Vacation...

It's been a few days since I last posted and it's purely because I'm lazy and on vacation. I realized the other day that I don't think I've ever truly had a whole week off with nothing to do. Of course I have things I'd like to do, but I also have 11 more months in which to do them. However, I have done a few things, nothing special, but I got a little more sightseeing in. On Monday I went to the 63 Building and saw Seoul from above. It was kind of a hazy and humid day, but I still had fun and saw enough.
Tuesday I went to Dongdaemun Market and was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff people were selling. They also had street food and pretty much everything I expected of a Korean market. However, it wasn't quite as big as I had imagined, but enthralling nonetheless. I don't have any pictures because I feel weird about taking pictures of people or their stuff, but I will at some point. I was lazy on Wednesday and today and I didn't do anything except for go to the grocery store and watch Discovery Channel and fiddle with iTunes (yes, I just discovered the awesomeness of iTunes and an iPod touch is looking very intriguing). I felt guilty about not embracing the city, but I also wanted a few days to relax. Tomorrow promises to be an exciting day as I plan on going to Olympic Park and back to COEX (I need a power cord for my NintendoDS and they have a Nintendo store that hopefully sells the cord). I think I'll do something on Saturday as well, but Sunday is cleaning, lesson planning and chilling before going back to work on Monday.

COEX Mall

I decided, since it is the first day of my vacation that I wanted to do something, but not something too high maintenance or far away. So after consulting my Frommer's guide I decided to check out COEX Mall. COEX is a huge underground mall of about 85,000 square meters of space. They have a huge bookstore that puts Barnes and Noble to shame with its selection of a gazillion foreign language books (English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, you name it they probably have it). I wandered around in there for about an hour looking around, suggested the Odyssey over the Iliad to a 12 year old boy and his mother and looked at Korean cookbooks (thanks for the idea, Jessie). I also had a prescription filled in a matter of seconds and it only set me back 3,300W. This mall is incredibly large and I thought about a movie on one of the 16 screens, but decided against it. I will probably go later in the week when it's hopefully not as crowded. According to literature I read the mall gets over 100,000 visitors a day! That is insane to me. They also have a Kimchi museum, but I didn't check that out today, I can always go back, it's only one subway stop away.

Anyway, I finally figured out the ATM (thanks to Cheri) and then it was time to wander some more. I found The Face Shop which I guess is like a Bath and Body Works or Body Shop. I needed some face wash so I bought some there and also picked up some nail polish. When I got home I checked my bag and I had 3 free samples of stuff, pretty sweet. After that, I found another ArtBox and my love for that store increases every time I go in there, too bad the money in my wallet decreases. However, one can never have too many pens or journals.

I was starting to get hungry, but I knew I wanted McDonald's the second I stepped on the subway to go to COEX. Something about not feeling the greatest the past few days made me crave the smells and tastes of McDonald's. I so badly wanted to dive head first into a 10 piece chicken McNuggets with honey and an ice cold Coke, but I settled for a 4 piece spicy chicken tender, fries and a semi-cold Coke. The tenders were amazing. The menu at a Korean McDonald's is very different from American McDonald's. Sure they have chicken McNuggets (only in a Happy Meal though), Big Macs, McChicken, Big and Tasty and fries, but those are the only similarities. They have the spicy chicken tenders, a shrimp burger, a special Big Mac with special meat, berry McFlurries, chocolate dipped ice cream cones and some other things I don't remember. It was truly an experience and honestly, I will eat there again. It's hard to break a habit after working somewhere for 9 years.

After McDonald's I wanted to find a purse. I went to COEX looking for one because as much as I love my Kavu bag, I needed a change. I found a very nice Calvin Klein bag for only 49,000W ($48). It is brown and I can wear it across my body (a major selling point for me) and it's simple. Not too over the top and it holds my guidebook, phrasebook, cellphone, wallet, etc. It's everything I needed in a purse. I will still use my Kavu bag when I don't have as much to tote around (i.e. going to school, dinner in my neighborhood, etc), but the new purse holds more. I had told myself that I wouldn't spend more than 50,000W and luckily I found what I needed and wanted for less.

I have a lot of things on my To Do list for this week. They include checking out Dongdaemun Market and Namdaemun Market. Also, I would like to visit Olympic Park, N Seoul Tower at night, go back to Gyeongbokgung Palace when its not raining, Deoksugung Palace and Seoul World Cup Stadium. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I'd still like to see it, plus when soccer games aren't being played, its home to Homever and a movie theater. I have other things on my list too, but I think these are a good place to start. I already ticked COEX off the list.

ER Visit

Well, I had my first visit to a Korean emergency room today. I was there for about 8 hours, missed work and found out I have kidney stones. This morning I woke up in excruciating pain and it was on the lower right side so my immediate thought was appendicitis. However, the pain was radiating to the back and it actually hurt worse than my abdomen. Mr. Kim met me at my apartment at 9 and we went the the Seoul Medical Clinic and the doctor (who spoke English very well) told me it could be my appendix so I should go to the emergency room as quickly as possible. By then the pain had subsided some, I could actually walk without being hunched over and I thought, "ok, I'm fine." After an X-Ray I was hooked up to an IV, had an EKG and then I was taken up to CT. Turns out it wasn't my appendix, which was a relief because I really didn't want to have surgery. However, the kidney stones are on the move and that is why I was in such horrible pain. Later, after the CT I got pain medication and I am feeling about 500% better. I'm not out of the woods yet of course and tomorrow at 10 I have another X-Ray, this one involves dye, sort of like the CT, but they want to see how many and how big these stones are. I really hope I don't have to miss school tomorrow (I'll miss at least 10-12) because I only get 2 sick days and then my severance pay is deducted. Even in medical emergencies, thats the downfall of only 4 teachers. Good news though, I didn't have insurance this morning when I checked in so I was going to have to pay close to $1000 for everything today (the CT is $500), but Mr. Kim somehow finagled the people in to accepting my insurance after check in (he must have talked to a million people today) so now my total cost is only around $200. My test tomorrow will be about $35 and medications were only $13. Not too bad.

Kimchi and Bank Mishaps

On Saturday I met up with J.T. and we had dinner and went out for drinks. We met some of his co-workers at the bar. I had a good time, I got to see Seoul at night and also venture to another part of town. I left my apartment at 7 and got to Sinchon around 8. Sinchon (pronounced shin chon) is a lot busier than Kangnam and not quite as clean. However, the food was absolutely delicious and I had kimchi for the first time. It was fantastic, in fact, I could have eaten the whole bowl! For dinner, we had what I believe was budae-jjiggae and it too was absolutely fantastic. I also had my first taste of soju and I liked that as well, but that stuff is strong.

Kimchi

Dinner

Later we just went to a couple of bars and I caught a cab home, it was 2am and the subway stops running at about 11:30. It cost me $19 for the cab ride, but I suppose thats not too bad if I don't make a habit of it. I had a lot of fun and that is all that really matters.

Today I made my way to a bank to get some money from the ATM and well, I didn't get any. I'm not sure what I pressed because it was all in Korea. I was intending to take about $100 out and so I pressed the button that said 70, but then no money came out (I hope, I couldn't find any) and the receipt said 700,000W. So I brushed it off thinking no wonder I didn't get any money, I don't have that much in my account. Well, then I tried again, pressed 5 for 50,000W and nothing happened except a receipt. I checked my bank account when I got home and I'm ok, but I figured it might take a few days to post. So I'm really hoping that I accidentally told it to deposit money and I don't have 750,000W sitting at the ATM for someone to steal and my bank account in the red. I'll just have to wait I guess.

EDIT: So I found this on a Korean tourism website...However, as all ATM transactions require an account with a Korean bank, ATMs are not particularly convenient for international travelers except for getting cash advances on a credit card...Cash dispenser machines, called CDs, which only offer cash withdrawal services, can be found in subways, convenience stores, railway stations, bus terminals, and department stores.

Gyeongbokgung

Today I braved the down pour and made my way to Gyeongbokgung. It is a palace that has been in existence since th Joseon Dynasty in South Korea. It was built in 1395, but in 1592 the Japanese destroyed it. They burnt it down and since it was made of wood, I'm sure it went up quickly. However, it was rebuilt in 1868 and it has 330 buildings. It was quite magnificent. I had a very nice tour guide who gave me more information than perhaps I needed to know, but I learned a lot. My favorite part of the day was learning the hangul alphabet, which of course has escaped me now. However, it was interesting to learn the origin of the written language.

The grounds of the palace also house the National Folk Museum. I really wanted to check that out too, but my feet were soggy and I really wanted to be dry. I have a week off starting July 26th so I will be able to go to these places again, plus more. Here are a few pictures from my day at Gyeongbokgung...

Kimbap

So far this week has been going pretty well. It seems to be going a bit quicker than last week, probably because I'm not jet lagged and I've gotten into a routine. I also have Friday morning off which will be really nice. The kindergarteners are going on a field trip, not quite sure where, but I'm sure they will have fun. So I won't have to be to work until around 2, I think. Anyway, not much in the form of an update at this point. This weekend should be filled with pictures and some stories and adventures worth blogging.

Yesterday I had a fantastic lunch of Chamchi (tuna) Kimbap (kim-bop). It is the Korean version of sushi, but the meat inside is cooked. Many Koreans see this as picnic food and eat it, you guessed it, at picnics. However, its also a very tasty and cheap lunch. Only about 2500W ($2.50), less if you omit the tuna. In addition to the tuna it has seaweed, rice, pickled radish, carrot, something with soy sauce (couldn't identify, but it tastes good), egg, ham and some sort of leaf.

Delicious.

Subway and Walking Around

On Saturday I wanted to do some exploring, but it was pretty hot and humid (not that this is any different from any other day) so I didn't stay out as long as I would have liked. However, I did take the subway for the first time. The pocket sized subway map is in Korean, so it can be difficult to know where one is going, but luckily I have a tour book with the English version printed in it. I only went two stops, but I made my way to the Gangnam stop where I found a plethora of stores and restaurants. I found a really cool store, Artbox, that had all sorts of stationery, pens, planners, journals, etc. I bought a planner because I didn't have one and have already found it useful and I also bought a red and pink pen to coordinate with the stationery I purchased. All of this only set me back 7,800W ($7.80). I also found a really great store with tons of makeup and nail polish but I only looked.

Yesterday, I met up with my friend J.T. and we walked around my neighborhood for a good couple of hours. We probably walked over a mile and a half in total. Later we went to dinner at Momotaro, a Japanese restaurant right by my apartment. I found a Chrysler dealership and Hyundai department store along with Lotte department store. I will most likely explore the department stores at some point. When I got home last night I continued looking at walking tours of the city. I want to become acquainted with the city outside of my little bubble. So, next Saturday I will be taking a walking tour of Gyeongbokgung Palace (and others) on the other side of the river. It means more using the subway (and transferring!) and getting to see some of the historical parts of Seoul. I am planning on signing up for a walking tour once a week (until they are all done) in order to become more familiar with Korean history and culture. I am also planning on visiting the DMZ and a green tea plantation at some point as well.

My second week of teaching starts today. I have a few tests to give this week so I'll be in the process of writing those tonight. The good thing is that I have a folder on the computer at school that previous teachers have used so I can either take their tests, or use them to make my own. I feel confident that I can write my own test, but maybe for the first couple I'll see what they have done.