A bit of a ramble - Seoul, Christmas, Emotions, Americans

On Sunday 20th I went to Seoul with Mekale. We took the train and they didn't check our tickets either way, so we sneakily managed to get childs tickets.  It only takes about 30 minutes from Suwon Station which is great. The metro system (tubes) seems pretty similar to London's, but I think it would still take some working out for me if I went on my own! It's efficient though, not too many people and lots of space.
We went to Insadong first, which is a quirky shopping area - arts and crats and pretty allyways (pretty allyways, what?) Went to this beautiful tea room which you wouldn't expect to see in a built up city! (See pictures on Facebook) Just before that an old Korean man handed us a free satsuma each and then tried to force us to buy 4 more. We pretty much had to run away from him, and fortunatly he wasn't around when we left!

After drinking some nice tea we headed to Itaewon. It's another shopping area where a lot of foreigners go. These two women started talking to us at the tube stop and one gave us a piece of her satsuma. They were very happy to find out that I was 22 which they said is the "flower age" or something. Sounds good to me. In Korea, it isn't rude to ask a persons age. After a quick walk around (it get freezing by this point) we headed to an american bar called Gecko's. I had a BLT & chips - Yum! Nice & filling as I haven't been eating that much this week.  Also went to an Irish bar packed full of foreigners. Had a couple of beers and a shot of Tequila, and headed back into the cold.

For the train we got a bottle of Soju (I am ever the classy lady) and a couple of mixers (beer & coke). Soju is the big drink it here - You can get it in the supermarkets in huge quantities for not a lot of money. It is traditionally made from rice, and tastes a little like vodka. Well, quite a lot like vodka actually. And most Koreans drink it straight! Got back and met a few friends in a bar, had some drinks with them and headed back to my lonely apartment.

I didn't really want this blog to be "I did this" and "I did that", but that seems to be what it is turning into! Oh well.

This week has been really hard so far. I'm not super busy with teaching yet, but I mean emotionally.  Everyone says the first couple of weeks are the toughest. I can do it though, I got on the plane, right? I think that once I get moving into another apartment, with internet, I will feel better. And once I have a phone too.

By the time I type this up, I'll already have moved!
Well yes, that is true. I moved a couple of hours ago - Have unpacked almost both my suitcases. It's a nice room, maybe slightly smaller, and I'm having trouble with storage space, but that is quite frankly my own fault for bringing so many clothes. The bed is HUGE, but unfortunatly doesn't feel much comfyer than the other one I had, which was sometimes painful to sleep on! I'm pretty sure beds are not supposed to be painful. Oh well. Buck up, soldier.

As I now have a phone I have been able to arrange to go out tonight with Tara, Blake and maybe some of the others. It is Christmas Eve, after all. The plan is to go to Seoul tomorrow for Christmas Day - Eat a real Christmas dinner, go ice skating and walk along the river. However, our reservations fell through, so we're hoping for a Christmas miracle. I have kinda been dreading it, because of how much I will miss my family, but at the same time I know I'll have a great day and I'm lucky to be having this experience =]

I have finally been able to ask an American why they say 'erbs' instead of 'herbs'. Mekale didn't have an answer though - Probably because it's wrong! I've only met one other English person so far. I've met two girls from Ireland and everyone else is American. I like it though, they get to ask me questions like "So, did you guys actually like Tony Blair?"