Happy New Year

It is finally 2009! In Korea I am supposed to turn one year older (25), but I refuse. I only just turned 24, so I think I will keep my Western age for the time being. Stephanie and I rang in the new year in a hof and did the countdown with all the patrons. It was quite funny because after it hit zero no one cheered for a good four seconds or so. A bit of a delayed reaction.

After we left that hof, we ended up in a western style bar with rap music booming in the background. There was actually western people there so it wasn't as fun. Steph and I just watched the TV because it had my favorite Korean show on. It's like Jackass only not as dirty. Of course we had to hit the norebang in true Asian fashion where hits such as Under the Sea by the Little Mermaid and Dancing Queen by Abba were belted out for all to hear.

We finally ended at Titanic, a hof where you can write on the walls (at least that is what we did, don't tell) and eat sausages and colored balls of fluff. We drank more soju (its delicious) and played 3.6.9. You go round robin and you can't say any number with 3, 6 or 9 in it. Our high was 57, lol. Our night ended at 5:00am and we hit the sheets a little after that.

Now its time for Outback (we didnt make it last night, too busy napping and becoming beautiful) and some eye shopping also know to Westerners at window shopping.

I hope everyone had a great New Years.

Basketball

You can check out the official Ulsan Mobis Phoebus basketball site. It's not in English, but it's fun to click around. Their intro video is them all introducing themselves and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. You won't understand until the two Western players come on, but it still fun to watch.

Click on Phoebus TV on the top right to watch game highlights. I was at the November 19th game, but I am not in the video.

Click on Players to see the players' stats. When the page loads it will show you pictures of the coaches. Just click on the Korean on the left and it will take you to the players' pages.

Interesting and Weird Things I See in Korea

I will open my blog with Rain. As any foreigner knows, Rain can be a puzzle for us. He is odd, weird, and unsettling at times to watch. He is also so famous here and in other countries in Asia that fans weep at the sight of him. I was listening to his album this morning at work (what can I say, I like his music) and I encountered the song "Fresh Woman". I wondered what he meant by that so I typed in fresh woman, rain to see what I could find. The video below is what came up first.

Yes, he is wearing an afro and adidas tracksuit. Yes, he sticks his comb in his afro. Yes, he did say Hammer Time.

Did I ever find out what fresh woman was? No, but I am more disturbed by Rain now and I am thinking that he wants it that way.



Stay tuned for the birthday flour and kicking pictures. Girls are so bad.

Some Christmas Lights

Christmas may not be a big holiday here, but Koreans love to decorate. Take Lotte Department Store. It is decorated inside and outside. Here are some pictures of the outside.

Signs

One thing I enjoy doing is walking around Ulsan. It is a great way to explore the city and see the sites. My favorite part though is the unusual things that I get to see and experience. A singing man on a bicycle, several people wearing hanboks walking down the street (click here to find out more about hanboks, they are awesome), or my favorite of all: advertisements. I took a couple of pictures of these signs.




His promotional sign for his Christmas concert. Korean male pop stars like to bare their chests a lot.

A close up of the singer. Yes, he has antlers on his head.

Lee Seung Chul's video minus the antlers. Since he is a Korean ballad singer, he says things like "I love you" a lot so I thought there was no need to find a video with English subtitles, haha.


My new favorite Korean rapper. I think he is called Jeanx, but I can't be too sure.

His video for One Shot.



I also want to include SHINee's Love Like Oxygen. I know that this is a remake of an English song. If anyone remembers the English song please let me know the title. It is driving me crazy. Also if you want to see another remake click here and watch Big Bang do Maroon 5's This Love.

Updating my Photo Album

I know that I haven't updated anything, but today I have some time to do that. Just click on "Julia's South Korea Pictures" on the right and you can see what I have been up to.





I had to add this picture. It's a coffee machine in our office. Since I don't drink coffee I haven't touched it, but I thought it was cute.

It's right next to my seat. I am happy that I like the smell even though I can't stand the taste.

Bacteria of the Eyelid

Since Sunday my right eye has been hurting, but it wasn't until today that I woke up to my eyelid swollen. For the past couple of days it felt like there was something on the inside of my eyelid scratching my eye so today I finally went to the eye doctor.

He told me I have bacteria of the eyelid and that I have to take pills and put major amounts of eye drops in for the next three to four days.

I have been researching my condition and I have found that I possibly have Blepharitis. If you click here you can read all about it.

I am guessing that makeup got in my eye and that is what caused it. I am very lucky that it did not cause pink eye (knock on wood) and that my swollen eye has gone down a bit.

Forgetting Thanksgiving

I got several emails (one really confusing) asking me about celebrating Thanksgiving and to wish me well. If I hadn’t gotten them I would have forgotten all about the holiday. My birthday was the day before and anyone who knows me knows that that day is the center of November for me.
I can’t really remember celebrating Thanksgiving in Taiwan outside of school. Does anyone remember the one last year? Sitting for an hour while a man preached in Chinese and the co-teachers were made to sit against the wall like they were naughty children? You know you do. Or the year before that where we ate questionable turkey at lunch and my hair was insane? You also know you do.
This year I didn’t see a need to even mention the holiday to my co-teachers or wish people Happy Thanksgiving unless I knew they were American. Thursday is considered “Hell Day” here so I was focused on getting through it, packing for my birthday weekend in Seoul with Steph, and going to Korean class (my favorite part of Thursday).
When I got to Korean class they told us that we were going to end an hour early because they thought we wanted to celebrate. Most of us told her no, that we wanted to learn, but she said that the teachers had already decided so we were out of luck.
Natalie and I decided to meet up with some other foreign teachers at TGI Fridays who were celebrating Thanksgiving since we were being made by our Korean teachers to celebrate the holiday. Natalie is from England so I told her that the first Thanksgiving only had Indians and British people so technically she could celebrate it. I had only been to TGI Fridays once here in South Korea and noticed that the menu here is quite different from the menu in America and Taiwan. Very steak heavy. Natalie is a vegetarian and I don’t really eat meat anymore or Western food. I decided to eat a chicken burger and Natalie had a baked potato (It is possible that the first Thanksgiving could have had those food options.) I was so ill after that dinner that I don’t think I will ever go back there. I did have a good time though. All the girls were really nice and I got to learn about other people’s school situation.
So that is how I spent Thanksgiving: teaching middle school, packing, going to class, eating Western food and getting ill. Overall a good day.

Ulsan Mobis

I told Dad that I would put the link to the Mobis roster on here (basketball).

http://www.asia-basket.com/team.asp?Cntry=KOR&Team=1221

I think I am going next week to see them play. I will let you know how it goes. They play well whenever I watch the game on TV so we will see if I jinx them or not being there in person.

I now have two hands

My hand and arm are finally free. Bruised, but free. It's so great to be able to use them. Getting ready in the morning was tough enough when I had two hands (everyone knows I procrastinate).

Countdown to my birthday: 5 days. Yay!!! I hope 24 is a good year.

I must comment on my new found joy of Christmas displays and shopping before my birthday. It must be either two years of practicing for the Christmas performances in the fall at FuHsing has rubbed off on me or the dozens of Christmas trees around Ulsan. Majorly affecting my brain. I have even made a Christmas list, crazy I know. Its incredibly short, maybe 4 or 5 things, but perfect. (Mom I already sent you my list of 2 things. Dad, the list is coming your way this weekend.)

This year I am opting for the less is more, with my real Christmas wish being the Great Wall. I can't wait. I get giddy just thinking about the trip set for next semester. I spent two years in university studying it and now I finally get to go, YES!!!

Side note: The reason why I am super positive is because of the drugs they gave me at the hospital for the pain. They make me happy and cause me to see double. Good times.

New Ipod

I have the blue one.

My ipod nano broke this weekend randomly (mom I am sending it to your house so apple can pick it up from there). It just stopped working. I took it to the Apple store here, but they were stumped so I got a new one (and paid less money compared to American prices). The reason for my hasty purchase: I need a music player or I won't exercise.

First Hospital Trip

A story update will come soon. I'm still in the sling and cast so I can only type one-handed. I am going to the doctor tomorrow for a check-up.

30 second TV Star

This past weekend was uneventful.

I found a great stationary store right near my house. I walked in and realized it was just like Senseio and called Steph. She answered and I said "It's just like Senseio". She replied with "Julia, that is the craziest voice, it's like Gollum." I was amazing. It had everything from notebooks to hammers to folders to trashcans. The only thing I didn't find was white out. I just can't seem to find it anywhere.

I had to judge a speech contest on Saturday morning so I needed to get to bed at a decent hour on Friday which did not happen (so excited about my stationary store run). I was told to be at the school at 10am, so of course I got there at 10:05 thinking I was so late, but no. The true time was 10:30am and I was the first to arrive. I spent the time alone trying to figure out if the co-teachers had wised up and realized my tendency to be late and told me an earlier time or they were just confused about the initial time. As other foreign teachers arrived I found out they were just confused. Every teacher was given a different time.

I was expecting an actual speech contest, but what I got was a dialogue contest. If they could talk to me for 3 minutes on topic then they got a good score. If not, then they got a bad score. Seems easy right? Not when the topic is "On the airplane". There is only so much a flight attendant can get you. My favorite one was when a girl responded to my need for a hotel room with a balconey (all students told me that I could not have a balconey) facing the ocean. She told me that the hotel wasn't near the ocean. I then said I would like to face the lake or river. Whatever water you got. She told me to sleep with the ducks. haha. The only other dialogue that stuck out in my mind was from a boy student. The dialogue was about my birthday party. He had to tell me his plans for the party. It got a little uncomfortable for me and I changed topic.

The only other thing about the contest that warrants mentioning is the fact that it was colder inside the classroom then outside. I think they might have had the air conditioning on. I had to put my jacket and scarf back on while I was judging.

CoCo, but not the one in Seoul.
The best part of Saturday happened when Steph called me and said she found CoCo. ITs a Japanese Curry House that we adored and were addicted to in Taipei. We heard that it was somewhere in Seoul, but had no luck finding it. So I screamed when she told me she had spotted it while shopping. Yes, I was walking in the street where several Korean people stopped and gave me weird looks. I then did a happy dance and told her I would be heading there soon, like a day trip, lol. Our birthday weekend will be spent eating there continiously. Good times ahead.

I then arrived home and went to bed until the next day. I was supposed to go out Saturday night, but I instead slept of the cold I had last week. I now feel much better. Sunday I went to one of my happy places here in Ulsan: E-mart. E-mart
Its like Walmart only Korean. I bought some color pencils and a fork. You can get your hair cut, glasses, nails done, things tailored, and buy just about anything you want. The party supplies area was fabulous. I can't wait to decorate my house and Steph's house (haha, you can't stop me).

As I reported last week, KBS came to my Korean class to tape a special on foreign teachers and class sizes (not ours, but the students). They followed Natalie, my table partner in Korean class, around all day at school and then to Korean class. Because I sit next to her, you get to see the back of my head, my arm, and the side of my head in class. I taped it with my camera, but the camera could see lines on my TV that I couldn't, so if you are wondering how I watch TV with all that static, I don't. It's not visible to my eye, just the camera's.

Good times.

"Sports" Day and Heading Out

Pictures and videos coming soon.

Tuesday marked my first sports day in Korea, only it wasn't with my students but with other foreign teachers in Ulsan. I didn't want to go, I even asked out of it. My co-teacher's answer was that I had to go (I think if my principal wasn't at the opening ceremony then maybe I could have got out of it).
My co-teacher (still don't know her name, must come up with a nickname) told me the day before that I had to wear sporty attire. I quickly realized that I didn't bring any sports pants with me (Mom can you put some of them in the first box you send) so I wore wide leg pants, lol. They gave us all shirts with "I Love Ulsan" on it, pink for the girls and orange for the boys.
We started at the Office of Education with the Mayor and other important people gave speeches that they did translate for us, a first. They gave us all roses, but my fell between the seats and I left it there. (Secretly, I didn't want it). After a bit, the opening ceremony for the Foreigner Sports Day ended and they put us on buses to go to an elementary school for the festivites.
The lunch was fab because it was bimibab (pronounced be-bim-bab). Afterwards we had free time to explore the school. I headed out to the courtyard with others to play with the elementary students. At first I only saw kids playing soccer, but when I turned to head into the school I spotted in the far corner kids playing baseball. They just had a small corner to play, but I still wanted to see what they were up to. I headed over there and they invited me to play and gave me a piece of chocolate, haha.
After the break, we got called into the gym where we were split into six teams, mine was ginseng (pronounced in-sum). All the teams did traditional Korean sports (although some weren't so traditional like the limbo). Even though we had a great cheer, which had some controversy since we were given lower points because the male judge didn't like men and only wanted to see sexy women (we had 80% guys on the team), and we were second after the sports competition, we still got last place. Horrible. The prize was a small pink cartoon blanket, lol.
The best part of the day besides playing baseball with 6th graders was the performances given by the students of the school. They did a traditional Korean fan dance, martial arts, and a traditional drum performace. All were excellent and I was able to get pictures with the students afterwards.
I didn't get home until after 5:30pm and as you know Tuesday and Thursday is Korean class from 6-8pm. I quickly changed, ate an egg, and ran out of the house. When I arrived I thought I would be the last one there, but I was the first one. My teachers came in and asked where was everyone and I told them they would probably be late because of the sports day (I didn't know that most people decided to skip). They then told me that KBS news station from Seoul was there to tape our class, haha.
Sidenote: Why does this always happen to me? I am just glad that I took the time to put decent clothing on and my hair and makeup looked good.
In the end we had to combine our class with the other one so it looked good on T.V. The teachers in the other class may be good looking, but they go way to fast and talk even faster. We just pretended to understand, lol. My friend from class, Natalie, was the star of the news special. They had been following her around all day so she was miked when she sat next to me. This didn't stop our commentary which is colorful since she is from England and I'm from Crisfield, lol. KBS stayed for about 40 minutes and then left.
When they were gone, the head of the Korean program came in and asked if we wanted to eat dinner instead of having class. We all said yes and they took us to this famous bimibab place (yes, I know I ate it for lunch) that has been open for over 80 years. It was wonderful. We ate, drank, and sang Korean pop songs. Our Korean teachers were surprised at that last part, but they laughed just the same.
Skip to Thursday. I got an email from Blondes' cousin who lives here, Jill. She and her boyfriend were going to a new bar and wanted me to join. I headed there after Korean class (I can't miss a single lesson because I am horrible at speaking). The bar is only open on Thursdays and is quite small, but cozy. I met some really nice people there and ended up leave at closing time. Yes, I am exhasted writing this blog right now, but worth it.
This Saturday, I have to judge a city-wide speech contest and give one myself. Yuck. I hope these kids are better than FuHsing's contestants. At least I get paid. That's a major plus since I have to get up early.

Yes We Can

While I know that several people reading this blog will not like what I am about to say I still must say it. Go Obama! I am quite happy that he won and loved his speech. Obama's speech made me proud to be an American. Living abroad is made harder when the people in your host country doesn't like your president. Everyone has an opinion (Shannon and Susie: Do you remember the taxi drivers in Limerick?). You don't know how many times people come up to me here and want to talk politics with me.

I was so touched by his speech that I found it on YouTube and if anyone wants to watch it again, go ahead.

Rainism and Nobody

Everyone, I have two new songs for you fresh from Korea.

The first one is by girl group I watched on M-Net (MTV) the first weekend I was here along with SHINee, FT Island, and DBSK. They are called the Wonder Girls and their song is "Nobody, But You" Most of you know that usually I have no time for girl groups, but their song is so catchy. Can you believe that they are still in high school?!



My second song belongs to Rain. Rain is a touchy subject for me because he is, in my opinion, a freak. I love Full House (he acted in it), but he creeps me out whenever I have to watch him. He is one of the most famous singers in Asia and I am sure that girls fall at his feet, but he gives me the willies. Anyway, a sneak peak of the video was leaked in October and I sent it to Steph so we could make fun of the English lyrics (you will see). Now I have to sing it everyday. The irony.

Address

Here is my address just in time for birthday cards to be put in the mail :).

Daihyun Middle School
Julia Sterling
1330-2 Daldong
Namgu
Ulsan, South Korea

Also I thought I would put up some pictures for my school.



One of my fab teachers of Class D, best Korean class in the land.

Drinking Weekend

More pictures to come.

This past weekend was of course Halloween weekend. Time to dress up, party, and look at drunk people act crazy in the streets while Korean people stood by watched with interest.
I headed to Seoul to party it up with Steph on Friday. This year’s costume was A Thief in the Night. Steph was a gothic bride. Me as a thief in the night. I think I was watching TV when Steph took the picture.Goth Bride with veil StephGoth Bride Steph

A sidenote: The MRT in Seoul is so confusing. I went the wrong way each time. Luckily, I didn’t get on the wrong the train, but their platforms are on different sides and you have to go out of the MRT and then go back in. It sucks.
I finally made it to Steph’s house where we put our costumes on (at least somewhat). People really stare at you when you are wearing costumes on the MRT so I kept my mask in my purse and Steph kept her veil in her purse.
We started out in Itaewon (pronounced E-tay-won, I think) where all the foreigner clubs are. All the foreigners and some Korean people were dressed up. Favorite costumes of the night were kimchi, a guy dressed as an old woman, a Swat team, and someone is a white fat suit (I had no idea what he was). The U.S. military base is there so we saw lots of MPs about. At first I thought it was a group in costume, but I took a look at their guns and they were real. We decided that being around them and drunk people was not a good idea so we headed into the UN club. For the people from Taiwan reading this: it’s like Vibe. Dirrty, Nasty, shoes sticking to the floor. Lots of people drinking and trying to dance. We got hit on right when we walked in by a Korean guy in a rainbow striped blazer. He spoke English so fast that I couldn’t even understand him. While talking to him, one of Usher’s old songs came on and I exclaimed, “This is my song!” (Steph will tell you that I say that about every song.) I pulled Steph to the dancing floor leaving behind Mr. Konglish (a mix of English and Korean). The music wasn’t bad. I did the Tootsie Roll dance (flashback to the 8th grade) and listened to random old school rap. Then the MPs came in and Steph and I walked out. No need to be in a nasty club with gun toting MPs.
Steph and I hightailed it out of there and caught a cab to Hongdae where all the university students go to party. We were only walking for five minutes until we saw a brightly lit bar. It had the Chinese character for Good in its name, but in English it went by Ho Bar.
The Ho Bar

I thought why not? It had three floors and was extremely nice inside. I thought it was going to be dingy, that’s why I picked it, but no. The bartenders were dressed up, but none of the patrons were in costumes.
The issue of the night was who was going to talk to the bartender to get a table. I suddenly couldn’t do it and Steph didn’t want to either so we stood for a good two minutes in the middle of the floor debating who had to go talk to the bartender while the bartender looked on, haha. Steph finally walked up there and got us a table (thanks Steph, just couldn’t do it myself) and our waiter appeared.
This is where things got interesting. He scared the living crap out of me. I couldn’t look at him. He was an angel I think, but his hair was so crazy that I just couldn’t deal. It was extremely short on one side and long on the other, plus he had crazy makeup to match. Steph did the ordering so we got a fruit plate (yes, they do fruit with alcohol here, but that is a whole other blog), a Sex on the Beach for me and a Rum and Coke for Steph. When the waiter came back Steph ended up with a Lemon/alcohol concoction. Let me just tell you that Sex on the Beach and watermelon do not mix. We later order sausages and fries which were very tasty. We spent most of our time watching Korean music videos and listening to hip hop songs.
At about 5 am, we packed it up and headed to the MRT. What is so interesting about this city is its so big that people will sleep in the MRT station until the trains start again the next morning. We walked into the station and there was a band camped out taking a nap, two people laying the floor sleeping, and a whole bunch of people just hanging around. It was wild. Steph and I got on the train with the most diverse group of people. Some were drunk, some were passed out (their friends carried them on), others were like us and waiting for the MRT to open, some were still drinking, etc. The best part was when we were changing trains. As we were waiting, a gorgeous Korean guy stood behind us. He wore the most wonderful black and white belted tattersall coat. He was well dressed from head to toe and still looked wonderful at 5:30 am. I disliked him right away, lol. I noticed immediately that he could understand Steph and I. His ears perked up, this face tilted towards us, his posture shifted. All signs that he was listening. I ignored these facts and just kept on talking. Here comes the best part. The train that we didn’t want arrived first (as usual) and a swarm of elderly people got off. But they didn’t just get off; they ran off and then ran up the stairs. When I say ran, I mean they ran. I was so shocked that I turned to Steph and asked, “What the hell is going on?” That is when tattersall guy leaned forward and said, “They are transferring.” I gave him a look that said, “duh.” (By the way, it wasn’t a “rude duh”, but a “you didn’t answer the question duh”) then looked back at Steph and asked her why they were running, but she could only say how happy she was that we weren’t on the stairs at that time. We would have been seriously injured, or at least I would have knowing my track record for injuries in Asia.
The rest of the way was uneventful. Tattersall guy stood near us on the train, but I lost interest because his belt was twisted and completely ruined his “I still gorgeous at 5:30 in the morning” look.
We finally got home and in bed around 7am. I passed out from exhaustion before Steph got out of the shower. We woke up around 1pm the same day and ate some breakfast (bread and a banana for me, rice for Steph) and headed out to get our hair done and to do some much needed shopping.
Steph has a hair salon right outside her house. It looked nice from the outside and was clean on the inside. They washed our hair and cut Steph’s and styled mine. The best part of it was when they blow dried our hair. Two girls did it at the same time. It was fast and awesome. The girl styling my hair aged me about five years, but I didn’t say anything. I felt bad that she had to do my hair since it is so unruly. In the MRT I was able to fix it and all was forgiven.
Steph on the MRT on our way shopping

We were headed to Marks and Spencer, but never made it. It ended up not being where we though it was, but we did find an Accessorize where I bought new earring, gloves, and a purse to die for. Seriously, I love this purse. (Mom: the feeling was like when I saw the Coach butter colored purse.) I saw it and made a beeline for it. It’s a medium colored tan leather that’s just big enough for my things, but small enough that I don’t bump into people with it. Simply wonderful. On the way back to the MRT, we stopped in another shopping center and I bought a deep purple scarf and a teal/navy scarf. Quite gorgeous. Steph and I had to hurry since we were meeting her Korean friend at 8. Of course we were late (I am always late), but it wasn’t really my fault this time. A strand of hair decided it want to stick out parallel to my shoulder. Steph stood and watched me (laughing I will add) as I tried my hardest to make it stay down. After ten minutes I gave up and we left (we were only 30 minutes late by this time). I decided on the MRT that I wanted Korean BBQ for dinner, but that is nothing new. Steph has a couple of Korean BBQ places outside her building and I just love the smell. Steph agreed and told me that she was happy I picked the food because her Korean friend was seriously bad at making food decisions. (He compares to Jocelyn, Lindsay and I trying to make food decisions and that is bad.) As we starting walking we told Ireland Boy (his real name is Kyle, but who uses real names) to choose the restaurant. IB is just as bad at picking restaurants as picking a food genre. After a while we stopped walking and I looked at him and asked what does his stomach feel like? He didn’t know how to answer that question so Steph and I started a paper, rock, scissors game to decide. She was curry (we had started to debate the prospect of curry by that time) and I was Korean BBQ. As we were debating on which restaurant to go to, Steph turns to me and said that maybe if we were going to seriously drink we would need more bread in our bellies. (We forgot to eat after breakfast so we were very hungry.) So we changed our food genre again and picked Mr. Pizza. Neither Steph nor I had been there, but I was very excited. I just love their commercials with the singing crab and the girl from My Little Bride. We got rice battered chicken tenders to start (they were weird) and a Mexican pizza that wasn’t half bad. Steph decided that she wanted to go to the hof (like a pub, there was a toddler in there running around in the one we were located) that had a picture of the Taj Mahal on the door, but it looked a bit shady.
IB then took us to a traditional hof across the street and it was great. It was crowded and noisy. I loved it. We had rice wine (grain alcohol basically), three bottles of soju, and some kind of plum wine. They also gave us this crunchy snack that tasted like nothing at all, but was incredibly addictive. We also ate a pancake like thing and a sausage and vegetable dish. Koreans love to eat and drink at the same time. Good times. I even spotted a guy wearing a Baltimore Orioles baseball camp. The doorknob broke about halfway through the night so Steph ended up becoming a doorman for a bit until they fixed it.
Around 3 am or so, things got interesting. A fight broke out in the hof. This fight though was in slow motion. The guys were so drunk that they couldn’t do anything but roll off the table into the floor and fall onto a bench. Lots of pulling shirts and breaking their eyeglasses. I was able to go to the bathroom and come back while they were fighting, it took that long. Their friend just stood there and fixed the tables when they knocked them over. The police finally came and they got escorted out. By then they were friends again (only guys) and left peacefully.
We left a little after 5 am, but didn’t know if we should take the MRT or walk. As we were deciding several Koreans started to talk to us. It was the “Hello, how are you?” dialogue, but it was still funny. We even stopped a fight from happening on the street. These two guys in a group starting arguing and pushing and of course we stopped to watch, lol. One of their friends saw us and shouted “Hello” and everyone turned around and said “Hello”. They forgot about their fight (again only guys) and walked away singing.
I learned something that night. In Ulsan, I walk by this Loreal for Men ad almost everyday and I know the Korean man on it, but I can’t remember where I know him from. It has been driving me crazy ever since. I saw the ad after we left the hof and asked IB and he told me it was the guy from My Little Bride (one of my favorite Korean movies). The relief I felt was awesome. I hate the feeling of knowing something, but not knowing something.
Anyway, we ended up taking the MRT back and were in bed before 7am. We got up again and shopped, but shopped for too long. I almost missed my flight and it was the last flight out for the night. I did get awesome turtle necks though at Marks.
Today Steph told me that we should make each weekend a theme weekend. This was a drunken weekend, last time was an exploring haunts weekend, and next time will be birthday weekend. That should be fun.

New Song

This isn't exactly a new song, but I just rediscovered it from rewatching Sex and the City: The Movie. This song and I just connect. Download it and enjoy.


Lyrics Labels Or Love lyrics

My new phone

My new phone. This is a model by the way, I don't know her.
I finally got a new phone and I am so excited about it. Its a Samsung Haptic 2. It won't be available in North America for another 2 years (I have read a couple of articles saying that it will never be available there, but I am unsure).

I left with my co-teacher yesterday after school so she could help me buy a phone. In Taiwan you just point at the one you want, buy a pre-paid card, and go. Here though its not like that. We shopped around for a bit and finally landed in this place call Phone & Fun. It was bright (and I mean bright) green inside and outside. Basically a store that glows in the dark. We looked around and phone a nice black phone and I was already to buy it when they came out and said that they ran out. They did have silver and baby pink (I think I just threw up in my mouth a bit). I looked at the silver, I refused to look at the pink, but it wasn't very nice looking. We told them we could wait twenty minutes for the phone to be delivered from another store, that we would just go to the bookstore to buy my Korean class book (I did mention that I am taken classes now, right?).

On our way we saw another phone place and decided to stop in. Yes, the people at Phone and Fun could probably see us and I did feel guilt, so much so that I refuse to walk down that street for at least two months. We went in and all they had were samsung phones. I had been looking at them online for some time now and knew right then that I wanted a touchscreen. I did look around (mom raised me to shop), but I headed straight back to the Haptic 2. I basically did what Steph calls Julia Mode when Shopping: "I'll take it." No questions (I did ask if it had English and GPS), just give it to me right now. I signed the contract and I got a 200,000 won discount for signing up for two years. So in USD, I paid close to $450 and before you fall out of your chair Dad, its my birthday present to myself.

My co-teacher, who has never experienced the Julia Mode when Shopping, was quite surprised by my choice and my quick decision. I explained that I had been looking online and liked it. She told me that men usually buy this phone because they are so much more into electronics, haha. I told her to think of electronics as accessories and they become a lot more fun. I got a weird look from her.

The side
The screen and the camera button
The screen from a different view
The back and the camera

I did have some issues already with the phone. The people forgot to tell me that if I turn off my phone and then turn it back on, I need to enter a password. I had no idea what the password was. I tried to go back, but my phone went dead before I got there. So I had to go during lunch today to get them to fix it. It took 15 minutes and 3 people looking at it to fix it, lol. Only I can screw up technology in a short amount of time. Oh and another feature that I love is the SOS feature. If I am in trouble I can call the police, fire department, secret agent (no idea who that is), drug agent, coast guard, and nic (no idea either). Isn't that nice?

Here are some of the specs:

3.2-Inch LCD touch screen
e-dictionary
users will be able to create their own vibration mode
various screen designs with 50 icons.
improved the drag and drop
Bluetooth version 2
Customizable vibration mode
5 megapixel camera with flash: The camera features flash, enabling quality pictures in the dark, and handshake correction, close up shot, a timer and 12 scene modes.
Image stabilization
4GB/16GB internal memory
integrated mobile banking
updated TouchWiz UI, User Interface, sporting 50 widget applications (up from 15)
integrated media player
external memory card slot.
drag and drop
picture dragging
handwriting recognition
Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), which will allow users rapid access to all the TV shows they like, at any given moment.
Music Therapy feature that provides meditation music and videos
full internet browsing capabilities
geomagnetic sensor

You can also text and call people, haha. I am sure I will learn of more after I use it for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

Cringe Video

I don't know if any of you have seen this, but check it out. It makes my cringe every time.

Fire Alarm

Today at lunch the fire alarm at school went off. At first I thought it was the dishwasher beeping to signal the dishes being done, but the sound continued for 10 minutes or so. It was the softest alarm I have ever heard. It wasn't until I was walking by it that I heard the automatied women speaking in Korean. The best part about the whole thing: no one even moved or blinked an eye.

Weekend with Steph in Seoul

Steph: If I forgot anything, just let me know.

This past weekend I headed to Seoul to visit Stephanie. I hadn’t seen her since my last night in Taipei at the end of June so I was quite excited to talk to her in person (we talk online everyday).

I decided to go for the weekend on Wednesday, but didn’t get the reservation for my flight until Thursday. I couldn’t pay online since I have an American credit card (they only take Korean credit cards) so I was a little worried that something would happen at the airport and they wouldn’t give me my ticket. I called the bank and warned them that I was going to use the card all weekend long in Seoul and probably purchase crazy things. They said ok (in reality I was quite forceful about the issue with them. They were quite smart to reply ok.)

Anyway, I left school a little early and got to the airport just in time. The flight was quick, 50-55 minutes, but I still finished my book half way through so I sat for a good 25 minutes twiddling my thumbs. Steph met me at the airport and we got on the MRT (or subway) to head to her house. She lives on the opposite side of the city so it took 1 1/2 hours to get there, but we had seats the whole time.

We were starving by the time we got to her house so we put my stuff down and went right back to the MRT to go 2 stops away to an Outback. Neither of us has had Western food since arriving in South Korea so we decided to make it a western food filled weekend. After Outback, we walked around the shopping area and headed toward her house. There seemed to be one shady spot while we were walking. I told Steph that if we were in a Western city we would see drug dealers and prostitutes, but since we were in Asia, it was just a quiet area. I got to see the outside of her school right before I twisted my ankle walking. I should have taken a picture of the sidewalks here. They are uneven to the points of having holes in random parts of the walk. I was lucky I didn’t fall to the ground, just a wobble and a twist.

As we were walking, we saw many noraebangs (KTV) places along the road.

Steph actually has one in her building so even after walking all that way back to her house and twisting my ankle, I just had to sing (badly). The place was wild. We paid 10 USD each for a tiny room with three TV screens on top of each other. There were no funny videos, just Korean boyband concerts with your song choice over top of it. We actually couldn't figure out how to work the remote and just pressed random buttons to play the songs. We spent an hour or so in there and then went back to her apartment to pass out.

My ankle was better by the next afternoon. Saturday was spent lounging around Steph’s apartment talking and getting ready for the day. We were both up early, but took our time so we didn’t leave the house until the afternoon. We lunched at TGI Fridays because I suddenly got a hankering for their chicken sandwich. When we got there we were put in the back in a corner which was nice since we could act silly and no one would stare back. The problem was that the servers forgot about us at one point. Just to let everyone know, the chicken sandwich is not the same. It was good, but it looks like TGI Fridays is going to be added to the food list when Steph and I vacation in Taiwan. They really had a good chicken sandwich. We didn’t get out of there until after 4pm so we quickly headed to the MRT so we could see some palaces before they closed.



No such luck though. Both were closed right before we got to them. We were able to take pictures of the outside and look around the area, but we couldn’t get in. Next time I go to Seoul, Steph and I are making it a Palace Weekend. After the palaces we headed to a huge shopping area. When I say huge, I mean bigger than huge like skyscrapers being the mall. There were several building full of shopping goodies. I bought an oversized beanie hat (so on trend here) and a butter knife for only 4 USD this time. Steph bought a hat and two scarves.



We only entered one because outside one of them we spotted a stage with the banner “Rock, Rock”. We had watched a portion of a drummer competition in the MRT earlier that day so we thought this could be interesting. We ended up staying for all three bands and yes, we were the only Western people there. It was funny when each band would point at us and say “Hello, nice to meet you.” The first band was mediocre, but the second and third ones were great. Both Steph and I liked the second one best since they were quite good and quite good looking. The third one was good, but a bit geeky (and not in the good way).
When the concert finished we started walking back to the MRT. Right before we crossed the street, Steph spotted the guitarist from the second band. She asked if we should go back to take a picture and I said “why not.” As I was trying to stealthy trying to take the picture he turned. I starting shifting with him so I could get a picture with his face in it when their manager/bodyguard? told on me (Steph told me that tidbit, I was too focused on trying to get the picture). I then was made to get in the picture (not what I wanted since I had no idea what I looked like after a long day of trekking about). Steph spotted the drummer and the lead singer behind him so I made her get in the picture with the lead singer and I took a picture of the drummer signing autographs. I wanted to get a picture with the bass guitarist, but he was no where to be seen. After our random picture taking session we headed to the river so I could take more pictures (Hello, My name is Julia Sterling and I am addicted to taking pictures, but not posting them.) We ended up walking along the river which had random art and light shows.

When we decided to walk back, we were no where near a MRT. I thought that my feet were going to fall off they hurt so badly. We finally got back to her apartment after midnight when we both realized that we didn’t eat any dinner. I changed my shoes and we went down to the convenience store to get a snack before bed. I was so tired that I collapsed in my bed with the potato chips still in my hand. They made for a nice breakfast though.

Steph and I decided to go to the palaces again on Sunday, but when we woke up we knew we were just too tired.

Sidenote: My curling iron exploded in her apartment scarring her table and floor. My pants also caught a little on fire.




After the explosion we went shopping. Surprise, surprise. I need to buy some books because I finished the ones I bought before I left, so Steph and I headed to the Western shopping area. This is the place to go if you need anything from home. I bought 6 books (all used and I will send them home as soon as I finish them) and a Korean travel book that doesn’t have Ulsan in it. What’s with that?! After that Steph and I concluded our Western food weekend binge at Burger King and Coldstone Creamery. We then went back to the apartment to put my purchases in my already packed suitcase and go to the airport.

Our ride to the airport was quite comical. We watched videos and listened to music on Steph’s Ipod while sitting on the floor of the MRT car. We received many strange and amused looks from the other passengers; we were sitting on the floor and banging our heads to the music. I went seamlessly through the airport and landed on time. The taxi driver was a little confused at first where I was going, but he figured it out eventually. I love that I live 15 minutes from the airport. I actually got home before Steph, haha.

To check out all the pictures from that weekend go here.

Music

I know that I should post about my weekend in Seoul with Stephanie (I will, I am just getting the pictures ready), but I must blog about the music here.

Everyone knows that I enjoy music, especially live shows (Shannon and Susie: Do you remember all those awesome shows we saw in Ireland?). My first weekend here in Ulsan was spent trying to get over jetlag so all I did was lay in bed and watch T.V. At one point on Saturday there were no English shows on so I starting flipping and found a concert to watch. It was actually a competition, which group could get the most votes, but it had other groups to keep the audience interested. During that time I was introduced to SHINee and FT Island, popular Korean boyband groups.This video is from the show so you can check out what exactly I was watching. You can even see the voting bar at the bottom of the show. SHINee was the winner.


Sidenote: They love, really love their boybands here.

Here is the low down on these groups (the facts are quite funny). SHINee (pronounced shiny like sparkles): This band can be compared to the Jonas Brothers where they are so young. The oldest is 18 and they are all still students in high school. Another fun fact is that each band has a color and SHINee's color is sky blue.
These are not their real names, they either use their last names or just made new ones: Onew aka The Leader, Jonghyun aka Bling Bling, Key aka The Almighty Key, Minho aka Flaming Charisma, Taemin aka The Youngest. Here is their video for Love Like Oxygen. If you can stick it out until the end you will be introduced to Korean rap.


FT Island is a rock ballad band which is a nice way of saying boy band. Their band color is yellow. They don't have nicknames, but one of them is still in middle school. The others have all graduated high school. They also rap, haha. This video is called After Love and has English subtitles.


While I was watching this show another band came on and sang what I call Under My Skin since I don't know the Korean name. I thought they were FT Island (all these boy bands have the same number of people and wear similar clothes), but they are really called DBSK (the students told me today after I sang along to the music video they were watching during breaktime). Their band name means Rising Gods from the East. I think their band color is red and they are all in their early 20s. DBSK are extremely popular, even in Taiwan. I have never heard of them since I was already focused on Jay Chou, Wang Lee hom, and Speshow and didn't have room for others, haha (Steph knows what I am talking about). These guys do have nicknames although they aren't as funny as SHINee's.
Xiah Junsu aka Xiah
Park Yoochun aka Micky (he lived in Fairfax, Virginia for four years, he chose Micky as his English name)
Youngwoog Jaejoong aka Hero
Shim Changmin aka Choikang Changmin aka Max
Jung Yunho aka U-know

This is their video for Under My Skin, my new favorite song.

This is the English translation for the song. I found it randomly in a youtube information bullet. I so thought it was about something else, haha.
At the start, you were sweetly, naturally attracted to me
You stepped up to me and told me it would forever be like that
All the possibilities, opened up Oh~

What is love? What! It's now meant by the Red Ocean
I'm breakin' my rules again, you know it's getting boring
Even if you're hurt a bit, it's okay Oh~

You want me, You've fallen for me, You're crazy over me
You can't escape I got you- Under my skin
You want me, You've fallen for me, You're crazy over me
You're my slave, I got you under my skin

The piercing stare that burrows into your head
It's not me, my still chrome heart
It's the road you chose Oh~

Running through your veins, flowing through you are millions of my crystal
Finally it has started, the end of my metamorphosis
Isn't this also love? Oh~

You want me, You've fallen for me, You're crazy over me
You can't escape I got you- Under my skin
You want me, You've fallen for me, You're crazy over me
You're my slave, I got you under my skin

Together with one time's kiss~ The day is fresh- a strong pull
The second kiss, your heart felt hot and about to explode
Yeah~ I got you! You know you got it!
Yeah~ Come on! Come on! I got you- Under my skin

In your dreams I control you with my magic spells
You're once again yearning .. I got you- Under my skin
My devils ride, there's no more room for breathing, if that happens
How will it be to enjoy it now I got you- Under my skin
You want me, You've fallen for me, You're crazy over me
You can't escape I got you- Under my skin


You want me, You've fallen for me, You're crazy over me
You're my slave, I got you under my skin

So this is what I am listening to and watching right now. When I was in Seoul with Stephanie we went on Youtube to look at something (I don't remember what) and found my favorite Taiwanese song, Julia. We clicked on the live version and Wang Lee hom was fiddling. As Steph put it "He countrified it for you, haha."

Map of Ulsan

If you are wondering what Ulsan looks like check out this site. It will show a cartoon map of Ulsan City. I live between the Hyundai Department Store and the Ulsan Culture Arts Center. I am in the block that has two skyscrapers (Samsungo and an investment bank).

If you want to check out other information about Ulsan or see pictures check out this site.

Finally, a Knife!

Ok, so at night I go for walks around Ulsan to check it out. I have seen many interesting things although I haven't taken any pictures. I already look different, I don't need another reason to stand out. Here are some things that I have seen: a towel store aptly named The Terry Store, several Hof & Coffee (I have no idea what hof means), a million beer joints, and enough golf stores to outfit everyone in Maryland, Delaware and Virigina.

But last night was my most eventful night out and about. I not only found TGI Fridays, two Pizza Huts, a Lotteria (a Korean version of McDonalds said to be really good), and Domino's, but Lotte Mart (like Walmart without the food) and an Outlet Center where I finally found, drum roll please....a butter knife. Yes, I have been searching for a butter knife since I arrived and even asked Blondes' cousin Jill who also lives in Ulsan. She recommended a couple of places and the Outlet Center was one of them. I had no idea that I lived so close, a 5 minute walk!

Details of the elusive knife (pictures to come): It butters like a pro and cost me 6 usd for just one.

Also last night I witnessed my first drunken incident. Living so close to a million beer joints does have its advantages. Let me give you the low-down. I was walking back towards my house and I saw ahead what looked like two men fighting and two other men holding them back. I slowed down, looking for another way around them (I learned from my experience with knife fights in Ireland that you should always go around them) when this old couple just walked through the middle of the fight! Well I figured if they could do it, I could do it. As I got closer I realized that the main fighter was a 50-something business man trying to get in his car to drive home drunk and the other three were trying to stop him. You would think that most of the people surrounding them would stop and stare, but no. Just another day in Korea.

Sidenote: I almost got hit by 2 cars last night. Not a record, they drive better here then in Taiwan, but it was my first time that I watched a car speed up when I was in the middle of the road. Good times.

Long Weekend

After being in Korea for over a week now, I have good and bad things to report.
Good:
1. We had a long weekend so I only had to work two days last week and this week is midterms so I only have to teach two days and chill for the rest.
2. I have a great little apartment in the center of downtown Ulsan (shopping here I come).
3. My students are loud, but have so much personality they could be on T.V. Plus they make me laugh, a lot.

Bad:
1. There seems to be a gnat problem in my area. I have bites all over my face and body. It was so bad at 2:30am that I got up and started killing them. I can’t figure out how they are getting in or what they like about me, but I got bug spray.
2. I can’t find the light switch for my kitchen. Cooking in the dark is not that easy. The other light that is in there is a motion light and I can’t figure out how to keep it on. haha.
3. I still don’t have internet in my house. (Fingers crossed for soon though)


I spent this long weekend keeping the swelling of my gnat bites down (maybe they are vampire gnats), organizing my apartment, grocery shopping, and watching Korean T.V.

As I was organizing everything I realized that most of my things are in boxes at home. I have the address for the school, but it’s in Korean. I will try to get it translated into English so people can mail me letters, etc.

Friday was my out and about day. I went to the Hyundai Department Store (like Sogo) to check out what they have. I lucked out and found an Aveda store (for my hair products) and an Apple store. I found a nice purse, but it was too small. I did a lot of window shopping. There is another big shopping store, Lotte, but I didn’t venture there. I then headed to Starbucks for an ice tea and chill time before grocery shopping. I now remember why I never grocery shopped in Taiwan. I have no idea what things are. I was able to get jam, bread, butter, cheese, pasta, carrots, tomatoes, and bananas. That’s it. I am going to keep trying though. I will just buy everything in a small size so if it turns out to be horrible, I can throw it away.

I know this is bad, but Saturday and Sunday I didn’t leave my apartment. I read, watched T.V., cleaned, etc. Now that I am going on the grand adventure of cooking, I can just eat at home. I don’t have to wander about. Plus Korean T.V. is fab. I watched a concert (no, I don’t know what they were singing), a show where a man thinks his brother committed a crime so he decides to save him and say that he did it, but the twist is that his brother didn’t do it (I think this is what is going on), and lots of House and Lost in Austen (Caroline you should download this). Why leave?

Well that is about all I did this weekend. Oh, I also did laundry and it was wild. The washer is big (good), but when it releases the water the water goes everywhere in the laundry room (not so good). At first I panicked, but then I realized that is the way it works, plus the water stays in the laundry room and never makes it into the house (very good).

Glasses

The trends for glasses are vast. In Taiwan, the smaller the better. But here in Korea, the bigger the better. Like Grandpa big. It is interesting to see young girls with glasses the size of apples on their face.

The Numerology of Names

This was on Yahoo.com today. I copied and pasted it for you. Check it out.

I am a #2.
Destiny Number 2
People with a Destiny number of 2 are meant for positions of diplomacy and peacemaking. To move toward your destiny you can use your tact, power of persuasion and diplomatic skills to help others resolve differences. You may find great satisfaction and fulfillment in helping to resolve problems, even though it may not always be something that you are eager to do.

How Numerology Works
When working with a name, numbers have corresponding letters. The numbers are added up and broken down into single digits in order to give you your final Destiny Number.

The Number Assignments

1= A, J, S

2= B, K, T

3= C, L, U

4= D, M, V

5= E, N, W

6= F, O, X

7= G, P, Y

8= H, Q, Z

9= I, R

How to Find Your Destiny Number

1.Write down your full name (first, middle, and last). This is the name you were given at birth—not your married name, etc.

2.Using the table above, write down the number matched to each letter in each name (i.e. AMANDA = 1, 4, 1, 5, 4, 1).

3.Add the numbers together for each name (i.e. 1+4+1+5+4+1= 16).

4.You will most likely get a double digit for each name; break down each double digit number you get by adding the first and second digit to get one number (i.e. from the 16 above, add together 1+6 to get 7, which is the number for my first name).

5.Add up the final numbers you get from each name (i.e. my middle name number is 8 and my last name number is 10, so 7+8+10 = 25).

6.Once again, break down any double-digit numbers into one digit to get your final Destiny Number (i.e. from the 25 above, add together 2+5 to get 7, which is my final Destiny Number).

In numerology, the basic vibrations are numbers 1 through 9, but the numbers 11 and 22 are master numbers and should not be reduced to a single digit since these are master vibrations.

If you are a:

1 is determined, autonomous, and self-reliant

2 is loyal, tactful, and analytical

3 is passionate, positive, and fun-loving

4 is sensible, traditional, and serious

5 is bold, temperamental, and sensual

6 is responsible, cautious, and domestic

7 is spiritual, unconventional, and somewhat reclusive

8 is money-oriented, assured, and authoritative

9 is versatile, compassionate, and worldly

11 is enlightened, deep, and high-strung

22 is ambitious, a global planner, and motivated

Go here for more information about your number.

Map of Ulsan

Still Alive and Kicking

Sorry to all the people who were worrying. I had no connection to the outside world. No internet and my international phone had no service (still doesn’t).

My plane got in early to INC airport, but I ended up getting confused about where I was meeting the EPIK people. I finally got a hold of them by asking the information person to dial the phone (the payphone and I did not get along). The drive in was uneventful (not a crazy driver in sight) and our driver (there were other teachers in the car) started to rap. DMX, Enimem, Jay-Z, etc. Even Korean rap, lol. It was great.

The hotel was nice, but as I said before, no internet which is weird since South Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world. My room had no bed and rowing machines so I had to switch to another room for the night. The next day the rowing machines were moved and in its place, my bed. The rooms were nice and clean (a little worried about that). The orientation went smoothly. Everything they talked about, I’d already learned and applied in Taiwan. Almost everyone was first year teachers.

The big highlight was in the addition of the Ulsan teachers that had been teaching for one month. The story was that their schools wanted them to learn more so they sent them to the orientation. The groups broke down like this: old Ulsan teachers and new Ulsan teachers. The old teachers sat on the left while the new ones sat on the right, never mingling. The reason for this was because the old teachers were crazy. Their descriptions of their schools were out of this world, to the point that people walked around the orientation stating, “I am so glad I am not going to Ulsan” which I replied, “Thanks.”

The last night we were at the orientation, we went to see Nanta. It’s a live cooking and dancing show. It was awesome. I am so going to see it again, that’s how good it was. I headed there on a bus with old Ulsan teachers (what a ride) and when I got back to the hotel I exclaimed to my roommates that I had another 5 hour bus ride ahead of me with them. Those guys are truly wild, beyond Julia wild.

That bus ride wasn’t so bad. There were movies playing, people sleeping, and me with a box and an Ipod. It worked out well.

I met my co-teachers at the bus station and they drove me to my new apartment. It is so cute. It’s one room with a kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. It is very open, twice the size of my old room in Taiwan. There is plenty of room to walk around and soon I will have internet, yay. After they took me to the apartment to put my bags down, we headed to dinner at McDonalds. Not my pick, I just wanted to say that. I had the spicy chicken tenders, not smart. When something says spicy, it means spicy. I went through two bottles of water for four chicken tenders. Then I headed back to the apartment which is a 5 minute walk from my co=ed middle school. Daihyun Middle School (pictures coming soon).

Today was my first day. My co-teacher met me outside my apartment to walk me there in case I forgot the route, lol. The school is quite big and I have almost gotten lost twice. The teacher’s office is the size of half a football field length’s way (that maybe a slight exaggeration). Every teacher in the building is in this room so it is quite busy. I had to introduce myself (so embarrassed) to everyone. I turned bright red and I am wearing a pick shirt, not good. I have a desk, computer with internet, and a key that locks the desk. Good times.

I met my classes and the problem I am running into is that they have a low English level and bad behavior. They are like G8 boys from FuHsing, every class. I am of course taking notes on how they react to the situations I put them in and trying hard to find ways to keep them quiet and in their seats. Wild I tell you, wild.

I work from 8:30am to 4:30pm. The most classes I have falls on a Thursday again. I seemed doomed to do my most teaching on a Thursday, no matter what school I teach at. Most days I have four classes and they start at 8:50am and end at 3:10pm so I have a little more than an hour to wrap things up at the end of the day.

I have downloaded Skype to my work computer so I can receive messages during work time. I check almost every time I come back from class so use that until I get a phone here.

Side note: Everyone drinks coffee here, like big time. It’s like everyone smoking in Taiwan. I get weird looks from people when I tell them that I don’t drink coffee. So I decided I would say that coffee makes me ill. You would think that would derail their coffee attempts, but no. The answer: “Oh S.K. coffee, better.” Haha, Good Times.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog and to a new country.