Finaaaally... Sorry for the delay!

Wow. I'm sooo incredibly sorry to those of you who have been waiting for a post from me... it has been about one month exactly since I got to Korea, and guess what? I just got internet at my apartment today! So I finally have some time to work on this lovely blog. (:  Sooo, now the hard part is figuring out how to begin... there is so much to tell! I will try to just pick a few of the highlights so I don't bore you to death!  

My new home. Despite the fact this blog is called allisoninBUSAN..., haha, turns out I'm living in Ulsan, the industrial capital of South Korea. I found out the week that I was leaving that Busan (my first choice) had been filled up and they moved me to my second choice placement (Ulsan). But I am more than convinced that God had this all planned out far before I knew anything.. the school, the kids, my co-teacher, even the other teachers on staff at my school and the other english teachers in my city... I have been so incredibly blessed so far with amazing people and friends already.  I have so much to be thankful for.  My apartment is really nice, it came furnished with an american style bed, desk, table and chairs, tv, and apparently is a lot bigger than some of the other teacher's apartments!  I even have my own walk-in closet.. who would have guessed??  I live about three minutes (walking) from my school and I am pretty much in the heart of the city, so it's pretty easy to get around on the busses and everything.  Oh and that's another thing! I'm living in a city for the first time ever, so the bus, taxi, people everywhere thing has taken some getting used to! But I am getting really comfortable with all of it, so that's good.

My co-teacher. She is amazingly wonderful.  She is a Christian and reminds me of mom sometimes (:  She is sooo sweet and goes out of her way for me all the time.  She tries so hard to make sure everything is perfect for me. It has also been her job to make sure I get settled (internet, cell phone, alien registration card, bank account, etc. etc.) And let me tell you... that has not been an easy list of things to attain... we have spent many, many hours together working on this 'essential' stuff, and I know she is exhausted.  I'm pretty sure she doesn't get any extra benefits (money or anything) for doing all this either.  She is such a blessing.  One short story... the first week I was here, I didn't have hot water yet, because the gas wasn't turned on in my apartment.  Well, I mentioned it to her, just to see if she knew who to talk to. And when we asked the owner of my apartment, she said it would be at least a few days.  A couple days later, my co-teacher showed up at my door before school, unexpected!, and came in and said "Oh! I took a cold shower this morning to see what you have been going through and it was terrible! If we don't get this fixed today, you will come to my home to shower tonight!" Haha, it just made me smile.  She took me out to eat last night at the Outback Steakhouse, which was quite a treat... mmmm sooo good.  (:  Oh and she tells me about all the important nutrients all the korean food has... I get a lesson at lunch every day!! Haha, believe it or not... even the soup with the little fish in it is good for you because the fish are so small you can eat their bones and that has calcium in it... haha. maybe I didn't want to know that.

friends. I have made a few really good friends (other native english speaking teachers) and they have been a blessing also. They have been so much fun to hang out with and share stories with and I think we help keep each other sane sometimes.. haha.  We have been exploring around our city some, but a group of us also went to Busan last weekend, which was a lot of fun! We got to swim in the ocean, sing in the norebang (karaoke), and kind of experience a public bath house and a 'love motel.' All those elements made quite the adventure... haha. If you would like to hear more about any of those things, I would be more than happy to share! 

Well, I love you all! Thank you for your prayer and support. I am so thankful for you!

allison

I have survived my first week in Ulsan!

written on September 1, 2008

wow. i feel like.. crazy. this is crazy. i am reaally in a different country now and i think im experiencing a little bit of culture shock. i think that started to happen about 5 minutes after i was seperated from all the english speaking people. haha. but its good! i live in the middle of an alley right down the street from my school, but i really like my place, its a small, studio apartment, but everything in there is new and clean. i have a twin sized bed (a little hard.. but okay) and a desk, table and two chairs. oh yeah, they also provided me with a brand new rice cooker. i guess you know when your in asia when.... haha.

i just found out today that i dont think i am going to have internet in my apt until sept 20.. i didnt really understand why, but there was a reason. haha. there are these places called pc bangs that you can pay to use the internet, so thats where i am right now. its a little smokey and noisy, but its okay.

my co-teacher is what the koreans call an ajuma.. a woman who is middle aged, but has no granchildren (or children in this case) so they are considered the "most powerful beings on the planet" because they haven't been softened by motherhood i guess. haha. she is definitely an ajuma, although very sweet and very helpful. she took me to the store yesterday to find some of the essentials and then we went to lunch and ran some other errands. today she took me to the sea, which, by the way, do not be mistaken.. is NOT the sea of Japan.. haha. the koreans call it something else and apparantly get mad when the japanese claim it.. hahaha. so anyway. we also saw some old military smoke towers and then went out to dinner. i dont know what she ordered, but it was seriously a feast. for two of us! i stuffed myself as much as i could, and then she ordered some kind of rice soup... i was like, lady. seriously. you are gonna kill me. we were at a more traditional restaurant where you sit on the floor and we sat there for about an hour and a half.. im not gonna lie, i was in serious pain.. haha i dont know how they do it! i have made about 3 trips to the lottemart, which is like a walmart, so far, because i dont have any of the essential things. (towels, a plate, a bowl, food...) but luckily its only about a 20 minute walk from my apartment, so i haven't had to face the challenge of the taxi or bus yet.

my apartment is already starting to feel like home; im happy about that. a lot fewer people here speak english than i kind of was anticipating.. i think my only option is to learn korean. ha. although my principal said he wanted to start studying english so that he could talk to me, it was sweet. but in the grocery store and around the town, im pretty much left to sign language and charades.. i also found out that only 4 teachers at my school speak english, so that should also be interesting. well i guess i should go, i need to get some sleep before tomorrow, we have to go to school, but classes don't actually start until tuesday. my co-teacher and i are going to do some planning i think. i love you so much! and i hope everything is wonderful at home. i wish we could skype, but i don't think that can happen until i have internet at my place.. so ill let you know. until then, the pc bang will have to do. i love you! keep me in your prayers this week.