Starting in SEOUL

I'm BACK and Moving Maps once again!

This time in Seoul, South Korea

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Hello my lovelies!!! (My apologies for this coming so late!)

Things are going alright over here. Lately I've been waking at 6 AM because of the time adjustment but this weekend has basically cured my cold and my sleep deprivation! I’m very happy and human now! I took a video of my apartment this morning, however, on the first try my battery died and then I did a second video only to find that as of late my computer is not accepting my memory cards from my camera... SO sad! So sometime this week after school, I'm going to attempt to look for an electronic store to find a cable so I can transfer these photos and GET THEM ONLINE. (It will be tough because I tried searching for a store just this afternoon and found nothing... I'll ask around though!)
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As for the food!!!! I’m having many new discoveries! And it's becoming an obsession!

I sort of made a pledge for myself to try anything... OK, you got me, not ANYTHING but I'm going to try to expand my pallet by insisting upon tasting new dishes, especially in the realms of meat....because it's hard to get anything meatless in Korea so I will just ride the wave. This little experiment so far is actually working (when I eat out at tasty places only though!) I had some yummy, sweet and fruity caviar on the first day! It was a free meal so I couldn’t say no, and as it turns out, WHO KNEW I liked caviar!!! HA!
That same day I had oysters... OK even though they were cooked "well" still definitely not my taste!

On Friday night all 6 of the American/Canadian teachers in my school decided we needed to bond. So they said we were going out and I put on my scarf, gloves, and hat to face that winter wind and I was ready to go far, however, we went just out the door of our school and one door down to this cozy authentic Korean restaurant! Again sticking to my goal to TRY more, I was offered this Korean smoked pork specialty called Bulgogi, which as we sat on the warm floor cross-legged, was cooked right on our table! You cut this meat with scissors and it has a nice tangy sweet glaze almost like barbecue but even BETTER! :D It was served with 4 different types of radishes, all uniquely prepared from being pickled to just sweetened with a light glaze; a not so spicy and really rather crunchy Kimchi (this was cabbage with a special mild chili sauce); a creamy coleslaw like salad (this may be called Kimchi as well... I’m not positive...). OH and most importantly you wrap the Bulgogi in lettuce leafs, whole garlic, onions, and peppers and just bite in. OH so good! I could really eat that all day!

(One thing I did try but is much too spicy for my taste is Bee-Bim-Bop. As fun as it sounds WATCH OUT! Only the experienced spice eaters should venture into this guy!)

Another meat I tried yesterday was lamb. It’s a bit too game-like for me yet but there may be potential enjoyment with lamb if I keep trying it. I'll stay optimistic!

OH, and one more food related thing and then I promise I’ll stop making you salivate; ginger water is big here. Twice now I have had ginger water and on the first time I thought my water was just unusual but my friend Pam informed it was ginger in the water. It’s really an amazing way to spice up the plain old H20!

I truly lucked out and I have met some AMAZING people who work in my school. I could not have been placed in a better place! They all are very positive, upbeat souls (maybe I should say Seouls) and I’m looking forward to working with them! Tomorrow is my first day of REAL teaching! Wish me luck! :D

The traffic here is quite vivacious! Never in my life have I been in such an environment. Also I've never actually been stood out so much. As Pam and I went for our walk yesterday, two school boys said "Hi!". Apparently it is very common for foreigners to receive these random greetings especially in the areas where foreigners come far in between.

I was told there are several Germans living in Seoul. I hope and cross my fingers to find at least one so I might be able to keep the German going. Also I have just found a website (in a very round about way) that is leading in the right direction for Flute professors. I'm still going to browse a bit to see if there might be options.

Anyways, I hope to keep this as a picture blog, so I will try to find that cable tomorrow evening.

Ta ta for now!