Two weeks down...

Yay, our shiny new computer has arrived! Well to be honest, it's not very shiny or new (since it's used) - but, it's arrived nonetheless! We are very excited that we won't have to frequent the smokey internet cafe's anymore. Anyway, I think you will be "seeing" quite a bit more of us!

Well we're settled in now, and actually this little apartment is starting to feel like home. You'd all be so impressed at how clean we're keeping the place - no creepy crawlies here (well at least that we know of). The job is also starting to become a bit easier. The hardest part is getting yourself organized every day. It's like this: We have to send out report cards every month and we must have at least four test results for each class. It gets a little confusing when you have lesson planning, marking, book orders, book reports and monthly schedules to do on top of making tests and doing report cards. Then repeat for each of the 15 or so classes we both have. Luckily we don't have to do report cards until next month. We haven't been fired yet, so we must be doing something right (orrr, maybe they're giving us ONE more chance!)

Last week was FANTASTIC! I must admit that we had some very strange experiences but I'll let you be the judge. I'll give you all a play-by-play:

Ping-Pong: So, the week before last we kept on hearing what sounded like ping-pong in a building across the street. So one night we ventured up to the 4th floor wearing our work clothes and were pleasantly surprised to find an entire gym of ping-pong tables! Slightly distracting was the fact that all of the "pongers" (apparently that's what they're called) were dressed in uniforms. So, not only are we the whitest, tallest and gangliest people in the room - we are also the most unappropriately dressed. Anyway, we sucked it up and rented a table. Until the first serve was played out (compliments of moi) you could have heard a pin drop - and I'm pretty sure I heard one cricket chirping. Anyhow, we showed them pretty quickly that we indeed did NOT know how to play ping-pong. They, on the other hand, were AMAZING! They moved their whole bodies when they hit - very cool!

Seafood Restaurant: On Friday night our director let us leave half an hour early to go out for supper. She recommended a seafood restaurant that was about a 10 minute walk from the Hagwon. I must explain that in Korea seafood restaurants are just about on every corner (in between each corner there are another 5-10 non-seafood restaurants). The problem with the restaurants is that while indeed they have giant eels and fish swimming around in tanks in front of the restaurant, they look a bit grungy. And of course me being a Microbiologist, I have slight reservations against eating seafood in a place where there is more scum in the tank than I've seen in any toilet.

ANYWAY, we took our directors advice and went to the restaurant. So first impressions were good - lots of people and the tanks were really only slightly scumy. The menu came and of course it was all in Korean. So we pretty much did the "eeny-meanie" thing and landed on something that cost 30,000 dollars... I mean won. Within a few minutes about 15-20 dishes arrived. There were 6 or 7 different types of fish, soup, kimchi, salads, vegetables.... everything! Just as Andrew made the comment "If one more dish comes I think I will scream", another 10 dishes came out. We soon found out that the first 20 dishes were just appetizers. Needless to say we enjoyed it thoroughly and were very, very, very stuffed.

Made a Friend: One of the most surprising things to me since I've been here is the total lack of foreigners living in our area. I've only seen two so far. But, you will be all very happy to hear that we made a friend! There is a guy that lives near the World Cup Stadium (about a 10 minute walk) who is from California. On Saturday night he and his wife showed us around the area. The best part about it was that now we have finally met a foreigner who is completely happy living in Korea. Before I left I was so worried that Andrew and I wouldn't like it here and we'd sort of be "stuck" in our jobs. So, it was nice talking to someone who likes it and plans on staying here for a while (he's already been here 3 years).

Hiked a Mountain: This was my personal highlight of the week. On Sunday morning bright and early we hiked one of the mountains (I don't know the name) that is about a 5 minute drive from our house. It took us about 4 hours total and it was absolutely beautiful. Andrew will put some pictures up of the hike. We did one of the easier hikes as we are not in the greatest shape. Maybe in a month we will try a harder one.

Well, so far things have been great. This weekend I think we might go to the spa (world famous Yuseong Spa!) for my birthday, and next week we only have to work on Monday. There is a Korean holiday next week and we are going to take off for 4-5 days to see more of Korea. We plan to go to a Mask Festival in Andong (www.maskdance.com) and then to Gyeongju. Gyeongju apparently has a lot of things for tourists to see.

Being busy has helped us keep our minds off of being homesick, but trust me, we are! Send us a post or an e-mail if you get a chance. We miss you all!

Tara and Andrew