The start of week 3

Sorry it's been a long time since we blogged, last week was very busy.

Last Friday we had our first full day of teaching. We were both observed by the other NSTs (native speaking teachers) at our schools and given some pointers and advice.
Friday evening we went out to dinner with the entire staff of our school--bosses, Korean teachers, and NSTs--went out to a traditional Korean meal where they serve you raw steak and bacon and you cook it on a little grill that is on your table.
Then, you combine/dip the meat with one of the dozen of side dishes on the table and eat it. Also, the meal was eaten sitting on cushions on the floor. There was also a lot of Korean beer and Soju (a type of Korean liquor similar to but not as strong as vodka).
After dinner some of us went to a "nori bang," where your party gets a private room with a karaoke machine. The entire evening was a fascinating cultural experience to say the least.

We had a relaxing weekend going hiking on Saturday and taking a day trip to Hyunduae beach in Busan on Sunday, a city that is about an hour train ride from Ulsan. Busan beach is very similar to beaches in Southern CA--sandy beaches and children playing in the water. The only difference is that the building next to the beach are high rise buildings rather than expensive beach homes.

Our first work week was exhausting but we both felt that we learned a lot about our jobs and the kids we will be working with.
We are excited to build relationships with the kids we are teaching and hopefully make a positive impact on their lives.

On Wednesday we finally were able to move into our own apartment. It is much smaller than Rochelle's, but also much newer. It was difficult moving in the middle of the work week because we did not have the time or energy to get properly settled.
This weekend we spent most of our time shopping at "Home Plus" (the equivalent of Wal-Mart in America but much bigger and better quality) for some necessities, cleaning, organizing, and trying to resolve some issues in the apartment. As of now both our sink and toilet are broken, and probably won't get fixed until late this next week (apparently in Korea a broken bathroom is not a big deal).
Korean bathrooms are VERY different from America. The bathroom is literally the size of a half bath (room for a toilet and sink) and there is a shower head right above the sink that you take off and rinse with standing right by the sink and toilet. There is a drain in the middle of the bathroom that all the water runs down to. It's lucky for us that the bathroom has a drain, because other wise our bathroom would be flooding right now from our leaking toilet.

On Sunday we took a break from cleaning and took a bus to Ilsan beach (the beach in Ulsan) that is about 45 minutes away. This beach is rocky and very similar to beaches in Oregon--more people hike and exercise rather than sun bathe or swim. We hiked for about 2 hours, then got some Korean food at a local restaurant. It was nice to get away from the city, get some exercise, and feel the cool ocean breeze, a nice break from the still, humid air in our area.


We will update more later!