“WHAT ANIMAL USES ECHO LOCATION TO SEARH FOR FOOD?”

Today I woke up at around 7am in the morning and made my way to me training class. The class was on the far side of Seoul from where I was so it was time to learn the subway situation. When I got to the station everything was pretty much set up just like BART or something. You but a card, called a ‘Tcard’, and you load it up with money. The card is kind of like one of the ATM cards that works just by passing it over a scanner (instead of sliding it through a slot) so you just touch it to the gate and it beeps and you walk through. I had to make four transfers total on my way to my training. The first one stumped me a bit, but after I figured out the sign system the rest went pretty smooth. It took me one hour and forty-five minutes to get to my last stop, but i think tomorrow it may only take an hour and fifteen minutes. The subway was pretty packed. I took this picture when I first got on. Little did I know what after the next transfer it would be so packed that I could not easily get my camera out. The subways are not like any I have been on before in the sence that the come about every two minutes. Even with four transfers I waited maybe ten minutes total for subway trains. The other strange thing that I notices was that nobody on the subway was talking. Everybody was quiet, some had their eyes closed, and many had small Ipod looking devices that received live to signals….even four stories underground.

At ne point I was sitting down and an older lady was standing next to me. I motioned if she wanted the seat but she declined. A minute later a woman yelled at her husband and he got up and the old woman sat down. I was a little confused why she would not sit in the seat I offered, but would sit in the seat the other man offered. The woman who yelled spent the rest of the fifteen minute subway ride scowling at me. I was probably sitting in a handicap seat or something, who knows. Hehe.

The signs one the subway were really funny. They do not want you to leave trash around, take up too much room, or listen to loud music (and look happy doing so).

 

At lunch from my training me and the other teachers that will be starting at different school at the same time as me all went to lunch. I should have taken a picture. The disc we got was basically three parts. One was a cabbage that was with vinegar and jalapeno. Another was some cut of meat that was really fatty. It was the good kind of fat that my Dad likes, but some of the other people didn’t really like it. The last dish was some cabbage and chilli mixture. I don’t think it was Kimchi but it could have been. Overall the place was not that good and we all agreed that we spent way to much for what we got. I’m pretty sure we were in a part of town with a lot of business men that are willing to pay lots of money to eat. the food was not that great but the company all seemed fun. The training was very useful and four of the teachers are starting at a school just down the way from mine. I was so happy that the teacher went over the entire subway system as well as explaining each of the districts to us. It really made the picture clear for me and I am SOOOOO excited for this weekend when I plan on taking the subway to a district and explore for the entire day.

KOREA IS ONE BIG FASHION SHOW! It is actually kind of nice as well as annoying. Every single person on the street, or the subway, or anywhere in Korea is wearing really, really, nice clothes. It is nice because everyone looks good (especially the girls), but it is annoying that I am going to get lots of dress cloths and have them pressed and looking my best at all times. Everyone in the entire city is metro sexual. I don’t mind being a little metro from time to time, but I think if I just went out in jeans and a t-shirt I would have people looking down at me. Meh…

The buildings in Korea are huge. These are not the best example, but every building in Korea has many floors with shops in each one. Usually the lower floor is a food place and the next few floors are services. When you walk down the street you can not just look at the stores along the side of the street, but you have to look at the signs in the windows above you. On the corner of each building are signs sticking and running vertically that tell you the stores name and what floor it is on. This PC Bong I am in right now has a big sign that you can only see if you look up that says “PC 4F”. You would never guess that every single building is businesses from the top to the bottom. It is really amazing how much stuff is going on in a single square block.

More funny subway signs on my trip back. It was SUPER hot in all the packed subway cars. OF COURSE I had to look my best, and it was cold in the morning, so I was wearing an undershirt, a button up white dress shirt, a sweater vest, a pea coat, and a backpack. Sufficient to say, I was miserable and sweating four stories down on the subway.

After I got home I walked around about a ten block radius of my apartment. I felt very comfortable after my training today and I was super excited to go out and explore. I was amazed how much stuff is for sale EVERYWHERE. I think the basic way that it works is that about every square block can be totally self sufficient. If you walk for five blocks you will see five appliance stores filled to the brim with everything you can think of, millions of shops with fruit and food and fish in baskets on the sidewalk and in their stores, and billions of resturants with three little tables and a lady just watching TV inside with no customers. I don’t understand how any of these shops stay alive. I saw a shoestore that was about four feet by four feet, has a woman sitting inside reading a newspaper, and no room for anybody to even dome in. Do people really make money like this? I get the feeling that most of the people live in the shops that they own. They basicly just relax in there, and collect something such as designer glasses. If someone happenes to need something they will help them, otherwise they will just chill in their store and watch tv and make food. If you need ANYTHING you can walk one city block and find it as long as you are willing to go in some back alleys and find little stores. The prices are quite strange though. Some things are expensive for no reaosn and some things are super cheap. I ate a huge meal tonight for dinner and it cost me about three dollars, but when i went to buy an alarm clock the cheapest one i could find was thirty dollars. Apparenly appliances are very expensive around here. There is no walmart where you can go and buy the $9.99 clothes iron, instead an iron or a hair gryer will run you sixty bucks. But have no fear, it cost me a dollar to get most of the way accross town today. Korea is a strange place….

While I was walking around two young girls (that were of course by themselfs out on the street at night) smiled and waved at me. I asked them where a shirt store was and after they figured out what I was talking about pointed in the right direction. As i was walking away one of the girls yelled “You are a very handsome American man!”. Hehe, it is good in Korea. Now I just have to find some girls my own age that can speak English. It seems the you are about ten times better off asking a five year old kid for help rather than a middle aged person. I think many teenagers and adults know English, but they are unsure if they are correct and therefore will not even try to speak it out of embarrasment.

In Korea NOBODY drinks out of the tap. Even in your house the water is consitered dirty even thought the people at my company assured me that the water is perfectly healthy. Koreans think something about there being heavy metals that you can’t get out without boiling or purifying the water… You tell me….. Instead people buy a huge amount of bottled water, and buisnesses all have there water purifyer machines.

This is what I ate for dinner. Some Kimchi in the small bowl on the top, some simple veggie broth soup on the right, and some kind of spicy, sweet, seseme oil noodles on the left. It was really good and it cost me maybe three dollars.

This snack at the convenience store cost me a dollar and was really good. It was the first crunchy think i have had in Korea.

At the end of the night I went to a large department store and bought a shirt and tie. It is graduation day at my school on Friday and it is a big deal to look nice because all the parents will be at the school. Whenever a parent walks into the school everyone puts on their best face because if they parent is unhappy they will pull their child out of the school and put them in another one. That is the crazyness of the buisness that is the Korean education. Some of the kids go to private schools like mine all day, sometimes including weekends. Then when they are old enough for public schools they usually go to one or maybe even two after school english programs. The kids are really run raggid, but they are smart as hell. Today a five year old asked me how the earth uses gravitational pull to stay in orbit, and another kid asked me how dolphins use sonar to hunt. WTF! What kind of freakishly smart five year old kids do we have at this place.

I will leave you with this. On the ground floor of the PC Bong I am in there is a poster of this guy all over. I think on one of the upper floors he has a body building place. Maybe I’ll check it out and get my picture taken like that. I bet you all can’t wait.