Day 5 in Seoul – “Blessed” is the name of the game!

All 500 South Korean English teachers were told to meet at the airport today to get a ride in a complimentary bus to the orientation site. We were planning on taking the city bus an hour and a half back to the airport to catch the orientation bus, but instead we were given a ride! This was wonderful, considering we didn’t have to wheel our luggage 3 blocks to the bus stop, rather a lovely woman pulled her new KIA sorento SUV right up to the door of the hostel so we could load everything in! ☺ We jumped in, not sure who she was, or what the connection was, but just appreciated her offering to give us a ride to the orientation site (2 hour drive!) When we arrived near the orientation site, the woman driving us told us that we were going to be meeting with someone for dinner before she dropped us off. Minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of a darling traditional Korean restaurant.

We were greeted by an older woman, who apparently is the sister of the director of EPIK who directed us inside and into a private style dining room. Once again, we were not sure why we were getting to have dinner with her, but we were excited, none the less, to have another meal experience with Koreans! We had Bulgolgi (spelling?), which was awesome!

During the meal we brought up foods to try in Pusan. The woman who had driven us said we needed to try the live octopus, but every time she said octopus, she would pronounce it “octopussy.” It took EVERYTHING within us to not laugh out loud! At one point I had to get up to go to the restroom for fear I was going to bust out laughing!! During dinner it began to snow! This was a picture looking out the window from our table. :)

When we were finished, the woman who met us there insisted that we allow her to pay for our meal! So, let me just recap, we had a woman drive us 2 hours out of her way, and another woman take us to an expensive dinner and pay for us! We don’t know why we were chosen from the 500 other students to be given the star treatment, but we do know we felt completely blessed and taken care of today! ☺ This is a picture of all of us outside the restaurant.

When we got to the University (our orientation site) we were welcomed by Korean EPIK staff and were handed gray EPIK hoodies and giftbags with fruit, a converter, water, etc… Kevin was handed a LARGE sweatshirt, but it seriously looks like it’s a SMALL. I told him it’s a Korean LARGE! ☺ He just read in our handbook that we are going to a Korean folk village this week and are all required to wear our EPIK hoodies! Haha!! Kevin’s is going to be ssoooo tight! I can’t imagine what the bigger guys are going to look like when they try to wear their Ex. Large’s that are US mediums! I’ll take pictures, don’t worry!

I’m in my PJ’s now, laying on my bed in the awesome dorm room we were provided for the week of our orientation which happens to have a heated floor and a digital keypad for the front door! Kevin and I were told we would be in separate rooms this week, but were excited to hear that we would be able to stay together! ☺ Yeah! It’s like we’re in college, but getting to live together!

P.S. I’m wearing the MHS shirt that my coworkers signed and gave to me my last day of work… and am thinking of each of them right now! ☺ Miss you all!

Funny notes...

I was just walking to the kitchen to throw something away in our hostel and noticed a bulletin board by the computers with these 2 notes attaches. Thought I'd share these pics with you...


What exactly does it mean to "be tree?" Apparently it's a big deal if there are only 3 rules here, and "being tree" is one of them! :)


I wonder why the limit is 21 minutes? How random huh?!

Curling Iron + Converter = Catastrofe!

Well, I did it again! You would have thought I would have learned my converter lesson by my Italy experience when I blew up the hair dryer, to be careful when plugging American appliances into foreign converters... apparently I needed one more big experience to teach me a lesson! Let me first start by saying my room smells like BURNT HAIR right now! That would be because I plugged my curling iron into the converter and went to spiral curl the first chunk and within 10 seconds it had melted around the curling iron! I screamed for Kevin and yanked it out, only too find that the curling iron had melted onto my hair and chunks of my hair were coming out! Is this a sign of what today is going to bring?! I sure hope not!!!!

P.S. Yep, that's my hair that is melted onto the curling iron! gggrrrrr

Day 4 in Seoul... our last day of freedom!

We started the day off at guess where? Yep, Dunkin Donuts! Having breakfast there every morning has provided a nice form of routine and stability for me since moving here! I'm hoping once we move to Pusan my routine can be to eat an apple for breakfast and be a little more healthy! Anyhow, I took this picture as a tribute to DD and the nice times we've spent there over the past 4 days!

As you can see, I'm back to blonde... or should I say orange! Yep, that's why the picture is in black and white. I'm hoping it will fade a bit, to more of a blonde color, and soon!!! Good news is, apparently the Koreans love it because I got compliments right and left today! It was such a nice change from always watching Kev get the compliments!

During the late 60's or early 70's, I can't remember... my dad was drafted into the army and stationed in Korea for a year. He worked as a court clerk in JAG. He asked me to see if I could find the building he worked in at the military base, but they were not about to let us through the gate! This was the best I could do! Kevin had to take this picture in stealth mode... It's not even the right gate, but at least it proves I tried! Sorry dad!

After our escapade at the military base, we walked about a mile back towards the subway and stopped at Paris Baguette for lunch, a chain cafe in Korean. We usually aren't into going to chain restaurants while we're on vacation, but it sounded good, so we went! I was amazed at how this place worked! You walk in, and all of this food is on a table near the door. You just pick what you want and pay for it! Having food out like this would never happen in the States for fear someone would poison it or steal something! I love it! I think of it as a testimony to how safe it is here! :)

After lunch we went to Namdaemun Market AGAIN. Kevin loved the beanie he got yesterday and wanted to go back to get another one in a different color! (Reminds me of the time in Italy when he had to go back to Genoa to buy the shoes he saw!) He's a sucker for fashion, what can I say! After that, we were on a mission to find a Jjimjilbang and relax before we start work tomorrow! A Jjimjilbang (찜질방), incase you are wondering, is a huge, gender-segregated public bathhouse, complete with hot tubs, showers, saunas, outdoor pools, massage tables, full body scrubs, etc... We walked for a long time trying to find one, and finally were pointed in the direction of the LARGEST Jjimjilbang in Seoul - The Dragon Hill! The picture below was my reaction when I finally saw it! I was very nervous, especially since everyone we talked to said the women would stare at me because I'm a foreigner! It's one thing to be naked in a bathhouse, it's another to be naked and STARED at in a bathhouse!

Kevin and I at the entrance to Dragon Hill.

I will be the first to admit that Jjimjilbang's are AWESOME! If you can get past the awkwardness of being naked with tons of other people, they're AMAZING! Not to mention, this place was 6 floors and was all inclusive! You were given pajama type clothes to wear if you wanted to go check out the other floors after bathing. The other floors are unisex areas,and include things like: massage rooms, a pure oxygen room (which I fell asleep in!), a movie theatre, a TV room, a healing room, an internet room, a place to get a manicure, a sleeping room, an ice room, a salt room, a main hall with a magician show that was actually really good, etc etc etc... You could literally spend the entire day there! Oh and did I mention it's open 24 hours! The great things about Korean bathhouses is the fact that they are a popular weekend getaway for Korean families to relax and spend time soaking in tubs or lounging and sleeping as a family! There is absolutely nothing sexual about them... just pure OLD FASHIONED FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT! haha! Since I felt weird about taking pictures inside, I found this one online. This is a pic of the main hall, where the magician show was.

We just got home and I'm crashed on the bed while Kev is out on the town finding some dinner!
Tomorrow is the BIG DAY - our 1st day of orientation! We have someone picking us up at our hostel and driving us to the orientation site (approx 1 1/2 hour drive). We are thrilled at the special service we're getting, since everyone else is having to find their own transportation! :) As sad as I am that my 20 straight days of vacation are over, I'm excited about working again and can't wait to see what's in store for tomorrow!

Day 3 in Seoul

Well, we made our daily stop for breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts this morning! For all of you who said we would come back so skinny.... think again! This is what we ate this morning!

After breakfast we headed over to the subway, which happens to have it's own little shopping area that I always get suckered into looking at. I ended up buying something and the man running the store offered me coffee. I don't drink coffee, but I didn't want to refuse, so I said "Nay, kamsamnida" which means "yes, thank you!" I waited for about 3 minutes for the water to boil, and ended up giving the coffee to Kevin, who never refuses a cup of it!

We then headed over to see the famous Bongeunsa Buddist Temple, which was built in 794! It currently has over 200,000 lay members and numerous monks. We walked the grounds and even went into the prayer room. It was huge inside, with tall ceilings, beautiful intricately painted walls and ceilings, old wood floors, gold statues, candles everywhere, and hundreds of flowers! We grabbed a red mat and sat in the back, taking in the experience. There were about 40 men and women in there, praying, and reading the Buddhist scriptures on their individual mats. It was refreshingly calm and quiet.... until we left! Leave it to me to close the door behind me and have one of the handles slam against the door, making an embarrassingly loud "bang!" That was not one of my proudest moments!!




After the Temple we headed over to COAX mall, the largest underground shopping mall in the world! They weren't messing around when they built this thing! It's the size of 2 South Coast Plaza's or 2 Scottsdale Fashion Squares! We walked around, gawking at the shoppers and their amazing fashion... and when I say gawking, I mean literally gawking! I felt like I was in an episode of GOSSIP GIRL! While we were walking through the mall, we stumbled across a map of the mall, which happened to be a "touch screen, digital map!" You could legitimately touch the screen to find the store you were looking for. The technology is incredible!

While walking around Korea, we randomly see things that are written in English, but are just a tad bit off! They are so funny!


One of my favorite things I've learned about Korean culture is that boyfriends and husbands carry their girlfriend and wife's purses for them! I took this picture today to prove it!

Kevin, being the wonderful husband that he is, actually held my purse for a little bit in the COAX mall! I think he felt really funny, be he is all about doing as the natives do, which of course was in my favor this time!!! As a little side note story. We stopped in one of the restaurants in the mall, to buy me a diet coke, since I'm addicted! When the lady handed me the coke, she also handed me 4 packages of ketchup. How funny is that?! After we had enough of COAX, we headed over to Dongdaemun Market, a gigantic outdoor market, which is a mix between the OC Swap meet and the garment district in LA! If I didn't have to pack everything to go over to PUSAN, I would have bought everything I saw! I did get some adorable brown leather boots! I haggled my way down from 150,000 WON to 45,000 WON! I'm an expert, what can I say!

I'm currently sitting on my bed in the hostel typing away while Kevin is playing pool downstairs in the hostel bar! We were planning on going out tonight, but it's freezing and I just downloaded last night's episode of The Bachelor on ITUNES and can't wait to see it! Looks like it's P.J. time!

Anyakeysayo!

Jill