Daiso!

What?  Two posts in one day??  I'm spoiling ya'll!

So after the gym today, I went to my favorite Korean store- Daiso.  It reminds me very much of my favorite American store- Dollar Tree!  For those of you who remember my Dollar Tree obsession, this is just as bad. 

Now everything in Daiso is not $1, but many things are 1,000 or 2,000 won.  1,000 won is actually a little less than a $1, but since I'm being paid in won, I need to start thinking in won.  I've bought many small things that I needed for my house at this store.  In the past I've gotten candles, cleaning supplies, hangers, chopsticks, a dish-drying rack, magnets, and much more.  They have everything you can imagine from stationary, to beauty supplies, to dishes and home decor.

Here's what I bought today:

1. a swiffer-like cleaning tool with ten replacement cloths- $3
2. 3 cute spoons- $2
3. cheese soup mix (pack of four)- $2
4. 1L water bottle to keep at the gym- $1
5. absorbent "sports towel"  to keep at the gym- $2

Another reason I like Daiso, many of the labels are at least partially in English!  Until I did a quick Google search, I had no idea that Daiso is actually a Japanese store.  They have over 300 branches in Korea, and branches in countries across the world.

When I was there today, two girls ran up to me and were asking me random questions.  It was soo cute!  At first they asked where I'm from and what my name is.  We talked for a moment and they walked off.  I continued shopping.  Then they pop up again and ask what my favorite color and animal are.  We talk and they walk off.  This happened SEVERAL times.  I think they were just excited to practice their English.  Some of their other questions were:

1. How long have you been in Korea?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. Are you married?
4. Do you like______?  (the name of the band playing overhead)

Amongst these questions, the girls would point at random things and say the English words haha.

I've been to Daiso so many times that the jingle gets stuck in my head:  Take a shop in Daiiiiiso :)

The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her. ~Marcelene Cox

Working On My Fitness :)

I signed up for the gym today!!!  I had originally tried to go to a fancy, expensive gym.  It was brand new and even had classes.  I had difficulties trying to pay with my card either because it was American or debit.  I'm not really sure which.  I had heard about another gym from some coworkers, so I went to check it out today.

My new gym is conveniently located between the school and my apartment.  Location is very important to me, because if a gym is too far away I'll find excuses to skip.  It is located below ground and is very "warm" in the summer.  By warm I mean freaking hot.  Sauna-like= bonus! HaHa.  The gym does not have classes, but it does have all of my usual machines.  The ellipticals are not as nice as back home, but I found that to be true even in the fancy gym.

So when I went in to sign up the owner was SUPER nice!  He told me that three months is 60,000 won.  That's like $17 per month!  I was unable to pay with my card and I only had 55,000 won on me so he said "service-uh."  Service = FREE!  I got to pay just 55,000 and I'm signed up until the beginning of November :)  Plus the guy threw in two free days.  I love Korea!

I started this first workout off easy with a tiny bit of cardio; ten minutes each on the treadmill and elliptical.  Not even halfway through the elliptical and I was sweating buckets.  So need to remember to take a towel next time.  I was standing in front of a big fan to cool off, when the owner comes over and turns on the A/C.  I tell him "kamsamnida" and stand there for a good five minutes.  Next, it was off to do some machines.

I did some chest presses and flys first.  Then, I went to do a rowing machine.  I finished one set and was resting.  The owner comes up to me again and hands me a piping hot cup (dixie cup sized) of coffee.  He even brought the packet over so I would know what the mysterious brown liquid was :).  Now, I wasn't really in the mood for anything HOT, but when in Rome...

I finished off with some tricep pulldowns and free weights (squat pushes- thanks Amy!)  The owner made sure I had some water before I left even though I had already helped myself to two bottles full.  I get my very own permanent locker at the gym, so next I went to my favorite store for some gym supplies!

A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise. ~A.A. Milne

My Korean apartment!

OK, so I know I've taken FOREVER to post this.  The wait is finally over.  Here are some pictures of my Korean apartment:

This is my front door.  The cabinet to the right is for shoes.  In Korean houses (and some restaurants) you take your shoes off as you enter.  Mostly I change into a pair of flip flops that I leave by the door.  Sometimes I cheat and run back in with shoes on or put my shoes on while I'm getting ready. 

Shh, don't tell!

 Close up of the front door.  See how safe I am?  There is a hotel-style bar lock thingy, a dead bolt, and a regular lock.  Plus there is a locking mechanism on the screen door.  I use that because anyone can open that hole in the bottom right corner.  (Please note: this door is not super tall, that is one petite peep hole)

 Propaganda speaker OK, not really.  I have no clue what they're saying because it's in Korean.  The only time I've heard it so far was at 9:15 pm.  I was in bed.  It was very loud and angry sounding.  I was nervous that I had done something wrong and they were coming to get me...true story.  Below that is the phone where I can speak with the doorman downstairs.  The one time I needed to use it, (was trapped inside my apartment) he was not there.

This is pretty filthy looking.  I took the picture before the I scrubbed it.  This little light is so darn useful!  I push the top button and it stays on long enough for me to change my shoes and get outside, or get to the other light when I'm coming in.  Ugh so now I really want to go time it.  I'll be right back.  It stays on for 1.5 minutes.  Cool, right?

These are pictures of my "bedroom."  My bed is not currently in there.  I was told that it is better to leave the bed near the air conditioner in the summer.  So for now it is the closet room :)  It is fairly small so I think it would be a tight squeeze with the bed and wardrobe.

This is a picture of my bathroom before the massive scrub down and new caulk.  I am just so insanely excited to have a tub and not a "wet bathroom" where the shower head is on the wall and there is a drain in the middle of the floor.

 I love these "magic sponges."  The one on the left is a brand new sponge.  On the right is just ONE of the sponges after cleaning the bathroom.

Standing to the right of the fridge while looking down the hall.  The first door on the right is the bathroom. The second is the closet room.

 Standing to the left of the fridge while looking into the living room/bedroom.  The kitchen table is on the right.  There are doors on my balcony that go in the door opening here, but I like the open feel.

They left a bunch of yummy snacks on my table the first day.  I love my little, modern table!

My kitchen.  Pretty good cabinet space, but no stove.  If it can't be cooked in a pot or a pan, it's not getting cooked!

 

This is my lovely, little fridge.  Brand spanking new from LG :)

Close up of my gas burners.  I used them last night!  There was one pot and pan when I moved in.

I'm not sure who got to pick out my dishes, but they did a great job!  In this pattern, I have three bowls of different sizes, a salad plate, a dinner plate, and two mugs.  I also have another bowl that says "I love vegetables!"  I wonder if the subliminal message works...

This is my awesome bed.  The mattress is super duper firm;  like nothing you've ever experienced.  I think it's actually pretty good for my back though.  Again, whoever picked out my bedding, did a fantastic job!  That little remote is for my air conditioner :)

These are pictures of my balcony thing. I'm not sure that's what you call it, because it is flush with the outside of the building.  I don't have a dryer, but when I close both sets of doors, it gets hot enough to dry my clothes!  I didn't really take a picture of it, but there is a drying rack suspended from the ceiling.

Last, but not least:  my amazing little LG washer.  Everything is in Korean.  I don't have all the settings figured out yet, but I'm working on it.  Good thing there is a "play" button!

Alrighty, so now you've seen almost everything in my apartment.  For sake of accuracy, I took the measurements with my tape ruler.  Not including the balcony thing, my apartment is a perfect rectangle: 14 x 35 feet.  I was still jet lagged so there is a +/- 1 foot error rate. :)  From what I've heard, this is pretty big for a Korean real estate! 


Where thou art - that - is Home. ~Emily Dickinson

Quick Note

Everything is super wonderful here in Korea....adventures every day!

I get my Alien Registration Card today, so several exciting things will happen in the next few days:

• I get a bank account.
• I can sign up for a gym.
• I will get internet and tv at home.  Yay!
• I MIGHT be able to get a regular Korean cell phone with a plan.

Sorry this isn't much, but I just wanted to give everyone a quick update.  I will be able to update much more frequently once I get internet at home.  Love and miss you!!!

I don't believe that there are aliens. I believe there are really different people. -Orson Scott Card

First Full Day- June 23 part 1

My apartment doesn't have any U.S. outlets (some of the other teachers have them) and I didn't bring any adapters.  Duh, kinda important! Because my phone only had half a battery and I wasn't able to plug in my alarm clock I was nervous to oversleep.  So after going to bed just before 1 am, I woke up at 5:30.  I'm guessing it was the jet lag because I was wide awake and felt great!

I had plenty of time before school so I unpacked some more things.  I took a nice hot shower with plenty of water pressure!  Other than the stuff that Matt bought for me, there were a few things left by someone.  I'm not sure if it was the school or a previous tenant but there was a large bottle of water, large bottle of tomato juice, hot and spicy Pringles, grape tomatoes, and a bunch of bananas.  For breakfast I ate a banana and a pb&j sandwich.

After I finished getting ready, I met Matt outside at 8:45.  We walked to the school together and he explained some of the neighborhood.  Right next to our apartments is a little clump of stores.  Within this are two "corner stores," a dry cleaner, a fried chicken place make that two fried chicken places (apparently very popular here,) a drug store, and some other little shops (two hair salons).

Ok, so I'm writing this from a PC Bang (internet cafe) and there are a bunch of Korean men playing online video games and chain smoking like crazy!  I want to post a little for ya'll to read but I'm going to have to finish this later because the smoke is driving me batty.  Later gators!

I Made It!

Well, I've still got a few posts prior to this one that I need to publish, but I figured it would be best to catch up later.  I'm pretty jet-lagged so cut me some slack on the grammar and spelling ;-)

I made it safely to Korea last night.  Around 11:30pm a coworker named Matt and his wife Je Yun (sp?)  met me at my apartment and got me set up.  Matt even brought stuff for pb&j, toilet paper, and a huge bottle of water.  The apartment is not nearly as tiny as I was expecting.  It has seperate areas for the living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.  For now my bed is in the living room.  I asked Matt if I should move it into the living room but he said it's best to keep it where it is for now because of the "air con" (I don't know why but I love that they call it that!)

Matt and Esther (coworkers) explained that because my apartment is newly acquired by the school, they are still doing some work on it. When I got there I had a bed (with super cute comforter and pillows!) a tv and stand, table with four chairs, stove top, a wardrobe for clothes, and a cabinet by the door for shoes (already full hehe).  I'm still missing a refridgerator and washing machine.  My apartment has a shower...yay!!! I'm posting this from the school so I'll need to post pictures later.

Now Matt says that everyone needs a funny first day in Korea story so I guess that's why he helped with mine!  When we got to the aparment, the doors to my balcony were not installed.  He said "I'm a kindergarten teacher, not a handyman, but I think I can give it a whirl."  On the first try he put the doors on backwards.  I was unpacking some of my luggage when I heard a loud crash.  When trying to install the second door, he had accidently knocked the first one to the floor!  Luckily the door has two pieces of glass, one in the top and one in the bottom.  Only the bottom piece was broken.  Matt and his wife cleaned up the glass and even taped some plastic bags into the hole to keep the bugs out. 

After they left, I did a little more unpacking and went to sleep just before one.  Well, I'm off to get my health check...more to follow!

You are Pre-Approved for a Visa...

Last Thursday I finally got a visa that allows me to legally work in Korea for one year. Here is the process in great detail:


• Gather visa application documents:

1. transcript and sealed transcript from the university

2. criminal background check (this one was a pain because after I did the required fingerprints I had to wait for the paperwork to come back to me. THEN, I had to overnight the paperwork, a form, payment, and a return envelope to Austin to be certified by the apostille.)

3. copy of the passport info page

4. signed employment contract

5. Health Statement (hilarious!)

6. original diploma (I wasn't too thrilled about sending the original, but oh well.)

7. passport size photos

8. I also threw in a copy of my teacher certificate in case they decided later that they needed it.

9. I had to mail all of these documents to my recruiter who looked them over and gave them to my employer. I mailed the documents on April 28 (expedited shipping). My recruiter received them on May 4.

• Next, my employer looks over the documents, adds some of their own stuff, and submits all of my information to the Korean immigration office.

• Then, I wait for the immigration office to produce a visa issuance number.

• and wait

• and wait

• My recruiter finally e-mailed the visa issuance number to me on May 19.

• On May 21, I mailed the visa application, payment for the visa, another passport-sized picture, my PASSPORT (super nervous about that one,) and another sealed transcript. The woman on the phone at the consulate told me that she would call to schedule a visa interview once she received my application materials.

• On May 25, I had a voicemail on my phone stating that my interview was scheduled for May 27. Wait, what?!? Yes that's right, May 27, in Houston. Seeing as how I live a one-way seven hour drive from Houston, I was pretty freaked out. With only two days notice, none of my friends were able to get off work to drive with me. So I decided I would need to fly. I called to ask for the days off work. I then frantically searched for a flight that would leave San Angelo in the morning, get me to the 2:30 appointment on time, and then allow enough time for me to make it back to the airport. Easier said then done. So my brilliant friend Erin gave me the idea to fly out of Midland (1.5 hour drive away.) I was about to book the flight when I thought hmmm maybe I should call the consulate to confirm my appointment first. Thank God I did! I called to tell the consulate lady that I would be able to make the appointment on Thursday at 2:30. She said "Okay, and your visa issuance number is wrong." I said "What? What do you mean the number is WRONG?" She said "Well when I put the number in the computer someone else's name pops up. Just get the correct number from Korea and let me know." Sigh. There was no way I was going to book a plane ticket without knowing if I could keep the appointment. At this point I had to e-mail the recruiter to ask about the visa issuance number. The only problem was that it was 2 am in Korea.

• So the next morning after the tenth time of frantically check my e-mail, I had the correct number. Apparently there was a problem with communication between my recruiter and the school and one letter was wrong. So I called the consulate and the woman said that I could still have my appointment the following day.

• I booked a plane ticket to fly from Midland to Houston.


More to follow...

It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast. -Julie Burchill