Nicole in Korea 5

Greetings Everyone!!

I know that it has been almost three weeks since I sent the last installment of ‘Doriannicole in Korea,’ but I have been extremely busy. First, I finally moved into my apartment! Yayee!! It was somewhat dramatic because I spent so much time in the hotel. I was dying to get out of there. While it was a nice hotel, certain things just erked every nerve I had. For one, the housekeeping went through my belongings on a daily basis. At one point, I came in and there were 5 housekeeping staff members in my room!!! Nothing was ever taken, as that would be ‘of the highest disgrace,’ but the nosey wenches just unfolded and wrinkled all my clothes, mixed them all up... and ya’ll know how I am about my stuff...I have particular orders for things! But anyway, I am out and in my apartment.

I was told that my apartment would be fully furnished. I am sad to say, that is not by Western standards. Fully furnished here means, washer/dryer, gas range, heat/ac, refrigerator, etc. So, when they handed me the book of ‘furniture’ I was picking out stoves (none with ovens) and refrigerators. J HAHA!! I was a bit taken aback but it’s okay. Definitely a WTF moment though! I designed the living room and it won’t cost much to make this place just perfect. The apartment itself is PERFECT!! I love it! I decided to have a roommate because I just didn’t want to get lonely when Korea started to get on my nerves. I met her in the states and we just happened to be here at the same time. It’ll be awesome. With our work schedules, we don’t see much of each other, though. This may be a good thing, never know. J The apartment is spacious (2 bedroom, 1 bath) with living room and kitchen! The floors are hardwood, there’s lots of cabinet space, and my closet is fit just for me. Lots of compartments and places for me to do what I love to do most, ORGANIZE!! We are on the 5th floor so we have a pretty nice view. I chose the apartment that was most comfortable on the inside rather than that which had the better view. This one shows some of the mountains, but not as much. It’s okay though because I am less than a block from the river, the park, the beautiful views, etc. And I work with an awesome view from my classroom! So, I’ll be okay!

Work is good. It can be a bit challenging because the students are SOOOO DAMN SMART!!! Damn those ASIANS for sending their kids to school for 100 hours a day! HAHA! You always have to be on point, because they will correct ANY mistakes you may make. Luckily, I teach listening, which is GREAT for me. It’s like stand up comedy. It’s fun, the students enjoy it, and they are learning all kinds of new words, phrases, and proverbs. I have used colloquialisms and slang during class, and the sponges that I teach spit them back out correctly almost immediately. I always say, ‘You get one....and you don’t know how to act.’ So one day, I said to a student; ’You get one little A and you don’t know how to act’. Later, in their creative dialogue (where they create a dialogue) he tells the other character, ‘You have one little fly in your soup, and now you don’t know how to act!’ I almost fell on the floor!! I was rolling! This happens almost everyday, and the kids spend most of their night just laughing and me laughing at them. Somehow, we do finish all of our assignments!


On the fun note, I went out this weekend to a bar/club event, and won a ‘dance off.’ I must say, inhibitions aside, I can shake my bum pretty well... (at least by Korean standards!). I met a guy who teaches hip hop dance here. It was awesome. I really had a great time. I am starting my Korean classes this week and I am going to take belly dancing classes starting in two weeks. (I just think it will be lots of fun and good exercise!) Somehow, I have broken my camera... so no new pictures for you yet. I have some, but I have to find another way to get them on the computer. And, I have changed my hair once again! No more braids. Pictures of everything will be coming soon to an email account near you. BTW, fall came over the weekend. It is officially chilly outside.

More customs for you all to learn:
Never enter a home without taking off your shoes. This means that you must wear easy on/off shoes and have clean, non holey socks! J
Women cannot laugh/show emotion in front of someone of higher status without covering their mouths/faces. So my female students laugh by tucking their heads, covering their mouths, and laughing quietly (although sometimes, not so quietly).
Always bring a gift when you are invited to someone’s home...anything will do (I brought some fruit from the corner fruit stand when I visited my coworker’s parents)
Almost all Koreans have cell phones (I do too!). For this, if you don’t have one, your status drops immediately. I just used the ‘I’m new’ excuse. But I had to get one soon.
To set up an appointment doesn’t mean it is going to happen at that time. In the US, if I say, meet me at the café tomorrow at 10am, and you say ‘ok’, it’s done. Here, I must call you at 9:30 am to confirm. And if I am late, no worries. No one get’s mad. When making such appointments, people always say ‘around 10am’ so 10:15 is fine. J Great for some people I know back home!
Finally, going to the Market is fun as hell. Everyone gets these little green toothpicks. And you hold on to your toothpick for the duration of your shopping experience. There are always tons of free samples. You can be ignorant about the samples. People don’t just take one; they stack the food on the stick as much as they can. They will also kill for a sample. They are jumping over each other trying to get the stuff first! They are yelling, and the employees are yelling... they don’t even wait for the stuff to be ready to sample! Funny, funny, funny! I fall right in line!!!

Also, there are some things here that blow my mind everyday. It seems that each day, I find some other smart, ingenious new gadget or something that just amazes me.
Parking space is limited, so they have these conveyor belt things that go around like a ferris wheel. Each person is assigned a number. You press the button (found on a remote in your car) and your space comes around to you. To retrieve your car, you press the button on the inside of your building.
There are people who are specially trained to do nothing but direct traffic. They stand at parking lot entrances, busy intersections and direct each car. Some of them are dressed in pink or white skirts/suits with hats and they stand in a randomly placed airconditioned booth. (Koreans don’t like to sweat).
We don’t use a key to enter into our apartment. We have a code. We simply punch it in and we enter.
Since you take off shoes at the door, there is a shoe closet at the entrance. All of my shoes, AND all of my roommates shoes fit in there with room to spare! It rotates too!
Moving into a high rise? Don’t worry. They can get your stuff into your apartment with Extender conveyor belts. Pretty much just lifts your stuff to your living room through the window!
ANYTHING can be delivered for $5. Most things come with free delivery.
I can pay any bill with my cell phone. Just punch in a code and it’s paid. My cell is directly connected to my bank account. I use it also to ride the metro. If it is lost, I’m still okay because you need a code to use it.
Krispy Kreme Donuts (very popular here) gives FREE donuts to everyone who waits in line! Fresh off the line! Most people (like me) wait in line, and then leave and never order anything. J I’ve become very Korean already.
Elevators- if you press the wrong floor, it’s fine. Just press the button again to clear it. No more stopping unnecessarily on floors by accident. But, be careful, the doors on the elevator close and they do not care if you are not all the way in!! I’ve been squished like 10 times now! I now know how to hold the button!


That’s it for now, kiddies! I will write again with a list of stuff to send me... J BTW, if ever you want to send letters, packages, other goods, etc. my address is on the bottom of this email... ‘Gyeonggi-Do...862.’ My home telephone is there.

I’m off to bed!!! Be ready to send stuff!!!

Doriannicole