Moving...again

Ok. It's official. Muffy and I have been and will continue to live together here in Korea. HOWEVER! The owner of our apartment building is apparently easily swayed by his other residents, and the fact that Muffy and I aren't married has resulted in his request that we NOT live together.

The fact that we have to move is a shame. The apartment that we have now has three bedrooms, a full kitchen and a substantial living area. In addition, it has a porch with a drying rack and washing machine for our clothes. We were given a pseudo-leather couch, bed, mattress, bedsheets, microwave, stove/oven, fridge, armoir, and flat-screen tv. Now that we are moving, it's unclear as to whether or not all of this swag will be included in our new place. The worst part of it all is that we are still living out of our suitcases.

The BEST part about this trip is the free time. For the first time in my life, I am only responsible for paying attention to Muffy. It's a great day.

I just bought a bike. The bike + cable lock + helmet costed only about $150. Muffy is going to buy a motorized scooter. We'll be able to use it to travel everywhere together at a low price. A used scooter will run us $400, not too shabby. And the tiny engine will require very little gas, a pricey commodity here (over $5 per gallon).

The biggest limitation for us here is the food at this point. We went to the beach the other day (a half hour walk), and I figured we would find SOMETHING familiar. But every single restaurant seemed to focus solely on raw fish. And this isn't sushi-grade goodness. It's stinky and eaten in every variety possible. Granted, we haven't yet tried it, so I can't say that it's awful, but it's just not what I was expecting. We have mostly been eating groceries and occasionally eating out, but that will change soon since we just found this amazing barbeque place. You get a buttload of food for about $15 total, including 2 liters of beer (I haven't found a GREAT beer yet though).

Pictures coming soon. I have internet access at my desk at the school, which is where I'll be writing from until (and if) we get wireless internet in our new apartment.

Day 2 Orientation

I feel that time has moved so slowly since I have arrived. Today was a day full of organized lectures and meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all provided for in the cafeterias at the university. Every morning we have kimchi with rice and other sides like veggies and spicy paste. The fun thing about breakfast is that we are also given chop-stick silverware. I have met some of the perfect people for me here. My roommate's name is Erin, she is also here with her boyfriend Mike and they are the loveliest couple. They are also going to be located in the province of Gangwon-do, as N8 and I will be. Another friend I have made is Jose, and he is a Puerto-Rican Rascal who makes me smile!
We had 4 lecutures today and we were pretty beat after them. Even though the talks were informational and helpful we were all itching to get out because the Gangwon-do people had interviews at the end of the day to be given more specific placement. I had mentioned in my interview how the most important aspect of my placement is to be with N8.

Geographically I would prefer to be in a city setting and possibly closer to the beach. I asked to be considered to be placed in a city called Gangneung, which is the second largest city in the province of Gangwon-do, and it is also right in the middle of the beach and mountains...best of both worlds right?! My interviewer told me that N8 will be arriving on monday and will be attending a week-long orientation. Also that we could possibly be placed in this city that I wanted because there is middle school that is looking for a couple to teach at the school and they also have a couple's apartment already set up, which is ideal!! We won't find out for sure until thursday but I have high hopes, as mom says i am "sending it out into the universe." It seems as though my close friends have also gotten their first choice of placement which is really exciting.

I have attached some more pictures to give you a sense of the campus we walk about and also of the currency. The smallest bill they have is a 10,000 won which is the same as $10. I thought i'd also put up some defacing of school property IN KOREAN!

Seoul Train

Hi everyone! The has eagle landed. So far I feel great, the flights all the way to south korea were quite nice. I think I did a good job mentally preparing myself, and the 12 hour flight to Seoul was very empty so i had a whole row to myself! I also had very good luck in the airports, thanks to mom's popularity as a Pittsburgh flight attendant, none of my bags were charged. And when i got to San Fransisco I was told I had to check my one carryon and was told it would be $115, but the man who took my bag for me told me it he would comp it. So all in all i saved about $275.
When the plane finally landed around 6:30 pm, I was more inclined to see who may be joining me in my program and there were about 20 of us in the airport. Everyone is very nice and it ran quite smoothly. When we finished getting all of our luggage we got on a bus provided by the program for about an hour and we came to KU, a university here and then we were given a shirt to wear for our first day of orientation. We have been paired up in dorms which are pretty nice. My roommate is very nice and we get along quite well. She is here with her boyfriend too which makes me miss nathan even more, but I am excited for him to get here, even though he won't be a part of orientation. After getting settled in, we finally got to sleep around midnight and had to wake up around 8 am for breakfast and the first day of orientation. There are about 400 people here from all of the world for the program's orientation. The people I have met have all been nice and of all ages. I think I imagined people in their 20s to be the main age group, but there are people here mommy's age and older! I think its a great experience for anyone of any age. During these 10 days of prep we will be having lectures on teaching english and Korean culture. The only disappointing thing is that it has been raining all day but its still pretty nice. I haven't gotten the chance to take any pictures yet but I will be posting some soon. I am surprised at how comfortable I am, I don't think that the shock of separation has set in yet, but I am quite content. Right now I am feeling a little bit sore from the plane and a little sleeply, mainly from the rain. I am happy that the jet lag hasn't had a huge hold on me>I owe it to the good timing of the flight. I miss everyone so much already but I will keep you posted!

Nathan's Farewell message

Hooray! Somebody checked the blog!

Muffy and I are naturally hilarious individuals. It all started in the womb, when Muffy mistook her umbilical cord for a hat. Wrapping the cord around her head like a mongkon, Muffy cut off blood flow through the cord, allowing the concentration of metabolic wastes to rise dramatically in her little fetal blood stream. This would have killed a normal human being, but this tiny Mexican tot is a fighter. Later research showed that a certain byproduct of fetal aerobic respiration produced only by Mexican fetuses - imjustkeedosterone - positvely impacts the temporal lobe of the brain when present at critical concentrations. Research has also found direct correlations between the development of the temporal lobe and the exceptionality of an individual's sense of humor. Muffy's cat-like curiosity was thus the direct stimulus for her development of a much-desired laughable nature.

The same thing happened to me.

For this reason, you should check the blog often because Muffy and I are going to try very hard to keep you entertained from Korea, which is 6789 miles away (10926 km if you live in a silly part of the world).

See you in a year! (or less if you REALLY love us)

Yinz from da Burgh?

This is my farewell to my lovely city that holds so many of my closest friends and family.  Even though it is only a year, right now it seems like it will be for a life time.  Emailing everyone in my email list will be hard to do since Nathan and I will be working as English teachers for the year, so this blog is to help me keep in touch with my family and friends and who ever else wants to lurk.  I am leaving on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 for Korea and will be attending a 10-day orientation.  N8 will finally be taking his MCAT test on August 22>>wish him luck!<<"GOOOOD LUUUUUCKKK!" and he will arriving to Korea on August 25th.  So far we don't know much about where we will be or what we will be doing exactly.. but that's all part of the fun.  We are hoping we will be able to live together, but we might end up in different apartments or even separate cities. Either way it will be an amazing experience that we can still share together.  I personally think its better to be a few hours apart than a whole world away.  We will keep you all posted with the latest stories and pictures that N8 and I will be documenting.  I hope you enjoy the entries to come and also hope you share some comments and remember to email once in a while with tidbits from home.
Goodbye Steelers, Penguins, Iron City Beer, Chocolate Celebrations, Sister Chats, UUGh Nanana, Weekends of Shame and all of you Yinzers out there. See you in 365 (+) days!