exploring my new city...

DAY TWO:
My second day was once again, busy! Mr. Jun stopped by in the morning & wanted to take me shopping again. He browsed my apartment & insisted that I get a mirror, which was fine with me. I also attempted to explain to him that I need a converter for my Chi hair straightener. This is a time when it would have been nice to have a female assistant teacher to maybe understand my needs a little better. I also needed an adapter for my hair dryer because my roommate accidently took mine from our dorm room at orientation. Trying to explain all of this was a hassle, but I'm happy to say I'm finally able to wash, dry, & straighten my hair in Korea lol.

MEETING THE PREVIOUS "GET":
In order to get in my apartment complex front door I needed a magnetic card  to swipe in front to make the door open. This was of course, not on hand, so we had to retrieve the card from the previous teacher who lived in my apartment. Mr. Jun asks me to type a text message in English for him to Willem to see if we can meet up. We sit at my dining room table & wait for a response....time goes by & Mr. Jun then calls Willem and says, "I sent you a text message and I am awaiting your reply." He then hangs up. It took all I had to not laugh. Why the hell did he not just tell Willem what the text message said?! I guess he thought since we sent one, we had to receive a reply back in the same format. Of course Willem calls back & we pick a time to meet up.

I briefly meet Willem and learn he is from South Africa. Turns out he's staying in Korea for a 3rd year, just at a different school. Along with the magnetic card I need, he also gives me an extra adapter that his girlfriend had on hand at their apartment! He also gave me his e-mail and telephone number incase I needed any help or had questions. It's good to know people who have been here awhile!

THE SHOPPING CONTINUES:
Afterwards we head to Lotte Mart once again! Upon entering Mr. Jun recognizes two people. Turns out his wife and daughter were also doing some shopping that day. Which was perfect because I needed some female company, regardless if they could speak English or not. They decide to help me with my list. However this took awhile because they insisted I get the best quality, no matter if it was a bed sheet or a water bottle. At this point I was still unaware of where this money they were using on me was coming from. So, I let them pick out the more expensive things. They kept saying..."it is better quality!"

After shopping we go out for a late lunch at a restaurant named Jo Little. Seeing how it had an "americanized" name I figured the food would be somewhat familiar. I was correct...I had rib beef which turned out to be two beef patties in a sauce. Finally decent food in Korea lol. After lunch they took me for a walk to the lake reservoir on the mountain. The area we were eating lunch in is known as "Geomo Mountain Provincial Park." The scenery was beautiful and I look forward to going back soon to hike. It's about a 20 minute walk from my house, so that would be an excellent workout!

DC MART:
I finally return to my apartment & once again, organize my newly aquired belongings. While I appreciated Mr. Jun's assistance in getting me situated in my apartment, I was looking forward to doing things on my own. So I decided to head out to the streets to wander. I checked out the streets for a 1/2 hour then headed to DC Mart, the grocery store near my apartment, to buy more food. As I'm walking through the aisle I recognize the song they are playing...it's Britney Spears, lol. This entertains me as I walk around staring at the grocery products with great confustion. It's a little tricky to make sure you are getting what you had in mind because of the labeling. I tried to stick to packages that looked familiar to me, meaning name brands from America that were slighly changed into Korean writing. But, like I said before, even if it looks familiar, it always has a slight "off' taste to it. I end up with about 55,000 WON worth of groceries, which is about $50 USD.

PIZZA BINGO:
As I'm leaving DC Mart I notice a pizza place beside of it. Even though I had just bought groceries I wasn't even sure if I could make a meal with anything I had bought, lol. Mainly I had gotten breakfast things, snacks, and drinks. So I decide to grab a pizza. I had some cheese pizza at one of the bars during orientation & determined that Korean pizza is close enough to the real thing for me! I walk in, look at the menu, and the names of the pizzas are written in English, perfect! I order a cheese pizza to be safe because I'm not sure what's all on the other ones by looking at the pictures. I pay my 6,000 WON, super cheap, and head home with my arms full of groceries & a pizza. At this point I figure I'm doing pretty well for myself in Korea! :)

DAY 3:
Sunday, time to sleep in, yay!! But, nope not really. I wake up to the sound of buzzing and realize someone is calling me from the front door. It's Mr.Jun...of course! He's there to yet again offer to take me shopping. I instantly show to him that I bought more groceries yesterday and didn't need anything. He sits around in my apartment for awhile with a confused look on his face. Then I tell him that not only did I walk across the street, I also wandered around the city looking at different places. At this point he is baffled and says, "You are very brave girl." haha. I think he thought I would be scared, but I was trying to make a point that I did not need his assistance with everything. So he then says he has a wedding to attend & leaves.

I spent the rest of the day just hanging out at my apartment & came across a message on Facebook that said people were meeting up in Gumi to go to Outback Steak house. After finding the address online, I write it down, then ask my friend if he wants to meet at the train station & go with me. I meet Alex at the station, it's raining & cold by this point, and we catch a taxi. Luckily the taxi driver understood where we wanted to go & we made it. As far as Outback is concerned, it's not that amazing. I never really went when I lived in Texas. The prices were well over 20,000 WON for a steak and Alex and I realized we didn't bring alot of cash. So we split an appetizer that was decent, then headed home.

To be continued on the next post...

XOXO,
Amanda