view from the roof

Here are two shots from the roof of my apartment building. I'm not sure if these pictures really capture it, but the view really is good. Also, it was cool because the air is always so hot, still and sticky down on the sidewalks, but up on the roof the wind was very strong, yet still warm. I loved it!

Daecheong Dam

I decided to bite the bullet and upload pictures from my camera.

Here are some shots from a ride I went on to Daecheong Dam just north of Daejeon. It took me a while to find the road that went above the dam, but I'm glad I persevered, because it was well worth it.



Wow, yes, I need to go back there. It's beautiful!

update

I haven't written on here very much lately, because nothing exciting has been happening. I go on day trips on my scooter sometimes, but usually forget my camera. But to be honest, after 7 months much of the novelty of living here has worn off and not a lot is interesting or new anymore. That said, I'll try to continue to look at each day with fresh eyes and find things to write about.


Anyway, here is the update for those of you who want to know since some things have changed. I quit my job and will start a new one in October, which means I'll be here until October 2008 now. Hard to believe, but I've already been here for seven months, so apparently time does pass.

My new job sounds like it will be really awesome. I'll be working at an academy for adults, so I promised my boss I wouldn't try to bribe any of the students with stickers. One of the downfalls of teaching adults is that I have to work a split schedule, which means I will teach in the morning and evenings, but not during the daytime. At first I was hesitant to consider the job for that reason, but then realized the main issue with my previous job was lack of freetime during the day, so I signed.

One of the perks of this school is that they get requests to temporarily contract their teachers out to teach at companies. My boss called me this morning asking me if I would be interested in such an opportunity when I start in October. I agreed to it, so 3 mornings a week I will go to a vaccine research clinic and teach English to doctors that work there rather than teach regular classes at school. We'll see how it goes, but it sounds interesting and is considered a sort of bonus since it's good to put on a resume.


In addition to the better job, my new apartment is sweet! It's in a very central location, and much nicer than anything I would hope to live in at home: 11th floor, good view, a loft, counter space (which I didn't have before), a SHOWER STALL and even a DRYER, both of which are basically unheard-of among teachers. I mean this place is sweet. I even have roof-access and this is one of the tallest buildings in the city so the view is awesome from up there. And all this included with my contract!

I haven't had to work at all of September, because my previous job replaced me a month early, which was unexpected. I only had a week's notice to move out of my apartment and find a new job. It took me about a week to recover from the stress of suddenly being homeless and unemployed in a foreign country. Once I got everything sorted out I wanted to travel, but couldn't afford it since I'm out a paycheck this month. It's been nice having a break, but I'll be happy to start working again.


Tomorrow, I am meeting Mom, Dad, U Tom and Madeline at the airport. They'll be here for about a week, which will be awesome. I'm a little worried about the food, since it's common to find octopus tentacles in many dishes, and everything is very spicy -- not to mention the chopsticks, which are metal (heavy and slippery). Well, I guess we'll see how they do.

So that's generally the update. Again, I'll try to work on posting more pictures, etc. (All the pictures in this post are unrelated to anything I talked about -- for example, I don't live in one of those apartments.)

Bathhouse

One nice thing about Korea is that you don't have to make hotel reservations anywhere, because you can stay in one of the ubiquitous jjimjilbang instead. They're open 24 hours, you just drop in whichever one is closest, and they're cheap, too.

A jjimjilbang is a public bathhouse, which some of you may not have experienced before, so I'll walk you through it:

First you go to the women's sauna, where you get nakie in front of everybody, shower, sit in hot tubs (or cold tubs), or the sauna or whatever -- for as long as you want. Then you put on the little pj uniform they give you (pink for girls, greyish blue for boys) and go to the common room, which has a marble floor and bright overhead lights, a snack counter, a kimbop shop, video game room, manicure counter (closed), etc. Great sleeping environment, right?

After reading for about an hour and a half and eating a bowl of ramen, you try unsuccessfully to sleep on the marble floor with a little softish block for a pillow like everybody else is doing. Then, since you're smart, you venture to explore the stairways which (yes!) lead to dark sleeping rooms. But since you're not entirely smart, you find the MEN's sleeping room but don't think much of it, cus it's labeled "cinema", not "men's", and you lay down and try to sleep.

Then one of the workers comes in and tells you you have to leave, so you muster up a few Korean words so he'll show you the women's room. THEN, you're really excited because not only are there little sleeping pads there, there are also blankets!! woohoo! So you lay awake for the next three hours because it's too hot in there to sleep, and finally wake up the next morning resolved to go home and take a nap.