I've been living in Korea for four days already. Work hasn't started for me yet, so my days have been pretty low-key thus far. On Wednesday, I visited Emily's favorite Indian restaurant for lunch (they have an ₩8000 lunch special -- quite a deal, considering what you get) and visited a local bank to exchange the American cash I had. It was raining that day, so I also got a nice wood-handled umbrella for about $5, that would have cost at least $15 on Madison Avenue, haha. Wednesday night, I met Emily's friend Kim and we all went to a Korean place for Galbi (meat cooked at your table) and Kimchichigae (spicy kim chi & pork soup)... quite a tasty meal.
Thursday, I ventured to Hongdae for a day trip. I found a little CD store that has a decent jazz section, and picked up a Korean jazz pianist's CD that was recorded in NY with an American rhythm section. Looks promising. On Thursday afternoon, I returned to Ilsan and was able to get a prepaid cell phone. Although it's a used phone and a few years old, it has all sorts of quirky bells and whistles. Don McLean's song "Vincent" is the primary ring. It also came with 300 contacts left programmed in the address book from the phone's previous owner-- instant friends!
On Friday, I met Emily at her school after class let out, where I met her boss and co-workers. It was pretty neat to see "Emily-teacher" in her element at the end of the school day-- vacuuming, laminating, hanging up student work on the door (I helped with this, haha). Friday night, Emily took me to an Izakaya, a Japanese bar that also serves snacks. We had a yummy tofu salad with sesame dressing and a large steaming bowl of udon noodles. Emily sipped a can of chuhai, a fruity alcoholic drink from Japan while I had some tea and a coke. I really dug the tatami mats and dark wood and the overall atmosphere of the place.
Today, Emily and I took the bus to Gangnam for some shopping. Our first stop was Kyobo bookstore-- a Borders-style store with a large English-language section. I picked up a copy of Alain de Botton's Consolations of Philosophy to take with me on my vacation and joined the store's book club which gave me a 10% discount. Then we cabbed over to COEX mall, a sprawling Western-style shopping mall which was the biggest dose of sensory overload I've had since arriving.
Overall, everything has been going well-- It's been really really wonderful to be with Emily and it's been nice to have a little break from working. I'm anxious to see what school will be like on Monday... Hopefully my giant man status will not scare the kids :)
1 comment:
Sounds like you're having an awesome time! I think it's pretty funny about your ringtone... Is that Starry Starry Night? Also Alain de Botton's book on Proust is hysterical ... I haven't read the one you bought though....
And my old aquarium fascination is piqued by your second entry about the fish alley.... Unfortunately according to my lease, I'm not allowed to have a fish tank larger than 10 gallons... So much for this year's Science Horizons project...
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