery to me. We headed home after that.
I really enjoyed this trip because it gave me such a cuture and history study. Buddhism has always been this fascinating religion to me but I had never known much about it. Now I feel like I have a decent grasp on it. It was also neat to see some of the historical artifacts at the people's house that we went to. Some of thier artifacts resembled ours, but many of them were unfamilar to me. It was nice having my co-teachers there to explain everything to me. It was also nice to completely leave my comfort zone on this trip. I had no idea what to expect but I went anyways. I may not have liked most of the food, but at least I tried it. I slept on the floor. I tried to emerse myself in the Korean traditions and whether I achieved it or not at least I tried. I think that being here in Korea is helping me figure out so many different things about myself. To think it was such a huge suprise that I agreed to go to Korea- I would not have done it without Corey. But now, I took this trip alone. I am teaching alone. Half the time I am living alone. Korea is helping me figure out how strong I am.

American and Korean Culture

I have been working on a culture study for my classes and the more I think about the differences in Western and Korean culture, the more differences that I notice. Korean children and American children have many differences. In Korea, the kids do not have a lunch room and lunch is served in thier classrooms. This is not your average school lunch either. Everyday there is rice, soup, kimchi, 2-3 other dishes, and fresh fruit for dessert. And the funny thing is that the food is wonderful! In America, many kids eat school breakfast and ride a bus to school. Here breakfast is not offered and there is no such thing as school buses. Since everyone lives in apartment buildings, the children are close to their school. In the mornings, you see lines of Korean children walking to school. This includes even the little kindergardener's. In America, you don't usually see kindergardeners walking on busy roads by themselves. Even though the parents allow their kids to walk by themselves, parents are much more involved in their childrens lives here. All parents want their kids to go to school to be a teacher. The reason for this is, in most professions the workers are fired at age 45. They have to then go find a lower paying job. Teachers are not fired for their age and recieve the best pension when they retire. Teachers are expected to be the most moral people in Korea. They also are paid in the upper payscale range. This is extremely different from our teachers who make next to nothing! Parents send thier children to Academy afterschool. Basically, this is just more school. There is English Academy, Math Academy, and so on. Most children do not get home till 10-11 pm and bed times are usually 12. For high schoolers, they do not get home till 1:00. This is dedication at it's highest. High Schoolers spend their whole time in high school preparing for the SAT. The material on the exam is what is taught, and then the students spend the rest of their time in the library studying. This is every highschooler-not just a select few. This is amazing to me considering when I was in high school, I didn't even have to study and got A's. When 3:00 hit, I was done with school as were most of you, I know!! In Korea, the husbands do not usually get home till 11:00. They work extremely long hours. It just seems that these people have a much better work ethic than most Americans. They work and study long hours, and that is just normal for them. Another interesting thing is that Korean's do not like the number 4. All of the Elevators have an F instead of 4. 4 is a Chinese symbol for death and Korean's use many Chinese symbols. They believe that f they live on the fourth floor then they are likely to die. Probally the wierdest thing to me here is the fans. The fans have an automatic shutoff after 2 hours. Korean's believe that leaving a fan on all night will cause hypothermia and death. I read an article saying that many deaths are attributed to fans and autospys are not performed. There has been alot of controversy because these "fan deaths" have other orgins. Another thing is that they do not have guns here (well- excluding the black market of course). The biggest difference in culture is that America is such a sports based country where here sports are secondary to academics. Soccer, baseball, and Takewondo are the biggest sports here. These are just some of the differences. As I discover or remember more, I will write more.

Korean Doctor Visit

Ok, as most of you know I have been sick this week. I was terrified to go to a Korean Docctor after reading stories on the internet and to get to the army base, I have to get on two trains. Who wants to get on two trains when they are sick? Not me, so I convinced myself that I would get better in a day or two. The Korean teachers were worried about me, so on the first day of my cold I was handed a package of chinese herbs and a black bottle of some unidentified liquid. I was told to take a sip of the liquid and then pour the herbs in my mouth and swallow. Oh my gosh- it was the worst. The herbs were not the worst part it was the horrible black liquid. It was thick like syrup and super bitter. They told me it would heal me and suprisingly that day I felt better. The next morning was another story. I made it through another day of classes and they offered to take me to the doctor and I refused. Day 3 of my cold, I woke up with the worst sore throat. I had no voice and the cough progressed. On this day I asked my Korean co-teacher if she would take me to the doctor. She agreed and said that we would go after classes were over. I struggled through the day but made it. We left the school and we showed up to the Ears, Nose, and Throat doctor. We walked right in and ther ladies at the counter asked for my alien card. The next 5 minutes I stared into space as my co-teacher and the ladies talked about me. I was brought immediatley into the doctors room. The doctor's room consisted of a chair (similar to the dentist), his desk, computer, and a video camera. Luckily he spoke some english so I was not completley in the dark about what was going on. He did the normal check (when you tell a doctor that you have a cold) but then he put a video camera in my mouth that took a picture of my throat. Way cool. He diagnosed rhinovirus and pharengytis- go figure. The problem was the next part when he asked my drug allergies. As I said codine probally six times, all I got was blank stares. The coteacher and him could not understand codine. Not a good thing when he is about to prescribe cough syrup! He typed in my prescriptions and sent me to the counter where the lady asked me for 2,500 won- equivelent to around 2.50 for us. I was amazed. I had been expecting a huge bill. The next step of my doctor's visit was walking next door to the pharmacy to pick up my pills. My pills were in what reminded me of lollipops all in a row in their plastic. Two pills in each connected plastic bag. I had no idea what the pills were. I also recieved what looked like free shampoo samples but it was my cough syrup. ( I later looked up what the cough syrup was on the internet because it had a name on it- It is a homeopathic remedy made of ivy tea leaves.) The pharmacy lady said 2,500 wons- again just 2.50. I just went to the doctor for 5 dollars, prescriptions and all! This is universal healthcare at its finest. I have read that the USA does not want universal coverage because Canada has such long waits for visits. If we modeled it after Korea, then there would not be any wait time! Just something to think about. After we left my co-teacher told me that her mother used to make her joop when she was sick, so she wanted to get me some. We went to a traditional Korean porriage(umm..not sure if that is spelled right) resteraunt to get joop. Joop is this rice based soup that turned out was actually really good. It is equivlent to our chicken noodle soup. So this was my Korean doctor visit- very different than America, but in a good way. I did miss my medicine in bottles with labels, but it seemed to do the trick on getting me better.

My first Korean Blog

So everybody has been telling me to start a blog since I have moved to Korea to teach. Here is my attempt at it. I live in Suwon, Korea's only walled city. I live in the GyeongiGi-do provence. I moved here with my husband who is in the American Army. I didn't want to be one of the army wives who just stay home (we don't have kids) so I found a job teaching here before I ever left the United States. I teach English to 3rd through 6th graders at Young Il elementary school. The kids and the teachers are great here. Everybody has been so kind.
Korean apartments are different than US apartments. I live over a chinese and italian resteraunt right across from Kung-Hee University. Suwon has 14 university's here. I am about 5 minutes away from the great bars here. I will come back to that though. My apartment is tiny- a studio apartment. There is a top floor, but is like a bunk bed. You can't walk up there because the ceiling is so low! The bathroom is completely different. There is not a tub or shower in the bathroom. The whole bathroom is the shower! There is a shower wand that you use and the water will not stay warm. I have about three minutes of hot water and then 8 of cold. It really sucks. I also never realized how much I appreciate a clothes dryer. I have a washer, but no dryer. I hang my clothes up to dry and they become so stiff! I watch tv shows on my computer- it wouldn't do me any good to have a tv considering that I don't understand Korean.
My husband, Corey, and I have discovered some great bars. My favorite is a fire bar where they light the shots on fire. They have a dart board that has been great entertainment. Also we have made friends with the bartender there-- He watches Sex in the City- LOL! I have so much more to tell but I will save it for next time!