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.