Social life, Korean style

Well, I guess I owe you guys another update given how much has happened in the last couple days.

Saturday night I met my new neighbor, a 24 year old Canadian guy named Tyler. It was really great to have someone to talk with so we decided to go out that night. He had a beer and I had a coke (it's not acceptable for young women to drink in Korea but it's not like I would have anyway). We had a good time though, sharing our training experiences and trading tales about the schools we're teaching at. I must say though, his school seems pretty great. I thought mine was good--his is giving him a moped to drive around this fall and his principal is giving him a jeep to drive this winter! I told him he had to drive me around at which he laughed and happily agreed to. :) I will definitely be using him for rides once the snow hits!

On Sunday I just took a guess as to what time church started. I had found a Presbyterian church Friday night but I couldn't read the sign that said what time service began. So, Sunday morning I showed up at 9 and ended up in kid's church. :) Luckily I found someone who could tell me service started at 11 and on my way out I saw one of the teachers from my school, Mr. Jeoung--a really nice man who picked me up from training and helped set up all of my housing needs. He laughed at me because I was there so early and told me to come back at 11 but I was already on my way home and was planning to return. At 11:00 I arrived to find a welcoming crowd of Koreans, eager to meet the foreigner (no big surprise, just a little embarrassing). Church continued rather uneventful seeing how I can't speak Korean and the pastor doesn't speak English. After service, everyone goes down to the church basement and eats. I can't say that I enjoyed all of the food, but some of it was pretty tasty.

Following lunch, Mr. Jeoung's wife, Mrs. Kim, gave me a tour of Mung Yeoung and insisted on buying me presents and treating me to ice cream. I couldn't believe it! There's a Baskin Robbins here! I won't be going through ice cream withdrawals after all!! She also showed me where the cheapest places to eat are, where to get my hair cut (most salons are actually fronts for prostitution), where to buy gifts, where to et fresh bakery bread, how to buy food at the street market, and where to do my banking. It was really great. After an hour we went back to the church to pick up her husband who had been in a church meeting with all of the elders. Apparently some old woman had died that morning and the church needed to arrange a funeral for that afternoon (the first of a three day process). So, once we returned, my hosts did the only thing natural--they invited me to join them at the funeral.

It's was good timing too. I had just finished reading about funerals in my customs and etiquette book. Funerals are an interesting part of Korean culture. When someone dies, the body must be left where they died until the day comes to bury it, so most people prefer to die in their homes. This day, the first day of the funeral, called for everyone to assemble in a funeral home and a brief service was held in the deceased's honor (which was mostly reading some scripture and singing a couple songs). Afterwards, we ate again. (Korean's use every occasion as an excuse to eat). We sat at the traditional Korean floor tables which look like a short coffee table and everyone sits on floor pads. The whole thing was really short but of course not lacking in gaping Koreans, amazed to see a white foreigner at funeral.

Yesterday (Monday), I finally met my co-teacher--a really nice but quiet woman in her mid 40's. I think we'll be a good match for each other. Even though I'm not supposed to start teaching until next week (I don't know why), she invited me to visit one of her classes and introduce myself to some students. It was pretty wild. I turn red just thinking about it. :D Those kids were simply screaming with excitement when I walked in. I thought that answering their questions would maybe diminish the pointing and giggling everywhere I went, but unfortunately it only increased after class. In fact, I had girls following me to the teachers office, shouting hello at me from the door, sneaking around corners trying to look at me, and disrupting everything. Eventually my vp had to ask me to leave the office because none of the other teachers could work with my fan club following me around. lol. It's crazy, I tell you, just crazy!! When I went out into the hall to talk to the students, they were so excited to see me and asked if I would hang out with them, so we made plans to go out for ice cream that night.

Before going out, however, we had to come back to my apartment because some moving men from the furniture store had to exchange my bed (the one I was sleeping on was just a loaner until the right one arrived on order). In the meantime, while waiting for the bed to come, we looked at my photo albums and the girls oohed and awed at every picture of a boy in my books, exclaiming, "He's so handsome!!" at almost everyone (but their favorites were my brother JJ and my best friend Joe). Once the men came, we hit the streets and made our way to Baskin Robbins where we bought a whole quart of ice cream and shared it. I had so much fun! The girls were so giggly and funny--it was so typical of teenagers and so much fun. I finally had some female company. :)

And that brings you'all up to date. A few thins that don't really fit in anywhere else include my TV--which has several channels in English and lots of American movies (right now I'm watching Forrest Gump), and my bathroom, which doesn't have a real shower, just a hose with a head. I can pretty much sit on my toilet and shower at the same time. Hahaha.